When Success is Not Measured by the Amount of Money You Have

The problem with money is that it seems to be the focal point of financial success, when it shouldn't be. Money was created by man as a tool, and as such has flaws, and looked at differently, is not even needed for simple day to day survival. The term "living off the land" comes to mind.

But money also provides utmost control, control that mere animals could never fathom or understand. It is this kind of control through which other human creations have become a reality, but making it the priority, the means to an end, can result in various problems.

Focusing and prioritizing money results in tyranny of numbers. You can never have enough of it if it. There will always be someone with more money who is richer and more financially successful. There is almost always a yearly shift in the richest people in the world, and trying to achieve such wealth can become frustrating.

Take for example a simple employee who focuses on money and to achieve it rises through the ranks. The employees' goal is simply money. He works for the company for around thirty, forty or fifty years. The employee ends up as the CEO of the company and earns $2 million dollars a year. But since the goal is money, there can never be enough of it. He wants to earn $10 million dollars or more, and not the measly $2 million dollars he gets a year. The employee now turned CEO is never content and never happy, he lived life for money and refused to use it as a tool towards gaining true happiness.

Therefore, there should be a shift in focus. Instead of the focus being on money, it should be on lifestyles. Each person is unique and has their own preference as to lifestyle, some may envision grander lifestyles than others, while others may be content with a place to sleep, and a family to go home to. Thus, if people would prioritize their lifestyle and put a price tag on it, then, it would be in a sense, more attainable than simply using money as a yard stick for success. Money as a yardstick is an unending and seemingly unattainable goal. Money becomes the reason for living, which is not right.

Using lifestyle as the gauge would mean more contentment and happiness since once a person reaches the "lifestyle" goal, then the amount and reason for the money can be regulated or stopped since he has reached this goal.
Now ask yourself, what kind of life you would like to live? What kind of life would you be happy and content with? Make this your goal. Once you have achieved that goal, the buck can actually stop there. Once there is contentment and happiness, the amount of money needed can be considered to have reached a plateau, a dead end for money, but an abundance of fulfillment and contentedness for you.