Why Become Rich? An Entrepreneurs Query

Most people (whether consciously or not) become entrepreneur’s to make money and to ‘get rich’. People can work a lifetime in the pursuit of money and even when they get great quantities of it they don’t seem to be satiated.

Often we call this ‘greed’, but many times it’s not. Instead it’s simply because the person lost focus on what they really wanted in life… money was supposed to just be their means, but instead it became their end. A great book on this is Viktor Frankl’s book Man’s Search for Meaning which is written by a holocaust survivor and provides brilliant insights into the true ‘meaning’ of life.

If you are reading this right now and think “Boy, I’d love to be rich” that’s fine. I’d love to be rich, to fly and to travel the world… I guarantee you two of those will happen in my lifetime (and hopefully the third!). The point is 99% of the people I know would love to be rich as well.

But there is one big difference between those who “want to be rich” and those who are or who will be. First is that I actually work hard every day in the pursuit of my goals, one of which is wealth. The second is that I know once I am rich what I am going to do next. Getting rich is like a fill up station on my way to Disneyland, it helps me get there but it isn’t the destination.

Instead of focusing on getting rich, try focusing on the whenever, wherever, whatever rule. This is something I learned from an amazing book called How to be Rich & Happy. The rule pretty much lays out that the real reason behind wanting to get rich, which is to be able to do: whatever you want, whenever you want, wherever you want. Below is a video explaining the concept and how it can have a seismic effect on your life.

I resonate with this strongly and am working towards it diligently. I encourage you to do the same! It’s so freeing to think “screw money I only want to be able to do whatever I want, whenever I want!”. Money seems to be drawn to persistent action mixed with the ‘whatever, whenever, wherever’ state of mind like a magnet to a refrigerator.

So be sure to ask yourself daily, why should I become rich? Write your answers down and post them somewhere you look constantly. I use Evernote and Google Docs to keep track of all my goals and organize them in a way I can manage. I make sure to always go back to them for inspiration in times of doubt. Focus on your whenever, wherever, whatever as the goals behind your desire for success, the “Disneyland” at the end of your road trip and be sure to remember monetary gain is only fueling the car that gets you there.