Tim Metz

What’s success?

Post #3, 2014.10.09 | Prologue

*“What’s money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night, and in between does what he wants to do.”* — Bob Dylan

By Dylan’s account, I’m fortunate enough to already have been successful quite a few times. And not as in, fooling around and doing nothing the whole day (though I’ve done that too, mainly in high school). But having dreams, wishes and hopes and seeing many of those become reality, such as:

  • Spending extended periods of time (i.e. more than a few weeks) in places completely different from where I was born, with people from a wide variety of backgrounds and cultures;
  • Bringing ideas to life (stories, videos, projects, companies) which have inspired, entertained, touched and/or motivated other people;
  • Having worked in countries all over the world, with a range of people as diverse as the colours of the rainbow, across all kinds of exciting “industries” (music, media, internet, gaming, television & film, marketing and charity);
  • Receiving the trust from friends and colleague’s to manage other people and (parts of) their businesses;
  • Overcoming fear of conflict and the need to be liked. Instead, being honest and straightforward, even when uncomfortable;
  • Receiving kindness and support from complete strangers;
  • Having lived “Life in the Fast Lane”* for about a decade;
  • Having been able to exit the fast lane without any really bad crashes and now discovering other great aspects of life;
  • Successfully turning hobbies and passions into a full-time profession on several occasions (film and video making, writing, entrepreneurship, electronic music, partying, traveling, gaming, web design, productivity and life design);
  • Overcoming many personal fears, such as (but not limited to) bungee jumping, managing people, dealing with past failures and writing in public;
  • Learning to deal with your own thoughts and taming demons from the past;
  • Leaving everything (job, friends, family) behind to pursue something completely new, purely based on gut feeling;
  • Turning myself from a disorganised and unfocused person into the opposite, without becoming a neurotic productivity psychopath;
  • Finding paths to all of the above while (or maybe thanks to?) being almost completely autodidact**.

On Dylan’s and my own definition of success, I dare to call myself successful. For me it’s being able to 1) do what you love, 2) learn from others, 3) learn how to be happy and 4) realise your dreams. If that also sounds like success to you, I’m hopeful you’ll be able to find inspiration and learnings in my future writings.

— — —

** If you’re not familiar with the lyrics of “Life in the Fast Lane” by The Eagles, check them out* here on azlyrics.com. Though I’m not trying to suggest I’m brutally handsome nor good in bed, that’s for others to judge. It’s more about the crazy party- and working-lifestyle of always jetsetting around, trying to do everything at once and not always getting enough sleep, while believing you can change the world along the way.

*** In the formal educational sense of the word. Of course there are countless people I’ve learned from while working together, as well as by reading A LOT. Just not at the direction of a school or university, but by following the pulse of my own interests and curiosity when choosing books***.*

**** In his book “Antifragile”, the great philosopher Nassim Nicholas Taleb suggests this is the best way of reading and learning. He remembers all books read on his own account, and none that were obligatory reading as part of his school’s curriculum (though I’m sure he’s exaggerating a bit, as there seem to be few books he has no knowledge about).*

Other references:

— — —

Related postings:

Uncredible Achievements (introductions, part 1 of 2)
Prologue | Post #2, 2014.10.08