Oxygen and Money
By: First The Pain
Tags: Focus, Goals, Meaningful Work, Purpose, Money

Oxygen and Money

Good news! You don’t have to think about getting enough oxygen into your bodies. You’re not walking around saying to ourselves, “okay lungs, breath in, now breathe out, breath in…” Unless you’re a Lamaze instructor this probably isn’t happening.

Now consider what happens to your body when you sprint up a hill? A little simplified but your heart starts to beat faster and your lungs automatically start to work harder. This results in you getting more oxygen into your blood.

But, your focus isn’t on the breathing, it’s on the sprinting.

You just have to focus on the action, on the goal of sprinting, and your heart and lunges will do the rest. The more dynamic or exciting the action, the more oxygen you get.

When you don’t have oxygen, you definitely know you need it, but you completely forget about it when you have enough.

Money is like oxygen in this way.

Too Much Oxygen

What would happen if all you did was obsess about getting more oxygen? What would that look like? What would happen?

You’d get lightheaded, dizzy, and possibly even hyperventilate. You could even pass out. Yes, you need oxygen but you really only need to focus on getting more of it when you’re running on short supply. If someone puts their arms around your neck and you will instantly make more oxygen your priority, but the rest of the time, you never think about it.

This is because oxygen is a byproduct, a consequence, a result. It’s not your aim. It’s just a means to an end. Your aim is the goal that your action is trying to accomplish. Like sprinting towards the puppy that got off its leash.

Now, what about money?

What if you chose to obsess and place all of your efforts on getting more money? What do you think happens?

Yeah, you might get more. You might even get a lot of it. At what cost though?

Your health? Relationships? Mental or spiritual well-being? Quality or effectiveness in your craft?

We’ve all heard, “ For the love of money is the root of all evil”. When all you focus on is obtaining money, then all other areas of your life begin to suffer.

Your relationships feel the strain because you trade your time with these people for more “work”. Your health starts to degrade because instead of hitting the gym you decide to review a couple of extra reports. The quality of your work goes down because you’re distracted with every get-rich-quick money scheme that you come across instead of just focusing on the mastery of what you’re already doing.

Don’t get me wrong, money is important. And more money doesn’t necessarily mean more problems. But, what I’ve found is that more often, you get more of it [money] by not focusing primarily on it.

Money is just a byproduct of some greater achievement or pursuit. That greater pursuit should be on creating/offering value that other people desire. Whether that be a service, product, artwork, or simply your hourly labor, the higher the quality often equates to more money for you. The mastery of your craft bears all types of fruit to you and those around you.

Money, like oxygen, functions in the same way.

Money, like oxygen, is just a byproduct of effort placed into creating great value. Direct too much of your attention to it and you ruin your life. If you run out, make it your primary goal for a short while, but once you have enough to live a normal life focus on something greater, something more meaningful.

We are designed to be creators, leaders, doers, servants, and friends. We should spend our time focusing on refining our talents, improving our skills, and building more connections with people. Ultimately this will bring you the most benefits in life, and of course one of those being money.

If you want more money, then focus on providing a greater amount of value to your customers, coworkers, boss, friends, family, and anyone around you.

Kill Two Birds With One Stone, Mash Two Potatoes With One Fork, Flutter Two Hearts With One Look (You get the idea)

Consider weight loss.

Let’s say your goal is to lose 30 lbs.

What options or tools do you have to choose from to accomplish this goal? Things like dieting, calorie counting, weight lifting & running come to mind. These are all effective ways to lose weight but do they inspire you? Or instead, do they instill a sense of dread? If you’re like me then probably dread.

These tend to be short-term fixes because what we end up doing is weighing out the goal of weight loss with the cost associated with achieving the weight loss (exercise, diet, etc). We then think to ourselves, “hmmm, maybe it’s not worth it”. With just losing weight as the goal, I would agree. That’s not exciting at all.

The problem is not cost associated with achieving the goal but with the goal itself.

Think about it, how meaningful is it to lose 30 pounds?

Being a few pounds lighter isn’t a goal that will get you up early and out of bed in the morning. In the short term, the greatest benefit might be that you can fit into that old pair of jeans you once loved. Maybe you will look good in those summer beach pictures? Maybe you’ll have a bit more energy in the evenings?

These benefits are nice, but not meaningful. Imagine a more meaningful goal than just weight loss.

What if your goal was to run a marathon to raise money for a charity that is dear to your heart? Or to live a long, active life spent keeping up with your kids and grandkids? Maybe it’s to become so physically fit that you can start climbing mountain peaks just to stand where few men and women have stood and to look out over the rest of the world?

Don’t these sound so much more motivating than just losing weight?

If you achieved one of these goals, I would put money on you definitely losing those 30 lbs, but I’d guarantee you’d also put on more muscle, have loads more energy, meet new amazing and adventurous people, learn determination & perseverance, and much, much more! There are so many “byproduct” benefits when you pursue larger, more meaningful goals.

By focusing on the meaningful goal, you end up hitting all of the other smaller “byproduct” goals as well, including money. When the goal is meaningful, you’ll be much more likely to pay any cost necessary to reach it.

Those costs will feel like stepping stones rather than roadblocks.

Focus on your purpose and the results will take care of themselves.