“[M]an, who has no automatic values, has no automatic sense of self-esteem and must earn it by shaping his soul in the image of his moral ideal.”
-Ayn Rand

Depression is on the rise. Self-worth is on its way out. Over 15% of people in developed countries are clinically depressed. People lack confidence in a manner that is simply shocking. We’re in the middle of a psychological crisis.

The Self-Esteem Crisis

So what’s the cause of this? Why are people so down about themselves? Here are some theories (that I disagree with) that are incredibly popular but fall short of the truth of the matter:

• It’s Just a Disease. While doing research for for the topic, I was alarmed to discover that low self-esteem is considered a disease. Coping.com argues that “Low self-esteem meets the criteria for an illness or disease.” Their reasoning was that low self-esteem wasn’t controllable, is “contagious” and often leads to death. At least they got the last part right.

• Not Enough Acceptance. One of the best “wrong” answers for the cause of low self-esteem is the lack of acceptance. If others don’t love you, your own understanding of self-worth goes down. This is true, in a sense, but it’s wrong-headed in its nature.

• Negative Thoughts. This is, by far, the biggest argument you can find in the self-improvement blogosphere. Negative thoughts are seen as the cause of all negative actions, negative consequences and negative facts. If you want more self-esteem, just think happy thoughts — your problems will be solved.

• It’s Uncaused. By far the most bizarre, millions believe that self-esteem isn’t caused. It’s just a simple choice that people make. “Hold your head up,” they say, thinking that the self-esteem crisis is just randomly caused, without any external cause.

So are these the causes of low self-esteem? Is it a disease, or is it caused by not being accepted, or negative thoughts? Or is it just self-induced by brute choice? Not a chance. Each of these “causes” are simply wrong.

The Flaws of The So-Called “Causes”

• The “Disease” Myth: This is just a play on words. It’s still “curable” by self-determination, and it’s not spread by germs. By giving it scary labels like “disease” we do nothing but encourage it, implying that there’s nothing one can do to boost one’s self-esteem. “It’s not your fault” is no way to handle personal development; honesty and responsibility are.

• The “Acceptance” Myth: In my experience, those who are literally spoiled with love end up with the least amount of self-esteem. Being loved doesn’t mean that you will love yourself. That’s just a “feel-good” logical leap.

• The “Negative” Myth: Thinking positive thoughts simply masks the underlying problem: viewing oneself to be negative on some level. One can’t force happiness, one must create happiness. Telling a slave to just “think happy thoughts” is no way to let him taste freedom. To be free you must break your chains.

• The “Uncause” Myth: Of course low self-esteem is caused by the person feeling it. The only question is … what caused them to view themselves in that light? Once again, this is a superficial view of a deep-rooted psychological flaw.

Unfortunately for millions of people, the above answers are simply wrong. To understand the real heart of low self-esteem, we have to shoot back to the basics. Why do people even function? Why do we live the way we do? Why do we make any decisions?

It’s All About Values

One of the things you’ll hear me say over and over here is that everyone acts to achieve their values. In other words, you do something because you want to achieve some lofty idea…period. You watch TV because you value entertainment/news/weather. You go to the gym because you value exercise. You buy ice cream because, well, you like ice cream. You vote because you have some sort of political or social values. It’s impossible to not make a decision without trying to achieve some sort of value.

Believe it or not, that’s a type of mini-philosophy. You have a goal, a system of thought and you work to make decisions to achieve that goal. That’s a philosophy, and everyone has one. Human beings simply aren’t equipped to function without some sort of philosophical compass. It’s just impossible.

Self Esteem and Self Value

If everyone was honest, they would admit that they hate some ideas or -heaven forbid!- some people. (Note: I’m using the word “hatred” very loosely here.) I won’t be discussing the ethics of hatred now, but talking about hate is ironically a great way to see what someone actually loves. Example: people hate cliches because they love originality. Though a bit obvious, looking at what we hate is an easy way of seeing what we love.

Low self-esteem is no different. It means that there is a lack of self-respect, a lack of self-confidence, and a lack of self-acceptance. There is a reason for this. Low self-esteem doesn’t just happen. Low self-esteem is not caused by germs. Low self-esteem is not necessarily because others don’t like us. Low self-esteem is not because we aren’t thinking happy thoughts. One’s lack of self-esteem shows what one values.

To understand the cause even more, think back to the concept we call “guilt.” Guilt is when we feel as though we have cheapened ourselves through an immoral action. It’s an automatic response to violating our own real value code. If you actually value honesty, lying will cause guilt.

In other words, we see ourselves through the lens of our values, just like we view everything else. We give ourselves self-value or “self-esteem” only on the basis to how well we achieve our own values. That’s just the way the human mind functions.

Self-esteem goes to a deep-yet-basic level. Low self-esteem simply means that one does not live up to one’s own standards. The standards might not even be conscious; the standards might be subconscious beliefs and codes that one has set for oneself without realizing.

How to Build Self-Esteem

There is no “happy” or easy solution to solving low self-esteem on any real level. It takes work, guts, responsibility and rationality. Rather than being “content” with who you are, you must either lower your values or live up to them. Lowering one’s values is outrageously difficult — “completely” lowering them might be impossible.

Boosting self esteem requires that you use reason to recognize if your values contradict. Do you value selfishness and selflessness at the same time? Do you want to have more … and want be content with less? Do you value honesty, but also social acceptance — to the level that you’d willingly “alter” your personality to please others?

Any of these conflicts, plus a myriad of others, leads to a value code that isn’t achieved. Whether you consciously realize the conflict or not, your subconscious mind knows that something is amiss. Your self-analysis will be honest on at least some level, destroying your internal dignity and lowering your self-esteem.

Who are you? What ideas do you think you represent? What kind of life do you want to live? If you couldn’t fail, what would you try? Go out and be that person. Life is all about achieving your life purpose. Your life purpose — the fundamental value(s) that you live for — is the most important thing you can ever know and achieve.

You can’t build legitimate self-esteem by pepping yourself up. You can’t build legitimate self-esteem by pretending that things are better than they are (out-of-control optimism). To have a “deep fix,” just read the tips below.

6 Ways to Boost Your Self-Esteem

The following methods for boosting self-esteem are written for someone struggling with self-esteem. Don’t take offense — they are given with tough love. I value those who suffer from low self-esteem far too much to give them an answer that will only make them feel better for a few minutes. Your goal shouldn’t be to stop hating yourself; your goal should be for your to be your own hero. Heroic living is too sacred to leave to storybooks.

• Have value-integrity. Stop caring what others think. This takes practice and will probably be the hardest thing you’ll ever do. Train yourself to become a type of social-Buddhist, detaching your own self-esteem to the whim of others. This is the first, hardest step to achieving self-pride.

• Accept responsibility. This is, on some level, your fault. It is painful to accept, but it’s true. Recognize that you and only you are responsible for your own self-perspective. How you view yourself is how you view yourself.

• Seek the truth at all costs. Reality is a brutal, tough yet concrete place. It exists, regardless of how we feel about its existence. This means that to accomplish any great thing, you must understand how reality functions. Make sure you look for the truth — even if it hurts. This is the first step to all self-improvement.

• Don’t abandon your mind. The only way to understand the truth is through reason. Make sure your values don’t contradict. Make sure your actions don’t contradict. When you start looking for contradictions, you’ll find them. Ask an honest friend what your biggest hypocrisy/flaws are. Rationally consider them, and make the right choice.

• Live up to your values. The fundamental principle for viewing yourself as valuable is to live up to your values. Discover what you believe a human being should be like, then become that human being. Achieving what you value is the only way to a guaranteed rationally high level of self-esteem.

