I was reading this article on NYTimes about the difficulties of being rich. Yes, the rich too, have problems, albeit different kinds of problems from the not-rich.
Long story short, David Hayden, an entrepreneur, was screwed over once in his first company when someone blatantly broke their promise. Then, in his second company, the same person that backed out from the first deal before, reassured David that history wouldn’t repeat and said “If a problem ever comes up, I will fall on the sword for youâ€. The title of that article is “The Perils of Being Suddenly Rich”, so as you can probably guess, something did happen in David’s second company despite all that he was promised, and he got screwed over, yet again.
I must say, I admire David’s perspective on the bigger picture — a perspective I think is good for not just entrepreneurs, but anyone in general.
Despite a multimillion-dollar judgment against him by arbitrators, he remains philosophical. “It’s just stuff,” he says.
To pay bills, Mr. Hayden is gradually selling off furniture and paintings. Yet he appears to harbor surprisingly little bitterness. “It’s better that way in the end,” he said. “Otherwise you focus on stuff that doesn’t matter.”
And he is staying philosophical about his situation. “It’s just stuff, and it’s important to not let stuff get in the way of what’s important,” he said. “People, happiness, health, children, and putting money in the right places.”
Moral of the story:
- Don’t let day-to-day problems run your life and deny you happiness (It’s just stuff)
- Don’t let day-to-day problems slowly divert you from your goal/direction in life (You focus on stuff that doesn’t matter)
- Don’t let day-to-day problems make you forget what’s important (People, happiness, health, children, and putting money in the right places) *
* a.k.a. if you got loads of money, invest in something that will help change the world for the better by helping others
Last but not least, get used to people in the money business screwing you over despite all the swear-on-my-mother’s-grave promises. They’re just money-faced, nothing personal.
You take care of that stuff, David. You tell ‘em.