What Everyone Gets Wrong About Personal Growth - Robin Sharma

What does true wealth look like to you?

Rich family life. Pursuing my craft, even if there's no applause. Serenity, I think the new luxury good. Treating my readers with respect and honoring what I call the sacred bond. Enjoying my portfolio of enthusiasms is a form of wealth. And doing whatever I can do to make the world a, a better place as, as, uh, idealistic as that might sound. It's a great source of joy, great source of happiness to do whatever I can to make the lives of people better.

I like the idea of a portfolio of enthusiasms as opposed to a portfolio of investments.

It's really what The Wealth Money Can't Buy is, is about. I don't ... I'm not saying a portfolio of investments financially is not important. But what's the point of worldly success with a empty heart? So I think if you can make money and if you can be productive and achieve worldly success, but also do it in a way that sustains you and, uh, doesn't have the costs of getting to a mountaintop and then realizing you missed the most important things, I think that's the way to go.

You work with a lot of very successful well-known people. How common is it for those individuals at the top of their industry to have got to the top of the mountain and then hated it all the way up and realized it was the wrong one when they got there? Is that just a meme or is that something that actually shows up in practice?

Uh, absolutely true. I had one client on his way home from work, things were so unsatisfying even though he had all the money in the world, he would pick up a, a case of beer and medicate himself every evening. Uh, there's one chapter in the book, the multi-billionaire in the very empty mansion, which is, uh, we received a call to mentor a very famous billionaire who you would know, I decided to accept the engagement. I showed up in his country, showed up in his city, went to this area that was fr- populated by lots of embassies. Got into his driveway, biggest house I've ever seen. Met by one of his aides, escorted past his art collection, amazing. Walked past his car collection with a glass wall, led down a s- set of, set of stairs. I heard, uh, Metallica's For Whom the Bell Toll playing, I could smell cigar smoke, something out of a movie. And I walked down this hallway and in the room is this mogul. We spent two hours, he talked about the businesses he built, the money he'd made, the beautiful toys he'd accumulated. And then of course I asked him, "Well, who do you get to share this with?" And he said, uh, long pause and then he said, "I'm all alone." And so I think it's more common than we could imagine, people who we think have everything, who th- they're cash rich and their life poor. And it makes me think of what Jim Carey said. He said, "I wish everyone could be rich and famous to realize it won't make a difference."