On-money-and-letting-go
Dear friend,
Do you ever feel you are not living up to your own potential?
I bet you do!
Do you wish for more recognition, or more authority, or more freedom or more money?
I do too.
During Diwali, we do a Puja of Goddess Laxmi, the symbol of wealth and Goddess Saraswati, the symbol of knowledge and wisdom. My grandmother used to tell me - Don't chase Laxmi, she will run from you faster than you can run behind her. Find Saraswati. Laxmi will find you.
I know you have already heard this, but it is worth reminding ourselves of this. Even though we know it, we allow thoughts about earning potential to color our work and career choices.
It's natural. I know. But, I'm going to make a bold and provocative statement here: Stop factoring in earning potential in your career choices.
Stop.
And not because of what my grandmother said, but stop because is logical.
Do things because you want to. Get into them. Enjoy them. Obsess over them. Dig deeper. Push harder. Because you want to. When you do things from your own choice, your energy will always go up. You will feel free. You will excel. Money (and other things than money can't buy) will follow.
But, this is not easy. It requires letting go. Letting go is the hardest thing in the world. We humans find it very difficult to let go of ideas, emotions and experiences. We just can't.
Imagine if we met, and we had a great conversation, and then I told you to forget my name. Would you be able to forget? Haha.
Our memory fails us. Literally. And not because our memory is bad - our memory fails us because it is good. We can forget things at will. And that is why letting go is the toughest thing.
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So, how to let go?
There are only two ways.
One, is to plant new ideas and experiences that over power the old ones.
Two, is to reframe the old ideas and transform them into something different.
There is no third way that I can think of.
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Make a list of your ideas and experiences about career, success and money. Write them down. Look over them and decide which are the ideas you need to let go of. Which are the ideas that might be holding you back?
Let me share some of the ideas I have had in my head in the past:
Rich people are not caring and thoughtful.
You have to be street smart and ruthless to get rich.
You have to give up on other things in life to get rich.
Some work is cooler and better than others.
Finance people get paid better than others.
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Now let me tell you how these ideas changed for me:
Rich people are not caring and thoughtful. I made JRD Tata my role model. Super rich, and super humble.
You have to be street smart and ruthless to get rich. I watched the movie Forest Gump several times.
You have to give up on other things in life to get rich. I made a list of what is important to me in my life, and reprioritised my self. I did Steven Coveys rocks, stones, pebbles, sand exercise.
Some work is cooler and better than others. This is a tough one. Time has helped me reframe this. I hope you find how to let go of this for yourself.
Finance people get paid better than others. Haha. This one can be nasty for some. I advise you to talk to as many people as you can and collect more actual facts. We tend to glorify certain ideas in our head way too much.
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Free your mind, my friend. Freedom is to be had here and now. Not after you achieve this or that.
Free you mind from unnecessary ideas, and burdensome desires.
Don't be enslaved by the memory of ideas and experiences (real and imagined) that you might be holding on to.
Make the most of where you are, what you are, and who you are.
Grab opportunities.
Do some cool shit.
This life is yours to live and make the most of.
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Money is there to be made in every kind of work. Find something you love to do and do it well. Watch this for some inspiration.