• Do something almost impossible. The long-term satisfaction of doing something few people can do is outrageously powerful. It’s a rational sense of pride; one that can’t be shaken for years. Find some sort of competition or skill that you can master — then master it. This might take years, but it’s worth it.

Last Thoughts

Remember that there is no “easy” answer or “quick fix.” Like most things worth doing, it takes time and an outrageously huge amount of work. But it’s worth it. Rationally analyze yourself, your values and how you can achieve them. Now achieve them.

What are some other tips for beating low self-esteem? Have you had any experience with it?

Related posts:

1. Reason 101
2. The Pursuit of Happiness
3. The Meaning of Life

Go to college. Get a “career.” Work an arbitrary 8 hours per day. Work 50+ years. Retire and die.

I wasn’t thrilled. Just because the rest of society was doing it didn’t mean I should. If anything, that everyone else was doing it was just another reason to do it differently.

The fundamental question “What am I going to do with my life” is unavoidable, especially for someone who hasn’t yet found the answer. Post-graduation drama? Midlife crisis? Both are caused by a lifestyle not yet lived in terms of the individual’s basic need: to fulfill his purpose.

What is a “Life Purpose?”

A life purpose, is the fundamental “value” or “goal” that you should satisfy during your time on earth.

A life purpose isn’t just a goal, and it isn’t just a responsibility. Your life purpose is the fundamental reason you want to wake up in the morning — it’s why you live. Discovering or creating a specific life purpose isn’t easy, and some simply never figure it out. But they should — purpose is the staple of living life.

The Need for Purpose

The depression epidemic is a tragedy. Over 15% of people in developed countries are clinically depressed. That means that local churches, schools, and businesses are filled with people who have an extremely low sense of happiness or satisfaction. In contrast to the availability of food, housing, media and technology, this is simply unacceptable. Depression shouldn’t exist in a society that has it “easy.”

To understand the cause of depression we must first understand the cause of happiness.

Happiness is an internal consequence of both internal and external causes. In other words, happiness “happens” on the inside you, not the outside. Because of this, one of the most fundamental causes of happiness must be internal; the primary cause of depression is internal, such as a basic value (purpose) not being quenched.

Remember, everyone acts to achieve his values, regardless of what the values might be. It was Epictetus who said, “In a word, neither death, nor exile, nor pain, nor anything of this kind is the real cause of our doing or not doing any action, but our inward opinions and principles.” Everyone has a philosophy, or worldview — no exceptions. This is why a fundamental value must be present — a life purpose.

The philosopher Ayn Rand explained the concept well:

“A central purpose serves to integrate all the other concerns of a man’s life. It establishes the hierarchy, the relative importance, of his values, it saves him from pointless inner conflicts, it permits him to enjoy life on a wide scale and to carry that enjoyment into any area open to his mind; whereas a man without a purpose is lost in chaos. He does not know what his values are. He does not know how to judge. He cannot tell what is or is not important to him, and, therefore, he drifts helplessly at the mercy of any chance stimulus or any whim of the moment. He can enjoy nothing. He spends his life searching for some value which he will never find . . .”

The leading fundamental cause of depression is the lack of a personal life purpose. Casually ask someone you meet on the street what their life purpose is and you’ll typically just get a blank stare.

The fundamental foundation of every action is our value code; we take action for a reason. If we have more than one value, we must have a fundamental set of basic values to compare all of the others against. For example, if I’m driving to a meeting and am going to barely make it on time, I shouldn’t pull into McDonald’s for a snack — my “Driving purpose” is the meeting, so it trumps the munchies.

The same is true for life. Your life purpose is your fundamental value that demands to be satisfied. What’s your fundamental series of values? What should they be? What should they not be?

Don’t Make This Mistake

One of the biggest mistakes one can make is to think that “purpose” is the exact same as “goal.” Goals are extremely specific events you want to occur, not concept values you want to achieve. For example, “I want to make a million dollars” is a big goal; “I want to eat lunch at Burger King” is a small goal. Obviously, neither are complete life purposes.

Ironically, if you tie your life purpose to a specific event-oriented goal, you are setting yourself up for a fall. For example, if your goal in life is to win a specific competition, then you’ll find purpose until you actually win the one competition. But once you win, you’re left in a self-caused value vacuum. Your value was achieved — now what? The same idea is true for life purposes like “make a million dollars,” or “travel to Europe.”

Instead of tying yourself down and restricting your life purpose to a single goal, focus on an entire lifestyle purpose. For example, rather than having your goal “to do” something, make it “to be” something.

Don’t make your life purpose to make million dollars; make your life purpose to be a millionaire. Don’t make your life purpose to travel to Ireland; make your life purpose to be a traveler. The difference seems minute when written out, but the actual impact is huge.

How to Find Your Life Purpose

For years, I expected to become a lawyer; I was expected by others to become a lawyer. I was interested in ideas, politics and analysis. I won local, state and national tournaments in formal debate. It was simply assumed that because I would be good at something then that’s what I should do with my entire short life.

The moment I realized that I wasn’t cut out for a job working for a firm, and didn’t want to put in long hours on someone else’s schedule, but wanted to write, travel and always maintain 2-3 college courses; I knew that something drastic had to change.

I finally decided to simply ignore conventional wisdom. Instead of just doing what was expected, I would only do what it took to achieve the greatest amount of happiness and would quench my basic values.

I slowly unearthed my purpose by going on two-hour long walks and rationally breaking down everything I knew about myself. I day-dreamed about the perfect lifestyle — then determined to achieve it. In my mental Utopia, I was an author, and wrote about life itself. I had a web-based job so travel was possible. I worked several hours per day, leaving more than enough time for college.

Honestly imagine the perfect life doing what you want to do. Now go out and achieve it. As Epictetus said, “First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.” After determining the perfect life, I made steps to achieve it. I have no doubt I will, because success is a choice.

Last Thoughts

Life’s too short to waste on anything short of greatness. Figure out what the perfect lifestyle is. Figure out what makes you tick. Figure out perfection. Now go out and get it.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to understanding your life purpose. I’ll be writing more and more instructions for living purposefully; if you haven’t subscribed, make sure you do — you won’t want to miss the free guides.

Also, stay tuned for the next article in the Personal Development 101 series: understanding the need for a passion — an ultimate source of energy that will lead you to success, though the road is long.

Related posts:

1. The Meaning of Life
2. The Pursuit of Happiness

Not everyone felt that way, of course. Whenever a topic was brought up about some social ill — terrorism, war, crime or foolish laws — the girl on the left of me would always exclaim, “I just don’t get people! Why do people act that way! Ugh — people make no sense!”

Looking back, she was dead right.

Personal Development 101: Using Reason

This article is a bit controversial but is simply essential to any real amount of personal development.

We must use reason to consistently make right choices. The most important fundamental principle of smart personal development is the foundation of reason. If we abandon our minds, our choices become random and arbitrary. The consequences to our life, then, become almost like a game of chance without reason.

With reason, we are able to more adequately understand the Universe, what’s really happening around us, and how to maximize every situation to avoid unnecessary conflicts, harming others, and achieving our own values.

This is simply an introductory post on the topic of thinking reasonably, and will focus on the general collective evidence in support of a reasonable way of thinking. In future articles I’ll explain more connections in terms of emotional, relationship and financial success. But for now, let’s take a walk through history.

What is Reason?

“Reason” simply means honest, conscious and coherent analysis. Logic is only one part of reason. For example, a decision is reasonable if it is a logical conclusion founded on:

• Knowledge. All available information must be used. If one knows that milkshakes have over 1100 calories, it would be unreasonable to drink two every day while trying to lose weight. Utilizing known facts is essential to reasonable thinking. Using reason is, in its crudest form, simply piecing together information to concoct a coherent theory.

