How much money do you need to feel successful? How much money will you give to make a difference?
So often in leadership and life we use financial measures to define success. Most people agree that billionaire Bill Gates has led a successful life revolutionizing the computer world. Equally, most people agree that Mother Theresa led a successful life by taking a vow of poverty and devoting herself to serving the poorest of the poor.
But what if you don’t aspire to be Bill Gates rich? What if you don’t aspire to be Mother Theresa poor? How do you decide what balance of making money and giving to the world is right for you? Unless you are either the poorest or the richest person in the world, there will always be someone who has more than you and someone who has less than you.
When we look up the ladder at those who have more financial success than us, we can feel jealous and envious of their outward showings of success. When we look down the ladder at those who have less financial success than us we may feel guilty for the abundance in our own life. If we feel bad when we look up the ladder and we feel bad when we look down the ladder, there is only one place left to look. It is the place where we find true happiness and success. That place is inside ourselves.
If we live within our own definition of financial success, then we close the loop of “not enough.” We no longer feel not rich enough. We no longer feel not giving enough. We release the energy of comparing our life and focus it on living our life. We open ourselves up to the potential of being happy, exactly as we are in the current moment.