Discover the Ultimate 'Meta-Skill' for Creating an Extraordinary Life!
Because a 'Successful' Career isn't the same as a 'Successful' Life.
Prelude: The Wealth Myth When 'More' Still Isn't Enough
The Tiger-21 Profile
I've been coaching Tiger-21 members for years, and my favorite part of working with you is how fascinating your profiles are. You're not average. Far from it. Many of you are:
Chaos-thriving, risk-surviving / rule-breaking, deal-making / goal-setting, no-regretting...
Always-striving, sleep-depriving / micro dosing, party-hosting / dream-pitching, nerve-twitching...
Swordfish-grilling, Red Bull-swilling / some-bullshitting, never-quitting / trailblazing, hell-raising...
Rebels, renegades, rainmakers, dopamine-driven disruptors, dynamos, and bad-ass capitalist rockstars!
(but not in a Lex Luthor sort of way... more like Tony Stark, or... NEO from The Matrix.) And I dig that!
You also tend to fit into one of the following two categories:
1. The Moneymoon Phase
Those who believe that 'making far more money will ensure a far better life'. (I call this the Moneymoon phase)...
2. Beyond the Moneymoon
Those who used to believe that 'making far more money will ensure a far better life'. (They now believe that no matter how much money they have, that 'new jet smell' eventually loses its musty charm, babies in first class cry just as loudly as in coach, and 'love' isn't the only thing money can't buy.)
And the second group is my favorite because as they say in Jerry Maguire "They've been to the puppet show and seen the strings." They KNOW that money will only take them so far and they're ready to evolve to the next level... the level where they CAN finally 'take control of their lives and create LASTING happiness and fulfillment'.
Granted, most of us grow up believing that money is the master key to life's locked doors. Before the age of 20, especially in capitalist societies, the narrative is drilled into us: the more you have, the happier you'll be. And to be fair, there's some truth in it. Going from $10,000 to $100,000 radically improves life. Ten million will change it even more. But at a certain point, the curve flattens. At a billion, it's mostly just numbers on a ledger. The slope of the happiness curve gets flatter, until it's almost imperceptible. The difference between a $100 million lifestyle and a $1 billion lifestyle isn't 10x—it's barely measurable. This is known as the Law of Diminishing Returns, and we will cover it carefully in just a few moments as this, and other critical insights that we will cover, is something you must understand and overcome if you wish to sustain a fulfilling life.
Even Elon Musk, worth nearly half a trillion dollars, has said repeatedly: "You don't want my life. I'm not THAT happy."
The Restless Billionaire Syndrome
I married into a family with a net worth in the tens of billions. And for two decades I carefully observed their lives (and those of their equally wealthy peers). You might say I had a penthouse view of the whole shebang. Although I had already achieved financial success of my own, it never came close to the level of magnitude I was about to experience. To put it into perspective: folks say, "If you want to see the wealthiest people in the world, go to a Formula-1 race in Monaco and hang out with the race teams." Well, my family (and their friends) were the kinds of people who didn't just 'hang out' with the teams, they owned them. They also owned companies ranked at the top of the Inc. 500 list... in our case, we literally hit #2. We were also recognized for having the #2 best privately owned golf course in the world, and we won our share of Indy 500's and other races as well. And guess what? The races got boring, and being #2 'sucked'... even when it was #2 in the WORLD.
So clearly, extraordinary wealth and recognition did not guarantee extraordinary happiness. In fact, of the wealthiest people I encountered, most were restless, apathetic, anxious, or unfulfilled. Despite the momentary spikes of joy they experienced from 'all that money can buy'... something was still missing. And that 'something' couldn't be fixed with money... or power... or fame. It's also something that keeps everyone from creating the kind of extraordinary life they desire... not only the wealthy. The difference is that the wealthy are the ones who eventually 'know' that money and power aren't enough, because they've tried. Which is why they make such great coaching clients, because they're ready to do something 'different', and they usually give it everything they've got because they're tired of messing around. Fortunately, the things they really want, sustained happiness, fulfillment, peace of mind, passion, meaning, and purpose... these things they CAN still attain, just not through money or power. And THAT is where BEYOND Wealth comes in.
The Evolutionary Trap
Why is "enough" never enough for long? Because humans aren't wired for contentment. The complacent ones — the tribes who stopped searching and striving, the ones who settled for whatever was in front of them, they died out. They consumed their resources and starved.
The survivors? They were the restless ones. The seekers, adventurers, innovators, risk-takers, and malcontents... they kept moving, pushing, and striving. And those are the genes you inherited... especially YOU... highly successful individuals are actually the outliers... you're the ones who got an extra dose of these genes.
That relentless drive behind your ambition? Your insatiable curiosity? Your reappearing discontent? It isn't weakness. It's evolution. That's why, no matter how much you make or milestone you reach, you soon after find yourself restless, and searching once again for the next challenge. It's also why guys like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom Cruise simply cannot STOP doing MORE! It's no longer about the money...
BTW I highly recommend that you watch the 3-part mini-series on Arnold Schwarzenegger (Arnold)! It is awe inspiring and loaded with priceless lessons on life. The special on Tom Cruise (The Last Movie Star) is worth watching as well... especially if you like a good comeback story.
So, back to why this keeps happening.
Once of the main culprits is called 'Hedonic Adaptation', and this adaptation had tremendous evolutionary value to our ancestors, because that is what kept them striving. But here's the paradox: the very thing that drives your success is also the thing that robs you of fulfillment.
You've heard of 'dopamine' — the brain's "reward chemical." Dopamine is a powerful and useful hormone, but it doesn't reward you with happiness. It rewards you with excitement and craving. It whispers: "Just a little more. One more deal. One more win. One more zero." And the moment you get it, the baseline shifts. The goalpost moves. The rules change. What once was considered a success (getting on the podium) may now feel like a failure (only second place) ... but it isn't failure. It's neurology. This is called 'Dopaminergic Dysregulation' (yikes!), and, as with Hedonic Adaptation (and others that we will cover shortly), you are, once and for all, about to understand why 'more' is quite often never enough, and, more importantly, what you can finally do about it. As you know by now, 'wealth' is a very useful tool for improving our lives, but it is NOT the answer to everything... so there's a good reason why 'more' is never enough... because 'more' isn't the solution.