• Honesty. Denial on any level is the enemy of reasonable thinking. If one tries to “pick and choose” which facts to acknowledge, then there’s no point in reasoning — reasoning stops being a path towards objective truth and becomes a tool towards whimsical bias. Reality exists in a concrete state whether we like it or not; we might as well make the best of it.

• Integrity. Reason doesn’t fluctuate because of political correctness. If something makes sense, then it makes sense regardless of its popularity. Reasonable thinkers “stick to their guns” when they know their position makes sense and is true — otherwise, the point of reason is completely lost.

• Independence. Reason can’t be carried out by another person, but is an internal analysis. Trusting someone else can make sense at times when they have more available information (doctors, lawyers, etc), but not for everyday living or for achieving one’s personal goals. It’s not reasonable to blindly trust another’s judgment, given the necessary elements of integrity and knowledge. Plus, how does one determine who to listen to?

• Coherency. The basic function of reason is the organization of information so that you can understand what the truth is. The reason we call this “coherency” is because of the primary test to see if your thoughts are correct: are there contradictions? A single contradiction, no matter how small, proves that the argument is flawed and needs to be fixed, because the laws that govern the Universe don’t contradict.

Reason is the crux of personal development, healthy individuals, a healthy society and success on any significant level. The abandonment of “common sense” is the leading cause of nearly all social and personal problems. In direct contrast, a life founded on reason leads to a coherent lifestyle, emotional stability, trust, healthy relationships, happiness and creation.

Intellectual “Humility”

Reason is primarily concerned with understanding reality, and supposes that reality exists outside of our minds. There are two basic positions when it comes to how we view reality:

• Reality is Concrete. If you jump from a plane you’d better have a parachute, regardless of how you “feel” or believe about the ground below. Reality won’t stop functioning the way it does because of your mind. Reality exists, regardless if you do; if you die, reality will continue. For an example of a rationalist, look to the scientists of society.

• Reality is Relative. You can change reality if you have a positive outlook (Positive Thinking), or if you wish something is true something really hard and often (the Law of Attraction). For extreme examples of people who place beliefs over reality, think of the parents who refuse to allow their children to see doctors even when they are terminally ill. Our beliefs have consequences, and sometimes those consequences are extreme.

Reasonable living supposes that we are not gods, and that reality won’t fluctuate depending on our moods, our religions, or our beliefs. Reason argues we should change our beliefs and feelings in line with reality, because reality certainly won’t change for us.

This isn’t to say that our outlook isn’t important. Stay tuned for new articles coming soon about a rational approach to the Law of Attraction and Positive Thinking. Both can certainly be helpful for achieving one’s goals — if understood correctly.

The Role of Emotion

Unfortunately, one of the most common myths of reason is that somehow one must never feel emotion if one is to be reasonable or logical. This is simply not true. Reason is how we know something is true — it doesn’t mean that we don’t feel anything. It’s very possible to rationally analyze a situation and to feel extremely passionate as well. We can certainly feel emotion while reasoning; we must accept that emotion should not be the means to the conclusion, but a consequence of the conclusion.

Along those lines, some of the most emotionally powerful instances of my life were those that were founded upon reasoning. Several years ago, when I was still piecing together my thoughts on personal development, I reached a powerful milestone; I was finally comfortable with doing something out of self-interest. Before this one moment, I would feel guilty whenever I enjoyed any activity.

Once I made the emotionally agonizing decision that making an action out of self-interest was justified, I decided to do something extremely small to prove to myself that I truly believed it. I decided to spend an entire evening simply enjoying myself with trivial amusements. I bought an iced coffee, a pizza and watched a “fun” movie alone. Though for most this would have been a silly way to live “selfishly,” it was an incredibly huge step for me in my journey of development.

It was one of the most emotionally powerful experiences I have had. It wasn’t powerful because I was living irrationally; it was powerful because I had decided to consciously and rationally alter my value code and live up to it. Emotion and reason, both in their proper place, are a powerful combo for a life well lived.

Case Study: Scientific Advances

The most important advances of the last century are the scientific achievements. The life expectancy has sky-rocketed in Western society, and great leaps are being made to find the cure for aids and the cure for cancer. It’s only a question of time before we unlock the weaknesses of both of those diseases, maintaining an even higher life expectancy.

Even beyond the basic need of survival, science has vastly increased the comfort level with widespread entertainment through Television, movies, radio, music and the Internet. Science is completely founded upon reason.

If not for knowledge, medicines could never be invented or cured. If not for honesty, we’d still think the earth is flat. If not for integrity, pain killers wouldn’t exist (pain killers were thought to be evil by many fundamentalists at the time of their invention). If not for independence, we’d see the complete collapse of all scientific endeavors.

Instead, through an appeal to rationality and comprehensive analysis, we see success. There’s a reason for it: emotions don’t help us determine what is true. Science gets results because science understands the system of reality. Science and reason are essentially of the same concept — coherently and honestly organizing information.

Oddly enough, millions see science as essential to the advancement of civilization, but see personal reason in a completely different light. It’s absurd to suppose that the same source of the advancements of civilization can’t also be a source for personal advancement.

If you want to lose weight, you look primarily for a scientific method for doing so. Scientific methods simply include acknowledging how the body operates. For example, focusing on intaking less calories through dieting, or on burning more calories through exercise; both are scientific means to losing weight, and are almost certain ways to do so.

A Society that Rejects Reason

The Age of Enlightenment is one of the most crucial turning points in the history of mankind. Throughout the 1700s, a philosophical revolution took place in the minds of millions. Dumping a blind faith in organized religion (such as the Roman Catholic church), the people turned towards reason and critical analysis.

It was upon this philosophical foundation that Western civilization came to see great advances in science, business and economy. Life is good when people think. The industrial revolution, consumer choice and an outrageously increased standard of living were the direct consequences of the philosophy based on rationality.

Since that time society has abandoned the concept that rational beliefs are the only beliefs worth having, and has moved into a more “Postmodern” society, where reality is now seen as flexible, truth as non-absolute and rationality as “cold” and unnecessarily crude. And there are consequences.

We are told “love isn’t rational”; divorce rates escalate.

We are told “morality is flexible”; kids kill kids.

We are told “happiness is an emotion”; depression stats explode.

We are told to trust our emotions first, as though we are internally created with an obvious sense of right and wrong — even though society has nearly an infinite ideas as far as what this even means, with dozens of religions, hundreds of sects and millions of people caught up in the intellectual-emotional war. Each of the thousands of “sides” simply tries to scream the loudest, claiming to appeal to basic emotions.

We’re seeing the consequences of abandoning reason. One of the “givens” of society is that “not everything makes sense,” giving an excuse for purely emotional decision making. Without a concrete reason (hence the term “reasoning”) for our actions or beliefs, we become whimsical sheep. Instead of following or concocting beliefs out of thin air, regardless of how “cold” it feels, we must come to terms with a need for rationality and reasoning.

What Next?

As I said before, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to understanding rationality. I’ll be writing more and more instructions for living reasonably; if you haven’t subscribed, make sure you do — you won’t want to miss the free guides.

Also, stay tuned for the next article in the Personal Development 101 series: understanding the need for a purpose in life — an ultimate goal that will take pain, work and years to achieve.

Related posts:

1. How to Kill Low Self-Esteem
2. The Creator Personality
3. 5 Reasons You Should Get Rich

Happiness is not primarily a question of attitude, but is primarily a question of consequence.

Happiness is more than just an attitude, an outlook or a feeling – it’s something much more fundamental. Until we understand this, there’s no way to achieve happiness and get society out of the depression rut.

Is there a general principle to the cause of happiness, or is happiness simply a game of luck? Can money buy happiness? Acceptance? Why are some people depressed even though they have many friends? In this article we’ll analyze why someone becomes happy as opposed to sad, and why some actions lead to more happiness than others.

