The late real estate billionaire Sam Zell said he never thought about retiring or taking vacations because he enjoyed his work.
Zell, who built a fortune buying distressed real estate, said on "The Tim Ferriss Show" podcast in March 2020 that he always tried to avoid doing anything he didn't like.
"I've loved everything," Zell said. "I love getting up in the morning. I never found myself getting up in the morning and saying, ‘Oh, my God, I've got to go do this again.' I've tried very hard to focus my life on never doing anything I don't want to do, and never being any place I don't want to be."
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‘I Don't Take Vacations'
Zell said that instead of taking vacations, he preferred visiting new places because it kept him curious about the world and pushed him to keep learning.
"I don't take vacations," Zell said. "And matter of fact, that word is kind of foreign to me. I've never been one to sit on a beach; I don't know how to do that. I just want to see stuff."
Zell said it's impossible to be an entrepreneur or a risk-taker without being deeply curious and enthusiastic about learning and gaining knowledge. He recalled once seeing a video about a huge Freeport-McMoRan copper mine and wanting to visit it.
"I ended up at a conference sitting next to the CEO and I said, ‘I just read about this incredible mine and I want to go see it.' And he said, ‘Just tell me and I'll set it up for you.'" Zell said.
"So we flew into the jungle where there was an airport literally built into the jungle just to see the mine. We went up to the mine and saw stuff that I'll never forget. So it's curiousity."
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Avoiding The ‘Bandwagon' of Conventional Wisdom
Zell said that having more knowledge allowed him to avoid the mistakes others made and become an independent thinker instead of jumping on the "bandwagon" of conventional wisdom.
"I've spent my whole life trying to separate what other people think is cool and what I know is something different," he said.
However, Zell said that too much information can be overwhelming and make decision-making difficult. He advised developing the ability to "sort it out," distinguishing what is relevant from what is not.
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