Not about the money
Originally written in Chinese. Translated with AI, reviewed by Gary. Read the Chinese original →
A rare half day of rest: after work today, my wife and I sneaked off to watch F1 The Movie.
The film has plenty of details worth savouring, but one scene really moved me.
Someone asks the lead character: "Why do you race?"
He smiles and answers:
"Not about the money."
In the film, he asks the people around him a similar question.
The second male lead answers: "For the money, for the fame."
The female lead answers: "To prove I can. To my ex-husband, my boss, my professors."
Later on, she asks him again:
"Why do you race?"
He says:
"When I'm in the car, everything feels calm. Nobody can catch me. In that moment, it's like I'm flying."
That's a pure state. Anyone who plays sport knows it: this is "flow".
When you're fully focused, time and distracting thoughts disappear, and all that's left is the connection between you and your goal.
He knows very well he didn't come back for a championship, or to prove anything, but to find that moment of focus and freedom again.
After the movie, I asked my wife too: "Why do I run a business?"
Thinking about it carefully, the answer at the start was very practical: to put food on the table. The kids were small and I had a family to support. With spare money, maybe I could buy a nice watch or a sports car.
Later there were shareholders, so I had to create value. There was a team, so I wanted the people willing to follow me to have better lives. There were customers, and their good reviews pushed me to keep delivering good things.
All of that sounds "right".
But when real difficulties come, these reasons often make me question everything.
I remember Steve Jobs being asked a similar question in an interview. He said:
"I'm best at doing is finding a group of talented people and making things with them. I want to make things."
He was obsessed with building things, just as Brad Pitt's character is obsessed with racing. It's a pure obsession.
In real life, though, almost nothing gets around money. When Brad Pitt drives that beaten-up van and casually says, "Not about the money," I felt real envy in that moment.
So what's my answer now?
I've found that it's really about seeing things that don't sit right with me, and wanting to use a business to voice a different opinion to the world.
Life already has too many things we can't choose. I hope that one day, like Brad Pitt in the movie, I can say it with that same ease:
Not about the money.