I know that at some point, I’m going to have to face the fact that I’m getting old. Trust me, when I see my kids telling me about memes, I’m already in the process. More recently, I seem to be hearing this often: “Hey Mario, you’ve done it all. You’ve built a multimillion-dollar company. You’ve consulted for some of the biggest banks in the world. Don’t you plan on stopping soon?”
While it’s nice to hear that people think my achievements are worth noting, I always tell them the same answer: “No, I’m not retiring anytime soon.”
This is usually followed by confused or unbelieving looks (many of which make me want to tell people, “Hey, I’m not that old!”). But it’s true – retirement is not in my immediate future.
In truth, even I’ll admit that retirement seems like it would be a good idea. Who wouldn’t want to be able to kick back and enjoy the fruits of their labour?
While this does sound appealing, it’s ultimately something I’ll always say no to for as long as I can. I’ve seen some of my peers enjoying their retirement, but this hasn’t been something I looked at and envied.
The reason for this is simple – I never started working with the goal of retiring.
My Passion is My Energy
The truth is, everything I’ve ever done – from giving consultations to some of the world’s biggest banks, to every single media appearance I’ve made, to my work as as a CEO – I did it because I had a passion.
My passion was never about tax planning or reports or hoarding wealth. It has been, and continues to be about bridging gaps in the financial market and building communities that find success in building their own wealth. Through business, I get to live out my dream of being someone put in the position to help others.
Yes, wealth is a blessing, but even more so because it affords me the time to focus on my purpose. This is the mindset I employ in whatever business I’m doing.
We’d only have to look around us to see great examples of people whose passions have helped them find riches but also, have made them champions in their fields and of their causes. Consider self-made media mogul and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey, whose known for her dedication to educating others, raising awareness for varied social issues and helping people improve. While the famed The Oprah Winfrey Show has long ended, Winfrey continues to be a voice for social and political causes, as well as a benefactor for others.
How has Winfrey gone so long doing the things she does? Passion.
She once said, “Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.” She’s right, passion becomes your fuel. Passion is something that will keep you going. And that doesn’t have an end until you decide it does. That’s why, for me, passion is a lifestyle. It’s something that carries you to do the things you were made for, and do them every single day no matter how tiring. By that definition of passion, work that’s born out of it is something that shouldn’t end. It’s the kind of work that should not have a final goal in mind.
Find Your Better Self Each Day
The point of life isn’t to be the best. It’s to be better than you were yesterday. And that’s something that living for your passion every single day will allow you to do. You can’t be better than before if you stop. And as long as I’m providing my expertise to companies who do good work and deem my skills valuable, then I’m not going to stop.
To me, my career has always been about the kinds of services that I can provide to others. Am I still passionate about doing that? If you ask me now, until the foreseeable future, the answer will always be yes, which naturally makes the answer to “Will you retire?” no.
To your success,
Mario
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