10 Reasons To Seek Abundance
| February 28, 2012 | Posted by Roshawn Watson under Uncategorized |
Photo Credit: Images_of_Money
By: Roshawn Watson
Sometimes it seems like the only reason people seek abundance is to lavish themselves with every luxury imaginable. Overall, I find that to be a very narrow and limiting perspective of abundance. The reasons for seeking abundance transcend pure indulgence. Building significant wealth will not only revolutionize your life but may also impact the lives of those in your circle, your community, and beyond. Thus, shouldn’t we seek abundance as a societal duty? Here are 10 reasons to seek abundance.
Calling
Are you a rock star stuck in an accountant’s body?
There is nothing more tragic than for people to die with their music still in them. When this occurs, there is a collective lost because not only do we lose the people we cherish, but we also lose their unique gifts. Stephen Covey says that we all desire to “live, to love, to learn, and to leave a legacy.” One of the best ways to achieve that is by relentlessly pursuing our callings. Your calling is where your difference is celebrated rather than tolerated. It’s where your skills and abilities, personality, and passion align themselves. While we should not cease to find creative means for pursuing our dreams regardless of finances, sometimes there are financial barriers to doing so that cannot be ignored. However, a person with more than enough is not constrained and is free to wear his passion and live his dreams.
Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art. Leonardo da Vinci
Freedom
I am not a fan of our culture of debt. This Babylonian system paralyzes many would-be achievers and robs them of their destinies. Their youth and health are sacrificed in the pursuit of the almighty dollar. Instead of working for themselves, they work for their lenders because it’s their lenders who own their cars, homes, and furniture. If Sallie Mae could repossess their education, she would; instead, she lobbied Congress to make sure they’re saddled with her until she’s paid off or until they die. What a mess! However, if you are walking in abundance, you can make decisions uninfluenced by the concern for sustenance. Your debt and jobs are not your gods. Unfortunately, such freedom is not cheap.
Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must undergo the fatigue of supporting it. – Thomas Paine
Emergencies
Eight in 10 households will have an emergency in the next 10 years; thus, it is no longer a matter of if something will happen but when something will happen. People should not assume that credit will be available when they need it. Those lines of credit have a tendency to dissipate once lenders catch whiff of something gone awry. More importantly, the last thing one generally needs during a crisis is debt anyway, and providing a loan is not an act of kindness. The borrower typically lines the pockets of their lenders, and for this privilege he may get the equivalent of a travel mug. In contrast, a person with abundance can face the same financial dilemma, but the size of his resources to resolve the problem shrinks an elephant-sized crisis to a mouse-sized inconvenience.
Education
Your intellectual capital is among your greatest resources. For instance, millionaires as a group are highly educated (approximately 80% hold college degrees according to Tom Stanley) and strongly invest in the education of their offspring. Despite its value, higher education costs are ridiculous, typically rising at twice the pace of normal inflation. Nonetheless, your marketplace advantage is based on what you know, when you know it, and how soon you can act appropriately. An entrepreneur-professor, serving on the board of an $8 billion company, was traveling with the CEO and simply marveled at how current the CEO was on complex financial instruments that were:
- completely outside of his background and seemingly unrelated to his industry and
- challenging to the professor’s own highly capable students.
The professor argued if the CEO of a $8 billion company prioritized continuing education that much, how much more should we value it. Embracing abundance not only gives you more funds to invest for your education but may also afford you more time to obtain it.
Welfare
Virgil stated that the greatest wealth is health. Although I doubt he was referring to material wealth, yet it is hard to generate income when you feel awful: being in good health does provide more opportunities to build wealth. The most extensive longitudinal study on wealth and longevity indicated that those with financial wealth live longer. There were numerous reasons for this. First, those with abundance had better nutrition and access to care. For example, it wasn’t just about having insurance; the quality of insurance mattered as well. Additionally, wealthier individuals tended to be more oriented towards their futures and made choices that sustained their longevity. For example, they were less likely to smoke and to be obese but were more likely to exercise and to moderate drinking. In aggregate, your physical well-being is tethered to your wallet.
Give Back
Anytime I hear someone decree I only need just a little bit for me and my family, I always think to myself, “what a selfish and scarcity-minded person.” It’s MONEY that feeds the hungry, provides clothes for the poor, and shelter for the homeless. Why would you only want enough for you? What about others? A great way to add meaning to your life is to intentionally contribute to someone else’s success. Additionally, you are a lot more likely to get wealthy by serving others anyway. It’s great to have enough for yourself. After all, charity starts at home, but hopefully it doesn’t end there. Being able to help others is perhaps the best reason to pursue abundance in the first place.