I firmly believe that the root of happiness is achieving one’s personal values, and I’ll show why below.

Short-Term Happiness

Happiness is primarily an emotion of satisfaction. It means that one is satisfied with life, an event, themselves or something else. Put bluntly, happiness is what we feel when we get what we actually want — not what we think we want, but what we actually want.

The same brand of short-term happiness can be caused by a good meal, a great hug, a caffeinated beverage, a good story, winning the lottery or saving 15% on car insurance; the possibilities are, of course, limitless.

So, this turns us to ask why on earth these events or things caused any level of happiness, short-term or other. The answer is simple: we liked the events and things. Happiness is getting what you like, whether it’s personal, social or material. If you value money, then making money increases happiness to a certain extent. Money can’t buy happiness or make you happy, but it can certainly make you more happy. The same for movies, hugs, food, hot cocoa on a winter night, or any other thing that causes short-term happiness.

Long-Term Happiness

But, of course, the above examples are causes of short-term happiness. Someone can be simply miserable with their life and still crack a smile at a joke or laugh while watching a comedy. It’s not so much the short-term stuff we are looking for so much as the long-term cause of happiness.

Oddly enough, long-term happiness is extremely similar. After all, happiness is, simplified: “What you feel when you get what you actually want.” Short-term happiness is based on time-restricted events. For example, having a cup of hot-cocoa can only cause a short-term of happiness because the cocoa was short term. The same for the hugs, movies, and any other cause of short-term happiness.

This means that the key to long-term happiness (or “real” happiness) is rooted in timeless causes. Short-term values like material things cause only short term satisfaction.

Timeless values include lifestyle values. For example, a lifestyle of personal development, productivity and creative living is constantly achieved. If you achieve your lifestyle value, then life itself is your cause of happiness, leading to long-term consequences.

Internal values such as honesty, rationality, “the truth,” morality and other fundamental values go a long way, as do large “causes.” But simply, the bigger the value the bigger the satisfaction once it’s achieved.

Concluding Thoughts

Happiness is the emotional result when we get what we actually want. It might be short-term and caused by small things like TV, food or beverages; it might be long-term and caused by lifestyle or internal values.

This causes us to move to the next issue; one that is often overlooked by psychologists, philosopher and social experts. It’s a bit politically incorrect to say these days, and is founded a bit on the principles that the founding fathers’ often believed, but is something few “experts” say in this Postmodern age.

The next article is extremely important to understand, and regardless if you agree or not, you’ll be sure to find it interesting.

Related posts:

1. Life Purpose 101
2. How to Kill Low Self-Esteem
3. The Meaning of Life

Philosophers have provided many potential answers, some orienting towards a god, others towards the soul, and others towards the natural existence. My belief rather transcends the others. The meaning of life is found when we achieve our values. Our emotional response to these achievements is what we call “happiness.”

My answer is so fundamental that it seems to be obvious. However, with outrageously increasing rates of depression and a whole culture seemingly hooked on anti-depressants, perhaps it isn’t so obvious after all.

Widespread Depression

The Western world is filled to the brim with luxuries, material products and tools for easy living. TV, the Internet, nicer vehicles, multi-million-dollar movies and mainstream music are all easily accessible to anyone who wants them.

And we’re miserable. About 15% of people in developed countries are depressed.

The causes to this emotional epidemic are often debated. Many suggest it’s mostly a biological disease. Others suggest that it’s just because we think negative thoughts, and “positive thinking” is the cure-all of depression and sadness.

Regardless, depression is on the rise even though positive thinking has exploded in popularity. I know several individuals who have literally become obsessed with “positive thinking” over the years. I’ll be writing more about this soon, but the approach simply doesn’t work. They are miserable. They spend their times trying to convince themselves that things are better rather than actually making them better.

So how can one find meaning in a world of Prozac? What’s amiss? What’s the answer to fulfillment? Why are we even here? These questions are the source of empty days and sleepless nights. This isn’t to say there hasn’t been countless attempts to answer the frustrating question.

What Does “Meaning” Even…Mean?

In the 4-Hour-Workweek, author Timothy Ferris presented a great point: the “meaning of life” question is almost self-defeating. It’s vague, implies that there must be some objective “meaning,” and even somehow emotionally suggests that if there isn’t one, then life is not as valuable.

Timothy went on to answer the question literally, which gave me a chuckle: “The meaning of life is…”, and he went on to define “life,” emphasizing the “meaning” aspect of the question. It does seem a bit vague, which is one of the reasons we often hear “fluff” answers to the pertinent question.

To make things clear, for the purpose of this site, “the Meaning of Life” shall mean “why we should decide to continue living and functioning.” Perhaps the age-old question should be, “What is the justification for life?” But regardless of the semantics of the words used, we need to understand why we wake up in the morning — and why we should.

Do we have some object to achieve while on earth? It’s been often said that on one’s deathbed, one’s life story echoes with clarity, and we realize our biggest mistakes. With that thought, let’s look at the popular beliefs regarding the “meaning of life,” to see what the right last words are.

Popular Opinions on the Meaning of Life

The following “purposes” for life are not all that there are, of course. There are literally millions, if not billions of possible answers to the basic question regarding life’s meaning. My answer is not listed below — my belief is a little more fundamental. I’ll describe in just a bit.

• Live for Others. The purpose of your life is to serve others selflessly. Your goal is to end your life being able to say, “I served others well.”

• Live for God. The purpose of your life is to serve God well. As the Westminster Confession of Faith reads, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and enjoy Him forever.” Typically, the incentive for serving God is found in both spiritual and physical means, such as threat of a fiery hell, a beautiful heaven or peace on Earth. Your goal is to end your life being able to say, “I served God well.”

• Live for Acceptance. The purpose of your life is for people to accept you (as a friend, as a success, etc). Action should constantly be for the opinions of other people. Your goal is to end your life being able to say, “I was loved.”

• Live for Materialism. The purpose of your life is found in new clothes, nice cars, big TVs, huge houses and diamond rings. Your goal is to end your life being able to say, “My toys are bigger.”
• Live for Self-Indulgence. The purpose of your life is found in whatever you want on impulse. See something you just can’t live without? That’s what life is about! Life is about alcohol, promiscuity, parties and a mixture of acceptance and materialism. Your goal is to end your life being able to say, “That was fun.”

• Live for Survival. Life has no real purpose other than continuing the survival of the species. Your goal is to end your life being able to say, “We aren’t dead yet.”

• Live for Nothing. Some individuals claim that there is no meaning to life, no life purpose. There’s really no point.

• Live for [INSERT VALUE] There are, of course, thousands of other thoughts on this topic. Interestingly enough, nearly every one implies another even more fundamental meaning, as we’ll talk about below.

Do these “meanings” have anything in common? Are there any real reasons to believe that any of the above ideas are the real purpose for life? Yes and no.

The Fundamental Value

Of course, rather than just sift through plausible answers to the question, we should have some sort of justification. And what are the justifications given for the above meanings?

Living our lives serving others, we are told, causes us to feel great fulfillment. We feel better about ourselves, about others, and about life. In other words: the best the “serve others” philosophy can do is tell us to follow the path for the sake of empathy. In the end, it still comes back to us having some sort of incentive (enlightened or otherwise) to take action. “Service”, ironically, is founded upon personal incentive — selfishness.

The “self-interest” theme is found in all of the other life “meanings.”

“Serve God or you go to hell,” the religious explain, beckoning you to appeal to your own selfishness. Heaven is a great place, so you should follow God. You don’t want to go to Hell so follow God. God has a great plan for you. Follow God so He can love you. Each of these religious appeals is an appeal to self-interest.

