I’m in Spain this week.
I’m celebrating my birthday with a small group of close friends. And for my birthday experience, I took them to see a flamenco show.
Not the flashy, tourist kind.
The real thing.
Low light. Raw guitar. A small room where you can see every line on the dancers’ faces.
And that’s what struck me first.
Their faces.
They weren’t just performing steps.
They were telling stories—of heartbreak, resilience, pride, longing.
You could see entire lifetimes etched into their expressions.
These were people who had lived.
And something inside me paused.
I caught myself thinking:
Their lives must be fascinating.
What would it be like to live a life like that?
Then a playful thought followed.
If I wanted to understand that life…
Why wouldn’t I just learn flamenco?
Not casually.
Not “once a week after work” learning.
Flamenco in London, squeezed between meetings and emails, would be like learning to surf in a bathtub.
So I asked a different question.
What if I did it properly?
What if I moved to southern Spain for a week?
Took daily flamenco classes.
Immersed myself in the culture.
Late dinners.
Struggled through Spanish.
.
Lived—briefly—a different life.
And that’s when something clicked.
I realized I’ve started thinking about life differently.
Over the last few years, AI and leverage have quietly changed everything for me.
What used to take 50 hours now takes one. Teams of 20 have become teams of two or three.
As a result, I’m building multiple new companies alongside Mindvalley with tiny teams, massive leverage, and far more freedom than I ever imagined possible.
But here’s the unexpected side effect of optimization:
It gave me time.
And time, I’m realizing, isn’t meant to be endlessly reinvested into more work.
It’s meant to be lived.
So I decided to test a radical idea.
I’ve committed to taking one full week off every month to deeply immerse myself in a different life—learning something new in the place where it truly belongs.
Some examples of what’s coming:
I’m considering spending a week living with monks in a Greek Orthodox monastery near Thessaloniki. No phone. No electronics. Waking at 5 a.m.
Working the land. Eating simple meals. Praying. Meditating. Napping in the afternoon. Cooking together. Sleeping as the sun sets.
Silence.
Simplicity.
Presence.
I briefly thought about moving to Paris to learn bartending… and then realized that probably wasn’t the direction my nervous system or my liver wanted to go.
So instead, I’ll spend a week in Paris learning French cooking, the way it was meant to be learned.
Each immersion follows two simple rules:
Rule #1: Meet locals.
Not wealthy. Not influential. Not “network-worthy.” Just locals. The baker. The bartender. The monk. Ordinary people living ordinary lives—because their stories are often the most eye-opening.
Rule #2: Learn the skill where it was born.
Flamenco in Spain. French cuisine in Paris. Orthodoxy in Greece.
No shortcuts. No simulations.
This curiosity isn’t just intellectual; it’s physical too.
As much as I love my current training, I’m now exploring entirely new relationships with my body. Pilates. Yoga. Aikido. Ways of moving I would never have touched before.
My goal is simple and slightly absurd:
I want to be in better shape at 60 than I was at 21, when I was 19 and representing Malaysia in the U.S. Open for Taekwondo.
And then there’s the biggest shift of all, now that I’m turning 50.
I’ve decided to stop chasing money.
If my company reaches a billion-dollar valuation, great.
Nice milestone.
But it’s no longer a requirement.
My goal now is this: Live 100 lives before I die.
I will be a flamenco dancer.
A monk.
A Bedouin.
A French cook.
Maybe even a barista.
Each for a week.
100 weeks.
100 lives.
This is worth more to me than a billion dollars in net worth.
I start today.
I’ve officially signed up for a week-long stand-up comedy immersion in London.
And yes, you’ll be seeing me perform in comedy clubs soon.
I’ll be sharing these experiences as I go, what I learn, what breaks me open, what surprises me.
And I’d love to hear from you too.
If you could live a different life for one week every month…
What would you study?
Where would you go?
Who would you want to live alongside?
Share them in the comments. I read them. They shape what comes next.
Thank you for being part of this journey, and this chapter of my life.
Here’s to living many lives.
P.S. If this idea of living many lives resonates with you, you’ll enjoy what’s coming next.
On January 18, we’re bringing together Social Media Summit Highlights:
This is a LIVE curated selection of the top-rated sessions from our recent summit.
