People use the chase for success in various forms as a way of avoiding self-knowledge. In some ways the worst thing that will ever happen to you is if you make the big bucks. Then you won't have an excuse for not knowing yourself. So what do the super-motivated people do then? They pick another milestone to shoot for before they'll start living.
Start now. Don't wait for anything to happen. You are alive in every way that's meaningful, now.
I put so much value in achieving all the goals my family set for me. I figured everyone would love me when I was a success. So I checked off everything on the list, and I mean everything. Nothing changed. Of course. I know that now, but I wish someone had told me before.
Live for yourself, do what you want to do. When other people tell you what to do, not only don't they know, but it won't please them when you do.
Don't wait for some arbitrary monetary goal before you live life exactly how you want to. Money makes some things easier, but also makes a lot of things harder. It will not buy you happiness, it will not buy you meaning and it won't stop your wife from dumping your ass if you don't do your job at home (she'll just take half of your "money" with her on the way out).
I always think of this story when I hear this type of question: http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2010/09/08/the-fisherman-and-the-...
And I'm perfectly happy deferring that as long as possible.
Currently my projects have a number of potential descriptors attached, but "boring" isn't one of them.
(If you haven't read it, the last chapter of Tim Ferriss' book "Four Hour Work Week" is a fascinating read. It details what it feels like to get to the point where you've achieved your goals, and no longer need to work. I don't want to go all Buzzfeed on you, but it's really not what you'd expect from a naive consideration of the situation.)
I've spent the past 7 years doing the startup grind dreaming of that huge exit. It hasn't come. Instead I've got a revised sense of priorities and of how long I've got left on this planet. Better than any amount of money.
http://ScoreVoting.net/LivesSaved.html
Instead, I'm VP of Engineering at a tech startup, trying to crawl out of my wife's student loan debt, raise my son, and hope that I'll be able to pursue my real passion by the time I'm 40.
Yeah, tell me about this one. I'm a guy who had a heart-attack, right in the middle of a period of time when we seemed to be getting some momentum going with the startup. I knew I was being silly putting off working out and being active and eating healthy, but I figured "things will level off soon and I'll get back to that stuff". Ummm.. no. Didn't work out that way. And when you're on the back of an ambulance being rushed to the emergency room, it's a bit late to start worrying about getting fit.
Luckily for me, I survived, and I've gotten back into bike riding big time again, and now I take time out to go ride an hour or so a few days a week, work be damned. :-)
So there's at least one lesson I learned and benefited from, but what a horrible way to do it. If anything I say on HN can help influence anybody else, let it be this.... DO NOT DO WHAT I DID. Take your health seriously, and do it starting NOW, regardless of how old you are. Remember, the artery damage that leads to heart-disease (and ultimately, heart attacks) begins very young... in some cases as early as your teen years (maybe earlier in some extreme cases). And definitely by your twenties, if you aren't eating right, watching your lipid profile, staying active, etc., you are setting yourself up for problems later.
And just to elaborate on all this a bit... I'd always heard the old saw "stress kills", but interestingly enough, after the heart attack, something everybody (cardiologist, GP, nurses, cardiac rehab people, etc.) emphasized to me VERY strongly, was the impact of stress. I'm sure I heard "you need to lower your stress levels" more than I heard "you need to lose weight" or "you need to lower your cholesterol". And I was really grinding those last few months right before it happened. I was working pretty much 7 days a week, and I'd routinely put in 8 hours during the day, then go up to B&N or Starbucks and work another 5 or 6 hours, during which time I'd drink a triple-shot latte, drink a Red Bull, and then eat a box or two of chocolate covered espresso beans. And I'd do this shit 4 or 5 times a week. In hindsight, it was all pretty stupid, but, like almost everybody who hasn't had a brush with death, I thought I was superhuman and could push myself that hard and get away with it.
So, again, moral of this story: DO NOT DO WHAT I DID. I AM A BAD EXAMPLE.
Take some time off, unwind, do something outdoors (hiking, biking, running, swimming, whatever), eat a healthful diet, and talk to your doctor occasionally. I know there's a lot of backlash against "over testing" and all, but at the very least, it's probably a good idea to go have an annual physical. Stop smoking if you do. Heart attacks are largely avoidable, but it means doing things right.
When you're normal, it is called charity, when you're rich, it is called "philanthropy" and you can even name your charity/foundation after yourself.