I don’t sit down and write very often. Most of the time I am going 1,000,000,000 miles an hour with my hair on fire and I perform at my absolute best with an amazing staff that runs at the same pace. I take on a lot of jobs that have a lot of zeros behind them and because of that people tend to think that I should be rich, successful, a super star or someone who is bound to leave and live in California, Bali, or Bora Bora. Honestly, I want them to all give their heads a shake.
It’s not that I wouldn’t want to live in Bora Bora but it would make the work I do considerably more difficult and a lot more expensive. Bora Bora is great to visit but let’s focus on reality.
Big jobs cost money. Lots of zeros don’t through me or make me suddenly think I should run out and buy a Ferrari – besides, my favorite car of all time is an Aston Martin Vanquish – I just want people to realize that having jobs with lots of zeros just means that it is a big job with bigger responsibility and doesn’t necessarily mean that whomever does it is any richer than anyone else.
Being rich. Being rich is recognizing that the things that you do, that you enjoy, that make you happy and the ability to do them well on a daily basis with the people that we cherish is what makes anyone truly rich. Having family that you love and care for, respect, honor and love to spend time with is what makes having any sort of riches worthwhile and being respected for doing a good job is reward in itself.
I have had many failures in my life. I hope that I have learned from them and become stronger and more resilient, able to withstand greater disappointments, challenges, and have the ability to rise above them. No one becomes a leader overnight and good leaders are made through experience not magically reborn, hatched or thrown together. It takes time and patience to become someone worth being around and moreover it takes common sense, a drive to succeed, a singular passion and the willingness to share that passion with the entire world – whether they like it or not.
Don’t confuse monetary goals with richness. Richness is something money can’t buy. Lots of people get through this life borrowing, scraping things together and chasing after dreams that get smaller and smaller until they become attainable on limited salaries and loans. If you want to be rich, look around you at the people that support you, the ones that stand beside you, that focus and work with you and become the people that follow your lead as you take on bigger challenges – not smaller ones. Being rich is an exercise in truth, focus, power… not one truly successful person becomes truly rich and successful without a lot of other people around them sharing in mutual success and vision. Richness starts with being satisfied with yourself and then growing the world around you to build the vision that you have realized.
Each day, thank whatever deity you wish for one more day to work hard and then focus on positive goals and executing them not on money and lots of zeros… lots of zeros are earned one of two ways – ultimate success or ultimate failure… which do you want to realize ?
Oh, and one last note, when someone steps all over your dreams take a note from Taylor Swift and learn to “shake it off” !!
What is YOUR take on riches? Comments Welcome!
