On Purpose with Jay Shetty - 5 Ways to Achieve a ‘Rich Life’ & Change Your Mindset from Scarcity to Abundance

Episode Date: December 6, 2024

What does a "rich life" mean to you? Do you focus more on what you have or what you lack? Today, Jay will redefine what it truly means to live a "rich life." While society often equates wealth with material possessions and financial success, Jay challenges this narrow definition and explores how richness can also encompass time, energy, relationships, and inner fulfillment. Drawing on personal experiences, historical insights, and anecdotes from his conversations with inspiring figures like Kobe Bryant and Tom Hanks, Jay illustrates how people can find peace and purpose by focusing on what genuinely matters. He also addresses the pitfalls of tying happiness solely to financial success, emphasizing that it’s not money itself but our mindset—whether driven by envy, ego, or gratitude—that shapes our sense of abundance. Jay further unpacks our personal definitions of wealth. Are we in a season of prioritizing career growth, family, love, or personal development? He explores how life’s richness comes from aligning with our true values and fully embracing the priorities that resonate most in each phase of life, without guilt or external judgment. In this episode, you'll learn: How to Define Your Rich Life How to Shift to an Abundance Mindset How to Find Purpose Beyond Money How to Focus Your Energy for Growth How to Live Authentically and Fully Richness isn’t about how much you have but how deeply you experience life. Prioritize what matters, invest your energy where it counts, and trust that each step you take toward alignment with your values brings you closer to a truly abundant existence.  With Love and Gratitude, Jay Shetty What We Discuss: 00:00 Intro 02:39 How Do You Define Wealth? 06:59 What You Do Becomes Your Identity 10:26 How to Create a Rich, Abundant Mindset? 11:46 The Difference Between Resume and Eulogy Virtues 17:01 How Do You Spend Your Time and Energy? 19:46 Looking at Richness Beyond Money 22:47 The Five Regrets of the Dying  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Want to know how to leverage culture to build a successful business? Then Butternomics is the podcast for you. I'm your host Brandon Butler, founder and CEO of Butter ATL. On Butternomics, we go deep with today's most influential entrepreneurs, innovators and business leaders to peel back the layers on how they use culture as a driving force in their business. Butternomics will give you what you need to take your game to the next level. Listen to Butternomics on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hi, I'm Se Cup, and I've spent my career interviewing people about politics, presidential elections, and some really tough breaking news. But now I need a break. And I think you do too. So on my new podcast, Off the Cup, I'll still be interviewing people, usually famous and most likely my friends, but about life. You know, the stuff that consumes us when we're not consumed by politics. So come join me every Wednesday for some conversational self care. Listen to Off the Cup on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows. Hey, I'm Jacquees Thomas, the host of a brand new Black Effect original series,

Black Lit, the podcast for diving deep into the rich world of black literature. Black Lit is for the page turners, for those who listen to audio books while running errands or at the end of a busy day. From thought provoking novels to powerful poetry, we'll explore the stories of a busy day. From thought-provoking novels to powerful poetry, we'll explore the stories that shape our culture. Listen to Black Lit on the Black Effect Podcast Network,

iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Let's be honest. Life is stressful. It's work, it's relationships, and the state of the world. But there's a way to bring that stress level down. Calm. It's the number one app for mental wellness with tons of content to manage anxiety, promote concentration and help you unwind. There's music, meditation and more.

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Calm your mind, change your life. No one says I love money, but everyone agrees that they appreciate what money brings them. Peace of mind, diminished anxiety. Most of us are rightly worried about what will happen in the future. And if nothing else, money gives us the false confidence to believe that what happens, good or bad, will probably be okay. But absent the concept of money, what else can rich mean? What does it mean, for example, to live a rich life. The number one health and wellness podcast. Jay Shetty.

