4 Steps in the Pursuit of Being Rich

We have all embarked on the pursuit of making money. The essential ingredients of making more money include setting goals, focusing, and working relentlessly toward the goals.

If you concentrate on your goals every day, you will eventually make a lot of money. A question might be raised – the world’s resources are finite; so if you get more for yourself, aren’t you making others poorer? As the proverb goes, “The rich become richer while the poor become poorer.” Is making more money equal to being greedy?

I don’t think that is the case. Today, increasing numbers of people are shifting toward a simpler lifestyle. We know if we consume more than $10,000 worth of resources every year we are actually taking more than our fair share. But you cannot make more money until you stop thinking money is the root of all evil. Here I am taking a shot at communism and its principles.

Greed and money

As a child, I used to think about the super rich, wondering why they still wanted to make money. I am talking about people who regularly appear on the Forbes list. To me, initially, they were greedy – until I discovered the true meaning of greed.

Are Warren Buffet and Bill Gates greedy? You might think they are, but let me tell you, they pledged to donate their entire wealth to charity once they are gone. Good people want to help mankind by their messages, their actions, their wealth, or just by the way they live.

I am not comparing Bill Gates or Warren Buffet to Jesus or Buddha or Mohammed, but compare their intentions – do they look same to you? The rich and good people, I’m sure, took some actions which caused pain and sadness to many people. However, compared to the good things they intend to do, those past actions don’t seem as bad.

You can’t create more wealth if you feel guilty for trying to improve yourself financially.

I have learned these lessons the hard way. It has taken me over twenty years to finally be able to understand them, from my beginnings selling sweets on the playground to where I am now. I still want to make more money and be able to do whatever I want financially, but I am closer to my goals than when I first started out.

As human beings, we are programmed to believe that building wealth is nothing but greed. I see people every day talking and preaching about how we should get rid of wealth and live a simplistic life. The truth of the matter is, these same people are making money telling you to be simplistic. Get rid of the “money is the root of all evil” mentality as soon as you can.

This is the first block in your mind that prevents you from thinking toward building serious wealth. You will snatch others’ bread; rather, if you become rich, you will make others rich along with you. You can give happiness to many more individuals than you could with your current wealth.

When we were born, our parents didn’t think we would struggle to save for retirement or reduce our debt. Did you imagine yourself living in debt during your childhood? Where have those ambitions and dreams gone? Wake up to the possibility of becoming rich and building wealth.

2: Start The journey

Only the destination differentiates a journey from simply roaming around. In order to get somewhere, we need to drive our own vehicle. If we drive someone else’s vehicle, we are essentially cab drivers – we roam around and return to the garage at night. We work for someone who makes money and pays our salary.

Isn’t it amazing how we live our lives? We go to school, graduate, go to work, continue to work for years… Some wise people among us save money to have a worry-free retired life, while others struggle during retirement. Even in retired life, we really can’t enjoy ourselves because our healthy years have already passed.

Get a vehicle and drive it yourself – gain control and start moving toward your destination. Chances are, you will fail as the risk is much higher. Hey, when you invest in the stock market, don’t you take risks? Think of the reward you will get at your destination. Dream of the rewards; dreams are what we have lived for since childhood. A dream of getting a job, a dream of a beautiful family, a dream of home.

Set small intermediate destinations to reach during the long journey. Start small, dream big, and continue driving. When you fail, shrug it off, learn from it and try again. Don’t be afraid to take risks again.

Risk aversion is the primary reason we end up being good workers for someone else all our lives. This is the same reason we think of securing our retirement life first when we win the lottery. Unless you take big risks, you cannot achieve wealth – it’s as simple as that.

3: Take on passengers

A journey cannot be completed alone. You cannot build the amount of wealth we are talking about here on your own. Don’t leave your friends and family during your journey, because they are the people to turn to when you face failure. No matter how successful you are in life, you will have days when you need a shoulder to cry on.

Fellow passengers are needed to get over the boredom. People don’t climb Mount Everest alone. Even a constant upward ride is monotonous movement. A driver doesn’t win a car race; its the team who wins, starting from the car’s painter to the engine designer. Everybody contributes to the driver’s success.

Apart from your friends and family, you need strong heads to rely upon. You cannot continuously make all the hard decisions yourself. You need to build up an equally strong support system. At any point of the journey, if you come across such a person, take him/her with you. Gradually build a strong team that will support you in your mission.

People have dreams. Help them realise those and they will help you realize yours. Let them make money and you will earn a lot more.

Follow the great. This one step determines if you are greedy or great. This is my dream –  to give back to society through whatever I will achieve. I just started the journey, so I have a long way to go and many failures to experience. When I reach a stage where I can fulfill all my dreams and have plenty to take care of me and my family, I will give back.

I love to read interviews and biographies of great moneymakers. They love to spread their wisdom because they want other people to be enriched. It’s more than giving money; it’s teaching the way of making money that helps people more.

If you want to help the world and the people around you, the best way is to share your success formula and the knowledge you’ve earned during past failures.

Again, coming back to consuming more than our fair share, there are people on this earth (and lots of them) who don’t get enough to eat every day. Help them realize their own big dreams of getting food, shelter, and clothes to wear. Amen!

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