by David Lim
Whether you see money as a means to an end, or an end in itself, I think it will be fair to say that the making or earning of money is important to all of us. Whether you are an entrepreneur, a businessman or the office receptionist, we all need money to live in our modern society.
So, are you rolling in the dough yet? I'm guessing that the answer is no which is why you are reading this article.
You are probably on the lookout for another job that offers better prospects and better pay. In addition, you might be looking to take on another job on the side while racking your brains for something else you can do in your spare time, not that you have any.
And deep down inside you are starting to see that this is not working well. You are starting to realize that however hard you work, you already have a ceiling on top of you. You are starting to realize that you need to sleep and that you have a very limited amount of hours everyday.
I would guess that while you are very busy each and every day, you also get paid pretty well. You can afford to eat out at fine restaurants, spend a little extra when you feel like it and holiday at least once a year at any location you fancy.
But for all of this, you have no life because you need to spend all your time working.
But you do notice that among your friends, there are a special few who "buck the trend". You are alike in that you are both intelligent, well-educated, and making pretty good money.
However, unlike you, they seem to maintain an ideal balance between their leisure time and their work commitments. In fact, they seem to spend a good part of their working time playing golf or tennis or socializing at their club.
Looking at it from another perspective, they seem to be making their money in a much easier way than you are.
I am sure that you must be curious about the discrepancy, since everything else appears so similar on the surface.
There are multiple reasons why such a discrepancy happens but, on the whole, I think it boils down to the attitude towards work.
You are all about getting paid x dollars for x hours of work, while they could care less about how many hours they work, or how much effort they put in. They only care about the results.
Consider for a minute. Every single instance in which you want to earn more money, you effectively think of giving something in exchange. That's how most of us make our money - by exchanging our time for financial gain.
It works pretty well, until you want to make a lot of money. You end up exchanging all your time for money, and in many cases, you will find that your daily allotment of 24 hours just is not enough to make the kind of money you want.
What do you think those friends of yours who buck the trend will do when they are on the hunt to make more money?
I am going to bet my bottom dollar that working harder would be the furthest from their minds. I will bet that they will start playing even more golf and spend more time socializing at their clubs.
Your friends know that while they are really good at what they do, it can only take them so far. To reach the next level, that is, to make lots of money, they need to depend on the skills, talent and resources of others. Your friends understand that the next level is no longer about what they can do, but what they can get others to do for them.
So stop thinking of how much more you need to work. Start thinking of how you can leverage your time, money, talent and resources so that you can make more money while spending less time.
David Lim is the webmaster of http://QuittingYourJob.com, a business resource for the entrepreneur looking to start, or grow an online home-based business.
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