The Riches Don't Come From The Top
Don't reach the top only to find the journey is what you are after.
AJ Brown struggled to win at the highest level. He last won a championship in 2016–a high school state championship. In college at Ole Miss, his team never had a winning record despite having six players drafted to the NFL in his final year. He left Ole Miss with six school records and All-American accolades, but only 16 wins across three seasons. He needed to get back to winning.
The Tennessee Titans drafted Brown 51st. In the NFL, he began to win again. His best season as a Titan ended with a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC championship. In 2022, he made the Super Bowl as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles but lost to the Chiefs again. A championship eluded him, and Kansas City was the nemesis. His team reached the playoffs in 2023, but he couldn’t play thanks to a sprained knee. In the 2024 season, he had a championship in grasp, meeting the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl. After a ten-year championship drought, he helped the Philadelphia Eagles win the Super Bowl. He realized the dream of every football player.
Jubilation? Closure? Elation? Definitely. But… Emptiness?
Four days after the Super Bowl, he posted on Instagram,
“After a few days, I’ve had time to reflect on being a champion.
I tried to feel how everyone made it seem to be a champion and unfortunately it was short lived.. two days to be exact lol.I’ve never been a champion at the highest level before but I thought my hard work would be justified by winning it all. It wasn’t. My thrill for this game comes when i dominate. It’s the Hunt that does it for me. It’s when the Db drops his head and surrender because he can’t F with me . The Intense battles. Early mornings. Late nights. Sacrifices. I love putting smiles on peoples faces, don’t get me wrong but it just wasn’t what I thought it would be. It’s the journey that I love the most. BACK 2 Work!”
Someone reaches the pinnacle of their career but feels unfulfilled after two days? Isn’t this what he always aspired to?
Nothing changed for AJ. Sure, the blemish of zero championships on his resume is gone, but he is still a human with human problems. It is easy to get caught in the façade that once you scale the mountain, everything changes–those believing that are never happy. Happiness lies in the next thing that eludes them, never where they are.
The same thing applies to people who say, “I need (blank) salary, and I will be happy.” Chasing the salary increase is always more fulfilling than when it comes. It is the process. The risk is the reward. We may have long nights in the office, stressful presentations, and demoralizing results, but our love for the work keeps us alive. The chase is what we’re after.
AJ is the latest, but Tom Brady and Kevin Durant shared similar sentiments.
“Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there’s something greater out there for me?... There’s gotta be more than this.” – Tom Brady
“After winning that championship (last season), I learned that much hadn’t changed. I thought it would fill a certain [void]. It didn’t.” – Kevin Durant
The rich and spoils don’t come from the top or ending the elusive chase and reaching what everyone aspires to. The reward is the hunt, and those who learn to love it win. The greatest competitive advantage lies in outlasting others. It is easier to outlast others when you love what you do. AJ Brown took six years in his professional career to win a championship. Tom Brady took three. Kevin Durant took nine. They persisted. They found work where they could outlast.
For many, the pinnacle is not a Super Bowl or an MVP. It is the career, the job, or the dollars in the bank account, but those aren’t immune. In Shoe Dog, Phil Knight, the founder of Nike, talks about how he felt on the eve of Nike’s IPO. He woke up $178 million richer,
“I went to the window. The trees were dripping water. Everything was mist and fog. The world was the same as it had been the day before, as it had always been. Nothing had changed, least of all me. And yet I was worth $178 million.
I showered, ate breakfast, drove to work. I was at my desk before anyone else.”
He realized his dream of making THE running shoe company. The dream wasn’t the money. It was an additional bonus. If Phil sought millions, he would have stopped when the $178 million hit his bank account, but he never would be a multi-million dollar man if the money was the motivation. Nike was founded in 1964 and went public in 1980, 16 years. 16 years of whipsaws, exhaustion, and questioning. Nike outlasted because of Phil Knight’s tenacity and his love for building Nike.
The $178 million didn’t change him. He didn’t go off celebrating as explained in Shoe Dog,
“Fantasy numbers. Numbers that meant nothing. I never knew that numbers could mean so much, and so little, at the same time.
“Bed?” Penny [his wife] said.
I nodded.
I went around the house, turning off the lights, checking doors. Then I joined her. For a long time we lay in the dark. It wasn’t over. Far from it. The first part, I told myself, is behind us. But it’s only the first part.
I asked myself: What are you feeling?
It wasn’t joy. It wasn’t relief. If I felt anything, it was . . .regret?
Good God, I thought. Yes. Regret.
Because I honestly wished I could do it all over again.”
Phil loved the hunt, but it gets confused. The fulfillment comes from building something special and being together. Phil mentions the people he built the business with. The evolution of those relationships. The regret of wanting to do it all over again. Consider how much we would pay to capture the small moments of sweat, tears, connection, shared laughter, or conversations. I haven’t reached the pinnacle of my career or life, thankfully I am only 25. I reflect on these stories and realize my ignorant delusions lie in thinking the top would change me.
AJ Brown is the latest example of someone who reached the top only to find the climb is what they were after. A life full of chasing what they love. Life is a journey that shouldn’t be discarded for something bigger that leaves us empty. The secret to finding life’s work is to keep working. Too many worry about finding the right thing rather than chasing what feels right and letting it take them, myself included. The world is conspiring to place you on the right journey, you have to take it and wait. The path and the wait are the reward after all.
-Scantron
Appreciate you all for reading.