Time management Tip 16

This month's TM tip is about Money

"It's not about the money".

Your goals should not be about money, because

1. Money won't make you happy - 80% of your happiness comes from relationships with other people, and money hinders this more than helps it. Making and keeping money takes up more of your time which reduces your happiness. Making a big amount, say a few million, changes people's lives more radically than they are ready for, and disturbs their web of friends etc. We all think we'd be able to handle it, but really we're no different to everyone else... And if the lottery is the only way that you are likely to make an amount this big then it's so unlikely you might as well forget it and get a better plan.
2. Money is not an effective goal - it won't motivate your subconscious, which is more interested in what you'll do with the money. It needs something to visualise, like snorkelling in warm water with colourful fish by the Barrier Reef. The money is only a means to an end, not an end in itself, and if you don't know clearly what you'd use the money for then it's not a proper goal. Entrepreneurs are not usually motivated by the money they make - it's the challenge, the fun, the freedom, the interest in the product, which drives them, and the money follows naturally. They start with something they believe in. If you start with the money in mind it won't work..
3. Money is not needed - most people think that they need lots of money to achieve their personal goals, whether it be the ocean-going yacht or the donkey sanctuary, or being able to give up work and travel the world. But you could do 75% of all of the above without much money - you could charter a yacht with some friends or be paid to sail someone else's to a destination somewhere, or buy a small one. You could help out at weekends at the donkey place, or have just 2 donkeys in your garden (or something!). You could travel in your holidays, or take a few months unpaid maybe. The point is that by blurring the edges you really can achieve most of it, and maybe the small yacht would be more fun than the big one you started imagining, and maybe 2 donkeys will be enough. Don't give up on your dreams because the money is impossible..

So - let go of the money and concentrate on the things that really matter!