Every day I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I'm not there, I go to work.

The Daily Benchmark for Ambition

There's something almost refreshing about this joke because it cuts through all the motivational noise about "following your passion" and "doing what you love." Orben is basically saying: I have a very specific, measurable goal, and every single day I check whether I've hit it yet. If not, back to work. No philosophical hand-wringing. No waiting for inspiration to strike.

What makes this resonate is how it flips the usual complaint about motivation. We spend a lot of energy trying to feel inspired, trying to find the "right" reason to show up. But Orben suggests something simpler: pick something concrete you want, check if you have it, and if you don't, the decision to work is already made. The Forbes list becomes a daily referendum on whether you're done yet. Most days, you're not. So you go to work.

There's also a sly honesty here about ambition that we don't often admit. We're supposed to pretend we work for fulfillment or impact, and maybe some of that is true. But a lot of us are just trying to build something, reach a number, or achieve a status. Orben doesn't apologize for that. He just lays out the system: daily check, simple benchmark, obvious next step if you haven't won yet.