There's always another level

Enjoy what you have while dreaming of what’s next. That was my thought over breakfast in Singapore in 2012, when a conversation about an expensive yoga session made me examine our own expectations.

Enjoy what you have before looking to the next step

We were staying at a more expensive, lavish hotel than we’d normally choose. Yet we could still find something there we thought too expensive.

It occurred to me that other guests might see the same offer as an ordinary part of everyday life. We’re at different points with different yardsticks.

There can always be someone with more

When I moved away from home, eating a burger out was a great luxury. Later, other wishes arrived. Once you’ve got what you dreamed of, the next thing can quickly take over.

In the video, I use a series of fictional comparisons involving bigger boats and even more expensive possibilities. They illustrate that you can always find someone who has more.

Ambition and enjoyment needn’t exclude each other

I didn’t want us to stop striving for things. That drive can be good and move us forward.

But I also wanted to remember to stop, taste the breakfast and enjoy the experience we actually had. Otherwise, we could overlook what we’d once hoped for.

My encouragement was to make room for both: Enjoying the present and wanting to work towards the next thing. The hotel story and prices in the video are from the 2012 trip.

Breakfast after 16 days in a motorhome

I’m having breakfast in Singapore. We’re on a four-and-a-half-month family trip around the world, and I’m interviewing Danish entrepreneurs for Amino TV. We’ve stayed in many different places, and just before Singapore we spent 16 days in a motorhome in New Zealand.

As a great change, we’ve checked into the Mandarin Oriental, which I describe in the video as one of the world’s best hotels. That’s not normal for me. I usually fly monkey class and am fairly restrained about many things. But occasionally, I go a little wild. I enjoy it, and places like this inspire me too.

The breakfast restaurant is completely lavish. Chefs are making pancakes, omelettes and all sorts of things. If you want chocolate on your pancake, it isn’t just ordinary chocolate but Valrhona. That’s pretty fancy.

A yoga session for DKK 750

The four of us are eating when my wife says she’d like a yoga session. Why don’t you, I ask. Because an individual session costs DKK 750. She thinks that’s far too much, and I agree.

Then she says that for many people, it’s just pocket change. She’d like it to feel that way. That must be quite something. The conversation got me thinking about all the levels we move through in life.

From pasta twists to a burger at the DSB kiosk

When I was around 18 or 19 and moved away from home, I lived on pasta twists. If I’d visited my parents and been given a hundred-kroner note, I could go and eat a DKK 35 burger at the DSB kiosk. They made good burgers back then. Whether they still did, I wasn’t so sure when recording the video.

That burger was incredible luxury. I thought how fantastic it would be if I could do it every day. Later, the wish might be to afford a car. Then you got a car and dreamed of a really great car. There’s always another step up.

Harry’s yacht, Peter’s helicopter and Branson’s spaceship

I said to my wife: We’re staying in a hotel more expensive than our usual ones. So DKK 750 for yoga seems like a lot. But for someone at another financial level, perhaps it’s nothing special.

I imagined a rich guest completely used to the lavish restaurant. Perhaps he just takes three pieces of fruit because it’s everyday life to him. Perhaps he sits thinking about his good friend Harry, who’s out on his luxury yacht right now, able to sail wherever he wants.

Harry then sits on his yacht thinking of his friend Peter, who also has a helicopter on his yacht. Peter thinks on to Richard Branson, who at the time was building his own spaceship. Harry and Peter are my illustrations of how the comparison can continue.

Wherever you are in life and whatever you have, you can end up comparing yourself with people one step further ahead. They compare themselves with others. There’s always another level.

Enjoy what you have and taste the pancakes

I can sit at the hotel thinking: I’m the fucking king of the world! I can afford a hotel at over DKK 3,000 a night. I can eat homemade pancakes and ask the waiter for more. I can have caviar with my muesli if I want. That’s fantastic.

But we tend to look at what we don’t yet have rather than what we have right now. Then the people who can simply pay DKK 750 to stretch their arms at a yoga session suddenly take up more space than our own experience.

Some watching the video might be 15-year-old students thinking I’m completely mad: DKK 3,000 a night! They could buy a fucking PlayStation every day for that. Others might think I’m boasting about a price they pay for a room for their maid. We’re in different places with different yardsticks.

Both enjoyment of the present and the drive towards what’s next

We should still dream and strive for the next level. That force is in us as human beings. Without wanting to move forward, perhaps we’d still live in caves, or not even have found a cave. We wouldn’t have invented the wheel, the car and today’s civilisation. Having that drive is great.

But whether you’re eating a burger at the DSB kiosk or sitting at the Mandarin Oriental, let the experience sink in too. Tell yourself: This is great. Look how far I’ve come. These pancakes taste wonderful. Think how lucky you are, how hard you’ve worked and how much you deserve to enjoy that moment.

Once it’s sunk in, you can think about Harry on the luxury yacht and ask how to get there yourself. They’re two different stages that both need room: Enjoying the present and enjoying the drive that can move you forward. Also read Skab din egen succes about my thoughts on ambition and a good life on your own terms.

If we lose the drive, or lose the enjoyment of what we have now, I think we lose a very big part of life. Now I’m flying on to Manila in a couple of hours. We’ll probably see each other there.

Also read my New Year address at the start of 2012.

Best wishes, Martin