The Richest Man In The Valley

Something to remind ourselves everyday, before we rush off to join the rat race of modern-day living.
In the advertising agency business, pitching for (and winning) new accounts is your lifeblood; you can never join too many pitches. At the height of my advertising career, sleepless nights and weekends spent working on speculative campaigns were adrenalin rushes--in our minds, it was a sign that our ad agency was dynamic and "upwardly mobile". That was until I started asking: How much more business do we need? Is every single new account--however small--really worth the physical, mental and social toll?

It was then that I realized why I was an employee and not the owner of the ad agency. It was also then that I saw there was more to life than having a successful career--way more! Within a few months, I quit my job and began looking for some balance in my life.

Some ten years later, I came across this blog entry by an international motivational speaker named Francis Kong. And just in time, too, since I was at that particular moment feeling depressed about being 40 and still nowhere near making my first million. Upon reading the post, I took stock and realized I've been a billionaire all along.

"The Richest Man In The Valley"--it's a great read!