Jay Shetty. The one, the only Jay Shetty. Hey everyone, welcome back to On Purpose. I'm Jay Shetty and as always, I'm so grateful you're taking the time to be with me here for our latest episode. If you've been listening recently, you know we've had some incredible guests, incredible workshops for our Fridays and it just keeps getting

better. Whenever any of you tell me when I bump into you that you've been listening, you've left a review that you're enjoying and appreciating the guests and the conversations, I truly appreciate the depth of what you share with me. So if you ever see me, let me know. It means the world to me. And I'm so grateful to have you here. Today, as we talk about this theme of defining wealth, defining success, not chasing and pursuing the things

that other people are important, but actually focusing on the things that we believe are a priority. Living our lives on our terms, focused and fixated on our goals that are truly ours. When someone tells me their dream, the first thing I ask them, if their dream is really their dream, or is it their mother's or father's, their sister's or brother's, their family members, their sisters or brothers, their family members, their teacher in school, whatever it may be. So many of us use our time chasing a dream that isn't even ours.

And in order to take us on this journey today, I want to ask you a question. And when I ask you this question, a lot of you may see it as a simple matter of math and the question can be easily answered by plugging it into Google or chat gpt. The question is who's the richest man in the world? Now it's probably safe to say that most of us define the word rich in exactly the same way. Money. Who has the most assets or resources or stuff? Who has the greatest number of houses around the world, a supercar collection, maybe horses, artwork, wine collection, swimming pools, tennis courts, whatever it may be. Maybe they own a football team. Now, if you go online, the answer comes up at once. Right now, in the latter part of 2024 when I'm recording this, the richest man in the

world is the tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, who owns X, which used to be known as Twitter, and companies like Tesla, SpaceX, and Starlink. Estimates can be believed today Elon Musk has a net worth of $263 billion. Others on the richest man in the world list, which is heavy on fortunes derived from technology, are in second place Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com with $224 billion. And down the list, Larry Ellison of Oracle, Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, and Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Metta. But today I want to challenge us to look at wealth

and richness through a different lens. Now I've never been the one to say money doesn't buy happiness. I think money can solve lots of problems. And I actually believe that learning to manage, invest and grow our financial stability is a really important skill. And we have other episodes with experts on the show about that.

But today I really want to focus on this idea of how we define wealth, what we think of as rich. And the truth is, rich is personal. Two years ago, the financial services firm Charles Schwab conducted a survey of 1,000 Americans from 21 to 75. What does it take to be considered wealthy or rich, respondents were asked. When the results were crunched, the somewhat random answer came in at around $2.2 million. Now why that particular figure? No one has a clue.

Especially since the net worth of the average American household is approximately $120,000. All of which goes to show that if your net worth exceeds $120,000, you may not be rich in the sense of having $2.2 million, but you're better off than most of your fellow Americans. Now, why even ask this question? Partly because in the US at least, we live in a culture that's preoccupied with the making, spending and sometimes flaunting of money. One of the greatest privileges of being able to work, live and travel abroad is the recognition that what we assume to be universally true is in fact more of a function of where you grew up and where you live. As listeners to this show, you know I was born in London, lived in India for some time while I was a monk and across the UK during that time and

moved to the US nearly a decade ago. It's been around eight years now. One of the first things I noticed is that in America, one of the most common questions I was ever asked is what do you do for a living? And it's really interesting. If you think about it, all of us at an event are asked, what do you do? What do you do for work? Our work has become our identity, right? What we do as our career has defined our personalities.

But if you look at around the globe, asking another person what they do for a living might be actually a bit more rare. And we might find that bizarre because we don't even know of a place like that. Cultures like Scandinavia are intensely private to the point where entering an elevator and saying hello to the other passengers is seen almost as personal trespass. Now, I'm not proposing one or the other. I'm making the point as to how much our identity gets wrapped up in the work we do.

I remember having the fortune of sitting down with the late Kobe Bryant. And what I was amazed by was that he was an athlete who was at peace in retirement, which is very rare because naturally so much of your identity becomes about playing the sport. It becomes about being known as one of the best athletes of all time. But he was able to detach and disconnect from that and create a new identity.

