Life Lessons
Why You Should Stop Chasing Money
Much of my schooling years was surrounded by social media and its influencers. We all know that social media can have a massive effect on the way we behave. But I never really understood it until I looked back at my younger self.
We all wanted the latest trainers or bags because we saw our favourite celebrity wearing them. I remember wanting a pair of basketball trainers that would cost my mother £150. She could not spend that amount of money, so I was in a predicament.
I came from a poor household, so things were not as easy as just asking for it. Nevertheless, I hated hearing the word no. And this attitude is what led me to start chasing money. After learning my mum could not afford the trainers, I started finding ways to make money.
Although it was banned in school, I started reselling doughnuts and cookies from the local superstore to make a bit of extra money. Before I knew it, I had a line of students waiting for a treat from me every lunchtime.
It took me three months to rack up enough money to purchase the trainers I wanted. And this experience led me to start chasing money more than ever. I risked getting kicked out of school for the remainder of my time for my hustle.
It is only recently I was reminded of how hungry I was for money. I watched an advert to do with trading cryptocurrency and becoming a millionaire overnight. My old self would have put in the £100 without a second thought, but here I was laughing.
Now, I know that it is possible to trade crypto well and make good money from it. I have friends who are doing that as I write this. But making loads and “chasing the bag” does not excite me anymore.
Over the past year, I have been thinking about what money and wealth mean to me. After much thought, I have realised that chasing money is not as exciting as people make it out to be.
At the end of the day, we all have one life to live. Yes, money makes that a bit easier, but it certainly does not make life worth living. So, here are the three things I have figured out upon defining wealth for myself.
Do What You Must to Survive
A lot of our needs are necessary for our survival. Things like a home and food are essential. And as we grow older, we quickly learn that money is needed for all of these. Abraham Maslow, in his Hierarchy of Needs distinguished two of our necessities at the base of his pyramid.
The first was our physiological needs. These are things like warmth, shelter, food and rest. Without them, we would not survive. At the beginning of our lives, it is our parent’s job to provide for these needs. And as we age, we get better at looking after ourselves to ensure our physical needs are met.
The second is our safety needs. And these needs are things like feeling safe, employment and property. Many of us acquire these needs once we get a regular income and start building our wealth. With our wealth, we invest in our safety needs and meet our physical needs.
However, the need for money, according to the Hierarchy of Needs, stops here. The next three steps in his pyramid are love and belonging, esteem and self-actualisation. These three all fall into our relationships with one another and personal development.
Money is a tool in all of these. With more money, we may be able to go on more holidays with our friends. Also, we may be able to invest more into our personal development as an individual. However, at the core of our friendships is not money, and neither is our personal development.
We do not need money to make friends or grow into better individuals. We may need a little, but not tonnes of it. And here is where I realised that money is essential for our survival, but not for thriving.
We must understand that money supports our safety needs and hence keeps us alive. But by chasing money, we make the goal of our life survival. Instead, we must chase a greater goal that moves us towards self-fulfilment.
I am not saying that money can not help us get there, but it is certainly not the end goal. From learning this, I now live by this saying:
“Do what you must to survive, but do what you love to live.”
I have now decided to do what I need to do to survive. That means looking after my health, making sure I feel safe and getting enough rest. And money can help massively in all of those things. But I do not just wish to survive. I wish to live, and I hope you do too.
So, begin making decisions to live and not just survive. Life is worth so much more than just safety needs. It is an opportunity to explore yourself and become the best you can be before your departure on Earth.
Do Not Hold Onto Money
When I got my first cooperate job, I spent much of my time planning my finances. I was determined to save all I could. My main goal was to save and start investing it in property and other things which would reap good returns.
I still do have my goals, and I do save. But I realised I was limiting myself heavily in having this type of approach to money. By holding onto money as much as I could, I found myself having a very narrow view of wealth. It seemed like there was only one way to obtain happiness and success.
So, when I was forced to spend extra money that month, I would get frustrated even though I had more than enough to survive on. I found myself being reluctant to go out with my friends or help others out. It was all about me and my goals of stacking money.
But all this did was limit my experiences and made me feel quite upset at times. I do not discourage saving money. I still save a good chunk of my salary now. However, it is the mindset that comes along with it that has to change.
By being scared to spend, we force ourselves into a poverty-stricken mindset. We are subconsciously telling ourselves that there is not enough money in the world to go around. So we need to do our best to hold on to whatever we have.
But once I started writing, I started investing in my craft. Although my savings was important, motivating and inspiring others was too. Eventually, I stopped holding onto money and started letting it flow into things I appreciated.
But it did not stop there. I started tipping my barber £5 after every haircut. I also started giving to charities that did work I was passionate about. And before I knew it, I no longer had a fixed mindset for money.
As I stopped holding onto my money, I was feeling much better. And I was doing all of this whilst still saving the same amount every month. That is because I started making more as my mindset changed.
Once you gain a prosperous mindset, you can start finding new unique ways to make more money. But also, you can begin showing your appreciation for those who do meaningful work for you. Start small by maybe tipping your next cab driver or your barber.
Giving always reaps its rewards in the future. It makes you feel much better and helps you grow as an individual. So try giving more today. It will change your life and others around you.
Be More Efficient With Your Money
Efficiency is calculated based on how much output you have for the input. And to be as efficient as possible, your input should be small and your output large.
Chasing money was some of the most inefficient years of my life. And I say that because I was not outputting anything for society or my local community with it. Whilst growing in wealth (input), I was keeping all of it without producing anything.
That is part of the reason why making money for just making money sake is not attractive to me. Yes, you could invest money into risky things and make a killing, but what do you do with it then? A massive part of our fulfilment comes from feeling valued in the world.
And we can only feel valued by adding value to others. It feels nice at the beginning, being able to buy and do whatever you want. But you are left unsatisfied in the end because you have a tonne of input with no output. It is human to want to add value to the world and not just ourselves.
We operate in a system, and we want to feel a part of that system. Most importantly, we want to feel like we are contributing to the benefit of the system. I never truly understood this until I started writing and consulting others.
My money was no longer just input. I was now using it to produce something, and my output was growing in the world. At the end of our lives, we are not going to be remembered for our inputs. We will only be remembered for what we put out into the world.
People are counting on you to be efficient with any inputs you have. That may be talents and gifts like singing. Or money to do something with. We must begin seeing money as an input so that we can become more efficient with it. It is a good which allows us to produce more in the world when used correctly.
Define Wealth for Yourself
Chasing money does three things:
- It stops us from seeing past our safety needs.
- It causes us to have a poverty-stricken mindset and a less abundant view of the world.
- It leads us to be less efficient individuals in society.
You must take the time out to define wealth for yourself. Reflect on the things that matter to you most. I often do this by asking this question:
“If I were to leave the world today, what would I want to be known for?”
By asking this question, you keep the end in mind. For many people, the answer will not be money. It may be a great teacher or a great father. These are the things that truly make us wealthy at the end of life. And they are the things we should pursue.
So, try seeing past your safety needs and have a growth mindset when it comes to money. And finally, live an efficient life that has more output than input. I am sure you will feel better and live a more fulfilled life.