We’ve all been taught since we were young that money is what runs the world. We’re brought up to believe that if you have a dollar sign connected to your name, you are successful. But what if we told you, that might not be the truth? We often go through life under the heavy weight of pressure caused by money, greed, and goals that focus on the material world of wealth. But we’re here to tell you exactly why you should stop caring about money, why money shouldn’t be number one on your list of goals and how your other priorities of happiness can not only change your wealth but also your perception of wealth.
Manage Priorities
Priorities generally refer to things in your life that will help you in beneficial ways. But when your priorities circle around money and gaining more and more wealth, you will not find that kind of happiness you long for. When you constantly chase the next dollar to snatch and put in your busting wallet, you will slowly fall into a toxic repetitive cycle that will deplete you of your determination and motivation in every other aspect of your life. While it’s no problem to want to have money, to want to gain riches, but when that goal takes up your top spot of priorities, you won’t find that happiness in your life. Money can be a tempting thing, but as we will go into more detail later, a word that should be in the front of your mind moving forward should be “balance”. When you only go after money and put off other goals until you reach your version of financial stability, you’ll become emotionally bankrupt.
Goals Matter
It’s important to know that money is not the end game here. Many people are raised in this society, groomed to think that money is the answer to everything, but it’s not. Money will get you everything you dreamed of but then what will you be left with. Regardless of the day you accumulate riches and “success” to right now when you’re just getting your foot in the door, the time in between is what matters, that’s the time that should be planned, enjoyed, and full of goals along the way that will make your quality of life something worth living. While some of that enjoyment will take money, not everything can be bought and happiness doesn’t cost a million.
Money Isn’t Everything
We’ve all been there, that place in our life where we ask ourselves, “Is this really it? Is this what I’ve been working for?” If you’ve asked yourself this, you’ve reached a point where a light bulb should go off, where you should realize that you have deprived yourself of the journey. When you are constantly focused on complete tunnel vision on the end goal of money, you’ll be left bypassing all of the experience and memories you could have had along the way. This way of pursuing your financial goals will drain you and when you ultimately reach your goals with money faster than anyone else, you can be left disappointed and alone.
Finding Your Balance
Everyone is different, our goals are different, and what makes us feel fulfilled day to day is drastically different from person to person. Which is exactly why finding your own balance between money and happiness should be a priority. It’s important to remember there is no shortcut to success, success isn’t even a promised reward for years of hard work. Because of this kind of situation we all find ourselves in some way or another, you need to ask yourself how do you want to live your life now and how will that get you to where you want to be in the future. When you figure out the now and then, you’ll have a better sense of balance and you’ll be able to reorganize your priorities in a way that will get you what you want while not being miserable.
What Is Happiness To You?
Happiness is a broad term, it’s a term that is uniquely shaped and warped to every single individual, that includes how you define it. Everyone’s definition of what makes them happy could even change in a split second. Which is why the point isn’t to find a solid definition of what it means to you, but it’s important to have a broad idea of what will make your life worthwhile. You’re not a bad person for believing that money will make you happy, because in many cases it does make a difference, but at some point, you have to ask yourself: “Is this it?”. Learn to turn your focus to yourself, so that you can then have the capability of branching out and doing more with your life than just chasing the next dollar.
If you don’t want to take our word for it, see what happened when Tom Bilyeu, founder of Quest Nutrition, stopped chasing money.