I had the fortune of interviewing Tom Hanks recently, just a couple of weeks ago on the podcast. And what I sensed from him was that he was peace in his career. And yes, you could say he's had a largely successful career. Of course he has. He's had a phenomenal career. But it was also that he wasn't hanging on to it. He wasn't chasing it.

There was a peace around him. And that's what I was trying to understand, what's the difference between someone who achieves and has peace? So it's almost like someone who achieves and receives peace versus someone who achieves and then just needs to keep achieving. And what do we define as an achievement? So has rich always been linked to money is a really interesting question to look at. And the answer is yes. And it

goes all the way back to the Middle Ages. The original old English word rice spelled exactly like the carbohydrate, led to the word rich. Even back then rice referred directly to how much money a person had, and was also connected to power, strength and high social status. So from early on in our evolution as humans, there has been a strong link between money, power, rulership and the attendant high regard of others. Arguably the same is true today.

Now what I'm interested in this episode to do is not to discourage you from having financial ambitions. I don't believe that that's the point. What I've realized actually is that it's not whether you have something or don't that makes you happy when it comes to material physical things. It's what you don't have. So for example, if you have money and envy, that will ruin you. If you have money and ego, that will ruin you. If you have money and ego, that will ruin you. If you have money and a lack of gratitude, that will ruin you. And if you have money and no envy, that's beautiful.

If you have money and no ego, that's beautiful. If you have money and gratitude, that's incredible. So what I found over time that the missing link wasn't about the material thing, it was about the emotional part of the experience of having or not having that thing. That quality, that attribute is what transformed how we felt. Okay, I am so excited about this because we've got the first ever merch drop for On Purpose it's finally here and for World Mental Health Day we're doing an exclusive limited edition drop with all the proceeds going to the National Alliance

on Mental Illness NAMI. So now you can wear your On Purpose merch, listen to the podcast and know that you too are having an impact. I want to thank you so much in advance. I can't wait to see all of your pictures wearing the merch. Their sweatshirts, ah ha t-shirts. Check it out on our website, jsheddeshop.com. That's jsheddeshop.com. And remember, 100% of the proceeds go to NAMI.

and remember 100% of the proceeds go to NAMI. So today what I want to explore is different ways in which we can be rich, different ways in which we can be wealthy, because I really believe that part of it is creating an abundance mindset. That's what this episode is really about. How do we create a rich, abundant mindset as opposed to this scarcity mindset?

The poverty in our mind is contagious, right? So how do we change that? Experiences always told me that no matter who you are, humans want to feel a sense of contentment, a sense of ease in their lives. They seek a sense of purpose, which they often find in their work, and they seek social bonds and love. If you're a man whose biological goal it is to provide for and protect your family, your happiness can derive from the job you do

and the positive feelings you derive from making sure your loved ones are safe and attended to. But let's also be very clear. Money, even though no one likes to talk about it, matters. Money is important. No one says I love money, but everyone agrees that they appreciate what money brings them. Peace of mind, diminished anxiety, most of us are rightly worried about what will happen in the future, and if nothing else, money gives us the false confidence to believe that what happens, good or bad bad will probably be okay.

But absent the concept of money, what else can rich mean? What does it mean, for example, to live a rich life? A few years ago, I read a wonderful article in the newspaper where the writers spoke about the difference between resume virtues and eulogy virtues. In the first category are those abilities and credentials that people bring to their workplace and in the second category are those qualities that people discuss and get emotional about and remember once you're gone. These are known as eulogy virtues and while there may occasionally be some overlap between the two it's striking that in the second category are the words such

as honest and loyal and a good friend and a loving husband and parent and a great number of our community. But as the article I read pointed out, if we focus exclusively on our resume virtues, there will inevitably come a time in our lives when we begin feeling a little bit hollow, as though we've missed the point of life. This was what it was all about all along. Getting another promotion, earning a bigger paycheck, staying at high-end hotels. Suddenly you consider friends of yours who maybe haven't made the same investment in their careers as you have, who've lived quieter, steadier lives, filled with children, good meals, the occasional

