How To Stop Feeling Like Your Success Is Never Enough - Andrew Wilkinson - #818

**Chris Williamson** (0:00)
Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the show. My guest today is Andrew Wilkinson. He's an entrepreneur, co-founder of Tiny Capital and an investor. I'll be happy when is the beginning of many people's mindsets about life and happiness. We assume that happiness sits on the other side of the next set of goals, even though right now, we're on the other side of our last set of goals. So the question is, what if you're a billionaire? Does this pattern ever stop? Expect to learn whether successful people are just disordered, if SSRIs aren't actually that bad, what Andrew learned from Warren Buffett, whether there's a number you reach in your bank account to finally feel like you've made it, why wealthy people distort reality around them, where to find smart people to hire for your business, how to learn to trust your entrepreneurial gut, and much more. The conversation around rich people can be miserable too. Look at this guy that's worth a ton of money and he's still not happy. I understand that that's kind of old hat and that's why I quite like Andrew's approach. Well, he's done a ton of inner work. He's really sort of grappled with his pathologies, his problems, his psychological insufficiencies and the framing that he has around the world. He just happens to be a billionaire on the other side of it. I think it's just reassuring to hear someone talk about lots of problems that you will probably face on a day-to-day basis. It kind of just answers that not necessarily money won't make you happy, but money won't fix your problems. It's reassuring and interesting and I found him very, very compelling. So I hope you take tons away from this one. But now, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Andrew Wilkinson.
You've got a quote that says, most successful people are just a walking anxiety disorder harnessed for productivity. Why do you say that?

**Andrew Wilkinson** (2:16)
So, all my life, I've had this feeling that when I wake up, I need to do something. I'm just constantly whipping myself. I basically feel like if I don't achieve, I'm a piece of shit. I don't know where it comes from, but I am just obsessed with solving problems, and I'm hyper aware of problems. Like, at any given time, my brain is five steps ahead of all the things that could go wrong, and my game, if you will, is to try and prevent all the terrible things from happening. And I think that makes me a good entrepreneur, but it makes me kind of a miserable person.

**Chris Williamson** (2:54)
How have you learned to balance those two, given that you want to maximize your effectiveness entrepreneurially, but presumably not do it at the price of your sanity?

**Andrew Wilkinson** (3:04)
Well, I think, you know, understanding when you're in a sprint and when to use that, I think, you know, an elite athlete would understand that if they run in a full sprint constantly, they're going to get injured. And I think in my 20s, you know, when it really mattered, I embraced it. And in my 30s, I started realizing that I've achieved the goal I want. I've made enough money that I'm happy. And it's not that I want to coast, but I just want to turn the volume down on that stress a little bit, because I've learned how to achieve leverage using delegation and other people and buying businesses and all those other things. And so I think one of the problems with the way people think is that they imagine that when X, then I'll feel good, right? So you often hear people say, you know, I just want to leave it all behind and move to Bali. Forget it all. The problem with moving to Bali is that your brain comes with you and your brain is anxious. If you're programmed in the way that I am, it doesn't matter where in the world I am. I'm just thinking about problems. And so for me, actually, it's been chemical. I started taking an SSRI about three years ago. And I remember about a week after I started to take it, I would hear the anxious voice and all the concerns start to creep in. And it was just a little bit quieter, a little bit more distant. So for me, meditation, exercise, being in a healthy relationship, all those form the groundwork, but actually it was a chemical problem to some degree.

**Chris Williamson** (4:27)
What have been the positives and negatives of the SSRIs you often hear many nightmare stories and also success stories? What's the real world review?

**Andrew Wilkinson** (4:36)
So I was terrified. First of all, I never thought of myself as an anxious person.