I was listening to author Mark Manson speaking with Tom Bilyeu on Impact Theory. As you might expect on a show like that, the definition of success came up.
Mark’s answer? “For me, success means creating a life and creating a world with better problems.”
Just what are better problems? Mark says our minds play tricks on us when we pursue something. Our brain only shows us the good side of it. It doesn’t show the sacrifice required to achieve it.
To answer the question for yourself, Mark recommends discovering what your favorite flavor of “sh*t sandwich” is.
Everything you experience or pursue in life has a “sh*t sandwich” part to it. Our brain doesn’t think about that while we’re pursing “it” though. A powerful heuristic is simply instead of thinking about what benefits you want in life, think “what problems do I want in my life?”
For example, you might wish for a bad ass show on YouTube. But there’s a whole other side to it. You might need a production crew, lawyers, waivers, and a host of other crap to deal with. If you pursue it, remember, those are the problems you chose, the problems you wanted. Someone has a successful show because of the problems they decided they could live with, not because they said “oh damn, having a show would be awesome.”
It’s food for thought. Many founders will experience it all with a startup. The good, the bad, and the ugly.