A few weeks ago, about 45 of us MBA students spent the best part of our semester break in Abu Dhabi taking a negotiations course. It was a pretty intense week with 8.30am starts and the average day ending at 9.30pm. I think the majority of us who we went into the course were trying to find the best way to negotiate a great salary package given we were all going to be immersed in recruiting activities shortly after. The course was pretty rewarding in that I felt I learnt so much and whilst I would not call myself a guru in negotiations, I can say that I am armed with a framework that would assist me positively in such situations. The core of my post has nothing to do with the content of the course itself but focuses simply on the final words of our renowned professor on our closing day.
He concluded by saying to us, “You will all make money in your lifetime so don’t be worried about money as it is just a small composition of what would be meaningful in your life so it is important to ensure that those other things are taken care of too (things like family etc) .”
I don’t think he could have closed the day any better. I personally was waiting the whole week to get to that point where we would spend a considerable amount of time on salary negotiation which we did (we all want to be rich, right?). So I guess the personal learnings for me were as follows: I should be careful not to base what I value (my perception of richness), my life’s value solely on the zeros in front of a dollar sign, that I should not focus what I consider fulfillment and success on what the world typically views it as and I need to carefully decide what RICHNESS means to me. It could mean having little to no money, and working for a NGO in Africa or it could mean having a yacht and owning penthouses around the world and having no time or it could possibly mean a life where I don’t have significant amount of money but I have enough time to share with those I love (that in itself is some valuable sort of currency, don’t you think?). I think you get the idea. It’s important to determine what being rich means for you not just in monetary terms but also in other currencies not so often talked about by the world.
With that I leave you.
#SassyFunke
“It’s good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it’s good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven’t lost the things that money can’t buy.” –George Lorimer
This is a brilliant post, however i have to mention that you seem to think one has to forgo one desired success in other to achieve another (opportunity cost). For instance, you wrote: “I need to carefully decide what RICHNESS means to me. It could mean having little to no money, and working for a NGO…”. In my view, one can have a lot of money and use that money to start an NGO whilst maintaining a healthy relationship with one’s family.
We live in a global (information) age where technology and better transportation makes things easier to manage than, say 10 years ago.
So in conclusion, I truly believe that one can achieve hitherto contradictory success factors if one is willing to find a balance.
I agree with you. It’s certainly not a choice of one or the other and for illustration purposes I used two extremes but my underlying message was that we need to decide what matters to us by us and not by the values valued by the world essentially to find our own balance.
Great post! Difficult decisions shape us and force us to examine and decide who we are and what we truly value.
Thanks for your comment. Indeed difficult decisions have a huge role to play in our lives.
We should consider the fact that there is a majority of people who will never see any type of richness. To most people in Nigeria for example a roof over their head and food would mean richness. Only the wealthy ones have the choice to decide what richness even means to them and what they decide to do with their money. I find it noble that you even ask yourself that question because most wealthy people even don’t.
Nevertheless always consider that the quote of Bob Marley holds the ultimate truth. There is no real happiness in whatever money can buy you. Happiness is a mental state. But one who has more than enough money will never understand until he experiences it. Lives it.
The fact that the wealth of a few is based on the misery of a majority shows how wrong the system is we humans built.
I am aware that I am going off-topic with my comment but I think we should take these thoughts into consideration.
The topic is very complex and there are countless things I could add to this but it will end up in a loooong blog post not meant for a mere comment.
Cheers,
Momo P
Thank you for your comment! Your thoughts are certainly well founded and happy to have it shared on here. Thanks again!