Dec 12, 2019
Money & Attention is Fleeting
Capturing your attention. That’s the chief aim of advertising and marketing. Even writing on medium can largely be about curating the right message.
It’s all about the right image, headline and description.
Life is different, we start with nothing and end with nothing. Should we make our life pursuits gaining money and attention?
While you read this, I want you to think about having a million dollars. How would you use it?
That’s enough to live on for 20 years at $50,000 salary. How would you live? What would you do? How would you use it?
Now I want you to consider if you have a million followers. Every time you tweeted, a million people read it. What would you tell them? Does it really matters? Would you use it spead humor, or knowledge? How does having their attention impact your life?
Platforms influence what people think.
Your interests on these feeds influence and shape your perspective. You take what you want and leave the rest. Life is too short for use to overly emphasize gaining money and attention.
Shouldn’t we be pursuing wisdom, love, mercy?
Money has no morality. Just like firearms. Yet it is greed and violence which lead to killing people.
If we were to pursue wisdom, love, and mercy. Wouldn’t our world be better off?
Generosity and kindness build up people.
The contents of your character are an extension of the these amoral objects.
We all have choices to make when it comes to money. Ever decision you make or fall to make influences you life.
What do you exchange money for?
You decide and elect where it is spent. You decide what you give up for it. The purchasing decisions you make are a reflection of your character.
Gaining the attention of others is an endless pursuit. Attention is fickle, much like money. It flows arbitrarily. There are times when it will increase and times it will fall.
There are no shortcuts in life. You have to put in the effort. Years of it, and commit to it daily.
Why are you posting on social media? Why do you care? Why are you reading this? You probably want something out of it.
If I go live among the poor and I become a nobody to ensure my life won’t matter. But the truth is my life matters, so I won’t go hide. Your life matters too but you don’t believe it.
There are reasons why you think it doesn’t matter. Those ideas and concepts are wrong. They are lies, the truth is that your live matters and you can make a difference in this life. We need each other. That’s the truth.
I want you to consider:
What are you giving your attention to?
What are your pursuits? Why are you so bent on trying to get so much of it?
Money at its core is a means of exchange. The way we make money is from exchanging our time for some value.
Figure out your values. Figure out how you can provide value to other people.
I provide ideas, words, concepts, and thoughts. The pitch to my previous boss was that you are bringing me on to think for you. Together we learned a tremendous amount. He learned about business ideas, concepts, consulting, and systematic approaches.
I learned about design, layout, sales, and sustaining highly detailed focus.
A quick bit of career advice. If you hate what you are doing, you have two choices. Learn to deal with it or get a different job.
Me Trying to Be Self-Aware
I’ve had nothing but now I have some money, not a lot but enough. Enough to be comfortable. More comfortable than I’ve ever been. It won’t last forever, and I’m acutely aware of it.
Over the next thirty years, I’ll going to lose my grandparents and parents. My support group that’s been around, and their lose will cause catastrophic shifts. Each loss takes away an aspect me. I’ll remember, cherish, and always love them but it will be felt.
Yet, I’ve been selfish. For a number of years, I’ve been headed towards a goal of becoming an accredited investor.
An accredited investor defined by the SEC, is accomplished in one of two ways. By having a yearly household income of $200k or a wealth of $1M without your primary residence.
To achieve this it will be a long road. Like 20 years plus, long road.
But, why this goal?
Why this pursuit?
What about it is fulfilling?
I want my life to matter and I measure it based on my ability to make an impact.
Yet, I’ve made a mistake.
I’ve made the sum of my dollars equate to my impact. Isn’t impact is about creating, bettering, and furthering ideas, causes, and people?
Here is why I’m asking all these questions. A fellow author, asked me:
What do you really want out of this?
He was speaking in reference to my book but I’ve been asking myself it over and over about my life.
I challenge you to, dwell on it.
Dwell on it. Sit on it. Let it plague you too.
Here’s the follow up:
Do you want riches, or fame, or do you just want to help people?
As I sat with if for the last month, here is what I want.
I want my mom to stop drinking and maybe she’ll have the opportunity of a liver transplant, otherwise she’ll die in the next couple years.
I want to be a better husband to my wife.
I want to be a better brother to my step siblings since I lost my brother.
I want my work to matter to my community.
I want to learn about peoples’ life and culture.
I’d like a little fame, a little money, but I ultimately want to be helpful. Maybe it will happen through this article, the business, and the book. I’m willing to willing to take the risk.
Hopefully this article imparts knowledge, ideas and perspective you didn’t have before.
Parting Thoughts
Money and attention are fleeting but knowing that you did the right thing, and helped others feel empowering. That thought gives me energy to keep writing and pursuing this dream.
Don’t focus on money or attention because they will let you down. Instead place your focus on relationships and people. It’s more rewarding.
If I have a million followers but only three friends, the meaninglessness of my follower count doesn’t effect my daily life. The three friends are vital to keeping my sanity, goals, and improving. That’s never going to change.
What are giving your money and attention to? Why are you giving it that?
What do you really want out of life?
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