Is This the Success I Want?

Hey Beyonder!

Last week felt… overwhelming, but also fun. Equal parts bright future and confusing future, if you know what I mean.

Let me tell you what happened.

The Five-Hour Sleep Question

Remember that A2B founder podcast I mentioned last newsletter? We finally recorded it.

And man, that conversation did something to me.

Picture this: You're sitting across from someone who runs a business generating over a thousand crores in revenue. The kind of success most people dream about. The luxury, the impact, the legacy.

Then he casually pulls out his phone and shows you his sleep tracker.

Five hours. That's all he sleeps. Every single day.

I just sat there thinking, "Would I ever want this?"

Because here's what nobody tells you about that level of success - it comes with a price tag that has nothing to do with money.

The pressure of keeping a thousand-crore business running. The weight of 15,000 employees depending on your decisions. The responsibility that never lets you switch off.

Five hours of sleep isn't a flex. It's the reality.

And I'm still not sure if I'd be willing to pay that price. To trade sleep, peace, maybe even a bit of sanity for scale.

But then there's the other side - what he's built changes lives. Not just his own family's life, but 15,000 families. Every single day.

That's the part that won't leave my mind.

Then the Scale Got Even Bigger

Later that week, I met another founder. Someone operating at a scale I couldn't even wrap my head around.

The numbers were just... incomprehensible.

But you know what hit me? Spending time with people like this - it's like unlocking levels in a game you didn't even know existed. Each conversation opens up a perspective I never considered before.

And honestly? I'm grateful my work lets me have these conversations. The whole content creation, podcasting, storytelling thing - it puts me in rooms with people most folks never get to meet.

That's pretty wild when I think about it.

But it also made the question louder: Is this what I want?

What Does Success Even Mean?

These founders have built empires. Changed thousands of lives. Created massive impact.

But at what cost?

I look at what I'm building - TownScholar, my content, this newsletter you're reading, the podcast - and I keep asking myself: What does my version of success actually look like?

Is it about scale? Building something massive that touches millions?

Is it about impact? Creating something small but deeply meaningful?

Is it about freedom? Having control over my time and peace of mind?

Or is it some weird combination of all three?

Here's the thing - I don't have the answer yet.

And maybe that's okay.

Maybe the bright future and confusing future can coexist. Maybe asking the question is more important than having the answer right now.

What I do know is this: I don't want to wake up ten years from now and realize I was climbing someone else's ladder.

The Thing That Keeps Me Grounded

You know what's been my anchor through all this chaos?

Badminton.

When everything else feels heavy - the big questions about the future, the uncertainty about the path ahead, the weight of decisions I need to make - stepping onto that court just clears it all.

For those couple of hours, it's just me, the shuttle, and the game. The mental noise stops. The comparisons fade. The questions can wait.

I'm genuinely grateful for that escape.

Sometimes the best clarity comes not from thinking harder, but from giving your brain permission to just... play.

Something to Think About

We're constantly told to aim higher, scale bigger, grow faster. Ambition is celebrated. Hustle is glorified.

And look, there's nothing wrong with wanting more.

But here's what I'm learning: Success isn't one-size-fits-all.

For some people, it's building that thousand-crore empire. For others, it's creating something small but deeply meaningful. For some, it's finding the sweet spot between impact and inner peace.

The trick isn't figuring out what success looks like for everyone else.

It's figuring out what it looks like for you.

And being honest enough to pursue that - even if it doesn't look impressive on LinkedIn.

Over to You

Here's what I'm curious about:

Hit reply and tell me. I read every single email, and honestly, some of my best insights come from conversations with you Beyonders.

Talk soon!

Cheers,
Epaphra

P.S. - If you're also wrestling with big life questions and don't have all the answers, welcome to the club. We're all just figuring it out as we go. And that's perfectly fine.