Money ain’t your friend.  Easy for me to say, since I’m working inside of a start-up.  You might think I’m about to rant about all my troubles with funding, accounts receivable and the like.  But that’s not what this post is about-at all.  Last Friday I wrote about Money and Security and I want to give you some more information to help your view of money.  And you don’t have to leave what you do in order for everything to be ok.  I writing to your eyes and the window it creates.

Money is a tool and should never be allowed to become your master.  It should never be allowed to become a part of your identity or sense of worth.  It should be a slave in the hands of a person of high character.

For the better of my soul and my family, I learned this the hard and root way.  The root way means the change goes so deep there’s no turning back.  By the way, the root way hurts.  Experience is certainly wonderful and yet cruel (feels like that at times).

In my days in corporate America I only turned away for a moment and I was hooked.  I was young, ambitious and very confident (a lethal mix).  When success merges in, it creates a dangerous love affair.  I wasn’t paying attention and very few in the organization loved me enough to say a single word.  Especially those who were enjoying the party my drive provided them. 

Part of my motivation in writing the book came from not wanting everyone else around or far from me miss the above.  The Secret (chapter) titled; Don’t Chase Success is most relevant here.  I know I can’t save the world, but I can (potentially) change the world.  If I didn’t feel this way I wouldn’t be waking up everyday doing MMA against Goliath.

So here’s why money ain’t your friend:

1. If left unchecked/mastered, it will drive a wedge between you and those you love.  Money left to it’s own devices loves control and total loyalty.  That leaves no room for love.  My wife, during my days in corporate America, would softly consent when I said I needed to push a little further and higher.  I didn’t realize what I was trading.
2. Money comes and it goes.  Bill and Warren have traded here.
3. Money will tell you that small desires are far more important than dreams.
4. When money becomes your identity, you begin to mask insecurities and pretend that a new this or that will make you feel better.  It will, but only for a moment.
5. All of these dangers apply to the poor and rich.
6. If you don’t make money the slave, it will turn the table on you…slowly.
7. Destiny is compromised when money is allowed have it’s way.

You must understand that this post is about a choice.  You can change your view if you want to.  You want to, don’t you?

In our careers (especially in America) we've been given the false impression that money equals security.  In many ways, we've turned the impression into hyperbole.

Money can provide security-the temporary kind.  But it lacks the cement that so many want it to be.  How many times have you said to yourself; "once I pay this off" or "when the stock hits X, I'm going to cash-out."  Something in you just feels better and safer at the thought.  It's ok, we've all been guilty of doing this.  A natural hope to say the least.

Sadly, we give so much attention to security of the temporary nature, that we ignore the security that matters-and lasts.  Like the man or woman who complains of no career options, while three recruiters wait on hold.  Our pursuits inside our careers and out may be the main culprits.

Here are what I consider to be the pursuits that provide long-term security:

• Your work.  Not your employer or business (for the entrepreneurs).  Your work goes wherever you go.
• Love (the real variety stays even when you find yourself on the outs).
• Your destiny.  Once you find it, I can say this from experience, your destiny will never leave you alone.
• Perseverance.  The vital element of a no-giving-up mindset.
• Faith.  The belief in the unseen.  The eyes that can see a better future.

The pursuits above will not be mastered overnight-in a career or life-and will create some short term pain.  But I am an endorser who is living out the reality.  Ironically, if you embraced the five pursuits above, you'd find all the money you need because your definition of value and security would be rightly ordered.

Go ahead and cross the Rubicon.