You will learn how to build visibility, leverage, and impact in the modern world from Brendan Kane, Prince EA, Marie Forleo, and me.
Now, if you’re curious how ideas turn into movements on social media (and how people design lives with more freedom once they have an authoritative personal brand), I’d love for you to join us there.
407 Responses
Hi Vishen; 🥳 Happiest Birthday .
Frankly I don’t do age- I don’t do an “oh it’s my 70th” ; I just live in the now which is ageless/timeless.
What about just BEING-
Instead of planning and doing.
It’s ok to do nothing.
Let all what’s supposed to unfold in ease and joy.
No efforting
“,,,Just sit
And the world will offer itself to you freely….” (Read this Quote from Frank Kafta)
All the best
Hey Vishen, Hola!! And Many Happy Returns of the Day, Happy Birthday, wishing you good health and long life. And now you are a Centurion. Welcome to the Club 50’ties. I truly enjoyed reading your email Newsletter here today. I must say the idea of living 100 lives is so fascinating and novel. Never would I thought of it that way that a human could live a 100 lives just like how you have figured it out here in your email. I am truly amaze and fascinated. Thank you for sharing…your sharing have opened up my mind – an “aha” Moment there. In my opinion, I feel that this is the ideal way of how life should be lived. Living life to its fullest in the most profound and meaningful way and you can share with your grand children next time; telling them ” My little darling one and precious one; you know what?, Grandpa has been there and done that! – and you would be their world and greatest hero in their eyes, mind and hearts. I’m so proud of you Grandfather moment there. 🙂 Cheers Vishen, May God bless you in your polymathic Quest and journey. It is my wish if I could join you in some of your immersions. This one, I’m definitely staying tune and excited in learning of what’s coming next…
Happy 50th Birthday, I hope your day is filled with so much love and happiness 🙏🥳🎂
With the right kind of freedom, I would travel to many different places around the world to experience many different modalities of life. However, I am grateful to have already lived a life enriched with so mych learning and experience, in many places around Australia, really learning different ways of life in the diverse landscapes that the land down under holds. I have experienced many different jobs and so much diversity and culture (which has luckily all come to me 🙏).
You could always visit Australia…spend a week in Coffin Bay, South Australia, learning the ropes of oyster farming, it’s quite a unique experience. And spend time in the rugged bush setting with Kangaroos and Emus roaming on your front lawn…a place where we really aim to live in harmony with nature 😉
Hi Vishen,
Thank you for your open-hearted email , it resonates deeply.
My name is Karen, I’m 57, I worked as a sexologist and started my own business 4 years ago. A success.
Two years ago my wonderful husband (we were together for 38 years) was diagnosed with kidney cancer. Half a year later, he had already passed away.
He was beautiful, inside and out… incredibly driven, positive, with a beautiful smile.
Fortunately, we enjoyed our life together so intensely.
And now…
I am grieving, but above all I want to continue living.
I sold the business. And I have another idea… I’m going to design something. I’m still researching, because it’s unfamiliar territory for me…
But I’m also taking trips abroad. I say “yes” to things I want to do. No postponing, no “yes, but…”.
I’m working on myself on different levels…
And I follow you. Beautiful soul!
So: live! Explore new horizons.
Do it!
And welcome to Belgium, the country of the very best beers. And fries. A country of fashion.
And soon, my new product! :))
I love the idea of living 100 lives. I might try that myself. Thank you for the suggestion.
I will be 80 years old next month. My husband gets frustrated when I suggest he becomes more active. He is pretty sedentary. He says, okay for you to talk- you run around like you are 50!
I have always been active in body but also active in mind, reading every day, learning things I did not know. My first husband called me a transient worker because I did not just stay in one job for my whole career. I was a silver and goldsmith, a potter, I painted specialty designs on pottery, I made leather clothes for a sandal maker who wanted to expand his business, I made and sold stuffed toys to pay for college classes, I learned to make paper cut designs, made quilts, and did many other crafts. I learned boat repair and built my own sailboat. I ran fiber festivals. I took up tapestry weaving as a personal expression. My latest educational foray is to learn puppet making.
