The Power of Now

For all of those who had something to lose, then made a big bet and lost.

The climb up felt like winning. The fall down teaches what actually matters.

Here's what nobody tells you about success: you can have everything and feel nothing. The research backs this up in ways that should make every ambitious person pause.

The Data Doesn't Lie About Wealth and Happiness

Stanford researchers analyzed data from over 500,000 people across 123 countries. They found something that contradicts everything we're taught to chase.

Money can't buy a sense of purpose.

The study revealed that meaning has a stronger correlation with happiness for people with less income. Wealthy individuals rely on external sources of happiness rather than internally constructed meaning.

The researchers noted that for affluent people, the challenge becomes "getting them to benefit from the meaning they already have in their lives, but aren't turning into happiness."

Experiences that contribute to meaning, strong relationships and spirituality, often don't cost a thing.

I learned this the hard way. When you're building, you tell yourself the destination will make it all worthwhile. Then you arrive and realize you missed the entire journey.

The Misery of Achievement Without Awareness

A Boston College survey of 160 households with fortunes of at least $25 million found that despite great wealth, many were miserable. One respondent admitted: "The novelty of money has worn off."

Psychology research reveals why ultra-successful people like Steve Jobs often seem unhappy. They chase what experts call "Big P Purpose"—massive external achievements to prove worthiness—rather than finding joy in the present.

You can't purpose your way to "enough."

They achieve massive goals, feel brief satisfaction, then sink back into the same sense of emptiness. The solution isn't bigger goals. It's "little p purpose"—daily activities that bring genuine fulfillment.

Survivalist Lynx Vilden spent time traveling with billionaires and observed: "The more people had, the less involved in the moment they seemed to be. They were more involved in the future. Doing and maintaining stuff and everything that came with it."

This matches what I see in myself during the climb. Always planning the next move. Never appreciating the current one.

The Happiness Plateau Nobody Warns You About

Penn and Princeton researchers found that for the least happy group, happiness rises with income until $100,000, then shows no further increase.

But here's the twist: for those with high emotional wellbeing, the association between income and happiness actually accelerates above $100,000.

The difference isn't the money itself. It's your baseline state of presence and contentment.

Research on over 200,000 people found that those who gave generously showed significant positive impacts to their happiness. Yet many millionaires making over $100,000 annually were giving less than $1,000.

Unhappy, unfulfilled millionaires had one thing in common: they weren't generous. The data shows that not being generous leads to a decrease in happiness and an inability to find fulfillment.

Ten Minutes Can Change Your Brain

A 2024 University of Southampton study of 1,247 adults across 91 countries found that just ten minutes of daily mindfulness practice reduced depression by 19.2%, decreased anxiety by 12.6%, and improved wellbeing by 6.9%.

The researchers noted: "Even short, daily practices of mindfulness can offer benefits, making it a simple yet powerful tool for enhancing mental health."

You don't need hours of meditation. Presence is accessible to anyone willing to start small.

I think about the hours I spent in meetings, on calls, in my head planning three moves ahead. Ten minutes of actual presence would have changed everything.

The Entrepreneur's Burnout Trap

A survey of over 300 entrepreneurs revealed that 63% have dealt with or are currently dealing with burnout. Financial concerns, work-life balance, and day-to-day stress topped the list.

The deeper issue? Many founders lose sight of why they started.

When you can't remember why you started your business in the first place, you're experiencing burnout. The data shows that entrepreneurs who reconnect with their original purpose and align their goals with core values are the ones who recover.

Failure taught me what success couldn't. Losing everything forced me to figure out what I actually wanted. Not what looked good. Not what impressed people. What mattered when everything else was gone.

Redefining the Hierarchy of Goals

Society sells us a hierarchy: wealth, power, celebrity at the top. Family, freedom, faith, and purpose through giving back as nice-to-haves.

The research flips this completely.

Wealth, power, and celebrity are intermediate goals. They should serve deeper aspirations, not replace them.

You can only truly gain and appreciate material success by maintaining awareness of what truly matters. Without this awareness, even those who achieve conventional success find themselves unfulfilled.

I know because I lived it. I was always chasing the next milestone, never appreciating the current one.

What Actually Builds Lasting Fulfillment

The research points to specific activities that create genuine wellbeing:

• Strong relationships - Connection matters more than achievement
• Generosity - Giving creates more happiness than accumulating
• Present-moment awareness - Being here now, not lost in future planning
• Spirituality or meaning-making - Internal purpose over external validation
• Daily practices - Small, consistent actions over grand gestures

These don't require wealth. They require attention.

The best $100 monthly investment isn't another course or tool. It's taking people to dinner. Building relationships. Being present with the people who matter.

The Paradox of Presence and Achievement

Here's what I wish someone had told me: presence doesn't prevent achievement. It makes achievement meaningful.

You can build businesses, make money, create impact. But if you're not present for any of it, you're building a prison, not a life.

The entrepreneurs who recover from burnout aren't the ones who achieve more. They're the ones who reconnect with why they started. They remember that the journey matters as much as the destination.

Losing everything taught me a different type of resilience. It taught me humility and empathy. It taught me that having and losing wealth creates more wisdom than never having it at all.

What Presence Actually Looks Like

Presence isn't sitting cross-legged for hours. It's ten minutes of mindfulness that reduces your depression by 19%.

It's eating with friends instead of working through lunch.

It's recognizing when you're catastrophizing the downside instead of staying grounded in what's actually happening.

It's understanding that a good day in a bad season still counts. That you can find contentment independent of circumstances.

It's figuring out what you actually want, not what you think you should want.

The data shows that 99% of success comes from knowing what you want and making decisions aligned with that clarity. But most people never do this work. They chase what looks successful instead of what feels meaningful.

The Real Definition of Success

I had to rebuild my definition of success from scratch.

Here's what I landed on: Success is being present enough to appreciate what you have while building what matters.

It's understanding that wealth, power, and recognition are tools, not destinations. They serve deeper purposes: family, freedom, faith, and giving back.

It's recognizing that the billionaires who seem miserable aren't miserable because they're rich. They're miserable because they're never present. They're always in the future, maintaining and doing, never just being.

The research proves what ancient wisdom has always taught: you can't find fulfillment in the future. It only exists now.

Ten minutes of daily mindfulness. Generous giving. Strong relationships. Present-moment awareness. These create more lasting happiness than any amount of wealth accumulated without consciousness.

I teach lessons from my journey now. The unfiltered truth of entrepreneurship. And the biggest truth is this: the climb matters less than your ability to be present for it.

You can chase Big P Purpose your whole life and never feel enough. Or you can find little p purpose in daily moments and discover that enough was always here.

The choice is yours. But the data is clear: presence isn't a luxury for after you succeed. It's the foundation that makes success meaningful in the first place.

By Answer Alexander