A speaker describes Accutane, an acne medication, as her best investment of the year. After suffering from acne for nearly two decades, a six-month treatment completely cleared her skin, providing a massive boost in confidence and saving time and emotional energy.
One speaker's best investment wasn't in stocks but in moving to a new city, simplifying his life, and being closer to family. This emotional investment yielded significant returns in happiness and well-being, highlighting that not all valuable investments are financial.
Having young children is like having a "joy jukebox" because they experience everything for the first time. This gives parents a chance to indulge in and appreciate simple wonders again, from a fresh perspective. This re-framing highlights a key, often overlooked, benefit of parenthood for ambitious individuals.
A speaker invested $1.25 million into five stocks on a single day with no research, based purely on gut feeling and a friend's tip. This "shopping spree" approach, which included a bet on Eli Lilly after a conversation about their new weight-loss drug, resulted in a ~35% annual return.
Nick Mowbray, the self-made billionaire founder of ZURU Toys, exhibits extreme agency. As one of the largest individual shareholders of Tesla, he and his brother flew to California and installed their own cameras on buildings overlooking the Fremont factory to monitor production, demonstrating an obsessive, hands-on approach.
Jesse Cole's success with the Savannah Bananas is an example of winning on "hard mode." He took a neglected asset—a minor league baseball team—and bootstrapped it into a global entertainment phenomenon with a 3-million-person waitlist and a valuation over $100 million by focusing relentlessly on the fan experience.
Instead of vague resolutions, adopt a "Misogi"—a year-defining challenge. Inspired by entrepreneur Jesse Itzler, a speaker chose to learn piano. This singular, difficult goal made the year unforgettable and led to a profound personal breakthrough, proving that non-professional challenges can yield immense personal growth.
Will Guidara's restaurant, Eleven Madison Park, reached #1 in the world through "unreasonable hospitality." This included a dedicated employee called the "Dream Weaver" whose sole job was to make guests' dreams come true, such as sourcing a New York hot dog for European tourists who mentioned it in passing.
The cost of inaction can be immense. One speaker's "worst investment" wasn't a loss but passing on three startups in his direct area of expertise—Polymarket, Calshee, and Whatnot. Despite being an early user and having direct contact with the founders, he failed to invest, missing out on multi-billion dollar outcomes.
Instead of upgrading her lifestyle after financial success, behavioral economist Kristen Berman bought the apartments surrounding her own. She then rented them below market rate to friends, intentionally engineering a close-knit micro-community. This is a powerful, data-backed strategy for increasing happiness that counters the typical "bigger house" path.