This is not at all to suggest that it’s wrong to follow a religion out of self-interest; self-interest is simply the foundation of these appeals. This means that, if anything, the religion makes sense because it appeals to your self-interest.

Of course, this begs the question: “What is “self-interest?”‘ That’s a complicated way of saying that selfishness is when you do something because you want, or, more exactly, self-interest is an action one takes to achieve one’s values.

Being “selfish” does not necessarily mean harming others or not loving anyone else. That’s silly. It’s very possible to help others while still acting selfishly. For example, one can selfishly create a business for profit, yet still offer great deals and service, in turn helping others. Selfishness simply means “self gain.” Few philosophies or religions, if any, attack the idea of enjoyment, happiness or simply getting what you want. What these belief systems do attack is the idea of harming other people.

If anything, one can selfishly love others. The two are not opposite at all. The philosopher Ayn Rand explained:

“Love is an expression and assertion of self-esteem, a response to one’s own values in the person of another. One gains a profoundly personal, selfish joy from the mere existence of the person one loves. It is one’s own personal, selfish happiness that one seeks, earns, and derives from love.”

Everyone Tries to Achieve Their Values

One aspect of human behavior is simply nonnegotiable: People will always act in the cause of self-interest. One of the basic principles of economics is that everyone acts in terms of incentives — they act on the basis of potential gain. The gain might be financial (business leaders making a “profit”), emotional (we show love to others because we enjoy loving them) or other incentives. Regardless, the incentives are there.

Acting in “self-interest” simply requires one to focus on one’s own values. The cause of your values might be external, such as a God, a social group, the government or some other source. Regardless of the cause, the values are still yours.

Values might include “receiving love”, “protecting family”, “spending money”, “taking care of your body”, “drinking alcohol”, or anything else, big or small. The values don’t necessarily have to make sense to exist, but they are still individualized to every person. All of your actions reflect an appeal to these ideas; you act to achieve your own values.

Fact: All people act to achieve their values, pure and simple.

Every action you have ever taken was a reflection of your own values. Babies explore to satisfy their curiosity; men watch football to satisfy their value of competition; teenagers chat to satisfy their value of companionship; etc, etc.

This is why all of the above philosophies appeal to self-interest — it’s impossible to not. Even when a beggar asks for money, there must be some sort of incentive to the person who gives. You might feel duty to the poor, you might feel empathy towards another human being or something different entirely. Regardless, there still must be some correlation between what you do and what your values are.

Last Thoughts

This is just the beginning of a series of articles on what “happiness” really is, how to fulfill your life’s purpose, and how to live the way you need and want. Just remember: every action you take says something about your internal belief structure. This is why we hear “ideas matter” all the time. Ideas do matter.

Interested in learning more about this view of satisfaction? I’d love to have you join the journey. Just enter your email below and I’ll make sure you get the updates to the series.

Related posts:

1. Life Purpose 101
2. The Pursuit of Happiness
3. How to Kill Low Self-Esteem

But we aren’t talking about money in and of itself. Is it okay for you to amass wealth? Is it moral to own a BMW? To have a bank account with enough funds to allow three other people to retire? Shouldn’t you give your money away when you spend it? Aren’t you an evil, unfulfilled person when you do well?

You aren’t evil if you are financially well off. It’s perfectly moral to be rich. In fact, it’s part of the American Dream. If you believe serving others is the foundation of morality, it’s still moral; wealth almost automatically ends up helping others. That’s just how the economy works.

Below are five reasons I support the idea of building wealth here at Personal Development.

1. You’ve Earned It

As we discuss in Why Some People Always Succeed, success comes to those who focus on creation. Always making things better, trying new ideas, focusing on productivity; the creator nearly always succeeds in the long run.

On a similar note, the opposite individual will not succeed. Short of winning the lottery, lazy, uncreative people never become wealth. They never build a passive system of income (something I’ll be writing about in the future). People who don’t create won’t win.

This means one fact: if you’ve built your wealth, you deserve it. With a few exceptions (an inheritance, the lottery), those who have built wealth did so by helping society as a whole, strengthening the economy, creating jobs and helping others.

Reality rewards creators. There’s a reason high-paying jobs are high paying. CEOs, investors, webmasters, managers, business owners, authors – all of these individuals build wealth through creation.

If you end up rich, chances are you’ve earned it and then some.

2. Don’t Worry, Be Happy

One of the most puzzling myths in our culture is as ironic as it is puzzling. Western society is the richest society in the history of the world, yet it’s uncommon at all for individuals who live in the relative luxury to make claims such as, “Money doesn’t buy happiness.” Of course, they are absolutely right. Money is a tool, and can’t guarantee happiness. There are many rich people who are unhappy. There are also many poor who are unhappy as well.

This doesn’t mean, however, that money can’t increase your happiness. Money isn’t everything, but of course it helps.

SmartMoney Magazine actually wrote a bit about this in one of their recent articles:

“It may not be comforting to folks who aren’t minting cash, but the rich really are different.”There’s no group in America that’s happier than the wealthy,” says Taylor, of the Harrison Group. Roughly 70 percent of millionaires say that money “created” more happiness for them, he notes.”

Interesting word choice, isn’t it? Money “created” happiness for people who created money. Creation is one of the fundamental “purposes” of all persons. I’ll be talking about this in the future, so make sure to subscribe at the end of this article.

In the end, it should be fairly obvious why creating significant wealth can lead to at least an increase in happiness. You don’t have to worry about credit card debt, making the mortgage payments, saving enough to stay in style. Money makes life easier.

3. Being Rich Doesn’t Harm Others

There seems to be a rather baffling view when it comes to money. Perhaps we should blame it on the educational system; the view could be extinguished with a healthy dose of basic high-school level economics. The view is this: If someone is rich, that means someone else has to be extra poor. This simply doesn’t reflect the way the economy works.

An “economy” is basically money flow. It’s a question of how money moves from one person to the next. Just being “rich” doesn’t mean that the poor have less money, or that someone else will be struggling. There are several reasons for this, including more than even those listed below. The few listed below are just the tip of the economic ice-burg for why every economy simply benefits from the wealthy.

No Cap. Put simply, there’s no reason to think that because someone has two dollars that someone else is two dollars short. The reasoning is simple: the impact of every dollar is much, much bigger than the “static” amount of money that exists.

For example, I have a couple of hundred in my wallet. By the end of week, I’ll have spent it and someone else will have it. Next week, another person will have the hundred. After that, another person will have the money, and so on and so forth. This means that the “real” impact of every dollar is much, much greater than whatever is sitting in my wallet.

If I have ten bucks or a thousand bucks, in a few weeks someone else will have it regardless. This is money-flow. Rich people aren’t financial black holes, sucking money from the economy. If anything, the rich are often the creators that we talked about in Why Some People Always Succeed.

New Business. If everyone is barely scraping by, paycheck to paycheck, new businesses won’t be created; there wouldn’t be enough money saved up to handle the necessary costs. “Risky” ideas that only venture capitalists would support will never happen, period. Eventually, the economy will collapse without growth.

This means the exact opposite happens with the wealthy, supposing a free enterprising system like the one in the United States and a lot of Europe; the wealthy can launch businesses much quicker. The same goes for you. The more you have the more you can create. The more you create the more the economy benefits.

Jobs, business, choice; these are the end result of creators doing what they do best: create, build,
produce and achieve.

In short, if you are wealthy, it’s not because you are evil and want to suck money away from everyone else while laughing evilly on the way to the bank. Creators always end up creation creations which in turn cause more creation.

4. Got Money? Give More

In an odd paradox, the “super poor” often get more money due to some people having a boat-load of money. The lower and middle classes are usually focusing on making ends meet, as we talked about in “Save Money or Make Money.”

