Don’t Judge Yourself for Wanting to Make Money
Use wealth as your personal growth path.
I worked roughly 15 hours a day for the last week.
On one of those days, I worked 20 hours. By the 20th hour, I was delirious and almost passed out from exhaustion.
My colleagues and I were standing talking about the work we completed and what’s remaining. I was too tired to converse, so I was listening. Little did I know I wasn’t listening much at all. I floated into a light sleep while standing and only woke because I almost fell to the ground.
Not only was I tired, but my body was in more pain than a Crossfit workout. My lower back felt like I spent a day doing deadlifts, and I could not lift my shoulders above my head.
Why did I work so much, sleep so little, and trash my body?
For money.
My grandpa was making six figures as a professor at UCLA. But that changed when he spotted his colleague park his Rolls Royce in a spot close to his.
My grandpa snooped around the campus to discover what his colleague did besides teach because my grandpa couldn’t afford a Rolls. After some investigating, he found out his associate also did real estate or sold houses on the side.
“That’s it,” my grandpa declared to my grandma. “I’m quitting teaching and becoming a real estate agent.”
Real estate wasn’t a popular career choice in the 1960s-70s. Most people were going about standard career options like corporate positions and trade jobs. And my grandpa already had a Master’s in engineering and was making very good money as a teacher at UCLA. His parents, brother, and my grandma begged him not to take the risky path of real estate. But he didn’t listen.
My grandpa had enough money saved up to quit teaching and focus full-time on real estate. He would cold call 500 people a day and receive rejections from nearly every call. But that didn’t discourage him. He made the calls day in and day out. Eventually, he found a willing seller and made profit. One client turned into two; two turned to three, then four, and plenty more.
Eventually, my grandpa was known as one of the best agents in California. He even advised Taco Bell on locations to purchase for storefronts. He wasn’t content with the amount of money he was making selling houses, even though it was a hell of a lot more than teaching. And he didn’t like working under a broker. So he decided to buy apartment buildings and manage them as well. This decision was the most lucrative of his life.
My grandpa came to own over 14 apartment complexes, collecting rent on each unit and managing the properties as well. He was making enough money to travel with the Showtime Lakers — Magic Johnson and crew.
To this day, at 81 years old, my grandpa wakes up at 6:30am to go to the office and work.
As a kid and even recently, I’d ask him why he worked (and works) as hard as he did. His answer has never changed.
For money.
I’d cringe every time he’d say that because I believed his motivation was unhealthy, greedy, selfish, and unaltruistic. But I released my judgment around his intention because mine is similar.
Now that I’m making decent money for the first time in my life, I want to make more. I’m writing this article after working a 12-hour shift. And I have more joy, energy, and optimism than ever.
I’ve grown up middle class and lower my whole life. I was even homeless for a day and spent days worrying about how I would afford my next meal.
So perhaps my relationship with money is different than yours or most. Despite your upbringing, let’s say you want to make money “just cause.”
Then I say, “hell yeah!”
There’s nothing wrong with your desire. Let go of the guilt of your goals and motivations.
We all have a path of growth — an endeavor that develops our character as a whole.
Kobe Bryant’s personal growth muse was basketball; Elon Musks’ — technology; Eminem’s — rap. Yours (my grandpa’s, and perhaps mine) — money.”
But I digress.
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