Years ago I had a dream, to have Rupees 100 crore in the bank. Then the yearly interest would be enough for me to make a good living. I’d be free to make the kind of helpful things I wanted to, without worrying about making a certain amount of money every month.
Thank god this dream of mine didn’t get fulfilled. Because some years later I met someone who inherited a lot of money after death of a parent and decided to quit their job.
The result? That person is the most negative one I’ve ever met. Because they don’t have anything to do. When mind is free then negative thoughts come by default, otherwise it takes hard work to develop positive thoughts.
Coming to that person, I would tell them many times to develop a positive outlook but they wouldn’t listen. They would keep throwing their negativity on me. One day I read 80-20 rule and realised that the small time I spent talking to them was a big cause of my unhappiness. I decided not to talk to them for a while. What happened thereafter? I could notice significant changes in me. I finished 3 books in a week, something that would have taken months earlier. I could blog again, and plan about what I wanted to do next. Till the time I was talking and caring for healing them, I was in a negative zone.
That made me realise that had I also inherited tonnes of money then I’d have lost the will to do hard work. Perhaps I’d have been complacent in making things that solve problems. Also, just because someone has a lot of money, doesn’t mean they’re rich. There are people who do good for the ones around them, while constantly working on ways to earn more and upskill themselves. I now have more regard for the hardworking person who reinvents themselves at every age.