vacation and the effort to make a difference in the worlds they inhabit. Maybe they haven't won an award, maybe they haven't come close to earning millions of dollars, but they've lived a rich life as well, learning, growing and being. This isn't again to discourage you, it's to say what parts of your wealth do you want to expand? What parts have you not invested in? Rich then has a lot to do with the choices we make about what has meaning and what doesn't. What does it mean to lead a rich and meaningful life? It's a question nearly everyone confronts at some point in their own journey and one that great thinkers and philosophers have been wrestling with since the beginning of time. Even asking this question is a positive step as it gives us space from what the world appears to define as having meaning, example behaviors, habits and rituals that lead only to accumulation

of economic growth. You may ask yourself, who am I and why am I doing what I'm doing in this life? Is this something I love doing? If it isn't then what do I want to do instead? What was I put here for? This isn't just about what we do for a living it's about the very why of our being. I couldn't be more excited to share something truly special with all you tea lovers out there. And even if you don't love tea, if you love refreshing, rejuvenating, refueling sodas that are good for you, listen to this. Radhi and I poured our hearts into creating Juni Sparkling Tea with Adaptogens for you,

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function. Even better, Juni has zero sugar and only 5 calories per can. We believe in nurturing and energizing your body while enjoying a truly delicious and refreshing drink. So visit drinkjuni.com today to elevate your wellness journey and use code on purpose to receive 15% off your first order. That's drinkjuni.com and make sure you use the code on purpose. That's drinkjuni.com and make sure you use the code on purpose. Some psychologists define meaning as being about coherence and purpose, the understanding

we have of our lives and the direction where we hope they're going. Others argue that significance is just as important as coherence and purpose, that we need to have a sense of our lives intrinsic value. But regardless of what you believe, meaning and the search for meaning will always be a personal endeavor. There are no right answers. The way I found meaning in my life may not be how you find meaning in yours. That doesn't mean that one is better or worse, this isn't a competition, and there are no

prizes awarded at the end. It just means that meaning and the search for meaning is an individual as people are. That said, a rich and meaningful life tends to have a few things in common. The first is that it involves passion, caring deeply about what you do for a living or even the hobbies in your life. Making and sustaining strong social relationships is another important factor, as there is a connection among the strength of our friendships, our sense of belonging and our perception that our lives are full and meaningful.

Finally, there's our overall positivity. The more positive our mood and the more we feel in control of our environments will also enhance our sense of meaning. Hi, I'm Essie Kupp and I have spent the last 20 plus years knee deep in politics in the news. I've covered some really tough subjects from war to genocide to six presidential elections, way too much Trump. You know what?

I need a break, like a mental health break from the news, from the triggering headlines. And I kind of suspect some of you listening out there might need a break too. So my new podcast is going to be just that, a fun and loose space where I talk to my famous friends and people I admire about all the stuff that consumes us when we're not consumed by politics. I did not really rebel in the 60s. I had no sex in the 70s. I made no money in the 80s.

So when true crime came along, I missed that trend too. So many great guests are joining me from Josh Mankiewicz to Larry Wilmore to Molly John Fast to Josh Gad. I'm so excited that you have this platform and I am just like hoping that I don't destroy the platform in its earliest stages. Listen to Off the Cup on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows. What's up, y'all? This is Questlove. And, you know, at QLS, I get to hang out with my friends, Sugar Steve, Laia, Von Tegelow, Unpaid Bill,

and we at Questlove Supreme like to nerd out and do deep dives with musicians and actors and politicians and journalists. We give you the stories behind all your favorite artists and creatives that you have never heard. I'm talking about stories behind their life journeys and their works of art. I love QLS because of the QLS team Supreme. They're like a second family to me.

