Ultimately, when it is all said and done, it will not be what you own or how much money
you are worth that matters.
What will truly matter is what you have done to earn what you own.
The lines often blur between what we have done and what we own because what we own is
a tangible way to distinguish and believe that what we have done has value.
If I do something and receive a certain amount of money for it, then it is fair to assume
that what I did had value equal to the money I received for it.
But this method of determining real value in life is not always accurate.
Although it may be true that what I did had monetary value, it is not necessarily true
that what I did had any personal value.
And it is just as important, if not more so, to have personal interest in the things we
do in order to claim any real value in them.
It is very possible to own lots of things and have lots of money but still do very little
in terms of creating pride, value, and contribution in life.
And that is a very important distinction we must make.
We live in a time where there is massive opportunity to find creative value, interest, and fulfillment
in what we do for work.
Simultaneously, we also live in a time where making money in meaningless roundabout ways
is easier than ever.
People are selling eBooks on how to write and sell eBooks.
People are selling webinars on how to make and sell webinars.
People are making YouTube channels, not for the love of video creation, but for the sole
purpose of making money at any cost of quality and authenticity.
This is not to single out those who participate in any of these areas.
There are, and have previously been, endless ways in which people make money only for the
sake of making money, void of personal interest or fulfillment in what they do.
Anyone who works for a company that they do not care about in a position that they do
not like.
And anyone who chooses to do things or follow career paths that sacrifice their values,
interests, and passions solely out of the desire and desperation for wealth are all
examples of feeble self-sacrifice Surely life requires sacrifice, but when it
comes to making money, what is the right amount of sacrifice?
Is it more important to make larger sums of money?
Or is it more important to maintain integrity and authenticity?
It is clear that there must be a balance, but when we determine this balance for our
self, we must remember that what matters most in life is what we do, not what we own.
The only things that will make us truly feel alive are our experiences.
How honest we can remain to our self and those we care about.
And how much we can contribute to what we believe in and enjoy.
Of course we need to make money in order to do these things, but we must ask ourselves
how much money is enough money, and how much self is enough self?
Whatever balance it takes to ensure that you will be able to look back and appreciate the
depth of your connection to life and know that you never shortchanged yourself, is the
balance you must create.