Money makes the world go round, or at least that’s what we’re told. While I don’t believe in that statement there’s no question that regardless of what one wants out of life they’re going to need money to acquire it. Money is important, I even wrote not that long ago that it’s the source of freedom for men, or really anybody. But it gets deeper then that, after all just because money is important for freedom doesn’t mean that it’s everything.
And you can lose much if you pursue it to the cost of everything else. But even more than that money is only freedom in the right context. It can also enslave you and in many different ways. There are some key things to look at. Like I said above, no matter what you want out of life you’re going to need money to accomplish it. Even if it’s just go in the woods and live off the strength of your arm. There’s not a piece of land that you can run to that isn’t owned by someone. You’ll need money to buy land and to pay the property taxes on it.
There is no escaping the money system. This isn’t as bad as it sounds as you can escape the worst manifestations of it. But don’t think that there’s any escaping it entirely, at least not in the here and now. And because of this it makes sense to understand how it works and understand how to go about acquiring it and using it to your own ends and to help your own life, and above all to give you the freedom that you want. So let’s dive into this and how to make money work for you instead of you work for it.
What Even Is Money?
I don’t mean this in the literal sense that an economist can answer, rather I mean this in a larger sense. Not too long ago I wrote an article titled “Is Money Real” discussing how certain powerful entities whether the media or central banks or whoever can essentially control the money in an “economy” at will. They’re gods of economics, not those dorky systems that never pan out in real life that the economists of all stripes go on and on about. Meaning that money and its value can be completely changed by certain entities that are anything but stable.
Meaning that, in reality, money is sort of a joke. We make fun of monopoly money but then we work all our lives for monopoly money of our own. For those that don’t know monopoly is a popular game using fake money. Understand that this is all a game, money, economics, all of it. Make believe fairy tales and not something to take so seriously. Of course this doesn’t mean that the needs you have from lack of money aren’t serious, they can be deadly serious. Just understand that money is a make believe thing, almost entirely under the control of a few powerful entities that can do about whatever they want with it.
Like a game master and you’re playing the game. At any point in time the game master could change the rules or just flip the entire board over and walk away. That’s money and that’s economics. Now with that being said you still need money and even if one board gets flipped there are always others to go to. For quick reference the skills that are most conducive to money (other than being very well connected of course) are sales as well as copywriting and marketing. What I call the money skills.
Golden Handcuffs Or Golden Wings
But just because you’re acquiring a fair amount of money does not mean that you’ll be able to enjoy that money. No, for a great many men (and increasingly women) the money they earned is enjoyed by their children and spouses but no so much them. We all have heard of the guy who pulls in half a mil but leaves for work early in the morning, has a long commute, puts in mind numbing hours all day, comes home late at night, often when the kids are asleep, and conks out before doing it all over again.
He might be able to enjoy a little bit on the weekends but those are usually used up by work anyways so what’s it matter? If the wife (or husband) and kids have any worth to him they’d rather have the person then the money anyways (unless the person’s a jerk but that’s another story). What’s the point of that? Work your entire life so you can brag about a big salary that you can never put to use? What if I paid you a billion dollars a day but you were never allowed to leave your cubicle or retire? What the hell would it do for you?
Making lots of money can shackle you just as much as not making enough money can. So what makes money an agent of freedom instead of an agent of domination, namely yours. Well the first is divorcing your money from your time as much as possible and second to have a good work life balance. Something that more and more, is getting hard to get from a regular job. Not that I’m advocating for everyone to be an entrepreneur that can be just as stifling and freedom destroying. What I’m saying is put thought into this. You don’t want your golden wings to turn into golden handcuffs.
Money As God
But that’s not the only way that money can enslave. There are ways that money can enslave that go beyond time slavery. And money can enslave those that don’t have a penny just as well as it can enslave those with millions of dollars. And that is worshiping money as a god. What I mean by this is seeing money as the end all be all of existence, of worth, of well, everything. Think of how hilarious this is (well it would be if it wasn’t so sad). We know money isn’t actually “real” and yet people literally worship it.
We’d all laugh if someone worshiped the monopoly money yet why do we stop when someone worships to dollar or the euro? There’s not that much of a difference. It’s ridiculous, money is something to be used, not something to be worshiped. It’s a tool, a fake but useful one. Whether it’s the vulture capitalist preying on people as a whole or the broke joke on the curb buying that next lottery ticket thinking he’ll “make it big”. Or any other example you can think of. Money is a joke but a useful one, nothing less and nothing more.
Don’t give it more attention or adulation then you should. Money functions very poorly as a god, hell sometimes it functions poorly as a tool. Use it, don’t be used by it. Money as a god is demanding and will use you and abuse you. It makes all the mainstream religion gods looks nice in comparison to it, and they’re not all very nice. Keep money in its proper place, both in your life and in your mind.
Money For Freedom
You have to be careful with money, it’ll mislead and destroy you if you let it. Learn and understand this tool, understand that it’s not “real” and don’t take it too seriously, while at the same time honing the skills required to make and acquire it. If you’re broke and don’t know what to do to solve your money issues then I’d recommend sales. More effective and realistic then being an “underwear entrepreneur” or whatever. At first it’ll be tough and you’ll be putting in the hours. But read everything you can get your hands on about sales.
It’s a skill you can improve and when you work on commission that means bigger paychecks for you and/or hopefully less time in the office. Regardless learning and understanding sales isn’t going to hurt you. It’s a skill that everyone should learn and be familiar with. Especially when it comes to getting money right and making this a tool that works for you instead of one that works against you. Let money help you get to freedom to be golden wings instead of a golden cage.
If anything I said here interests you I’d highly recommend you check out The Ultimate Alpha Collection which is a compilation of 16 of my books for the price of 5. It covers everything from being a man to making money to getting the right mindset to getting girls to fighting and more and is a resource no man should be without. Pick up your copy today!
-Charles Sledge
