November
2
2007
I hear so many people that I meet on a day to day basis say things like:
‘I don’t Need to Be rich’
‘Money Isn’t everything’
‘I’m happy just working my 9-5′
‘More Money just causes more problems’
And each time I hear something to this affect, I just want to slap them!
These people think that they aren’t being greedy and just taking their place in life, but what they are really doing is just being selfish and lazy.
Lets take a look at these statements one by one, and find out whats wrong with them and what they are really saying.
1. I Don’t Need To Be Rich
What they are really saying:
I only care about myself
As long as I have enough, thats all that matters.
This statement is such a selfish one. It makes the person the center of their own universe - as long as they are comfortable that is all that matters.
Think about it for a second. If you are able to create an excess that means you will have more than you need - and allows you to be generous, and give to others who may need help at the moment.
I love reading articles about successful people giving large portions of their money to charities. So many people think:
‘Thats ok for them, $1million is nothing when you have $1billion’
But is it? Is it any easier for them to give their money away? I think it is only easier for them because they have been doing it the whole time - they gave when they had little and now there are just a couple more zeros on the end.
2. Money Isn’t Everything
Another variations: Money doesn’t bring happiness
What they are really saying:
I’m just jealous because I don’t have any money, so I’ll pretend it doesn’t matter
I’ll be the first to admit that I agree with this statement - money is not everything, but it sure can do a whole lot of good. There are so many people who are less fortunate than we are, usually of no fault of their own. What does being comforatable do to help them?
I think there is a lot of growth in the awareness of social justice in the younger generation, with young people getting behind projects like ‘Make Poverty History’ and ‘Live8′ but the thing we need to look as is are these young people going to be able to have the money and the time to actually make a difference?
3. I am Happy Working My 9-5
What they are really saying:
I am too scared to give up my job
I must make a point here. Some people do actually love their job, and are making a difference by the work that they do. But coming off the last point - a lot of people are not able to help others in the way that they want because they are too busy.
Personally I know for myself at the moment, I am working 8:30am - 5pm then I go home and have things on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday Nights most are to do with my involvement in my Church - but it is very hard to juggle my online marketing, my job, and my other commitments.
How much more time would we have to help others if we were able to remove the 9-5 of our job?
4. ‘More Money just causes more problems’
I think this is a big misconception.
People see the celebrities in the media wasting their lives away, and blame it on the fact that they have too much money. I don’t think that is the case at all. I think that the reason some (cause there are a lot of great celebrity role models - they just dont get the publicity) celebrities gain their money to easily, and there for have no respect for the power that it holds, so they get greedy and just spend, spend, spend - on them selves of course.
These people are just selfish. but think of good that you can do if you use your wealth wisely, and the satisfaction that you would receive from knowing that your money is being used for good, to help improved someone elses way of life.
Money isn’t the problem, love of money is the problem.
[...] and shown how in most cases these people are actually being quite selfish. The article is here: Stop Being Selfish…And Get Rich! What do you all think about the subject? Would love to hear your opinions… __________________ [...]
One funny way that I look at these people is that they have regret that for their whole life they have been doing nothing and they keep thinking about “How nice if I can start doing this before all these people are doing…”
They want self-respect and ego, they don’t want to become copy-cats even the way is the only way to make them rich. We’ve seen a lot of these people who keeps ignoring money making opportunities.
To all those who know how to make money, don’t care for these people and be selfish like you said.
lol @ #3
I hate 9-5, wake up to a damn alarm clock! honestly!
Thanks for visiting and commenting on my Blog Thomas.
You blog is well designed! And the content is unique. Doing good!
Regards,
–Vikram.
Thomas - I really enjoyed this post and what you say is so true. Making more money allows you to help more people. A lot of folks don’t realise this.
What really gets up my nose is when they comment about people who have got rich and say things like “They’re only doing it for the power.”
I think most entrepreneurs are genuinely in it to make the world a better place. And I only wish more people would get it.
Nice post Thomas. Some good truth in there.
Hey Thomas, the thing I like about money, is enables us to spend our time how we want. I spend hours working on my Internet projects because I think in the long run it will enable me to have more control over how I spend my time. At my day job many of my co-workers put in tons of overtime for the fatter paycheck, and they just roll their eyes at me because I’m lucky to even put in 40 hours. Because it’s not where my heart is. I still do a great job. I just do it really fast. I agree that having money is a fantastic goal, I think how you spend your time to earn that money is even more important. I’m glad I discovered your site. Thanks for a great read. Emma
Great post!
It’s interesting to see so many people succumb to ignorance and cynicism when they look at the world if they get stuck in a “safe” routine. At the same time as pronouncing themselves as not greedy, yet missing the opportunity to do more in life, they are actually making themselves unhappier about their life and the world.
Is it any wonder then that there are so many injustices and yet so many people just sitting there and saying “ah.. what can I do” with the immediately and obvious implication of the answer as “nothing”, just move on.
Sure you can’t do something right away in most situations of exposure to an injustice, but you CAN first take control of your own life, be more ambitious, make more money and THEN there will be much more situations in which the answer to a question of “what can I do” will be an absolute positive “yes”, just as you said about some millionaires giving out to charities.
This reminds me of Oprah! She made it big with her show, but also helped so many people all over the world just watching it and finding some comfort in shared compassion as well as great educational tips on how to change life to the better. There is a good example of a rich person that’s neither of the four things you were rebutting in this post.
Cheers
You have some great points there. Well, I’m trying remind myself and stop speaking out those statements. Those statements just show my poor mindset.
How many millionnaires are happy? When you have a large pot, you still want more. Most do not seem happy despite their wealth. Enjoy what you have got.
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