2007-09-26 3:15 PM

I Don’t Want to be a Millionaire

I had a strange thought this week. The question that was buzzing through my head was “who wants to be a millionaire?” And I realized I have two issues with that question.

The first is the identity of “being” a millionaire. Try these on instead: having a million dollars, earning a million dollars, (or even better) having spent a million dollars on your mission in life. I am not identified by my income. I am identified by the outpouring of my love and my learning to those lives I touch.

Which leads to the next issue. I don’t know what people think will be different in their lives if they had $1M. I already own 57 acres, have a beautiful family, and am doing the things I love on a middle class income. Sure, I will be helping more people when I’m earning millions of dollars a year, but the helping comes first — the money is a side effect!

So what will be different when I earn millions? I will be free to learn more and make more connections for those who learn from me. I will be free to build, experiment, and tinker with the physical outcroppings of my learning. I will be free to put myself and what I’ve learned in front of more people so that they can share with others. I will be free to pursue technology that will improve the living conditions of millions of people across the globe. It isn’t the money I want, it is the change that it represents and enables.

How will your life be different when you no longer need money? What, if anything, prevents you from doing those things now? What are you letting yourself get stuck on?

Posted by Wayne Buckhanan No Comments »

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