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
nice idea, I’ll write it down in my diary right now and maybe try it in 5 years. for me it would be learning west coast swing in California, trying poker or blackjack in Las Vegas and spending a week or more in autumn Paris and writing poems there. wonderful idea. for me the song by one republic – I lived describes it exactly. I wish you a happy birthday and many happy years lived to the fullest!
Awesome 50th Vishen 🎉✨You by your sheer quest for seeking a better space for humans have achieved the impossible to take the human spirit to another dimension at the blink of an eye using newer thought processes,. technology,innovation and AI proving that the quest for awakening and a higher ground is possible if one applies the greater tool we have the amazing human system which craves and endeavors to transcend beyond limitations.
This is a great idea and I’d like to steal it! 😊maybe not a week per month but weekends.
I’m in London, but if you plan to go to Hungary at all, let me know! We have our Hungarian cousine or if you feel drawn to experience the Puszta (Steppe) Life in Hortobagy National Park, eg. learn horse riding, see the grey buffalos, do birdwatching, explore fishponds – there’s history, culture and nature inthis World heritage site.
LOVE it!! xo
Happy 50th Vishen ! Many more to come …. I wish you loads of happy memories in your new quest. Absolutely loved reading your email regarding 100 lives. I would have never thought of anything like this but it’s absolutely a fantastic idea & I truly wish you luck.
Good question, if I had the chance to do something different every month for a week, I would first & formost go to Mount Kailash and do the entire circumabulation. Thereafter, the list goes on & on for me. Charity work, trying to learn a new musical instrument, a new language, go skiing, learn to dance, take up lessons on being a pastry chef and learn to make perfect Macarons 😊!
I would learn tango dance in Argentina
Train dancehall in Jamaica.
Walk Camino de Santiago from Porto
Hiking in Alps and visiting cheese maker farmer
Visiting Africa where people grow cocoa and coffee and se entire process
Cooking classes in India according Ayurveda principles
I’d learn Kitesurfing in CapVerde
The last several years, I have taken one weekend out of the year to go to the Czech forests with just a tent, sleeping bag, a knife and Flint and survive off the land from Friday to Sunday.
What would be the ultimate for me would be the ability to do that for an entire month.
Congratulations…the next chapter in the VISION (VISHEN) quest has begun…”When the teacher becomes the student “
Absorb, Enjoy, Share….
Wising you a very Happy and funfilled life on your Birthday Vishen . The WEEKLY is a really inspiring idea and a thought for all to live with. i am too planning a similar path going ahead . I am taking this opportunity to thank you for giving us such a great learning platform. its my dream to attend A Fest and experience the moments i have read in others sharing.
once again wishing you goodluck in achieving more such milestones moving forward in your life. Thank you for sharing.
That was exactly what I was thinking. If I were to visit China, what good would it be to just walk around the streets or tourist spots with a guide? I had the idea of joining a massage workshop somewhere deep in rural China to experience the real China. It’s a great idea, and I’m sure you’re going to make it happen and give us a little push to develop our thoughts and ideas. And bytheway I’m turnning 59 and still most of my days don’t realy understand that I am going to die.
If you turn the week into a month(or 2 weeks) I would love to follow/study every religion/culture in the world … 😃🙏❤️
It’s all very beautiful and inspirational, but I think that once you’ve lived all the possible lives, perhaps you’ll realize that helping the poorest is the only way to give your own life deeper meaning. I’m concerned about social balance, because AI will tend to create great economic and social disparities if governments aren’t able to reduce them.
Happy 50th birthday Vishen!
I have known you and Mindvalley for last 3 years, but I am intrigued with what you have built, that too without AI to start with. The code of extra ordinary mind was one of the 1st books I read during my self/spiritual discovery path and I have become your fan.
Despite very challenging times I am going through, I don’t want to live a different life, but will like to pursue my creative pursuit more if I have that 1 week every month. By the time I am 50 (in 3 years), I will like to be a known author and a visionary with purpose. I have my MIQs to keep me aligned 😊
Best wishes for your 100 lives goals and hope you have fun living each of them. Hoping to see you sometimes in person in coming times.
Wishing you a very abundant year ahead,
Best regards,
Manina
Well done Vishen, I wondered when you’d see the light and live. Really live the way we were intended, naturally, fully embracing all that comes our way. I was fortunate to have a few sprinkles of magic dropped accidentally on purpose after asking that all important question, ‘What is the purpose of my life? some 20 years ago and was taken down to the Antarctic from the South African side, enticingly disguised as a Birding trip extraordinaire, aboard the SA Agulhas in 2002, crashing through 90ft waves in a 60knot – force 10 gale winds. Watching birds weighing a mere 2.5-5kgs gliding easily in the wake of the 6123ton ship, which was bobbing around uncontrollably. I believe I was being shown how the Universe works with no influence from man. It was profound and I knew I had to change from my programed and controlled medical back ground and look at Nature. Natural healing. A whole new world opened up as more golden sprinklings were showered on me, with Energy healing…. Magic, total magic.
