What does money matter to you?

I’ve had a personal wrestle with money for most of my life. Sometimes it’s been good. Sometimes it’s been bad. I’ve learned more hard lessons with money that easy lessons.

But when I ask myself, why others are doing better than me, before I slip and fall into victimhood, I have to look inward and ask a better question. “What does money matter to me?”

My view of money making is different than most. Most people think it’s a matter of how hard you work. I reject that idea. I know a lot of people who work hard and make very little. I know a lot of people who don’t work very hard and make a lot. I’ve done some combination of the two in my own life.

To me. Money is about having a runway.

The bigger the jet, the bigger the runway you need. Smaller the jet, smaller the runway.

For some people, their jet is their lifestyle. They have a fancy lifestyle so they need a big fancy jet. So they work hard to build that runway.

But there are a lot of flaws to that mentality. Because usually, you’re only building enough runway to satisfy the size of your current jet. And if your runway increases your jet increases and you’re still just barely making it.

A better jet is your vision and mission. Not your lifestyle. What is your vision in life? What is your mission and how long do you want to be able to serve that mission?

Money gives you the time to develop and serve that mission. It’s an investment in your vision.

I will close with this sentiment from Jim Rohn who said, “The mentality of the poor is to spend your money and save what’s left versus the rich who say invest your money spend what’s left.”

The amount of stuff you acquire matters very little compared to the way you create change in the world.