One of the consequences of working just to stay afloat is that there is rarely enough to pass on through charity. Almost all of the inheritance will go to making sure the kids and family have a little to make it on. Almost all of the week’s earnings go to food, transportation (I spent $4.08 on gas, today), housing and other basic expenses.

Now take a look back at someone like Warren Buffet. When he dies almost the whole 50+ billion are going to charity. The same goes for Bill Gates and a slew of others. There’s a reason hospitals name wings of new buildings after successful individuals, there’s a reason we see scholarships named in the honor of a rich person: being rich means you can help in a big way.

This isn’t to suggest that I’m trying to paint wealth as something purely selfless. Of course it’s selfish to make money. And that’s a good thing. Just read below.

5. Everyone is “Selfish”

This is the part where we’ll focus on the personal development side of the entire idea. Nearly everyone in popular culture claims to support “selflessness” while condemning anything done for “profit” or “selfishness.” The idea that “selfishness” = “evil” is so entrenched in our culture and society that challenging is considered absurd.

A few months ago I watched a video on YouTube where a young philosopher was attempting to explain why selfishness can certainly be justified. A video response to the philosopher showed someone passionately against what was being argued. The entire response looked something like this: “You can’t just be selfish! I mean, it’s just that it…just, well, it just sounds so selfish.” There wasn’t a reason given.

The truth is, everyone is “selfish” to a certain degree. I’ll be writing a more detailed article explaining this in the future, but for now, let’s just take a step back and look at, well, everyone.

TV is not necessary; neither are computers, snacks, desserts, “fun books”, most magazines or nearly every hobby in existence. Is it wrong to utilize these things, or take these actions? It would be hard-pressed to find anyone who would suggest so. Even still, these things are certainly selfish.

There’s nothing wrong with enjoying oneself. We’ll be going into more detail about this in future articles so make sure to subscribe. I’d love to see your thoughts, so stay tuned.

Being rich doesn’t require that anyone is harmed. Wealth is built through helping others. Creators deserve to be wealthy; creators have earned their wealth. Having wealth means you are more able to help others.

Bottom line: whether you want to help others or help yourself, being wealthy gives you more potential for doing accomplishing your goals.

Related posts:

1. Save Money or Make Money?
2. Personal Finance: Don’t Be So Defensive
3. The Creator Personality

True. Everyone should live below their means, in a way. But the expression is wrong headed because it implies focusing on “living below” rather than “earning more.”

This article will argue that rather than focusing on spending less than we earn we should focus on earning more than we spend. — for example, we should try to make money online. Semantics aside, this attitudinal difference is vital for long term material success.

The Perspective of a Miser

The perspective of the miser is someone who has determined that they’ll make ends meet by making it easier to meet them. Skimping out, drinking water, smaller meals, slower internet, hunting for cheaper gas; these are “defensive personal finance” measures.

Of course, these measures do work. That’s a given. You are most certainly going to have an easier time when it comes to paying the bills if the bills are smaller — this is especially true if you make money online.

“Making ends meet” is the art of making sure your financial income is the same or better than your outgo. As long as your needs and your earnings are at least matched up, you’re good to go.

Sort of.

If you focus exclusively on “making ends meet” you’ll be working harder in the long run. The reasoning is simple: your needs are relatively static. You need food, housing and transportation. Your income is typically also fairly static: you get a paycheck.

Focusing on “saving” your way to real success within a long period of time is possible with almost any income. It just costs more in terms of lifestyle. For the lower-class, investing means smaller meals or some other inconvenience.

Is there a better way to focus? Absolutely. But first, let’s do a background look at a specific kind of individual: the creator.

The Perspective of a Creator

There are dozens if not hundreds of “personality type” quizzes that can be found online. I admit, I’m often a sucker for them. But the profound difference between people isn’t usually listed in the test results because not any one personality typically succeeds. You can do well as an extrovert, an introvert, someone who focuses on sensing or someone who focuses on intuition. Almost any personality can succeed by focusing on its strengths.

But there is one way to almost guarantee success, and that is to adapt the personality of a creator.

A creator is someone who simply can’t function with the “same-old, same-old” and demands creating solutions and increasing efficiency at everything.

A creator is someone who feels like every action they take must bring about both short-term and long-term results.

A creator is someone who feels like wasting time and effort is a great crime, and seeks to maximize his or her time on earth.

For a more comprehensive analysis of the creator personality, read Why Some People Always Succeed. I detail exactly what I mean by a “creator.” The article is a must-read for anyone who’s tired of not reaping the benefits of financial success.

Choose Now: More Pain or More Money?

What I’m about to say does not mean you shouldn’t try to cut expenses for the sake of your budget. This is a necessity for most people. If you’re at a place where you need to drink water when you eat out, that’s perfectly fine and you should certainly do so.

The following is simply the proposal of a different perspective.

Warren Buffet didn’t become Warren Buffet because he only drank water at McDonald’s. (Though, to be fair, Buffet does routinely shop at Sam’s Club, a discount warehouse. Not the usual for a guy worth 50+ billion dollars.)

Steve Jobs didn’t become Steve Jobs because his car had above-average fuel efficiency.

No, the successful don’t get that way by skipping meals, or eating cheaper. That’s a way to make ends meet. It’s important for many (or most) people. But it’s not a good long-term game plan. It’s the best way to live in regards to the next round of bills.

The key to financial success isn’t about scrimping and cutting costs. That’s how you stop yourself from going bankrupt. Not going bankrupt is a lot different than being successful.

How to Make Money

There are always principles to how any function operates. Just ask a mathematician. These principles work in business, personal development, personal finance, basketball, style; you name it, there are principles. Here are some of the essential principles of building wealth:

• Become a Creator. Creators create where ever they go. They walk into a room and have to make one thing better before they leave. They spend all day focusing on productivity. They don’t get hung up on email, or funny vids on YouTube. They can’t help but rise to the top.

• Dump the Shackles. Society is filled with weird beliefs and presumptions that are simply foolhardy. I’ll be writing more about the following specifically, so make sure to subscribe. Each of these shackles, if believed, can destroy your financial future, period. Thee following “shackles” are completely wrong:
  1. You aren’t self employed.
  2. Not everyone can be rich.
  3. Wealth “just happens” to some people.
  4. You can’t “get rich quick”, and anyone who says so is a scammer.
  5. You can’t do well without a college degree.
  6. You shouldn’t focus on money.

• Build a Network. Remember, an economy is a social structure. Making money requires other people. If people like you, they’re more likely to give you breaks, do business or help you out. Besides, networking can’t hurt you.

• Passive. Income. A passive income is an income that’s going to come in even if you decide to take a 6-month break. Investments, owning a “hands-free” business, a website; all of these are fantastic ways of building your income. The great thing about a passive income is that it always grows. You can only move up.

Thinking beyond the culture norms, networking, focusing on a long-term income model, constantly looking for creative ways to be productive are all vital elements of building wealth. Master one, and your income will increase over the long run. Master them all and nothing can stop you.

Don’t focus on being a miser. Focus on being a creator. Don’t focus on scrimping your way to the top. Just build your way there.

Related posts:

1. 5 Reasons You Should Get Rich
2. Personal Finance: Don’t Be So Defensive
3. The Creator Personality

The creator is someone who always adds value. Always. The creator is constantly putting something valuable together, whether it’s a product, a job or a plan.

Creators can’t help but succeed because our economy rewards value; if one makes something valuable then people will want it. When people want it, they’ll pay. Value and profit go hand-in-hand.

Building wealth requires having the mindset of a creator.

This isn’t just about starting a business. This article will focus on how to be a creator in the “everyday” workplace. No product-line required.

