Welcome to the Success Architect, where we don't just build homes, we build legacies. I'm your host, Jake Lewendal, custom home builder and coach. Each week, I sit down with builders and entrepreneurs who are ready to 10x their business, their health and their mindset. This is where blueprints become breakthroughs. Let's get to work. All right, guys, welcome back to The Success Architect. I'm your host, Jake Lewendal, and what I want to talk about today is what success means to me. On every guest episode, I make a habit of ending with the same question. What does success mean to you? And it's only fair that I also answer it. So I wanted to take an entire episode to answer it in detail because I have been asked this question before and not been able to answer it. And I've honestly been asking myself this question for a long time. So I wanted to take the time to really drill down. and figure out what success is for me for my own life. And because it's only fair that I answered on this podcast when I'm asking other people the same question, I've realized something with success. I asked that question a lot, but I've never really answered it fully. And that's what I intend to do today. I don't want to do this with any back and forth. I want to do it solo. And that's what I'm going to do today without a guest, because I think this is the only way that I can answer it fully. So here's the simplest way that I can put it. Success to me is building a life where I get to keep creating with the people I love for as long as I'm alive, not grinding toward an exit, not racing toward retirement, And not one day I'll get to enjoy this. I want to enjoy every single day. I want a life where my days are full of building things, creating experiences, having experiences, and in all of this, doing it alongside the people that I genuinely care about and love. That starts first with my family. My wife, my kids. But it doesn't stop there. It extends into the people that I work with, that I build with, and that I grow alongside every single day in my day-to-day. Because for me, creation is the point. That is what success is. I have a very large tattoo on my left arm, and I got it many years ago. And one of the premises of it was that life is about the journey, not the destination. When I was young, all I could think about was the destination. And the interesting thing is that took me out of presence with our current moment. All I thought about was the future and I wasn't living for now. And what I have found is that now is the only time we actually have. Yes, we can prepare for the future, but now is the time that we have with our family, with our loved ones, and now is the time that we have to create. And that's what I'm here to do. No matter how old I get, I don't plan to retire. I want to create. I don't want a finish line. I want momentum. People have asked me a lot in the last probably five years, like, why do you work so hard? When is enough? Or why don't you slow down? I've also been asked, what are you chasing? Also, maybe what are you running away from? And I get it from the outside. It looks like money is the goal for a lot of people. But for me, money isn't the destination. Money is a tool that we can use and I can use during the journey. Some of the best experiences in my life cost absolutely nothing. Time with kids, conversations with the people that I love and respect, being present in the here and now. But also some of the experiences that I want to have with my family, with my friends, with my team, they require real resources. Success to me is never having to say no to an experience that matters because of resources and lack thereof. Not because I need more, I don't need more resources, I don't need money, but because I want freedom for myself and for the people around me. And money happens to be something that helps acquire that freedom. Money doesn't define success in my world, but it does remove friction from achieving it. There's something that I believe deeply. Success equals the people you meet plus what you create together. And that's it. Not just what you build, not how big it gets, but who you build it with, who I build it with. That's why culture in my business matters so much to me. That's why Momentum looks the way it does our current business. I just did an interview with one of my employees specifically talking about culture and it's near and dear to my heart. And the only way that I'm okay with the business growing is if the culture stays intact and preferably if it gets better. I don't do business with people I don't want to spend time with. I don't build things with people that I wouldn't sit next to at dinner. Because the truth is, if people aren't right, the success will not feel right either. And why do it? It's not going to be fun. If I wouldn't choose them for life, I'm not going to choose them for work. There's a concept in a book called Never Eat Alone, and it's by Keith Farazi. I think I'm saying that, but the idea is really simple. Relationships are your life. Experiences matter more when they're shared. Success feels hollow when it's isolated, and I don't want wins that I can't share with the people around me. I don't want success that separates me from the people around me. I want a life and success where creation and connection happen at the same time, and where success allows me to connect further with the people around me. In my world, success is not something that costs me relationships. It's something that builds relationships. And if getting success, say in a monetary way, costs me relationships, then that's not success at all. And it's not worth it. Instead of saying a life I never retire from when I'm talking about unlimited creation, here's how I really think about it. I want a life where curiosity never dies, creativity never shuts off, and contribution never stops. I don't want to arrive. I want to keep building. I want to keep hiking along the journey. There's going to be different seasons, different roles that me and the people around me have. Life is going to go at a different pace depending on the chapter. But I always want to be creating. I always want to be contributing. And I always want to be experiencing life with the people that I care about and love. When I talk about retirement and the end goal, I'm very specific. The goal isn't the escape. The goal is engagement and being present in the moment that I am in. And that's what success is. This has everything to do with why this podcast exists. This podcast definitely is not to glorify hustle, it's not to chase status, but to talk honestly about building meaningful things, leading well, and creating lives we actually want to live. And one of the greatest things about this podcast is it's a way for me to connect with my audience and especially for the guests that come on. I only want to bring on guests who I want to have conversations with, who I want to spend time with. I don't care what they've achieved. I care about us doing something together that's magnificent in the current moment. And I want to remind myself and my guests that success isn't one definition. but it should be intentional. And that's why I ask every single guest what it means to them, because I expect a different answer from every single person. And that's what's so beautiful about it. I want to end every solo episode with this thought, and you can take this as a question or reflection. If the people around you are the proof of your success, what story are you telling right now? Because in the end, success isn't what you accumulate. It's not that end destination. It's who walks alongside you and what you build together. Thanks for tuning in to The Success Architect. If today's episode helped you lay a stronger foundation for your business or your life, subscribe and share it with someone ready to do the same with theirs. You can follow me, Jake Lewendal, on social for daily tips on health, wealth, and building success that lasts. Until next time, keep designing,