Fun
Surely, abundance allows more fun. In fact, fun is often what we first think about anyway. I’m not at odds with anyone enjoying himself with money he has earned legitimately. I once saw a special on CNBC where a millionaire was walking journalists through his expansive car collection that included a Bugatti (price tag exceeded $1.5 million at the time). His words struck me. He said, “I don’t want to apologize for my wealth.” I personally think it is tragic that anyone would feel compelled to do so IF he earned his money through diligent service of others.
Have fun in your command. Don’t always run at a breakneck pace. Take leave when you’ve earned it, spend time with your families.” – Colin Powell
Peace
Financial peace are two words that rarely seem to go together. It is very liberating when your decisions are your own and not that of some corporate entity, such as your lender. Financial peace means you relinquish that part of the struggle. You become wholly committed to pursuing financial excellence. You move past knowing the principles to applying them to your life. Debt freedom becomes your reality. You are competent in interpreting financial literature and can apply what you learn to your own life.
Financial peace doesn’t have to be elusive. The same steps taken to achieve financial peace ultimately lead to abundance over the long term.
Influence
Influence matters. Positioning yourself as someone who has made it carries esteem that may be transferable to whatever you endeavor to change. For instance, a couple of years ago, a merger and acquisitions attorney turned venture capitalist decided that he wanted to improve water quality throughout the world using an entrepreneurial model. He hired a team of scientists and collaborated with thought-leaders. While his background had nothing to do with clean-water technologies, his previous success and wealth caused well-known legendary leaders and celebrities to attach their names to his project. Of course, having abundance is far from the only way to be influential, yet you may be surprised by the opportunities you have and the networks you access to after you “prove yourself.”
Protection
Money is a defense.
Money protects us in many ways. For example, certain neighborhoods have higher propensities for crime than others; to avoid them, one typically either moves further away (i.e., away from large cities) or pays more. Additionally, money can protect you via purchasing insurance and legal representation; it can even help you protect the applications of ideas. For example, when HP purchased Palm for $1.2 billion a couple years ago, it is said that it was Palm’s intellectual property that HP really valued. If Palm had not properly protected their innovations, it is doubtful they would have fetched anywhere close to that much at the time they sold. Pursuing abundance often means not allowing yourself to be robbed of your life’s work through crime, frivolous lawsuits, or unlawful adaptation.
Closing Thoughts
There are many reasons to pursue abundance, but it is unlikely that anyone will force it upon you. You don’t stuff food down the mouths of the non-hungry. I trust that you will seek increase, talk about increase, and think about increase. As your thoughts become more, you become more. Abundance is out there, so what are you waiting for?
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Photo Credit: Images of Money
I agree. If you look at nature itself, everything is in abundance. Any lack is self imposed. So are our thoughts. Abundance is in our DNA, but limited by our thoughts.
Fascinating thoughts. Thanks for elevating the conversation!
moneycone – what a load of bs. natural populations thrive and starve in cycles, disasters reduce portions of ecosystems to barren toxic areas. Those that adapt thrive. It is not in natural systems to self-manage.
Your modern dreamland does not serve humanity's cause and such fantasy and denial belongs with other religious types of delusional babble.
Hi Mist. I don't know if moneycone has subscribed to comments, but you have an interesting perspective. Sure, it is perhaps one-sided to only see abundance. The problem with focusing on the negative is that many times we tend to manifest self-fulfiling prophecies. In some ways, I think you both have valid points.
Great points. I would add that the pursuit of abundance is a challenge and meeting the challenge gives people tremendous satisfaction. I feel sometimes that as a nation as we become wealthier we lose that satisfaction. I see students in community college who have wonderful opportunities yet seem to be throwing it away. Others have worked to give them an opportunity to build on their abundance and yet it goes unappreciated or under appreciated.
Money is not the root of all evil as is sometimes stated. A wise man once said that it is "…the lack of money that is the root of all evil".
Yes, we certainly can embrace the challenge, as there is great wisdom in overcoming the challenge. Sometimes, one doesn't have to go through pain to learn from it. Oh how sad people who don't recognize their blessing are, as sometimes they wait until they have nearly lost everything to appreciate what they already possessed.
It's said that "welfare" has such a negative connotation now. Great list.
That's a great point. I'll have to be more careful with my word choice!!! I think we should all fare well!
Very well put – I am still adjusting to having more time, and how to use it wisely, now that I have reached a level of "financial peace" (love this term!). And I totally agree with your perspective on the value of education. Thanks for all the thoughtful posts – really enjoying your blog!
Thank you so much Heather. Your comment made my day! I love reading the comments of people who appreciate the material, as it is for YOU!
You're more than welcome, and please don't hesitate to comment in the future!
BTW, I love that you have achieved a level of financial peace 🙂 Few people every make that accomplishment, but you know that is is OH SO SWEET. Bravo to you!!!!
Abundance is a subjective term! I feel I have abundance and I am earning a very modest salary now. I have enough money to live well, savings for retirement and live a very nice debt free life. Do I need millions? No, but I won't turn it down. There are a lot of things I could do with it and most of it would be for the future. I would definitely set up a foundation that would award scholarships, I would have more free time to spread the PF word and hopefully help more people.
