Ep. #12- Jason Van Gaal

Before my interview with Jason, I found myself excited to learn his entrepreneurship story and use it as a map, or a blueprint for my future success. Surely somebody who has sold 5 companies knows the path, and could show me the way. But after our conversation, I’ve been constantly thinking about how wrong my assumption was. And now I understand why nobody could ever be shown “the path to success,” and what people mean when they say that the journey is the reward. 

 

This golden nugget presented itself when Jason mentioned that his mind doesn’t allow him to relax on a beach and enjoy what some assume are the fruits of becoming financially successful. His mind has a unique obsessive quality that needs to be problem solving in order to feel joy. Instantly I thought “FUCK, I guess I don’t have what it takes, I LOVE doing nothing on a beach.”  

 

This trait of Jason’s is surely a huge advantage for building and selling companies, to which he’s fully exploited. But to those who enjoy "stopping to smell the roses,” it might just be a curse. I realized if I were to “follow Jason's path” I’d be following what gave HIM joy, not what gave ME joy. 

 

After much thought, I now believe that success isn’t just getting where you want to go, It’s getting where you want to go, the way you want to do it. If you enjoy 18 hour work days… great. But If you don’t, and you work 18 hour days just because it’s what somebody else did, you may just get what you’ve always wanted, but you didn’t enjoy the process of getting there. This may cause some bitterness in the end because the “destination" is a temporary, fleeting pleasure. And the journey, the pursuit, is what's constant, and where you spend the majority of your time. In short, trust yourself, follow your joy, and DO YOU.