Jan 19
5 Quotes About Money That Will Change Your Perspective
Not everything in life can be measured by how much money we have in our bank account
According to survey conducted by American Psychological Association, money is the main factor that determines the level of stress. The survey found that people who have lower income has higher stress level than those who have higher income. The worst thing about stress is it can lead to physical and mental health problems such as diabetes, heart disease, anxiety, and sleep deprivation.
Whether you care or not about money, it will shape your life.
However, the truth is, money is just a tool to make yourself better or worse. It really depends on how you use it.
Money will enable you to have the opportunity to follow your dream and your ideal self. Even though, what your dream of does not always happen just because you have some money. But at least, it will help you to fulfill the experience that you desire.
Here are some quotes about money that I wish I knew earlier that would surely change my perspective towards it. Hope they work for you too.
“A fit body, a calm mind, a house full of love. These things cannot be bought — they must be earned.”
Money is just a tool for us to buy some things that we like to make us happier. Yet, there are indeed some that money can’t buy.
Our fit body must be earned by exercising regularly, eating healthy food, and getting enough sleep.
Our calm mind must be earned by meditating for a long time and consistently challenging our thought to make us calmer when we deal with hard situations.
A house full of love must be earned by understanding our partner first before we ask to be understood.
These things you earn require patient, sacrifice, time, and energy.
Even you have a lot of money in your bank account, the fact is you cannot buy those things. This is why they are more essentials than the money itself.
In life, there is something that you cannot see or even measure which makes them more precious than how much money you earn.
There is no shortcut to achieve these valuable things. It all takes time and consistency.
What’s the point to have more money, if you harm your body, your mind, and your relationships by working harder and longer every single day?
“If Money Is Your Hope for Independence, You Will Never Have It. The Only Real Security That a Man Will Have in This World Is a Reserve of Knowledge, Experience, and Ability.”
We think money guarantees us to feel certainty in life. So, we chase money to secure anything and bring us financial stability. We think the more money we have, the more freedom we get.
Then it became a paradox without we realize it, we spend more time and time chasing money year after year without feeling satisfied inside because we are too scared it will be lost. We forget to notice the real freedom is not in your bank account but in your mind.
Your money could be gone instantly, but the skill you have acquired throughout years by years could not be taken from you.
Once you rely on money to make you independent in life, sooner or later you will be disappointed.
Focus on things that no one can take from you such as knowledge, experience, and ability. Like Benjamin Franklin said, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”
“Don’t be addicted to money. Work to learn. Don’t work for money. Work for knowledge.”
Mostly these common things happen after the young student graduates, they think that they already know everything. So, they focus on earning more money by looking for a high-paying job than gaining more knowledge. There’s nothing wrong to get higher income from a job, but if you just start your career without knowledge and experience, money will not follow you.
Experience and knowledge are what make people getting higher income because they are good at taking the right decision. They know money will follow automatically, once they have valuable resources (knowledge and experience).
In this modern era, you don’t have to necessarily learn from your mistake, you can make a shortcut to learn from other people who have more experience than you, or at least you can read some autobiography book of people you admire.
Focus on yourself to work for knowledge and experience to build your career or business. Then money will follow it as the result.
“Money Is Only a Tool. It Will Take You Wherever You Wish, but It Will Not Replace You As the Driver. “
— Ayn Rand
Having money in life is not about the good or bad because it is just only a tool. You can alter it to make yourself better or worse. It’s all depends on yourself.
For example, when people have money, then they act to harm themselves and the people around them. It isn’t because of the money, but by the people. There is a paradigm that people think the more money they have, the more power or desire they have. That is not true. Money will not change people; it just reveals who they are.
You can spend it by eating healthy food or junk food, becoming a member at the gym or drinking at the bar, traveling to different places or hanging out in the same place. It’s all up to you.
“You Can Only Become Truly Accomplished at Something You Love. Don’t Make Money Your Goal. Instead, Pursue the Things You Love Doing, and Then Do Them So Well That People Can’t Take Their Eyes off You.”
If you look at some people that you think they are already succeed, ask them “do they love what they do for living?”. I’m pretty sure their answer will be yes. They do not only love what they do, but they are also good at that subject and make them hard to be replaced.
What distinguishes between average people than above average people are what they focus on, average people just focus on the outcome which is money regardless of whether they enjoy or not about the process, but the above-average people, they focus on the process to make them better every single day regardless the outcome they will get.
I’m not saying to not give a shit about the result of what you do, but if you focus more on how much money you get, you will fail no matter what. Like Carolyn Rafaelian said, “Money is the by-product of what you do when you are passionate about something”.
If you want to be irreplaceable in your career or business, you must focus on things that you love and are passionate about. Once you know the reason why you wake up every single morning and it is not because of the money, but something that makes you feel alive. Then people can’t take their eyes off you as Maya Angelou described.
Final Thought
Most people work for decades to earn money as much as possible and they allow their life to be dictated and controlled by the power of money rather than the power of their minds.
They think money is a solution to all problems in life, but the truth is money only fixes their money problem, but not their relationship, their insecurity, their health problem, or their stress at work. In the end, money never brings happiness because what’s truly important is how the way to spend it more wisely.
You can spend it on education, entertainment, experience, or luxury goods. There is nothing wrong with your choice. But one thing for sure, the money you spend is a reflection of what you value the most.
If you look at the richest people in the world, some of them live a life like ordinary people and if you look at the poorest people in the street, they have a bigger smile than the rich people you know. What makes the difference is not how much money they have in their bank account, but how much desire for something they don’t have.