There is so much to do with abundance, and that's probably the best reason to pursue it. Too many people can't see past their nose, which is why they can't come up with creative ideas to use more than enough. Thanks for your comment!!!
Good one, Roshawn. Whilst I agree with all ten points I am particualrly keen on 'giving back'. When I hear people say they don't need much, or even worse – that their needs are simple, I want to screem at them that abundance is not about lavish life-style for few but about decent living for many. This is a powerful driver for me anyway.
Agreed. To be honest, at some point, I'll release another post on that subject because it is so important to me (already written) 🙂
PS: Love the new look – clean, crisp and minimal. However, I did like the dove very much as well.
Thanks Maria! I really appreciate it.
You never know about the dove, he may make a reappearance after I learn how to operate this template better 🙂
Great way of looking at it. It is all about what you do with your abundance and how you get it.
Thanks Van. I really appreciate your comment. I do think abundance is VERY important!
I agree with you here – you'll find that the most successful people think in terms of abundance, and it has paid off for them via hard work. Once you get abundance thinking, it's tough to let go and can really power you through some difficult times.
That's true. There's a POWER to abundance that cannot be denied. I like how you distinguish between abundance and abundance thinking.It is the thinking will change one's circumstances, often faster than receiving money. It is tough to let go once you grab a hold of expanding your reality.
Awesome list! I think we are trained from an early age to keep reaching for more. But when does it stop? I'm sure many of us have abundance, but just don't realize it since we are too busy keeping up with the Joneses or caught in our rat race. Abundance is also a state of mind, not just a tally of our net worth and material goods.
Thanks Buck!!! I think sometimes people tell us to settle for less than, which is quite unfortunate. Expectation does have a powerful role. I like how you and Jeff distinguish between abundance and abundance thinking. Both are certainly important!
I think that your view of abundance is similar to my view of wealth creation. There are so many factors that go into making us happy and it is definitely worthwhile understanding how they all affect you.
Agreed. Reducing it to less often lacks the depth and meaning to do one much good. It's definitely multi-factorial.
Can the problem also be that there's abundance everywhere? Being surrounded by abundance can sometimes lead to inaction.
I don't typically think of abundance as a "problem." I do appreciate your point in that sometimes we don't realize what we have until we lose something.
First, I love your new layout!!! It looks fabulous. Second, that is a scary stat about 80% of families enduring some sort of emergency during a given ten year period… I'm hoping my family's emergencies (two children having to go to the NICU in a 3 year period) are in the rear view mirror!
Thanks so much Elizabeth!
I think those would qualify in a heartbeat as emergencies!
Abundance exists in your mind. That's why money can't buy you happiness. Thoughts are things. If we cultivate positive attitude then we can find abundance in the midst of crisis. And there are those who will find crisis in the midst of abundance.
Agreed. Money can't by happiness. Thoughts do matter. Poverty of mind doing a crisis and prolong or magnify problems, but the right perspective holds the keys to one's door out of trouble. Thanks for sharing your thoughts Shipan. That's good stuff!!!
Abundance is all around us. It's sometimes sad, but true. We always have to handle it, and turn it into the positive direction. Thanks for sharing your inspiring thoughts, they've made me really thinking about.
You are so welcome Julie!!!!
I agree with your point too. Abundance is all around us. Often it is our thought-life that determines whether or not we see it and how we handle the opportunities available. Your comment implies that abundance can be used negatively: that's sad but true.
I appreciate your thoughts Shawn. Far too many people define themselves by what they don't currently have. They live constantly dreaming or scheming about how they can get more, or they are consumed by envy. When a view of abundance takes root, it is liberating.
Thanks so much! That's a good point: it can definitely be overdone. It's is interesting how some people who have this obsession are extremely successful by most people's standards, which means nothing to them. They're miserable and envious, just like you said. However, others use it as a way to put themselves down and as an excuse for not achieving. The beauty of an abundance mentality is it takes your focus off of yourself, which as you say is liberating and can be the key to enjoying the success that you achieve (liking what you accomplish). Cheers!
Exactly where is the facebook like button ?
It floats down the screen. It is to the left!
Nice post, refreshing website design, stick to the good work
Thanks Helen. I really appreciate it. Come back and visit anytime!!!
Nice post! Especially liked that you put “Calling” front and center. That’s where it should be.
Thanks so much John. I appreciate that you noticed that. I thought about rearranging it, but at the end of the day, that's where we should be centered at anyway 🙂
Your thoughts on giving are so selfless. It’s a shame more people don’t think that way; world would be a better place.
Thank you . That's an incredibly kind thing to say. I really appreciate your comment. I'm HONORED to have you as a reader. Please do return for other forthcoming content as well! Cheers 🙂
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