Vincent Chan: Upgrade Your Money and Life
5 life-changing insights from Miami
Welcome to reThinkable – my weekly newsletter where I share actionable insights to build a wealthy healthy life.
Here’s what we’re covering:
🌏 Shaping the world around you
🕰️ Alive Time or Dead Time?
💸 Poverty isn’t only about money
🔍 There is a hidden cost to everything
🔨 Break open the cracks
Estimated read time: 4 minutes and 11 seconds
Last week, I went on an impromptu trip to Miami with 2 friends
When we planned this trip, we made 2 promises:
1. We would work during the day
2. We would have a great time
We stood by these promises and had wonderful non-stop conversations about life and business.
Interestingly, even though we were all at different stages in our lives, a common set of questions, struggles, and anxieties emerged in our conversations.
I believe these feelings are universal so I wanted to share some of the insights and perspectives that we talked about.
🌏 Shaping the world around you
I used to have a habit of being overly negative, often justifying it as being a “realist” but who could blame me?
I grew up lower middle class, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer at 11 and attended the 5th most overpopulated high school in the country.
I saw the world as unjust and unfair.
Then, one day, I was talking to my school guidance counselor bluntly said:
“Your life is what your thoughts make it.
If you believe you have no chance in life, you’re right.
If you look for crap, you will see crap.
But if you see life as beautiful, you’ll experience it.
If you choose to see goodness in the world, then you’ll see it.”
It was tough for me to accept that the things you think about shape your mind and your life.
It wasn’t easy for me to change my mindset at first. It took a lot of effort but I strongly believe that shift is a big reason for where I am today.
When you find yourself thinking negatively, ask yourself these questions:
1. What would I tell my best friend to feel better if they were in this situation?
2. What can I learn from this situation that I can use to better myself in the future?
3. In what ways can I show myself compassion right now?
🕰️ Alive Time or Dead Time?
There was a common trend of anxiety over the fear of “wasting our time” — particularly since we were all entrepreneurs and we set our own schedules.
I remember that feeling well, but I also recall reading a concept from Robert Greene that really helped.
There are 2 types of time: Dead Time and Alive Time
Dead Time is when you wait for things to happen to you
Alive Time is when you actively use the time you have
If you’re commuting to the office for 40 minutes — you can’t control the commute but you can control whether those 40 minutes will be Dead Time or Alive Time.
1. You could listen to a podcast, read another issue of reThinkable, call your mom or
2. You could mindlessly scroll through TikTok or stare at someone’s shoes.
Whenever I take the subway, I could easily just scroll through Reddit. Instead, I use that time to research and script my short-form videos.
💸 Poverty isn’t only about money
As my business began to grow, I found myself facing a dilemma.
Despite earning more than ever before, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it still wasn’t enough.
Then I came across this line from Letters from a Stoic that has stuck with me:
“It is not the man who has too little who is poor, but the man who hankers for more.”
Of course, not having what you need to survive is insufficient. But what about people who have plenty yet still aren’t satisfied?
There is nothing wrong with wanting to be wealthier, a nicer car, or a bigger house.
However, there is something wrong with never being satisfied or grateful about what you DO have.
If you are always after something else and only focus on what you don’t have then you’ll never be satisfied.
In this sense, poverty is when you think that what you have is never “enough”.
There is nothing wrong about wanting more, but it is equally important to feel gratitude and content for what you do have:
1. Your friends and family
2. Your health
3. Safety and security
🔍 There is a hidden cost to everything
I’m sorry to tell you but nothing in life is “free.”
1. There is a hidden cost to everything you do and I’m not talking about financial transactions.
2. The hidden cost to holding onto grudges is your peace of mind
3. The hidden cost of scrolling on TikTok is your productivity
4. The hidden cost of commuting is your time
If you want to be successful you need to be aware of all these hidden transactions to prioritize what will lead to the greatest reward for you.
🔨 Break open the cracks
If you genuinely believe opportunities will just fall into your lap, you’re wrong.
If you want to win, you need to:
1. Always be on the lookout for tiny cracks
2. Be persistent in breaking those cracks open
Last year, at an event, one participant wanted to join my team as a videographer. I told him to send me his best work with a short write-up on each.
2 days later, he did, and I brought him on board to help me film a few videos.
Plenty cracks of opportunities exist in the world but you need to actively look for them and rip them open.
If you just passively wait, you could be waiting forever.
The week in Miami was both exhausting and enlightening.
I was reminded of one fact: In the end, all that really matters is our relationship with one another.
There is nothing better than experiencing life with people in a world where we spend most of our time on our phones.
Always remember, you don’t just want to live a wealthy life — you want to live a wealthy and healthy one.