BECAUSE YOU SAID, 'MONEY DOESN'T GROW ON TREES'

“Money is usually attracted, not pursued.”

—    Jim Rohn

Like many of my generation, I learn hundreds of new things around me only through the younger generation. For example – this thing called ‘Bitcoin’. 

Some days ago, at a family gathering, one of my nephews told me about it. The earlier night, he had spent quite a lot time – he was awake almost till 3 in the morning – checking, analyzing, booking, buying, selling, I couldn’t understand what it was… My brother and I were both clueless about it. So, our nephew was at his best in educating his uncles on what his generation believed as ‘The Game Changer’ when it came to growing rich… and getting there fast!

The number – 12-lakh-plus INR for one Bitcoin, as on the night our nephew narrated it to us, made my brother and me froze! Whatever that was – good, bad, ugly or outright evil… my brother and I both gave a good sermon to our young nephew, who had just started working and yet to get married… “Stay away from easy money, dear,” my bother counseled, “That money, which comes from your greed, not only doesn’t stay, it destroys you.”

I haven’t accumulated a lot of money in my life, though my life changed for the better because of the influence of Napoleon Hill’s famous book, ‘Think and Grow Rich’! I keep telling everyone, “This book is worth a million dollar to you.” Because, that’s what was written on the front cover of the book, which had lured me, when I was jobless and hungry… It was some thirty-eight years ago, and I had just landed in this city of dreams. “Whatever your mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve,” that’s what I wanted to hear… “Every man, who has made a fortune in his life, has made it only in two ways: either by selling his merchandise (goods), or by selling his services.”

Well, Napoleon Hill was only talked about the hard-earned money and not the easy-money. So, I decided to sell my ‘teaching service’ and grow rich…

Have I?

Yes, I have. I have harnessed the power of earning… by honing, over a period of time, many skills such as training, writing, mentoring and counseling apart from teaching. Never, ever was I tempted to get all the golden eggs in one go, by killing the Goose! In his other classic, ‘Law of Success’, Napoleon Hill very dramatically takes us through several stations in his life, when he had lost it all… only to bounce back again with a ‘rich experience’!

Thus, I advised my nephew on those lines… “Let your income come in proportion to your skills, talents, expertise and experience… Net work well… Communicate well… Sell yourself and your services well… Don’t get carried away by the lifestyles of the so-called ‘Rich & Famous’… I quoted the Unknown author: “The real measure of your wealth is how much you’d be worth if you lost all your money.” Then, I said this:

“Honey, do you need ‘so much’ to be happy in life?”

When we are young, we believe, that we can ‘pursue’ money. We rarely think, that we need to ‘attract’ money. And, to attract all the bitcoins and bigcoins of this mortal world, we need to build the magnetism needed for it. Else, as a wise soul said, “It is not the man who has too little, but the man who ‘craves more’, that is poor!”

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Avinash Mantri