In the present era of survival of the fittest, we’re all just trying to make it to the top. We’re constantly competing with each other, and life has us running in a race just so that we can get to the finish line and achieve our goals. The question here is: does anyone ever reach the finish line?
Look around you, and you’ll rarely ever find someone who’s content with where they are. Everyone always wants more, which is why this race is never unending. This is the reason that conventional wisdom is almost always wrong. Before you start following the footsteps of those before you and struggle to run after your goals, it might be a good idea to sit down and think about the direction you need to take and if it’s worth all this effort.
To further highlight this concept, I’ve brought a story for you. So there’s a village that the government wants to develop. For this purpose, they send a few of their best agents to discuss their plans with the chief of the village and convince him to get on board. On reaching the village, these agents tell the chief that they’re going to spend millions of dollars on his people. They want to build modern infrastructure in the village and help it progress. Next starts a series of questions and answers between the chief and the agents.
The agents first tell him that they’re going to sell a huge number of buses to the village. The chief asks why they would need these buses, and the agents tell him that they’re planning to educate him and his people. For this, they’re going to arrange buses that will take the people to schools. The chief then proceeds to ask that why do his people need to go to school. The agents tell him that the schools will teach them a huge variety of subjects and topics and eventually, help them get a degree or a diploma.
Next, the chief asks them what would be the purpose of getting such a degree or diploma. The agents answer his question by telling him that these people would then go on to graduate and use their degrees to get secure jobs. The chief still isn’t convinced, he wants to know what will happen after they get the job. He’s told by the agents that getting a stable job means earning money, which means the people can now start growing their families and be able to arrange houses for their kids. Now, the chief wants to know what will happen next.
The agent tells him that once the people are earning and have their own houses, they can finally start putting some money aside as their savings. The people will work in a similar manner until they reach a certain age, say 65, and then they can finally retire. The chief now wonders what will happen after retirement. He’s told that once these people retire from their jobs, they can do anything they want! They can go fishing, hunting, spend time with their families and basically just do whatever they like.
At this point, the chief looks at the agent and says that he’s already doing all those things right now. He’s spending his time doing whatever he likes, and so why should him and his people go through that whole process to reach the same point?
There’s a simple lesson here, and that’s to never lose sight of what you actually want. We become so focused on trying to chase our goals that we forget why we wanted these things in the first place.
What you need to remember is: It’s not just about how much money you make, it’s how you make the money.
You need to understand that money is not the final goal, it’s just a vehicle to reach where you want to. Always keep in mind what is it that you really desire, and exactly how much would you require to reach it. You might get so lost in chasing your dreams that you don’t realize how close you actually are. Don’t just keep running aimlessly or always trying to earn more money, stop when you have as much as you need.
Life doesn’t have to be this complicated, the journey to your goals may be much simpler than it seems. Learn from the village chief and choose your own path. You’ll save yourself a lot of worrying and struggles by keeping it simple, and I suggest you do just that.
