Claude Hopkins’ Road Less Traveled By
While I consider myself hard-working, I’ve never been overly ambitious. At least, not in the sense of desiring to be the best for its own sake (Mamba mentality). I merely want to help people in some small way that both permits and encourages me to enjoy things I care about with people I love in the short time I have.
Then there’s someone like, say, Gary Vaynerchuk with an intense entrepreneurial spirit whose defining feature is this so-called “love of the game.” Long before Gary — 100 years ago —advertising legend Claude Hopkins exemplified this personality type.
This becomes clear in a passage from Hopkins’ My Life in Advertising where he contrasts the fame and fortune he achieved with the lives and careers of the colleagues he left behind after ascending to ‘larger fields’:
Ambition surged within me, because of my mother’s blood. I became anxious to go higher. But I had built a new home in Grand Rapids. All the friends I knew were about me. There I enjoyed prestige. I knew that in a larger field I would have to sacrifice the things that I loved most. I suppose I was right in my desires, according to general standards. Ambition is everywhere applauded. But I have often returned to Grand Rapids to envy my old associates. They continued in a quiet, sheltered field. They met no large demands. Success and money came to them in moderation. But in my turbulent life, as I review it, I have found no joys they missed. Fame came to me, but I did not enjoy it. Money came in a measure, but I could never spend it with pleasure. My real inclination has always been toward the quiet paths. This story is written in gardens near Grand Rapids, where the homing instinct brought me. When my old friends and I get together here, it is hard to decide who took the wiser course (pp. 53–4).
Regarding his material achievements, Hopkins sounds much like Jim Carrey here (although neither seems to regret his path). Neither man viewed them as ultimately conferring any additional happiness on his life.
I’d bet that Claude had no other choice because ambition was in his very nature (apparently from mom’s side). Despite stating he leans “toward the quiet paths,” it’s clear his drive to achieve more was stronger. During this time of his life, he describes a schedule that includes fewer than 6 hours of sleep with most of his day spent in the office—clearly a workaholic.
Note that Hopkins’ ex-colleagues were successful in their own rights but within much smaller spheres. The difference is that Hopkins saw his advancement as a personal challenge, referring to this career expansion as a ‘conquest’ he needed to win even in the face of losing out on community values or experiences.
To me, the path taken by his ‘old friends’ is more attractive: a quiet but financially fulfilling life free from many ‘large demands’ or ‘turbulence.’ My simple goal is to own land and become a cattle rancher someday.
My dad used to tell me, “Everything in moderation, son.” I’m drawn to the quiet path. But the world still needs people to flip the table once in a while. For that, we need the Vaynerchuks and the Hopkinses.
