આ બ્લોગને ગુજરાતીમાં વાંચવા માટે અહીં ક્લિક કરો. Click Here

Imagine yourself, Waking up in morning and getting to know you have won a lottery of 10 billion dollars. The amount has already been deposited in your bank account. What would be your reaction and how would you plan to spend it?

Wide range of options ran over your mind right?

But there is one condition with this lottery price.

With all that money in your bank account, you and your family have to live rest of your life in primitive Island which is totally disconnected from the world.

All of sudden, that huge sum of money has lost its entire value.

That money can’t ensure shelter for you,

That money can’t even ensure one time meal for you,

That money can’t ensure security for you,

That money can’t provide you glass of water.

This small anecdote reveals one fundamental reality about money. ”Its not about how much money we have in bank account, real value of money is what it actually do in our life.”

Since childhood, society & media is trying to convince us that pursuit of life is more or less, pursuit of more money. But there is one foundational flaw in that broadly sold narrative.

Money is means not the end.

Let me explain this with one small example. We buy car to go from point A to point B whenever we want and petrol helps us to reach there. We don’t buy car to collect petrol as much as possible.

That very act of buying car to collect petrol sounds utter stupidity. But unknowingly most people have made it their life mission.

Let’s take real life example which can be relatable worldwide, Elon Musk. He got 180 million dollars when he sold Paypal to Ebay. Out of that 180 million dollars, he initiated 3 projects which he wanted to work on since his college years. Electric cars, Solar energy & Space sector. After allocating all the money he received from PayPal deal, he used to live at his friend’s home.

It’s not about the amount of money he got, most important thing was that money allow him to materialise the vision he always had.

Example of Elon Musk reveal one important reality of our relationship with money.

Money just amplifies who we are as person.

If we are consumptionist at the core, money will be used to consume whatever there is to consume.

If we are freedom seekers, money will be used to buy freedom as much as possible.

If we are status seeker. Money will be used to get status as much as possible.

If we are survivalist, our choices will remain same despite having lots of money.

Or if a person is visionary like Musk, He utilises that money for his vision.

It brings us to the point that what we have, what we do and what we are, are totally different things. This things solidifies one idea of mine which I call, Circles of Identity.

Having: What you have …

All our external things we accumulated. Mostly all of things which are in material forms. Or i can say all the tangible things.

Doing: What you Do …

It is mostly about what we do as professional work. But in broader sense we can consider all our actions in this category.

Being: Who we are …

What we actually are from within. Our value system, Our world view, Our Knowledge, Our Mindset, Our Insecurities, Our Vulnerabilities and above all, Our Stage of Evolution.

Ultimately who we are at Being level will define what we choose to do and what we choose to have in our life.

Money is just enabler element to have what we want and to do what we want.

That very desire of what we want to have and what we want to do takes shape in “Being level” of our personality.

I would like to end by sharing some personal observations to gauge someone’s actual personality at core (Being Level).

How to define the value of personality?

• Topic of discussion in his daily routine
• What he buys frequently, with money and with mind (Tangible vs Intangible)
• Preferences of intangibles over tangibles
• Range of his Horizons
• His interests and tastes
• Which kind of people he gets influenced from
• Reasoning Behind His Choices
• Depth of Understanding (About life or about any field of work)