Value Creates Profit

Our economic system rewards value. A product will not exist if no one purchases it and no one will purchase a product if they don’t believe it has value.

The iPod, best-seller books, designer clothes and other products only exist because people will purchase them. Make a cruddy product that simply doesn’t work to any extent and you won’t do as well as you would if you offered value.

Coca-Cola got where it’s at today because of a consistent taste and because of incredibly creative marketing towards the start of the mega-company’s existence. Value created profit.

The Internet was a mess before Google decided that a search-engine based on rewarding “popular” content would be valuable. Value created profit. A lot of profit.

When it comes to business, there’s an entire branch dedicated toward convincing people that the product is valuable. Marketing is founded on this premise: you should spend money (give us profit) because we’ll give you value. And it works.

People like value. People flock to value. People pay for value.

This isn’t just for business owners. The principle is much, much more basic than that. Understanding and emphasizing value is the crux of all achievement by anyone, not just for a business operator.

Creators Eventually Succeed

A creator who works as a webmaster who has a website is constantly adding valuable content to his website. This in turn will cause other webmasters to link to his website, which generates traffic, which causes more links — you see the point. Considering traffic means money, that’s success.

A creator who works as a grocery stocker is constantly analyzing how the organization of the store-rooms is done, looking for ways to add value to the system. The stocker will be promoted because people who promote value help the company. The higher he goes, the more profit the company makes.

A creator who works in an office discovers more efficient ways to use the technology and actually “get things done”…within reason.* With such efficiency more opportunities and resume’ builders will come along. Remember, the more you get accomplished while at work, the more responsibility you can take on. This is long-term prep for a job transfer.

Creators can’t help but succeed. If they’re workers, they’ll become managers. If they’re managers, they’ll become owners. If they’re associates, they’ll become partners.

Become a Creator

Want to do well? Become a creator. Becoming a creator is outlandishly difficult; it requires completely throwing off the typical “worker mentality” and replacing it with the philosophy of achievement. Read below for tips on how you can start looking at the world through the eyes of a creator.

Don’t Watch the Clock. Have you ever been to a store that closed a few minutes early, because the manager stepped out and the employees wanted to quit a bit early? The employees might think they are acting selfishly and are getting what they want. They aren’t.

The “clock-watcher” mentality is the anti-thesis of the creator. The creator goes to work for the ability to add value as habit, not to work just long enough to run out the door the moment the clock strikes five.

Keep Your Eyes Open. There are always dozens of ways that we end up wasting time and doing thing inefficiently. The key to creating a more productive workplace in order to free up time and get noticed by superiors is to constantly look for those flaws. You know they’re there; what are they?

Do Something Weird. Weird things can save time and create “something from nothing.” I once found out a friend wanted a website designed, so I volunteered to do it for $250, about half of what she was prepared to pay. She was delighted, of course, and I promised to have it done within 24 hours.

One small glitch: I don’t know how to design websites. So I Googled “outsource web design” and found an incredibly professional firm that agreed to do it for $75. Within 24 hours I made $175 because of 3 emails. In a few days I’ll be talking about outsourcing, so make sure to subscribe so you can read it; outsourcing can literally change your life.

Be the Best. Nearly every work-force has different levels of workers. The better and more knowledgeable the worker, the more likely that worker will be seen as the leader. Be the best, get the best.

Give Up Lunch Hour. If you spend an hour every single day brainstorming how you can find away to build a passive income source (I’ll be writing more about this as time goes on) you’ll find one eventually. If you spend an hour every single day in conversation with your significant other, you’ll build an incredibly stronger relationship.

Want to learn the guitar? An hour a day is more than enough time. Want to build a high-traffic website? Five hours per week is more than enough time as long as you don’t hurry. (I’ll be writing more about building a high-traffic website business later on!)

An hour every day is a lot of time. Over a year, it’s hundreds of hours. Over a lifetime, it’s literally months of potentially pure productive action. Don’t waste your lunch hour just mindlessly munching; find a way to turn that hour into something productive. The results will be nearly instantaneous.

You can eat and achieve at the same time.

The Results of Productivity

My father is one of the greatest success inspirations I ever hope to have. He’s been the master of getting “little things” constantly done so he has time for the “big things.” He married my mother when he was 19 and broke. They worked on discovering productive ways to get things done ever since.

I didn’t come up with the above ideas; my father lived them. He moved from the DJ of a small AM radio station to the manager of all of the radio stations in the area in just a few years. He now owns his own radio incorporation known by nearly everyone as being the most professional “get it done” business in the state.

There are literally millions of individuals who have done the same. I have yet to meet a self-made millionaire who didn’t succeed in the same manner. Learn to be a creator and create your own success.

Related posts:

1. Save Money or Make Money?
2. 5 Reasons You Should Get Rich
3. Rethinking College, a Series of Articles

Reading fairly common threads of thought can be helpful to see where most people are “coming from.” Many of the sites are dead on; most personal finance sites emphasize the saving of money, smart investing, financial analysis and all around great personal finance advice.

But most personal finance websites are wrong. Don’t get me wrong, the basic principles certainly work to a certain extent. But only to an extent. The view ends up causing those who follow it to settle for much, much less than they can achieve. To understand the following concept just make sure to read the entire article.

Defensive Personal Finance

Personal finance websites encourage investing and saving, and they certainly should. The reason we want to save/invest is the bottom line; we end up with more money to spend on larger material possessions, retirement and other things. This is the ultimate reason for having a job, saving money, investing, etc. The purpose of personal finance is material.

The typical advice for personal finance looks something like this:

Want to build wealth? There’s one sure-fire way to do it, and it will take from now till your 70s. Be frugal and save, save, save. Focus on ways you can save money. Find ways that you are wasting money. Save! If you have to, skip lattes, drink water, downsize your house — just save your money and invest it. The key of success is to be frugal, thrifty and to save, save, save. Save a few thousand per year more than you spend and you’ll have a nice egg in 20-30 years.

This is all fine and dandy if your goal is to live well only in the future. This method emphasizes saving more than you make. It emphasizes holding back, cutting expenses, downsizing your lifestyle and saving. And it’s this mindset that destroys the potential to achieve.

Don’t get me wrong: there’s nothing wrong with saving. Everyone should most certainly save a portion of their income. I save constantly, keep a budget and never violate it. If I continue at this rate, I’ll have a dandy retirement in a few years.

But let’s look at how this emphasizes the lifestyle. In order to understand it, let’s analyze the life of Frugal Danny.

The Story of Frugal Danny

Frugal Danny is a frugal man, and focuses on saving his money. His personal finance philosophy is, “it’s better to do without than to spend.” He makes sure that everything he does is the cheapest possible. He only drinks water when he goes out to eat, never gets steak, doesn’t listen to much new music, doesn’t go to the theater and he lives in a small apartment.

Danny has an okay job as a technician and makes $15-per-hour and $30,000-per-year. His wife a three kids require a lot of time and money, so his job just barely makes ends meet. Danny doesn’t have the luxury of having luxuries. Every year his family invests $2,000 from all of the scrimping, saving and cutting costs. He and his wife talk about money for at least a half-hour every night.

When retirement rolls along and he’s 65, Danny is going to have 1.5 million. He is going to get about $75,000 to live off every year. He;s excited! When retirement comes, he’s worked hard to get it, and he is planning on spending time working on the garden, walking the dog and watching game-shows.

Unfortunately, Danny will never make it to retirement. He’ll be in a fatal car accident a month before he reaches his goal. His long-term plan won’t be working out for him; the dead need no money.

It might sound odd in story form, but we can learn a lesson from Danny. His lifestyle focused on scrimping and saving, hoping for a distant time in “the future” where he could enjoy the fruits of his labors. That time never came for him.

