by EnnisP

Created on: March 24, 2009

Christopher Morley said,

"There are three ingredients in the good life: learning, earning and yearning."

If Morley's statement is correct, we would understand that money is only one of three essential ingredients to success not the essence of it and, in fact, any one of the three without the others is success distorted.

Life enhancing activities such as learning continue to happen only because life-sustaining activities (eating) are made possible by earning.You cannot continue to learn or yearn if you don't eat.And these three activities are mutually encouraging.The more you learn the more you yearn and together these activities increase your potential to earn.

Some people get money without learning (the lottery) and are destroyed by it.Their wealth was not the result of resourcefulness.They yearned for it (in a dreamy delusional way) but learned nothing which enabled them to accumulate it in the first place or keep it in the end.What you are before you receive money is exactly what you are after it arrives.

Earning money is only one ingredient to success but it has several dimensions.What you do with it after you earn it is just as important, if not more so, than how much you earn in the first place.Some people earn lots of money and still accumulate debt.They are consumers in the true sense of the word, not managers or contributors.Their name is associated with excess not wealth.They are remembered for how much they spent not how much good they achieved. That does not constitute success.

How you come by it is also an important issue.Easy money has a very short half-life.An inheritance of millions does not a millionaire make.And ill-gotten gains are not easy to enjoy.They require more work to hide after they are stolen than it would take to earn it honestly to begin with.

Success is measured at the end of your life not half way through.How much you earn at any one point is not as important as what you have to show for it at the end.Everything we do with money, therefore, should have the end in view.

Wanting to be successful and wanting to earn money are connected issues but very different at the same time.You cannot be successful without earning money but it is possible to earn lots of it and still achieve no success.Success involves a balance which money alone does not possess.

Those who have money are envied.Those who make it with ease intrigue us.People are drawn to those who have it but rarely for the right reasons.The default attitude toward those who have it is mindless admiration and in extreme cases slavish devotion but never love.Money is a useful tool in achieving success but it cannot buy love or make you significant.Earning money requires ability.Managing it requires character.

Some people have more than they need, spend very little and share none.Others spend more than they have and do very little to replenish the supply.Some relationships are destroyed through its misuse and some are forever in a state of discord over how it should be managed.

But, money is important, necessary even.Having too little is life threatening and having too much can be life destroying. Developing a right perspective on this issue is essential.

A good rule of thumb to follow is:earn as much as you can honestly, pay what you must for living, spend a little for pleasure, give what you can to good causes and save consistently for the future.These things will generate success.

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