I am especially delighted to hear that AI is not burning so brightly, sure it’s easier and quicker but isn’t our growth more powerful when we go the long route. AI takes away our freedom of choice. Programmed by people who think they know what is best for me. My opinion naturally, but I can’t see AI surviving down in the Antarctic – an inhospitable land, inaccessible to man, yet where for a 3 short months of the year, they call summer, all the albatrosses, sea birds, whales, penguins go to breed.
Enjoy your writings and have seen your move back to looking at what nature would do….
Kindest Jenn
I love your emails. Every time they make me contemplate life. This email I so love. I am now thinking what do I really want as I am also turning 50 next birthday. Thank you for your inspiration.
Vishen, I have high regard for you and your work. I know 50 is a time to look at your life and reevaluate. So is 75 which is where I am at.
When I read your letter, I was reminded of King Solomon and the book of Ecclesiastes. He also had everything he could ever want. He had searched for true joy through gardens, pools, music, silver and gold, and the treasures of kings. He said, “I did not deny myself anything that I desired.” “But When I reflected on all the works that my own hands had done and on all the hard work that I had toiled to accomplish, I saw that everything was futile and a chasing after the wind”. (Chapter 2)
He sums up his book with these words, “The conclusion of the matter, everything having been heard, is: Fear the true God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole obligation of man.” This is the source of true happiness.
I appreciate your involvement of spirituality in your work.
What I want to say is that This life is not all there is! Solomon’s father, King David, who was a truly spiritual man, said this in Psalms 37: 11,29 “But, the meek will possess the earth, And they will find exquisite delight in the abundance of peace….The righteous will possess the earth, And they will live forever on it.” Jesus himself said, “Happy are the mild tempered since they will inherit the earth.” The Bible promises everlasting life, on the earth, as perfect, righteous people. It is a hope true believers have held through the whole history of humans. Please see Job 14.
I right this out of regard for who you are and your willingness to help humanity and your care for people. There will be a time soon when there will be no injustice or inequality. See Psalm 72. God’s kingdom will do this.
Please explore JW.ORG. To learn more.
My regards, Jeri Abel
Thank you for sharing your newest insights and amazing plans to honor your perspective as a 50-year-old human. We who are inspired by all facets of you and MV await your updates with enthusiasm.
Hi Vishen, this is a fantastic idea! So brave and yet so fresh and freedom-building. I love it. I am excited for your cooking class in Paris. I was just ther and it was a fantastic week of architecture, museums, fine dining, and yes, wonderful cafes. I am excited for your comedy training in London. I recommend a week-long intensive training with Stella Adler Academy of Acting and Theater in Hollywood. I just took a week-long intensive with them, and it was phenomenal. I stayed at the Roosevelt Hotel and took Ubers to great restaurants nearby! It was a blast, and I learned so much about myself.
I look forward to hearing about your adventures!
Love and Light,
Happy birthday, Vishen. Your 100 lives quest is intriguing—I wish you great success.
In response to your invitation:
“If you could live a different life for one week every month…”
I’ll share one possibility that aligns closely with where my life is headed. I will soon have a birthday as well and will turn 72. I am just now beginning the largest project of my life—publishing my work of many years focused on transformation frameworks for addressing humanity’s greatest challenges.
In line with your broader activist initiatives, I’ve come to believe that the change required for future thriving must occur simultaneously across individuals, organizations, businesses, and societies, and that it ultimately requires collaboration across diverse worldviews—science and religion being two that are critical.
To help my work on this and just for a great and fun experience:
What would I study? Quantum physics (deepening my lay understanding).
Where would I go? Geneva / CERN’s Large Hadron Collider
Who would I live alongside? A world-leading physicist, assisting in a real-time high-energy physics experiment.
I hope your 100 lives bring you everything you envision—and insights that ripple far beyond each one. I look forward to your updates.
Come to Buenos Aires, learn to dance tango.
For my 49th trip around the sun I made sure to live many lives…I performed with a band for the first time on my birthday, a month later I took an epic trip into the Egyptian desert on horseback, I tested out living in another town for a couple weeks during the summer and Autumn found me leaving my home in the US to drive musicians all over Europe and the UK (and on the wrong side of the road) for a month! Back at home, I am attempting to learn pole dance and belly dance and think of a meaningful way to mark my 50th next month. Always searching for new ways to keep this amazing life funded if anyone has any ideas lol.
Happy birthday happy new years! God bless. What about all the places around the world that Bone thugs n Harmony visited? In 1814 A.D. when British made Kandy empire cede, in 1814 Christmas day was the first Church service in NZ. (Sri Lankans sailed into the pacific millennia ago, ask AI how Tamils didnt conquer but lived besides and with. Kanaka Maoli of Hawaii and Tangata Maori of New Zealand.) How about places around the world, who actually use English at work, Ghana chocolateers, Phillipines, Chinese manufacturers. Jesus Christ didnt have the ‘ius migratori` right that Italians had 2000 years ago. We are like Him, stuck, pleading for the mercy of a delegate. See the Diary of a CEO youtube with Tony Robbins, how people lived before work and money was the value of life. Be like David Attenborough, for humans before AI! good or bad… i dunno, self development is a luxury for those seeking to be rich. Thanks again. All the best of wishes to Vishen, Neo and the team.