While I love learning many different things and reading lots of history and biographies, it is the people I meet along the way that have become friends and mentors that most enrich my life. I will never be wealthy but that is not my purpose in life. I have raised two sons who are good people with lots of creativity and interests they are pursuing in their lives. I support the local protestors and stand on he corner every Wednesday with my sign. They are some of the best people I know! We are resisting the current political situation in the US. We are using our voices.
Life is full of challenges. It is up to each of us to be the best people we can be, to be kind, to help others, to keep a curious mind and an active imagination – to keep growing.
You have build quite an ‘empire’ to help people improve their lives in numerous ways, and become wealthy in the process. I applaud your decision to start a ‘new life’ of learning and wish you well.
Love your Spirit Vishen❣️
I would go to Egypt and be immersed in the ancient energy and frequency of the Pyramids.
One of the areas of the Blue Zones and learn to enjoy their healthy daily practices and the community they surround themselves with. Also, because I volunteer with the Blue Zones project and I’m all about “Sharing the Health”
Santa Fe, New Mexico, to truly be nourished by my culture that I only got a glimpse of because we moved to California when I was just six. The recipes, the rituals and especially my Familia!
Such a great idea, Vision I am working on generating the means to enjoy life more as well!
Happy 50th Birthday, Vishen! What a great way to celebrate, and I love this idea of living every experience! I’ll be turning 50 at the end of March, but I feel like it’s only a number.
Blessings to you and yours,
Jade J. @ California
Hi Vishen,
It sounds fun to take a week’s break every month. You are very fortunate to have the means and freedom to do so. However, spending a week shadowing someone and sharing in their activities/passion is not the same as a lifetime of acquiring the necessary skills and experience… with all the ups and downs that come with it. Anyway, enjoy yourself!
Your emails are like personal letters from a good friend living far away.
100 lives… Dreamy..
We will live this with you through Ur mails. Looking forward for Ur next one.
I m turning 50 too, in may..
Thankful for each year 🙏
Happy birthday Vishen🎈
Good evening Vishen. I find your decision to live 100 lives extremely interesting. If I could do something similar, I would definitely go to a herbalist to learn as much as I can about herbs. The next option would be a trip to Tibet for favorable reasons.
Vishen, this is outstanding! Both as a concept and with the enabling structure that allows you to get actionable immediately. And as a positive testimony about the use of AI and other tools / processes that free up capacity without abandoning meaningful goals. And surrendering goals (billion dollar valuation) that won’t mean much at all as you take your last breath someday. At age 77, I am inspired!
The part you have overlooked is by letting go of teams and real humans in favor of AI, you have missed those real, non-glamorous relationships. The ones that challenge your soul in ways that provoke discomfort and dislike so that you are shorn of the burrs you’re unaware you possess. By choosing a destructive mechanism that creates an environmental demand that will outpace the land’s ability to rectify it, you have abandoned your intimacy with her in favor of a series of postcards of you *performing* relationship in different locations and different costumes. Your path is your own, but the Spirit Halloween version of trying on different lives is not the same as establishing spirit between your life and the life around you. Will you have adventures? Meet people? Certainly. But if your fundamental way of walking exists dressed in harm, no pair of dance shoes or monastic sandals will undress that, nor absolve you from your responsibility to the life you interact with. Relationship is not extraction. It is reciprocity. And it requires us to assume responsibility, deep responsibility, for our actions in the world and the impact we make with our choices which is absorbed—intentionally or not—by the life around us. I wish you meaning in those hundred lives you wish to live; but I wish you communion in the one life you have yet to fully inhabit. Blessings.
I love that you are opening yourself up to being uncomfortable in order to grow and expand yourself! For myself, I would want to live my same life but expand myself. I would love to go live once a month in a different country and take what I am doing in the states to help patients at pediatric hospitals across the world. I would love to be able to bring them knowledge and tools that can help them care for their patients better. I believe every human should have the same care no matter where you live in the world.
Vishen, I am truly inspired by your new approach to living—your vision to experience 100 different lives is brilliant and resonates deeply with me. Over the years, I have been fortunate enough to visit 30 countries, reside in several, and learn four languages: English, French, German, and Spanish. Like you, my travels were enriched by engaging with locals and learning about their cultures, cuisines, and ways of life. These moments are among my most cherished memories, and I often find myself longing for those experiences.
