Today there are no shortage of thought-leaders telling you how to build a company, sell more and get rich.
What there is a shortage of, are thought-leaders asking you why you want to get rich.
And to be fair, these thought-leaders who "buys" your attention and trust with what they "sell" - the secret formula, probably don't know why they are doing it themselves.
Their own story probably goes like; "I need to get more money, more fame and become more powerful... To become the best version of myself!"
That's fair.
But why?
Why do you need to become the best version of yourself?
For internal or external reasons?
These things are good to know before you cross the lines.
Humans are a social species.
We are hardwired from birth with feelings of guilt, connection, love and happiness.
If you do things in your hunger for more that causes guilt, you will not just be rich but rich and miserable.
And like begets like.
That means miserableness attracts miserableness.
At all costs, avoid being miserable.
The billion dollar question is; Do you know yourself?
Why do you want to be rich, successful and powerful?
Did you blurt out to friends and family; "I'm going to get rich!"?
That would mean you want their approval.
Trust me, getting rich will require a lot of sacrifice and piss a lot of people off.
Including your friends and family.
If your goal is to get their approval, just be helpful to them, you'll get it with far less sacrifices.
There's also the old; "They told my I'd never become something, I'll show them..."
But why?
You'll show them what?
How fragile your ego is?
Why not work on your ego instead?
You should not become rich to "show off" to someone, that's just poor taste.
If your goal is "to become rich", you'll probably also cut some corners to get there.
The salesman you see tricking a customer into a bad deal is someone desperate to make money.
The customer will suffer because of this.
And once the salesman gets rich, he will wonder why he is still so miserable.
Gee, I wonder, maybe because he hates himself unconsciously, knowing that he fooled a lot of people into making him rich?
There is nothing wrong with wanting money.
They give you freedom.
But they do not give you happiness.
Again, we're a social species.
Evolution hardwired us to get happiness from helping others.
And you can help others in a lot of ways.
You don't have to become a volunteer.
Innovations, services and products can help people.
Helping people can be defined in a lot of different ways.
But ultimately, whatever you do should make them happy.
Leave a smile on their face.
I'll finish this off by repeating; Becoming rich won't solve your problems.
Reflecting on why you want to become rich will.
Most likely you will need to work on your own ego.
I recommend the book Ego Is The Enemy by Ryan Holiday.
Maybe you don't even need to get rich.
Perhaps you already are rich, once you accept yourself and validate your own approval, rather than others approval.
If you seek happiness, helping other people and creation connection with them is a great way to feel fulfilled.
You don't need a grand "purpose", just look for problems and frustrations people have you can help them with.
Create Value → Communicate Value → Monetize Value (But that will be another article).
You'll then become truly wealthy, in happiness and resources.
See you in the next one.
/ Mads