Your entire life is a game, so what point are you trying to make?Mr.Positive said:And, it IS a "game". Your words, not mine.
This is the bulk of the problem with your way of thinking.What you've got to understand though, this will not earn you respect. This will not gain you true friendships, nor women that will be attracted to the real you.
Yes, wealthy people can be respected...anyone can be respected, but it's not the wealth that earns that.
Wealth ABSOLUTELY can gain you respect. I don't know how you could say otherwise. If you were to say "Wealth doesn't automatically gain you respect", I would agree with you.
It's this whole "money is icky" thing that really gets under my skin, because it's such a ridiculous load of crap that people who don't have money or don't think they will ever have money or don't aspire to have money eat and dish out by the shovelful.
And once again, I will say it until I am blue in the face, but if you think that the "good girl" you marry doesn't take into account your earnings or your earning potential to SOME degree, you are deluding yourself.
What IS the "real" you? It's many things, and that includes your paycheck.
This is sooooo cliche.Some people (not all) get so caught up in this game of showmanship, that they lose sight of what's really important in life. Then one day, they wake up, and realize while they have huge bank accounts, they wonder what did they really do with their time here. They spent it, pursuing money.
They look back on life, and it's the lost TIME that's really of value.
There's no difference dying with 10 dollars in the bank, or 10 million. You are still dead, it's the whole experience of life, that makes it worth while.
This is the story poor people tell to make themselves feel better and shame others for having more than they do.
I'll let you in on a little secret.
For most of these people, building wealth IS their passion.
Jeez.Being financially successful is a good thing, to a point. That point is when the person believes they are above others because of money, and ends up shackled to a woman he will always wonder if she really loves him, or the money he provides for her.
You know, if you DO get to the point where you have built an "empire", chances are you have developed a finely tuned mechanism for sniffing out people who are users.
I would venture to say that you are BETTER at it than the average guy, because you HAVE TO BE.
That's the difference between you and me.I too was down that road several years ago. I realized early fortunately, that it's time that's the most valuable thing. I'll never work 60-70 hours a week stressing about money again.
I am perfectly willing to do what it takes to obtain financial security.
You see putting in extra hours as "stressing about money" and I see it as a means to ELIMINATE money stress.
I've done a couple of 90+ hour work weeks in my day, and I'll be the first to tell you how miserable it made me.
Last year my business partner broke his neck in a car accident. He was out for 6 months. I had to pick up the slack, probably 60+ hours a week worth.
You can only do that for so long before it takes a toll on you. But I'm sure it won't be the last time I have to sacrifice and suck it up for a couple of months to put me where I want to be.
What were you doing to "play the game"? If you were working a bunch of hours at your job chasing a paycheck and trying to play high roller, I can understand why you got a bad taste in your mouth.
If you were starting a business I would bet that it would have been a completely different story.
This is the other problem I have with your way of thinking. You believe that it's all or nothing. That a person can't live a balanced life and still play the game.I'll work to live. I'll choose work I enjoy doing, regardless of how much money I pull in (though I do pretty well fortunately), and live a healthy low-stress balanced lifestyle, living within my means.