Albert Einstein has always been one of my favorite historical figures. He was not only an amazing genius, but he was also hugely creative and left a book full of memorable quotes. One of my favorite quotes is “Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.”
I’ve always had the drive to succeed — really since I was a kid. My best friend and I hatched many “business ideas” as we were growing up. We used to talk about making it big and being rich one day. We planned to become millionaires by the year 2000 (that was a big deal back then).
Our first true business venture was selling martial arts supplies including uniforms and training equipment. We ordered our stock from a mail-order catalog that sold items for a quarter of the cost of the local martial arts schools. We sold our products at half of the local vendors' prices and made a fair amount of money during that time. We were hooked on succeeding in business.
We are taught from an early age to strive for success in sports, in school, and business . . . in everything we do. Obviously, there is nothing wrong with striving for success, but sometimes we get so focused on the destination that we forget about the journey and the people who are impacted by our actions.
