Money does not equal happiness.
I know it's an old cliche that money is the root of all evil, but it's astonishing how many people
I've met from billionaire families that are absolutely miserable.
It's important to enjoy your wealth, but just don't flaunt it.
You have to give a lot away as well, which which is really fulfilling.
Of course, I don't have that problem.
But I remember it was back in 2009 when when I was running my company and the world was ending then
I think we were about twenty four hours away from bank machines not working.
And I told my wife, I said, Honey, I'm just going to go for a long drive and I might come back today
or maybe tomorrow morning.
And so I drove down the beautiful coast here in California from San Francisco down to Carmel, and I
went for a very long walk.
And I love going for long walks because you can really clarify or crystallize what your goals or priorities
should be in life.
And I found this beautiful old church and I walked in.
I sat down in one of the pews and I was looking over my goals in life and updating them.
And a priest sat down beside me and he said, is, is everything OK?
And I said, yeah, I just I'm just kind of kind of worried.
I want to I know that the economy is kind of tough.
I just want to be able to understand and know that I have enough money to provide the best lifestyle
possible I can for my children.
And he said something that resonated with me, which blew me away, he said.
He said, Chris, 50 years from now, your kids are going to look back upon you and they're not going
to remember how much money you had.
They're going to remember how good of a father you were.
Were you there for them?
And that just blew me away and really set my priorities straight in life.
And I want to end the session with a wonderful quote from the Dalai Lama, who wrote this amazing book
called The Art of Happiness.
And I recommend you all read The Art of Happiness, because he explains why people in second and third
world countries are are happier than those living in in in first world countries.
But the Dalai Lama said something like this.
He said, that's what's troubling about man, is that man sacrifices his health in order to make money.
And then later on in life, he sacrifices all his money in order to maintain his health.
And then he looks back upon life and realizes that he's never really lived at all.
And so it's important to always remember that money does not equal happiness.