Work: No amount of money makes it worth doing

Money is weird stuff. You never seem to have enough of it. No matter how much you have, you still want/need more. If you have one dollar, you want two. If you have one million dollars, you want another.

It is all so relative depending on where you are standing. Looking up from zero, a million dollars seems astronomically high. From the perspective of zero dollars, a million seems like all the money you would ever need in the world. However, looking down from a million, it doesn’t feel all that high and, in fact, zero looks threateningly close.

It must also be the case with billionaires. Why would anyone who already is worth a billion dollars continue to try to earn even more? Unless that guy is using ALL his wealth to create a healthier, happier, more peaceful world (which no billionaire seems to be doing), then that man clearly needs to get a life. I mean business is fun and creative and all that but, criminy, there are higher, vastly more fulfilling, and infinitely more useful pursuits than spending one’s life amassing excessive net worth.

Another weird thing about money is that its value is an illusion. The value of money is based on mutual agreement. Everyone has somehow accepted that money is worth something and exchanges goods for it. Unfortunately that value erodes over time as governments print as much new money as it wants.

Tragically, people spend their precious lives, even to the point of sacrificing their health, doing stuff they hate, and/or doing stuff that is actually harmful to others and the environment, and/or doing stuff that has no intrinsic value, just so they can get money. That is an enormous price to pay to amass something that can’t buy love, health, happiness, or spiritual fulfillment and that is destined to be worthless.

Here’s the irony: Success, even if you define success solely as getting rich, doesn’t come from work (which I define as “if you rather be doing something else, then you are working”). The exact opposite is true. Success comes from doing stuff you love to do. Success IS doing stuff you love to do.

An article in The Guardian supported this idea. It reported that scientists are finding that happiness creates success, not that success creates happiness.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

Happiness, rather than working hard, is the key to success, according to research published today. Cheerful people are more likely to try new things and challenge themselves, which reinforces positive emotion and leads to success in work, good relationships and strong health, say psychologists.

The findings suggest that happiness is not a ‘feel good’ luxury, but is essential to people's wellbeing.

"There was strong evidence that happiness leads people to be more sociable and more generous, more productive at work, to make more money, and to have stronger immune systems," said Prof Sonja Lyubomirsky from the University of California Riverside.

Click here for entire article.

www.lazyway.net

Comments

[Uncle Dave]

I totally agree that success is doing what you love to do, even if what you love most is doing nothing, but then if you don't do anything you eventually grow bored and look for something more meaningful to do, even though at first you may not love doing it. On the other hand, perhaps what you love most is smoking, drinking and eating and lying in a hammock and eventually you become obese and get diabetes and heart disease and lung cancer, so maybe it would have been better to exercise regularly and watch your diet and stop smoking even though you hate exercise and dieting and being sober. In other words, over-indulging in something you love doing can kill you. So I guess we have to be careful what we love and only love healthy stuff in order to be successful and happy, right? Are you writing the Lazy Man's Guide to Health and Fitness yet? I hope so...

[Ben]

The thing with money - success - happiness is that it's a chicken-or-egg problem. Success is difficult without happiness, but being happy without money/success also (except perhaps for some very high spirited people).

And also, without being happy, it's hard to find out what I love doing, where at the same happiness stems from doing what I love...

So the question is: where to start?

[Andre in LA]

You are a dangerous man, my friend.

And right on the money (HA!).

We human beings are weird in our ability to have our mental manifestations replace reality. Without an agreement, money costs nothing. Try spending Rubles in the middle of the Amazon jungle.

But it is a global fantasy we live in and we get conditioned from age zero in our relationship to *abundance* and *self-worth* which inevitable get transferred to the agreement of value=money.

Well value=money and worth=money and time=money and safety=survival are very distorted and destructive beliefs.

I believe that value relates to time lived with joy and passion, worth = benefit to others.

I will be leaving my corporate job soon and test my beliefs and my ability to "cut it in the real world."

[Koorosh Vahabi]

Hi Fred

Why dont you use the program at www.feedblitz.com. Its free.

It lets your subscribers know when you have posted a new blog entry.

It saves us the hassle of checking your website everyday.

peace man

[pgibbons]

Great article Fred. In my experience, everything you said article is true.

[Berlin Brown]

I am very jealous. You seemed to have achieved nirvana.

[Julie Plenty]

Yep, as I said,(check Holiday greeting message comment on Jan 5th)that article in the Guardian is well worth a look and validates everything that all of us (instinctively)know.

[Mario Bilotas]

I like your approach and outlook, and I guess I like the goal of your outlook - or at least my interpretaion of it which says to me - enjoy life. I would like to trouble you for an opinion, and maybe the answer is within your site, but I'm too impatient to find it...if you do what you love, and but who you love doesn't love what you do, then how can you balance? I am a work aholic, and the fact that I get pleasure out of working with people, finding them homes, watching them grow, and growing my very new company doesn't leave me much time to be ...well...sleeping, or unwinding, or hanging out. I'm stuck in a struggle. I am very lucky...but stuck. Any advise?

[Francisco Gonzalez Velasco]

My Comment is for Mario Bilotas,

Perhaps if you could shift your focus from finding homes for people to forming and empowering teams who enjoy finding homes for people, you'll be less in struggle and more in joy.

Just an Idea
Francisco

Ah... Don't arrange team meetings before 11:00 nor after 12:00 Mo to Fr. ;-)

[china]

If you're in china and was born in a poor family, your thoughts will demolish your children and yourself.

[Fred Gratzon]

If I knew these kind of thoughts would destroy me and my family, I'd keep my mouth shut and spend all my brain power thinking of a way to get out of that unhappy situation. And chances are, I wouldn't start a family until I was in a happier place.

By the way, my book has been translated in Chinese and published by a Chinese publisher -- HuaXia. I even get Chinese fan mail.

[LoveSexy]

"Success comes from doing stuff you love to do. Success IS doing stuff you love to do."

What if the thing you love to do isn't accepted by society? Say for example: I love porn, I feel happy and satisfied when I'm perusing porn - but my family would get a heart attack if I got involved in the porn industry?

[Mr. Welder]

I have been a self-employed welder for the last 15 years. I have been welding for 32 years total. I love what I do and do it well. I gives me pride when other welders send me customers. (jobs that they can't do). I constantly try to improve my skills.
I do all my work from my home. I make appointments for all the work so I have free time to enjoy myself.(ride motorcycles, weekend trips etc..)
When I see people work for factories for 30 years, put up with stupid bosses, and drag home a paycheck after Uncle Sam gets his share, I think what a wasted life.
I have saved over $250K, have a $200 home and have no debt.
My goal before I retire (I'm 52) is to save $1,000,000.
A church member asked what I did for fun. I told him "I guess I just LIVE, it's all FUN".

[dragonball gold]

A church member asked what I did for fun. I told him "I guess I just LIVE, it's all FUN".