The paradox of today’s world:

– you don’t work long hours? Your job (and you) are not cool enough

– Sleep deprivation is a sign of a good, productive, busy life

– If you have time for leisure and fun and play (whatever game you like) is because what you do is not important enough

– The more noise you on social and in life, the better you will be perceived

– A simple life is often judged as a not accomplished one, a lazy one

Remember that (very famous) video of the American guy talking to a Mexican fisher, playing his guitar after a morning of fishing and a siesta in the afternoon and soon having dinner and making love with his wife, being asked why he is not scaling his business, fishing more and building a company to be able to … do the same life he was doing without it?

There is more to it, tho.

One could argue that having just enough to make your family eat, rest, play and have a roof on your head is a pretty selfish life, and not making a positive impact on others. The Mexican fisherman example is more about (yet another) paradox of work/life balance.

In the not giving a fuck spirit given by my second half century part of life, I can safely say that the goal of building businesses (from Fintech to Real estate to now even a restaurant, the last one being kind of way more complicated than I thought) is NOT to maximise profit, but rather

1. give the opportunity to others to build the life they want. My business partner Francesca is the living proof i am thrilled to let her run the business and be the one helping her growing the company

2. Produce wealth to sustain other families (my dad spent 5 years in a company in crisis, where every employee had to work and get paid only 50% of the time)

3. Give the opportunity to experiment, make small investments in new businesses or entrepreneurs to repeat 1) and 2)

4. Spend quality time with my children showing them a “different” way of life and paradigm

5. NOT looking forward to weekends, holidays, retirement, time off, or the next break. At a price, of course, and sometimes indeed overwhelmed, but always by choice.

6. Keep learning, and my brain trained, which is a gymnastic that sometimes requires external stimulus and not so popular choices

What you practice grows stronger.

This very common sense sentence is sound and clear in my mind.

If you don’t practice gratitude, you will stay entitled.

If you don’t practice simplicity, you will stay hard to please.

If you don’t practice empathy, or care for people, you will stay an asshole.

Amen 😉

Rebelliously yours

Matteo