Well, of course we need to adapt
and we need to change
whether we’re playing poker
or whether we’re in life, right?
- Yeah.
No, for sure because –
- Yeah.
No, for sure because –
I mean if we stop changing and stop evolving
and stop getting better,
that’s when you die basically.
So
I think that’s the most important thing
is to be adaptable and always be
growing and changing.
I think it’s important to look at your values too
and examine them and kind of think like,
OK, I’m on this path in life
and I think everyone is on a certain path in life
and it’s because of their values.
For me it was like my desire of freedom
and my fear of failure
kind of propelled me on my path.
A lot of people I don’t think think about
the reasons why they’re doing what they’re doing.
If you don’t think about them,
then you can’t change it.
So …
- It’s the difference between
having a set of values
that you can clearly see and you understand I’m not –
I would love to have these values
but I’m not following them.
It’s completely different to not even knowing
that you have values.
- Yeah, exactly and
once you realize what they are
and you’re like,
“OK, this isn’t getting me to my goal
or my blueprint of life,” or whatever,
then you can change them.
But if you don’t even think about it
and don’t realize what they are,
then you’re kind of just stuck in a box
with no way to get out.
- Who is surrounding you at the moment and
what is it about those people that you love?
Why have you got those
people in your life?
- Well, I have my wife.
She’s really supportive.
She’s totally different than me.
I’m kind of an introverted person
and she is very extroverted.
You know, everyone loves her.
She knows how to connect with people
and she’s always there for me.
She’s very down-to-earth and
present in the moment
and I –
I’m the opposite in a lot of ways.
You know, I’m an introvert.
I get into my own head.
I don’t really –
I wouldn’t say I don’t care about people
but like if I see someone,
I have no desire to say hi to them.
I just want to get off to the gym
or the poker game or wherever I’m going.
So she’s the most important person to me
and then my dog,
I love my dog because he’s always happy
and he’s always down to do whatever.
Then I spend a lot of my life playing poker, gambling,
so I’m around a lot of gamblers
and I’m fortunate enough to
play in really high stakes games,
so I’m around a lot of really successful people.
So
they all have traits I admire
and I’m able to learn from.
- What about purpose?
Do you give any thought to purpose
in the moment?
Why am I here?
Why am I playing?
What am I doing?
Who am I doing it for?
- Yeah, for sure.
I think purpose is very important in life
because without purpose or meaning,
if you win all the money in the world of gambling,
it’s still not going to make you happy.
So it’s important to kind of have
something you’re playing for, something –
a purpose
and it’s also important to have a purpose
to be a winner
because otherwise, if the only purpose is
winning and making more money,
then
it’s easy to lose motivation I guess
and lose perspective.
- So what is that purpose then for you?
Why are you playing poker?
- Well, I’m playing poker –
I’m at a point now where financially
I wouldn’t need to play poker anymore to live
a lifestyle I’m living now.
I think a lot of people,
they think when people reach a certain
level of wealth,
they’re like,
“Why do those people even work anymore?
They have enough money to do
whatever they want.”
Well, I’ve seen with people –
not just myself but people
who are far more successful than me.
As you reach higher and higher levels of wealth,
you’re able to do more and more and
at some point, it’s not even about just
the lifestyle anymore.
It’s about, OK,
now I can start like a charity foundation
and they can pursue their passion projects
or they can
build a school for their kids and
the people in their community
or they can employ hundreds of people.
So like
they can go beyond
just providing things for themselves.
They can start providing things
for others around them.
- Yeah.
It’s the same advice I keep –
my son keeps telling me,
that he wants to be a millionaire
and I keep saying to him, “Why?”
and he says,
“Oh, because I want to have everything that I need in life,”
and I say, “Well, I have that.
But you don’t need to be a millionaire.
Why do you want to be a millionaire?”
- Yeah.
- And keep pushing him and pushing him.
But obviously he’s a little bit young to get it.
Before 2018 started,
taking on a purpose then,
was there anything in particular that you wanted to achieve this year
that was really important to you?
- Oh, in 2018?
I mean I’m building a house with my wife.
So that’s really cool
and we’re designing to get
everything we want in the house
kind of around the lifestyle we like.
So that’s kind of my big project for the year.
- And are you a goals-orientated person in particular?
Do you sit there before the year begins
and write down your stuff
that you’re going to do for the year or do you just wing it?
- I do do that.
But I’m not as goal-oriented as I used to be
because
I think that’s something my wife has taught me.
I used to be very
disciplined in a lot of ways and like OK,
these are my rules
and I’m not going to break them, you know,
and now I’m a little bit more
go with the flow and try to just
enjoy life a little bit more.
- And how is that working out for you?
- It’s working out and some.
But I will show them who I am.
- You still feel [0:18:39] [Inaudible].
- Yes, yes
- What change are you trying to make in the world, Andrew?
- What change am I trying to make in the world?
I would just say I want to make
the world a better place
and I don’t mean that in a grand way,
but just like being nice to people or
just giving people an insight into their life
or the way they can do things
or even a small thing, like how –
if they want to be better poker players,
like how could they play a poker hand better?
I just like to think
the interactions I have are often
more positive than negative.
