There is no wealth but a wealth of social connections
Forbes is refusing to do an article on me. Despite frequent emails, submissions and protests. My contention is, I’m one of the richest men in the world. But they refuse to recognise it. Here’s their latest email. 13th September 2020. Subject: Reply to ‘Stop leaving me off Wealth Lists’ - Joe Wehbe Dear Mr. Wehbe. We appreciate your continued correspondence and persistence, but we must ask you to respectfully cease communication on this topic. Whilst you have an abundance of this ‘real currency’ - as you call it, this is not a currency that can be factored into your net wealth. In fact, your net wealth
The Expectations Gap
I left high school thinking I would become one of the greatest film directors of all time. I pictured myself winning an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, Best Director and Best Actor in a Lead Role all in one fell swoop before the age of thirty. To me, that was the way to go down as the greatest and stand out from everyone else who’d ever worked in film: To do what no one else has done, all before the age of thirty. As such, achieving all this before thirty became an ESSENTIAL, a REQUIREMENT. Failing to live up to this
The Happiness Curve
A short while ago my friend Pat found a speech I’d done for him when we graduated high school. He sent me a picture of the speech, sending love, and captioned it ‘simpler times’. Perhaps life was simpler when we were at high school. Now, as adults, we have more responsibilities and are charged with confronting the full complexity of the world. Do any of us reach the heights we expect to hit when we leave high school? Do any of us anticipate the bumps and disappointments on the road? In the West, we celebrate our youth and are told to make the
We are born in the passenger seat of our own life.
You are not born with control of your own life. You are born with the illusion of control. Have you ever seen the opening credits for the Simpsons? See the most important section here. Young Maggie thinks she is driving the car in this section. We the audience, from our perspective, think ourselves that she is driving. However the following shots indicate that her steering wheel is in fact a toy, a dummy, a fake. Her mother Marge is in fact driving. Note - two episodes of the With Joe Wehbe Podcast are available on this blog topic if you prefer video, audio or if
The widening gap between our biological and cultural evolution
We’ve recently discussed the war that’s been raging for 70,000 years for control. For control of what? Control of nature. Of you. Natural Selection vs. Humanity. We discussed how the Cognitive Revolution drastically shaped the way our culture and environment evolve over time, how it changed all the rules. The problem is, our biology cannot evolve as fast as the world we craft. Animals of all shapes and varieties have found over time the value in building shelters from larger prey. Humanity is no different. We are not the fastest, not the largest and do not have the sharpest teeth or claws. But we mobilise groups
The Slingshot Principle – why the worst-case scenario is the best-case scenario
The Slingshot Principle. Steve Jobs is famous for telling us that we ‘can’t connect the dots going forward’. The Co-Founder of Apple was dropping out of college but took a course in calligraphy when exploring things. He later reflected how valuable that class was in shaping the creative fonts that would go on to distinguish Apple’s typefaces going forward. The funny thing is, no entrepreneurship or business course will ever teach or emphasise the importance of calligraphy. When Jobs was later ousted from Apple, he went on to create another incredible company - Pixar, which was responsible for timeless classic films like Toy
Astro the Dog – the dog who runs your life
Have you ever been terrified by the prospect of speaking to a pretty girl or guy at a bar? When I was a teenager, I was terrified of awkward silences and speaking to girls. Not just a bit scared or apprehensive, but terrified. For podcast episodes on Astro The Dog see episodes #011-#013 of the With Joe Wehbe Podcast. Youtube Episodes: #011 Part One #012 Part Two #013 Part Three In saying that, I was generally a very confident public speaker After all, I did this from a young age. But I’ve met other people who are very confident in conversation but their ultimate
The Law of Ensuement – Direct vs. Incidental Goals
The greatest things in life cannot be pursued directly. They must happen incidentally. The greatest rewards in life cannot be pursued - they must ensue. I call this, ‘The Law of Ensuement’. The Thousand Doors Theory My central framework for journeys through life is understood as the Thousand Doors Theory. The theory suggests, we use the Thousand Doors System to reach the most remarkable places because the most remarkable places live in the unknown. When we turn down one ‘door’ or one opportunity in life, we so often fail to recognise that it is the First of a Thousand Doors - the other nine-hundred and
Maslow’s Hierarchy, the Comfort Ladder and the Luxury Trap
For corresponding podcast episodes check out #016-#018 of the With Joe Wehbe Podcast. Youtube Episodes: #016 Maslow's Hierarchy, #017 The Comfort Ladder, #018 The Luxury Trap My Dad gave me a nickname growing up… Princess The Princess nickname referred to my cushioned upbringing and complete inability to get my hands dirty. To this day, I am not a hands-on guy, and I don’t do physical labour well. So it’s pretty emasculating to compare myself to my grandfathers, who were both hard-working immigrants who DEFINITELY got their hands dirty. Growing up I was ever-grateful that they paved the way for our family in Australia, not me,
The Glossary Exercise: Words that mean too many different things to different people.
Charity Wealth Success Career Work Happiness Depression Comfort Freedom God Investing Take a second and ask - what do these words mean to you? I find these words to be some of the most significant words, concepts and ideas in our culture, but equally, that people all have a very different idea of what each term means and refers to. This becomes a problem when we are having a conversation and assume that our conversation partner uses the same definition we do. It makes sense to 1) write your own glossary of these words, as well as 2) figure out the glossary of someone else you are in dialogue with. Take note of the following