By: Roshawn Watson

Sometimes it seems like the only reason people seek abundance is to lavish themselves with every luxury imaginable. Overall, I find that to be a very narrow and limiting perspective of abundance. The reasons for seeking abundance transcend pure indulgence. Building significant wealth will not only revolutionize your life but may also impact the lives of those in your circle, your community, and beyond. Thus, shouldn’t we seek abundance as a societal duty? Here are 10 reasons to seek abundance.

Calling

Are you a rock star stuck in an accountant’s body?

There is nothing more tragic than for people to die with their music still in them. When this occurs, there is a collective lost because not only do we lose the people we cherish, but we also lose their unique gifts. Stephen Covey says that we all desire to “live, to love, to learn, and to leave a legacy.” One of the best ways to achieve that is by relentlessly pursuing our callings. Your calling is where your difference is celebrated rather than tolerated. It’s where your skills and abilities, personality, and passion align themselves. While we should not cease to find creative means for pursuing our dreams regardless of finances, sometimes there are financial barriers to doing so that cannot be ignored. However, a person with more than enough is not constrained and is free to wear his passion and live his dreams.

Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art. Leonardo da Vinci

Freedom

I am not a fan of our culture of debt. This Babylonian system paralyzes many would-be achievers and robs them of their destinies. Their youth and health are sacrificed in the pursuit of the almighty dollar. Instead of working for themselves, they work for their lenders because it’s their lenders who own their cars, homes, and furniture. If Sallie Mae could repossess their education, she would; instead, she lobbied Congress to make sure they’re saddled with her until she’s paid off or until they die. What a mess! However, if you are walking in abundance, you can make decisions uninfluenced by the concern for sustenance. Your debt and jobs are not your gods. Unfortunately, such freedom is not cheap.

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must undergo the fatigue of supporting it. – Thomas Paine

Emergencies

Eight in 10 households will have an emergency in the next 10 years; thus, it is no longer a matter of if something will happen but when something will happen. People should not assume that credit will be available when they need it. Those lines of credit have a tendency to dissipate once lenders catch whiff of something gone awry. More importantly, the last thing one generally needs during a crisis is debt anyway, and providing a loan is not an act of kindness. The borrower typically lines the pockets of their lenders, and for this privilege he may get the equivalent of a travel mug. In contrast, a person with abundance can face the same financial dilemma, but the size of his resources to resolve the problem shrinks an elephant-sized crisis to a mouse-sized inconvenience.

Education

Your intellectual capital is among your greatest resources. For instance, millionaires as a group are highly educated (approximately 80% hold college degrees according to Tom Stanley) and strongly invest in the education of their offspring. Despite its value, higher education costs are ridiculous, typically rising at twice the pace of normal inflation. Nonetheless, your marketplace advantage is based on what you know, when you know it, and how soon you can act appropriately. An entrepreneur-professor, serving on the board of an $8 billion company, was traveling with the CEO and simply marveled at how current the CEO was on complex financial instruments that were:

completely outside of his background and seemingly unrelated to his industry and challenging to the professor’s own highly capable students.

The professor argued if the CEO of a $8 billion company prioritized continuing education that much, how much more should we value it. Embracing abundance not only gives you more funds to invest for your education but may also afford you more time to obtain it.

Welfare

Virgil stated that the greatest wealth is health. Although I doubt he was referring to material wealth, yet it is hard to generate income when you feel awful: being in good health does provide more opportunities to build wealth. The most extensive longitudinal study on wealth and longevity indicated that those with financial wealth live longer. There were numerous reasons for this. First, those with abundance had better nutrition and access to care. For example, it wasn’t just about having insurance; the quality of insurance mattered as well. Additionally, wealthier individuals tended to be more oriented towards their futures and made choices that sustained their longevity. For example, they were less likely to smoke and to be obese but were more likely to exercise and to moderate drinking. In aggregate, your physical well-being is tethered to your wallet.

Give Back

Anytime I hear someone decree I only need just a little bit for me and my family, I always think to myself, “what a selfish and scarcity-minded person.” It’s MONEY that feeds the hungry, provides clothes for the poor, and shelter for the homeless. Why would you only want enough for you? What about others? A great way to add meaning to your life is to intentionally contribute to someone else’s success. Additionally, you are a lot more likely to get wealthy by serving others anyway. It’s great to have enough for yourself. After all, charity starts at home, but hopefully it doesn’t end there. Being able to help others is perhaps the best reason to pursue abundance in the first place.

Fun

Surely, abundance allows more fun. In fact, fun is often what we first think about anyway. I’m not at odds with anyone enjoying himself with money he has earned legitimately. I once saw a special on CNBC where a millionaire was walking journalists through his expansive car collection that included a Bugatti (price tag exceeded $1.5 million at the time). His words struck me. He said, “I don’t want to apologize for my wealth.” I personally think it is tragic that anyone would feel compelled to do so IF he earned his money through diligent service of others.

Have fun in your command. Don’t always run at a breakneck pace. Take leave when you’ve earned it, spend time with your families.” – Colin Powell

Peace

Financial peace are two words that rarely seem to go together. It is very liberating when your decisions are your own and not that of some corporate entity, such as your lender. Financial peace means you relinquish that part of the struggle. You become wholly committed to pursuing financial excellence. You move past knowing the principles to applying them to your life. Debt freedom becomes your reality. You are competent in interpreting financial literature and can apply what you learn to your own life.

Financial peace doesn’t have to be elusive. The same steps taken to achieve financial peace ultimately lead to abundance over the long term.

Influence

Influence matters. Positioning yourself as someone who has made it carries esteem that may be transferable to whatever you endeavor to change. For instance, a couple of years ago, a merger and acquisitions attorney turned venture capitalist decided that he wanted to improve water quality throughout the world using an entrepreneurial model. He hired a team of scientists and collaborated with thought-leaders. While his background had nothing to do with clean-water technologies, his previous success and wealth caused well-known legendary leaders and celebrities to attach their names to his project. Of course, having abundance is far from the only way to be influential, yet you may be surprised by the opportunities you have and the networks you access to after you “prove yourself.”

Protection

Money is a defense.

Money protects us in many ways. For example, certain neighborhoods have higher propensities for crime than others; to avoid them, one typically either moves further away (i.e., away from large cities) or pays more. Additionally, money can protect you via purchasing insurance and legal representation; it can even help you protect the applications of ideas. For example, when HP purchased Palm for $1.2 billion a couple years ago, it is said that it was Palm’s intellectual property that HP really valued. If Palm had not properly protected their innovations, it is doubtful they would have fetched anywhere close to that much at the time they sold. Pursuing abundance often means not allowing yourself to be robbed of your life’s work through crime, frivolous lawsuits, or unlawful adaptation.

Closing Thoughts

There are many reasons to pursue abundance, but it is unlikely that anyone will force it upon you. You don’t stuff food down the mouths of the non-hungry. I trust that you will seek increase, talk about increase, and think about increase. As your thoughts become more, you become more. Abundance is out there, so what are you waiting for?

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