Your fan is deep diving into music, everything, almanacking your musical history and learning things about hip-hop artists and things you never thought. Then you're a lot like me. But you're also a fan of Questlove Supreme. One of the things I love the most about this show is that we get to learn from the masters. I look at being on this show as my graduate program in music. Listen to Questlove Supremo on the iHeartRadio app. Have a podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.

Want to know how to leverage culture to build a successful business? Then Butternomics is the podcast for you. I'm your host, Brandon Butler, founder and CEO of Butter ATL. Over my career, I've built and helped run multiple seven-figure businesses that leverage culture and built successful brands. Now I want to share what I've learned with you. On Butternomics, we go deep with today's most influential entrepreneurs, innovators, and business leaders to peel back the layers on how they use culture as a driving force

in their business. On every episode, we get the inside scoop on how these leaders tap into culture to build something amazing. From exclusive interviews to business breakdowns, we'll explore the journey of turning passion for culture into business. Whether you're just getting started or an established business owner, Butternomics will give you what you need to take your game to the next level. This is Butternomics.

Listen to Butternomics on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Let me give you another way to look at the richness of life. As humans, we're all given two things, time and energy. We use both to foster experiences and create social interactions in our lives. Time in varying measures is one of the foundations of being born and of being human. It's when our personal clock starts ticking. We all know we have time, we just don't know how much or when that time will run out. If we're privileged to be in good health and we live at an era in a culture

where life is relatively peaceful, chances are good that we will live a normal lifespan, which today in the US at least is 80 years for women and nearly 75 years for men, averaging out between the two sexes at 77 years. We are also given energy or vitality, physical and mental power, the capacity to engage in work and to exert ourselves. Together, time and energy form the basis of every one of our lives. What does it mean then when we ask ourselves who is the richest man in the world? And of course ultimately who is the richest man in the world? And of course, ultimately, who's the richest person in the world?

I only focused on the male gender for the perspective of asking this question, but what makes us feel the richest? We've talked about money, we've talked about qualities, but it leaves us with the greatest gift. It's how we use our time and energy. Someone can be time rich because they have lots of time. We often talk about feeling time poor these days.

We're running from meeting to meeting, running from this to that. So we're time poor and maybe money. Okay. But what about being time rich? That's a value. What about being energy rich? We take care of our energy. We manage our energy.

I want us to expand our definition of rich so that time and energy are also there just like money. According to one survey, we'll spend 28 years of our lifetime sleeping, 15 years engaged in work, 13 years relaxing, 7 years performing everyday household chores, 5 years socializing and four years eating and drinking. Over the course of an average lifetime we'll work a dozen jobs and interact with roughly 80,000 people. Our heart will beat 2.92 billion times or a hundred thousand beats a day and our eyes will blink 420 million times or around 5.3 million blinks per year. We'll take 672 million breaths and walk roughly 63,000 miles.

That's what it means to be alive. And it's so important that we figure out how we want to use that time alive. how we want to use that time alive. So let's really look at richness as beyond money when we're thinking about our lives and think about, is this a year where I wanna be wealthy in travel? Is this a year where I wanna be wealthy in experiences? I remember speaking to a friend the other day and he was like, you know, the last couple of years,

I haven't made as much money as I, you know, usually do. And I said to him, but you fell in love. You found the greatest wealth of all. You found a life partner that you've proposed to. You're going to get married to. Like what an incredible investment. And I think it's a really interesting thing that we have to think about where it's like, there are going to be seasons in our life.

Some seasons are all about financial growth. Some seasons are all about family growth. Some seasons are all about relationship growth. And I think what makes our life hard and complicated is either when we're trying to do all of them all at once, or we feel bad that we're prioritizing one, right? There's a feeling that when we're prioritizing our financial health and our financial wealth, that with some way, we feel guilty that we're not investing in the other things. And guess what? It takes away the joy from building your financial position.