Currently, at 63, I am also undergoing a physical transformation. Trying return my body to the time when I was doing Taekwondo in my 20s. After many years of chronic pain, spinal fusion surgery in 2025 has given me relief. This positive change has allowed me to focus on my health through a balanced diet, strength training, aerobics, and weekly Karate, as I prepare for my fourth-degree black belt test. My overall well-being has substantially improved, though I am unable to undertake a major lifestyle shift such as yours at this time. Presently, my priority is selling my 39-year-old software company by leveraging artificial intelligence extensively as I prepare for retirement.
Once I retire, I will travel the world with my wife, continuing to explore new cultures and communities. I also plan to reside in my castle—situated 600 feet atop a cliff—which I have been constructing myself for the past 26 years. This unique home is a fulfillment of 3 goals set during a Tony Robbins workshop in 1998: 1) Move back to New Hampshire, 2) find the woman of my dreams & start a family, and 3) build a castle—the latter now 80% complete. While living in the castle, I aspire to be the mad scientist/artist that I am supposed to be, and perhaps I will even invent something that benefits humanity.
If you are curious about my castle, see my website documenting the project, we don’t sell anything, it’s just a picture site: https://www.KeeneCastle.com, and watch the concrete pour drone video from July. The view is stunning!
I wish you continued success as you embark on your journey towards experiencing 100 fulfilling lives. My own next chapter is fast approaching (3 years?), and I look forward to embracing new opportunities ahead. Good Luck!
When I turned 70 my husband had just died, I had retired during COVID-19 to take care of him and myself, and I turned 70! I have spent the last two years and 9 months grieving and adjusting to it all. My most recent epiphany was at Christmas when I realized I had never thought solely about what I like without considering what others liked, wanted,or expected. I loved my life and I do enjoy considering others’ responses to what I do/plan. However, the freeing feeling of exploring just what I like is unbeatable. The ramifications too numerous to share here. Happy 50th and may you be quicker than I was to shed others’ expectations and societal expectations to find what you truly like – it leads to greater compassion than even the compassionate people we are have ever experienced.
I am also turning 50 in 2 weeks ! And I am also going to be in much better shape at 60 than when I was 21 ! I want to run and play with my future grandchildren and be as sharp and fit as my mom who is currently 81. Happy birthday
Wow! I 1,000% resonate with this! You’re living my dream, one I didn’t even realize I had but somehow have sort of lived! I’ve lived in France, Mexico, Australia, learned French, Spanish, gone to chef school (the best one) had children, been married 3 times, was on a series, climbed machupicho, did ayahuasca deep in the jungle, meditated inside the kings chamber on 11/11 at 11, yoga in the Himalayan mountains and Ganga, ate with the poor, the rich, travelled the world, did stand up comedy, walked away from my flight on September 11, etc and I have so much more to do and like you I’m turning 50 this year however I’m in a very different place than you atm. Won’t get into that but I’m glad you found success so that you CAN do all those things you dream of 💗 take care
I’m a decade older than you Vishen. I have always believed that education and experience are more important than money. I have been an opera singer, I have worked for an airline, and I have for almost 30 years now been a pediatric speech language pathologist. When I was 19 and in the chorus of La Boheme all the children in the chorus wanted me to play their mother. That was a sign I was meant to work with kids, and they continue to be my passion. I’ve been very creative all my life dabbling in visual art (although I’m not really that good at it), music, and writing. Travel is also another passion. I’ve been to over 20 countries and lived in 3 of them. I have raised a daughter who was born in Germany and raised in Japan. I recently started writing again. I used to write stories for my daughter when she was little. She and my husband encouraged me to publish these stories and now I’m on book number 3. I used to wonder if I was too old, but then I remember many other people started 2nd, 3rd or 4th careers after 40, some after 50 or 60. My grandfather-in-law started his 3rd company in his early 80s. In Japan I learned the term “Ikigai,” which translates to “a reason for living.” As long as I remember that, I am never too old.
I have some ideas for this: hire a vocal coach to learn how to sing, train to be a paraglider, live with different bedouin tribes in Morocco, Algeria and Egypt, become a skilled horse rider and so many more! Thanks for the inspiration!