44 Harsh Truths About The Game Of Life - Naval Ravikant (4K)

Happiness is being satisfied with what you have, success comes from dissatisfaction. Is success worth it then?

Oof. I'm not sure that statement is true anymore. Like, I made that statement a long time ago, and a lot of these things are just notes to myself, and they're highly contextual. They come in the moment, they leave in the moment. Uh, happiness, okay, so very complicated topic, but I always liked the Socrates story where he goes into the marketplace and they show him all these luxuries and fineries and he says, "How many things there are in this world that I do not want?" Right? And that's a form of freedom, so not wanting something that is as good as having it. In the old story with Alexander, Dionysius, right? Alexander goes out and conquers the world, then he meets Dionysius who's living in a barrel, and Dionysius says, "Get out of the way, you're blocking my sun." And Alexander says, "Oh, how I wish I, you know, could be like Dionysius in the next life," and Dionysius says, "That's the difference. I don't wish that I could..." Sorry, Diogenes, Diogenes. Diogenes says, "I- I- I don't wish to be Alexander." So two paths to happiness, and, uh, one path is for success, you get what you want, you satisfy your material needs, or like Diogenes, you just don't want it in the first place. And I'm not sure which one is more valid. Um, and it also depends what you define as success. If the end goal is happiness, then why not cut to the chase and just go straight for it?

Mm.

Uh, does being happy make you less successful? That is a conventional wisdom that may even be the practical earned experience of your reality. You find that when you're happy you don't want anything so you don't get up and do anything. On the other hand, you know, you still gotta do something. You're an animal. You're here, you're here to survive, you're here to replicate, you're driven, you're motivated, you're gonna do something. You're not just gonna sit there all day. Unlikely. Some people do, maybe it's in their nature, but I think most people still want to act. They want to live in the arena. Uh, I've found for myself as I've become, uh, happier is a big word, but you know, more peaceful, more calm, more present, more, uh, satisfied with what I have. Uh, I still want to do things, I just wanna do bigger things. I wanna do things that are more pure, more aligned with, uh, what I think needs to be done and what I can uniquely do. So in that sense, I think that being happier can actually make you more successful, but your definition of success will likely change along the way.

Is that a realization you think you could've gotten to had you have not had some success in the first place?