Nothing beats the sweet smell of success. Ahhh… what a feeling. Add a Cuban cigar, and you even starting to feel like those successful conglomerates.

Napping on the pool side… tanning on the beach… partying all night long… what a life!

SLAP!

Ouch! what the… !?

Wake up and stop daydreaming, champ :D

Are you a narcissistic entrepreneur? I was

You are starting to be a narcissistic entrepreneur – that is, the one who enjoy success more than the yield result. Meaning, reaching a small milestone and already feel on top of the world by the mere achievement.

Success does feel good. And we have to cherish success, no matter how small it is.

But take heed – success is addictive. A narcissistic entrepreneur enjoys success more than he or she should be. Not trying to achieve more success, he or she stops and stand in front of the mirror and stare at him or herself for days.

I know what I’m talking about – I’ve been there!

Robert Kiyosaki, The Rich Dad Poor Dad guy, always reminds his readers to be cautious when they achieving success – it is often that when one achieves a success, one stops learning. Robert warns that we shall never, ever learn from our own success, as successes have more devastating negative effects than failures.

I totally agree to his reasoning. I felt just like what he described a few years ago – everything went right in my business ventures. I started to feel like I had a midas touch – everything I laid my hand upon turns into gold.

Success silently drives me away from my goals and vision as an entrepreneur – success slides me to slumber. Suddenly – BOOM! I hit rock bottom, and… awake from my daydreaming into the reality – the harsh, no-loser-allowed world of business.

Success is not the end result

I define success as how I walk my entrepreneur journey – Success is not (err… no longer) my end result. THIS is what you have to realise.

If you were a corrupt businessman and backstabbing everybody, including your family members, to be successful, the you are actually not successful, no matter how rich you become.

In fact, you are not only a narcissistic entrepreneur, but also a vampire entrepreneur – sucking the life out of others for your own profit. Not the kind of success I have in mind :P

In short, success is not measured by how much money you have, but how positive your money impact your community.

How to avoid becoming a narcissistic entrepreneur

Trust me on this – follow these tips well NOT to end up like me a moment ago ;)

1. Always challenge yourself – if you reached a milestone, set a higher one, and so on – NEVER let yourself be satisfied. Idle mind is the satan’s workshop
2. Enjoy success as a mean to keep you motivated to reach greater things in life.
3. Success is addictive, as well as contagious – Ride it, not admire it. Position yourself like a surfer – riding waves after waves continuously, because stopping will only get you ‘totalled’ and swallowed by the waves.
4. Treat success as a burden – a burden to at least maintain it or take it to higher level. Bodybuilders never stop adding ‘burden’ to their muscles – no burden, no muscle. period.
5. Work hard play hard – If you wanted a Porsche, ask yourself, “How can I purchase the Porsche without actually spending a dime on it?” – the Robert Kiyosaki’s style.

Hopefully, those tips keeping you away from being a narcissistic entrepreneur. Treat success like an alcoholic beverage – enjoy too much of it will get you a temporary feeling of happiness, dizzy and lose focus.

Share your story here :)

Ivan Widjaya
Kicking the bad habit of success

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