And then when you're spending time with friends and family, you're then feeling guilty that you're not building your company. And so what we do is we actually let our internal state be clouded by shame and guilt for what we're focused on. So I'm here to remind you, let's take away that shame and guilt. Let's take away that judgment. Let's focus in on the real thing, the real growth,

right? Let's focus in on going, okay, what season am I in? What year am I in? Is this a year where I'm really focused on my career or is this a year where I'm really, really focused on my family? Or is this a year that I really need to focus on love? And I think so many of us are trying to do everything all at the same time that we don't achieve anything and then we feel worse. And I think often we're made to feel guilty and judged for focusing, for prioritizing, but we all know it's so hard otherwise. Right. What have you ever achieved when you weren't focusing? I know there was a part of my work that I kept trying to outsource for the last few years.

It's been something I'm really passionate about, but I haven't had the time because I've been working on so many other things. In the last 12 months, I decided to put so much more focus on it. And all of a sudden it was transformative. It shifted, it moved. And so if we don't move our energy towards something, it won't move. And if we're trying to equally perfectly divide up our energy across a couple of areas, across a couple of things, we, you know, recognize that that's all we're going to ever get back from it, right?

That's all we're ever to ever get back from it. Right. That's all we're ever going to get back from it. Now, when you look at Bronnie Ware's beautiful book about the five regrets of the dying, she says they are, I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings. Tell them. If you've got someone that you need to open your heart to this week. You want to open your heart to, tell them. The second is, I wish I'd stayed in touch with my friends. Call that person.

Reach out. Don't hold back. The third is, I wish I'd lived a life true to myself, not the life that other people expected of me. That's what I was talking about earlier. What is rich for you? Define rich, define wealthy, define wealth this year. Don't be pulled and pushed around by the opinions of others.

The fourth is I wish I hadn't worked so hard. And I think that's a challenging one because we all have to work to survive. And I think we'll all feel that way. But I also want to give us grace to not have that regret and recognize we had, some of us may have felt like we had to, we needed to. And the fifth is, this is the more important side of everything. I wish I'd allowed myself to be happier.

It's so beautiful. I wish I'd allowed myself to be happier. How could you be happier today? How could you be richer today because you choose to be? You allow yourself to be. How could you be more abundant today because you choose to be? You allow yourself to be. How could you be wealthier today because you choose to be? You allow yourself to be. You look in that direction, right? You look in that direction, you amplify that, you bring it to life. I'm so grateful for your time and energy today.

I hope this leaves you feeling lighter, richer, wealthier, recognizing that there is so much wealth in your life. And I hope it allows you to create more financial wealth as well with that abundance mindset. Take care of yourselves Remember I'm forever in your corner and always rooting for you If you loved this episode you'll love my conversation with dr. Joe Dispenza on why stress and overthinking Negatively impacts your brain and heart and how to change your habits that are on autopilot

Listen to it right now. How many times do we have to forget until we stop forgetting and start remembering? That's the moment of change. Who cares how many times you fell off the bicycle if you ride the bicycle now? You ride the bike. Hey, I'm Gianna Predenti. And I'm Jemay Jackson-Gadston.

We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. There's a lot to figure out when you're just starting your career. That's where we come in. Think of us as to figure out when you're just starting your career. That's where we come in. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in people who do, like negotiation expert

Morrie Tahari-Pore. If you start thinking about negotiations as just a conversation, then I think it sort of eases us a little bit. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, y'all? This is Questlove. Talk offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. actors, politicians, creatives, people that we feel really deserve that attention. We learn, we laugh, we fall down rabbit holes. Listen to Cost Love Suprema on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Suprema! Bring a little optimism into your life with The Bright Side, a new kind of daily podcast from Hello Sunshine, hosted by me, Danielle Robay, and me, Simone Boyce. Every weekday, we're bringing you conversations about culture, the latest trends, inspiration,

and so much more. I am so excited about this podcast, The Bright Side. You guys are giving people a chance to shine a light on their lives, shine a light on a little advice that they wanna share. Listen to The Bright Side on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Open your free iHeart app and search The Bright Side.