The highest-paid leaders and entrepreneurs have one thing in common: they prioritize their pleasure like their bank account depends on it - because it does.

We’ve been sold a lie: the harder you work, the more money you make. The reality? The highest-paid people aren’t grinding themselves into the ground. They’re not proving their worth through exhaustion. They’re not delaying pleasure until they "deserve" it. Instead, they prioritize pleasure as a business strategy, knowing that their nervous system, creativity, and financial flow depend on it.

Making pleasure #1 on the priority list is the sign of your life force, your magnetism and your ability to receive on every level. If you're disconnected from it, you're disconnected from wealth, vitality and feeling ALIVE.

Until you shift your relationship with pleasure, you’re likely to notice:

Money struggles: No matter how much you earn, it feels like it disappears or takes too much effort to maintain.
Low energy: Your body constantly feels drained, even after rest.
Stress and burnout: You keep pushing, but it never feels like enough.
Lackluster intimacy: Either you avoid sex or go through the motions, feeling disconnected from your relationship or dating potential.
Weight retention and tension: Your body holds onto stress, making it hard to lose weight or feel sexy in your skin.

This will continue until you make the shift. Just notice how these symptoms show up in your daily life. Your body is already speaking to you.

Why Performance Culture Kills Pleasure – and Profit

I know this firsthand. I went from an erotic dancer to an intimacy architect for high-level leaders. In the clubs, I learned something that shocked me at the time: The switch from performance to passion, from “getting” to receiving, from “doing” to being… made me more money in one night than an entire two weeks’ worth of hustling. The best part: I loved every minute of it.

Men and women do the same thing with success. They perform. They overdeliver. They shape-shift into what they think will be profitable, sexy and worthy of love. And in doing so, they disconnect from their bodies, pleasure and the very energy that makes them powerful.

I had to unlearn the performance and reclaim my own embodied power before I could lead others to do the same. And here’s what I discovered: the wealthiest, most magnetic people don’t hustle harder; they become more turned on by life itself. They stop performing their desires, and start becoming them, from the most authentic and visionary place. That’s the type of passion that changes the world.

The Science: How Pleasure Rewires Your Brain for Wealth

Your nervous system doesn’t separate money from pleasure. If you’re stuck in survival mode, your body literally cannot relax into receiving more money, opportunities, or intimacy. Here’s why:

Chronic stress (fight-or-flight) suppresses creativity and decision-making. When your body is in survival mode, blood flow moves away from the prefrontal cortex (responsible for strategic thinking) and into the limbic brain (responsible for fight-or-flight responses). Studies show that stress reduces cognitive function and problem-solving skills (Arnsten, 2009).
Pleasure activates the parasympathetic nervous system (rest, digest, and receive). Research confirms that orgasm and sensual pleasure release oxytocin and endorphins, which reduce cortisol levels and open up higher cognitive functions (Uvnäs-Moberg, 1998).
Turned-on = more money. Those who prioritize pleasure and embodiment tend to have higher levels of confidence, better communication skills and greater risk tolerance, all of which contribute to business and financial success (Fredrickson & Losada, 2005).

History: The Power of Sexual Energy Beyond Gratification

For thousands of years, the most enlightened minds and trailblazing leaders across cultures have recognized sexual energy as a force far beyond mere pleasure or gratification. Ancient Taoist masters channeled their vital energy—often called Jing or Qi - toward longevity, creativity, and spiritual enlightenment. In Tantric traditions, dakinis channeled sexual energy as a spiritual practice and were sought after by the most influential thinkers of the time. These ancient and secret practices were cultivated as a tool to awaken higher consciousness, fueling both personal and societal transformation. It’s well documented that tantra was a stand for social reform and equal human rights in cultural systems like caste. The female holders of such practices were trailblazers for hundreds if not thousands of years, and the meaning encoded within the sexual transmutation of these practices were quite literally a stand for equality, respect and love.

In the West, Nikola Tesla, one of history’s greatest inventors, was known for his belief that conserving and redirecting his sexual energy enhanced his intellectual and creative abilities. Many of the world’s most influential leaders, entrepreneurs and high-achievers have intuitively tapped into this reservoir of power, whether through disciplined practices or a deep connection with their own vitality.

From the Renaissance artists who saw sexual energy as divine inspiration to modern-day thought leaders who understand the link between vitality and innovation, history repeatedly demonstrates that those who master their life force, rather than suppressing or depleting it — unlock extraordinary levels of performance, clarity, and influence.

The question isn’t whether this energy affects success — it’s whether you’re leveraging it consciously or letting it leak away unconsciously. The highest-paid, most impactful individuals in the world recognize that harnessing their life force fuels their vision, expands their leadership, and creates a level of magnetism that cannot be faked.

Some studies now support what ancient wisdom knew: heightened states of arousal increase neuroplasticity, boost problem-solving skills and enhance charisma (Miller & Maner, 2010). In short, when you learn to harness pleasure, you unlock a more expansive, visionary way of thinking.

The CEO Who Knows When to Let Go

Imagine driving with one foot on the gas and one foot on the brake. You can hear the engine straining, but you tell yourself this is the only way to keep control. The reality? You’re burning fuel and going nowhere fast.

High-performing leaders and entrepreneurs often approach success the same way. They pour their energy into their aspirations, but deep down, they grip the brakes of stress, guilt, and overperformance. They say they want ease, yet their nervous system is wired for struggle.

What happens when you fully press the gas - when you allow pleasure, expansion, and receptivity to be part of your leadership? When you stop believing that success must be earned through depletion and start embracing that your energy is your greatest currency?

The answer is simple: You go further, faster, and with far more joy. You stop spinning your wheels and start receiving what has been waiting for you all along.

The Bottom Line

If you think prioritizing pleasure is a luxury, you’re playing the wrong game. In today's world where success has been redefined, the highest-paid earners don’t struggle their way to joy and satisfaction; they expand their capacity to receive now.

True leadership is calling to trailblazers and visionary thinkers who step outside of the normalization of manipulative tactics, burnout and stress to reach success. No one enjoys it, and neither do you.

If you’ve made it to the end of this article, I invite you to ask yourself: Where am I still performing, hustling and proving? Where am I not allowing myself to feel fully turned on by my own life?

Because when you make the shift, the money (and real pleasure) follows. Every. Single. Time.