Correlation Between Rising to the Top and Making a Lot of Money

After the superbowl, I got into an interesting conversation with a bunch of friends I had been watching the game with.

I said I would gladly make half my pay if I were a quarterback in exchange for winning the superbowl. Of course this is hypothetical, no one can guarantee that.

However, this hypothetical situation met with stiff resistance with most of them disagreeing and some even accusing me of being egotistic - which is ironic giving that, I'm willing to sacrifice money to go down as one of the best in my field.
My simple response to that was that if ego was driving me, then too much greed was driving someone who couldn't let go of half a quarterback's pay (still a lot of money) for the height of glory in one's profession.

The argument continued for a while and I even asked them if they were willing to let go of half for a number of years in exchange for numerous superbowls and being one of the greatest.
They still refused and would rather take the money, claiming that a QB winning multiple superbowls doesn't make him one of the greatest. Someone gave the example of Dan Marino.

This baffled me a lot.
With very few exceptions, if your drive is to be one of the best in what you do, and you are not stupid with money, negotiations, etc, you usually end up also being one of the most successful and well off.

Turns out people are so focused on being rich, they forget that striving for the best is a "shortcut" to being truly rich, not just in monetary terms but in the satisfaction that comes from knowing you are doing the best at what you do and you enjoy it.

I don't think Federer will gladly take double his pay for no grand slams or just one.
I can almost bet money that Lebron James will take half his pay in a year for a guaranteed championship ring. He knows with numerous championships in a career, he'll make over and above whatever he let go off.

That is the common characteristic of wealthy, successful people. They love what they do and they love to win and put in all the effort to win -- the gladly put in their 10,000 hours over and over and would do it just to be the best even for less money.

Almost always, they tend to love what they do too, making it easy to do it without money being the central focus.

This is a secret of wealth and waking up everyday loving what you do and how you live your life.
Turns out there are lots of people who don't see the connection.

Doesn't make them any less better people, doesn't make them any less honest or kind or gracious, but it means they may be missing a vital point in becoming very successful and ultimately very wealthy (materially and otherwise) and enjoying it.

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How Much Should I Put Down?