Are you a nice guy?

If you are so savagely money-hungry that you’ve stopped functioning like a human, you may indeed finish first financially . . . but you’ll be wasting away your life in the process. People will split into two camps: those with value to offer who cross the street to avoid you, and those who leach onto you, hopeful of getting their hands in your pockets.

“Happiness,” we’re told,

“runs in a circular motion” and 

“life is just a little boat upon the sea”

(With thanks to ’60s songster Donovan).

Well, acquiring and stashing cash may well be what fuels your fire and keeps you running, but little boats upon the sea capsize quickly if they’re anchored off shore in the middle of a storm, economic or otherwise — especially if you’re sitting below deck rolling your dimes and nickles. (And without a snorkel?) Glub, glub!

“Yeah,” you say, “well that sounds good, but reality is my family’s gotta eat and I have a mortgage and car and stuff to pay for, and if I don’t focus on making money, my business goes down the tubes, then what?”

Someone told me today that she quit smoking “cold turkey” after years of convincing herself “it would be too hard to quit. I finally realized,” she said, “that it would be a lot harder to die of cancer.” You don’t need to be addicted to your business just because you fear bankruptcy. A bankrupt body and a bankrupt family are far worse consequences.

No, I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but–as both an ex-smoker and ex-money-chaser–I can only say that I am happier, healthier, and wiser now than I have been since college athlete days (a  l-o-n-g  time). Money struggles are much easier to contend with when you can make the decision to downsize your lifestyle.

That action alone, in fact, enables some fantastically rewarding experiences that would otherwise never have come by fighting to stay living a plastic existence at the top of the financial ladder.

“Like what?” you might ask. “What benefits can there possibly be from giving up a big-bucks high life?”

Start with drastically increased odds for:

• A much-enhanced family life

• More friends and more meaningful friendships

• Increased numbers and types of opportunities to grow as a person,

• Support systems to be physically and emotionally healthier

• Increased awarenesses that facilitate being able to help others along the way

These are just a few of the hidden benefits. There comes a point where each of us must draw lines in the sand for our SELVES, and decide which roads to take. When that time comes –or when you decide to make it happen– choose your self and your loved ones first.

Money can put you there if you’re here,

but it can’t buy a new you or a new them.

You are undoubtedly a nicer person than you probably give yourself credit for. Don’t be afraid of letting the nice you rise to the surface more. And –since life isn’t football or boxing or war– don’t think for one minute that nice guys finish anywhere except first.

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Hal@Businessworks.US or 931.854.0474

 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals. God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!