Many people consider the amount of money someone amassed in their lives as the ultimate measure of success. However, some of the richest people in the world tend to disagree and advocate a completely different approach.
Now 89-years old billionaire Warren Buffet shared his opinion about measuring the success in his speech at the University of Georgia in 2001. In his exact words: Basically, when you get to my age, you’ll really measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you."
“I know people who have a lot of money, and they get testimonial dinners and hospital wings named after them. But the truth is that nobody in the world loves them,” Buffett continued. “If you get to my age in life and nobody thinks well of you, I don’t care how big your bank account is — your life is a disaster. That’s the ultimate test of how you have lived your life.”
Sharing the stage at Columbia University with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in 2017, Buffet was asked a seemingly easy question: “Are there any major life lessons that you two have learned about relationships through your personal experiences?”
His answer was brilliant: “Well, it’s a very important question. You will move in the direction of the people that you associate with...so it’s important to associate with people that are better than yourself.” Bill Gates added that “some friends do bring out the best in you, so it’s good to invest in those friendships. It’s really through Melinda and seeing other people that I realized, okay, it’s really worth the investment to have those people, as you’re always there to help them and vice versa.”
Buffett's own experience with love and friendships led him to conclude that people we let into our lives - the people who truly love and honestly care about us - are the ones who push us to live a happy, successful, and meaningful lives.
Numerous researches have come to similar conclusions. Moreover, they have found out that a strong support network (your inner circle of friends and life partners) can significantly reduce the risk of someone becoming depressed and socially isolated which both deeply impact their general health and performance.
The best metric, according to Gates, is asking yourself questions like: Does this person really love me back? Does this person make me a better person?
Alternatively, you are invited to register for a Free ZQ Navigator, enabling you to check out the amazing Compatibility Feature to get key insights about how and in which areas certain people in your circle influence your life. In the Free ZQ Navigator Version, you will get 3 compatibility reports, but if you want to get more you can either invite others to try out the Free ZQ Navigator Version or subscribe for a paid version.
Go on. Check out the person that interests you the most. You know you want to.
