Choose your side!
We as a human share the same traits yet are so different from each other. Hence, we all have different answers to the same questions and that’s completely normal. So, in the next few minutes, I will not be able to answer the above question but you will definitely have the courage to figure it out on your own.
If we look back to the history of humans we will see a pattern that has always been increasing. That is our wants and desires. According to www.personalmba.com, core human drives are categorized into the following:
- Drive to acquire — The desire to collect material and immaterial things.
- Drive to bond — The desire of being loved and feel valued in our relationship with others.
- Drive to learn — The desire to fulfill our curiosity.
- Desire to defend — The desire to protect ourselves, our loved ones, and our property.
- Desire to feel — The desire for emotional experiences such as pleasure and excitement.
If we closely look at all desires, we constantly want ourselves to be appreciated for what we have done, who we are, what we aim to be, things that we own, and things that we have already achieved.
So this brings me to our main topic, WANT.
People want things and they want them immediately. Especially in today’s ‘credit card’ generation, it has become a lot easier to get all the things that you want even if you don’t have the money to pay for them.
I have seen people buying cars that are 10 times more than their annual income. I have seen people buying phones which are not worth their investment. I have seen people trying to look rich instead of being rich. And the worse thing is we are not even aware of it. We think it is cool to show off. And all of these make me think about where our society and our generation are heading to. A very few people are talking about this issue
All of us fall under two broad categories in today’s generation:
- Consumers
- Creators
Although consumers are not just consuming, they are producing too but their Consumption > Creation.
On the other side, producers are consuming too but their
Creation > Consumption.
Hence, we are often painfully reminded that our purchases cannot outstrip our ongoing ability to create.
So, from now on before you invest your money on anything think about the return on investment that you will be getting from that purchase. It’s okay to be emotional while making a few purchases but all your purchases should not be emotionally driven (eg. all of us want a house of our own but not all of us want superbikes and luxury cars every other couple of years.)
I am pretty sure, all of us have come across this famous saying:
A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work.
But sometimes working hard is not enough in order to achieve what you want. I often consider the direction to be far more important than speed. If your direction is correct, you might feel left out at times but you will never feel lost.
Everybody is struggling, you need to choose your struggle. It is completely fine to take a break from your monotonous routine and reflect back on all the major life decisions that you have taken. It’s better late than never, we are allowed to choose whatever we want. So it is your choice to upgrade yourself from being a consumer to a creator. Just don’t die being a consumer. Contribute anything that’s under your capacity. Even contributing at a smaller level is way better than contributing nothing. Things won’t change overnight but a step at a time will change you and the world around you one night.
Cheers,
Abhishek.
