Everyone struggles, but to struggle beautifully is a choice, says Delos Chang

“Freedom is a cup with which to fill something. Once I knew what my values and real goals were, I quickly also realized that that these values inform my marginal utility of wealth curve. That is, to say, the incremental dollar is only useful insofar as it serves your real goals. Most people’s wealth curves are likely logarithmic but the mind has a funny habit of making the curve seem linear because we hedonically adapt to our circumstances. Add into that equation that we are usually trading time for wealth, even if it’s only headspace. So the opportunity cost is actually quite high if you’re not doing what you love or rather, loving what you do. Dalio, the billionaire investor, has a great saying: you can have almost anything you want, but you can’t have everything.”

“For me, that was the art of magic. After investing for a while, I wanted to see what it would be like to dedicate myself more fully to the craft. I worked at a local NYC magic shop for a couple months before someone liked what they saw and hired me to perform a professional gig. Life has a funny way of opening doors for you if you are willing to walk the path. Those were some of the happiest times of my life because I was growing in a dimension that was in accordance with my values. In many ways, I think humans seek not the summit but actually just the satisfaction of the climb.”