If life is a trip, then you are always…

If life is a trip, then you are always on multiple trips at the same time going for multiple destinations. Or if life is a game, you are playing in multiple stadiums at the same time. You are taking a trip in the world of business, in the world of friends, and the world of family, in hand in multiple other worlds. Success is not necessarily defined by being the best in anyone of these worlds or even multiple worlds. You may be at the pinnacle of success in one, but average in another, but that is your choice because of the relative importance that each one of these games or trips thanks.

— from Before Takeoff (front matter) · GB written

In the book

Your life is the flight. And like a real pilot, you are flying several routes at once — through the world of family, the world of friends, the world of work — and you do not have to be the best in every one of them; you may be at the pinnacle in one and merely average in another, and which is which is your own choice to make. A wise man once observed that each of us is born with the natural equipment to live a thousand different kinds of life, and then we go and live just one. — Before Takeoff (front matter)

First, success is relative and personal — what counts as success for one person is not success for another, and there is no universal scoreboard. Second, you are living in several "stadiums" at once — the world of work, the world of family, the world of friends — and you do not have to be the best in any of them; you may be at the pinnacle in one and merely average in another, and that is your choice, set by how much each one truly matters to you. So choose your reference points with care, and never measure yourself against someone excellent at a thing you do not even value. […] There is no single scoreboard. Success is relative, and it is personal — never let the world hand you its definition in place of your own. I spent my early years driven by a need to prove I was good enough; what I would give you instead is the freedom to keep an inner scorecard from the start. — Goals, Action & Defining Success (Goal/Action/Success/Motivation)

If you build your own companies, I will back you the way I backed everyone else worth backing — as an angel, not an owner, because I want you to be entrepreneurs with your own passion and your own vision. And remember you are always flying several routes at once — business, friends, family — and you do not have to be the best in every world; that is your choice to make. All of this building, all of this command, is finally in service of something it cannot itself provide. — Leadership & Business (Leadership/Business)

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