This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t save, invest or be relatively frugal. But it does show us the flaw of Defensive Personal Finances. So what should he have done? What can you do? Read below.

Offensive Personal Finance

There are two approaches to personal finance. You can focus on saving more than you spend or you can focus on making more than you spend. The difference is vital to understanding how to manage your money.

Defensive personality focuses on saving money. The emphasis is on holding back, and living in a poverty mindset. The emphasis is on not spending too much. Offensive person finance is different in the approach: rather than looking for ways to scrimp, offensive personal finance looks for ways to earn.

Offensive personal finance does take into account saving and investing, but that’s not where the emphasis lies. The emphasis is in making money. Remember the old quote: the poor work for their money; the rich make their money work for them. That could be modified to: the poor save their way to wealth; the rich build it.

Focusing on saving money is certainly a way to build wealth for the long term, but that’s just it; it’s a long term goal. The best approach to personal finance will have both short and long term impacts on your budget. Want to be successful? Don’t focus on skipping lattes; focus on building another stream of income. Find another way to make money. This doesn’t mean, of course, that you ever skip the life insurance basics (my friend’s website where you can learn the fundamentals — something I don’t have time for here), or you never focus on finding the best savings account or best money market rates — just focus on the short-term as well as the long term scenarios.

By actually making money you are focusing on the now as well as the future, without sacrificing either. Unfortunately, defensive personal finance seems to be reflecting the immortal words of Emerson: “We are always getting ready to live but never living.”

But of course, this all simply begs a question. How on earth are we to discover new ways to make money? Well, SmartMoney reports that building a business of some sort is the best way to generate wealth:

So how do you join the millionaires’ club? You could buy stocks or real estate, play the slots in Vegas — or take the most common path: running your own business. That’s how half of all millionaires made their money, according to the AmEx/Harrison survey. About a third had a professional practice or worked in the corporate world; only 3 percent inherited their wealth.

Building a business is just one way of thinking offensively. Have an obsession? Start a website about it, enjoy yourself and make money. Know a lot about math? Consider tutoring. Turn your skills and assets into another income source, build a business; just think offensively.

This doesn’t mean you should stop turning the lights off when you leave a room. It’s simply a question of perspective; sometimes one’s attitude is just as important as one’s circumstances.

Last Words

We’ll be discussing later why this simple perspective change is vital, and why positive/negative/realistic thinking is incredibly essential to success. Don’t worry, no “new age”, just realistic analysis of the successful and looking for attitudes that win. One last thing; I find the following quote by personal development coach Jim Rohn to be incredibly dead-on:

“Money is usually attracted, not pursued.”

I’ll be writing quite a bit about having an attitude that guarantees success; one that nearly every successful individual reveals. We’ll be talking about how anyone can get what they want in life, it just requires knowing what you want and knowing how to get there. Enter your email below and I’ll let you know when the guides are published.

Related posts:

1. 5 Reasons You Should Get Rich
2. Save Money or Make Money?
3. Rethinking College, a Series of Articles

“The debt is just short term”, “it’s the only way to get the job you want”, “you’ll never make any money without a degree” are common college myths. Let’s discuss the most important: whether a college degree is worth going into debt over, and what the alternatives to college debt are.

College Is Expensive

Education costs are spiraling out of control. A recent report by CNN’s Money Magazine even quotes the former U.S. Department of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education as saying:

“If college costs continue to escalate at this rate, you may reach a point where the investment simply isn’t worth it.”

Have you reached the point where spending the money simply isn’t worth it? How do you know when you’ve reached that point?

It doesn’t take a PhD (pardon the irony) to acknowledge the incredibly increasing costs of a college degree. Money Magazine reports that the college costs are increasing four times the rate of inflation.

Private institutions charge an average of over $20,000 per year for tuition alone, meaning lifestyle costs aren’t factored in yet. All in all, going to school can cost up to $50-100,000. In order to understand this number, let’s take a step back and analyze three factors.

College Debt Ruins Lives

These aren’t just scary numbers; behind every debt statistic are thousands ruined lives. Take Kristin Cole, for example, as reported by The Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

Kristin Cole, 30, who graduated from Michigan State University’s law school and lives in Grand Rapids, Mich., owes $150,000 in private and government-backed student loans. Her monthly payment of $660, which consumes a quarter of her take-home pay, is scheduled to jump to $800 in a year or so, confronting her with stark financial choices.

“I could never buy a house. I can’t travel. I can’t do anything,” she said. “I feel like a prisoner.”

The college myth proclaims that the debt is just short-lived. For many, this simply isn’t true. SmartMoney reports:

Vickie Hampton, an associate professor of financial planning at Texas Tech University, knows that being well educated can make you poor. A colleague of hers, she says, racked up more than $100,000 in debt while earning a Ph.D. in English. “There’s very little probability of her paying that off in her lifetime!” Hampton says.

Lifelong-debt is no laughing matter. College debt is destructive on two levels:

• Current funds. A portion of your paycheck will go to the debt, meaning a house, nice car and everyday luxuries simply might not be open to you for years.
• Future Funds. A dollar of debt is an anti-investment. Over the course of one’s life, investing $1 at 18 or so means having roughly $10 at retirement given 5-8% return. This means that spending $100,000 for college is actually spending $1,000,000 in terms of actual spending money later on. That’s without factoring in interest, meaning the actual figure is much higher.

But the college myth proclaims that it’s a necessary evil. Without that degree, you’ll be financially backward for the rest of your life, so goes the myth. This simply isn’t true as we discussed earlier in the article Most Don’t Need a College Degree.

So what are the alternatives to college debt? Is there a way of getting the degree without racking up the costs? Remember, debt is always a choice because there are always alternatives to debt.

Alternatives to College Debt

Debt is most certainly not the only option when it comes to paying for college. If anything, college debt should be the last option. I personally chose to go completely without debt — I’d choose no degree over substantial debt for a degree.

As far as the actual alternatives:

• State Schools — State schools average a little over $6,000 per year, with private institutions at over $20,000. Less prestigious? Probably not $50,000+ worth.
• Community College — Community colleges can be extraordinarily cheap because they serve in the function that a real college should: to give anyone and everyone an education. No elitism, just a cheap education. Don’t think that it’s so less prestigious that you can’t make it in the real world; some places, including Stanford, accept some community college students.
• Pay-As-You-Go — This seems to be a forgot method. Paying for a year, taking a year off, saving money and paying for another year. It might take a few extra years, but the end result is absolutely no debt. Oddly enough, this can actually be much, much cheaper than going into debt.
• Scholarships — There are literally tens-of-billions of dollars in scholarships. The VFW, Target, Wal Mart, Coke, almost every company and organization gives out scholarships. If you have a great writing ability, there’s almost no excuse for not making use of the scholarships. In the next article I’ll show how you can search for your own using online databases, so make sure to subscribe.
• Don’t Get a Degree — I’ll be one of the few who would actually suggest this: statistically, most of the readers of this article don’t need a degree to become successful. Most people don’t have a degree, and if you decide that entrepreneurship is for you that’s another reason to not worry about the expense. Instead of paying for your degree, you could save the 50k and put it towards starting your own debt-free business.

Significant debt isn’t necessary to get a degree. Using the methods above, one can completely skip the decades of having the debt on the back of one’s mind. Debt destroy’s lives and ironically destroy’s one’s ability to succeed, if the debt is large enough. Don’t go into debt for college unless absolutely necessary.

I’ll be writing more about rethinking popular college beliefs, including specific ways to find great scholarships regardless of your skills or portfolios. Make sure to subscribe below!

Related posts:

1. Most Don’t Need a College Degree
2. Rethinking College, a Series of Articles
3. Save Money or Make Money?