Being Rich Is (Not) Your Goal!

Posted by Steve Munroe | Under Life, happiness, money Thursday May 8, 2008

What was the goal of the Apollo Moon Program? To put a man on the moon and bring him safely back, right? Wrong! Remember this was during the cold war and what the Americans really wanted to demonstrate was that they were superior to those pesky Commies. United States thinktanks examined several options and worked out that the US could probably (with a lot of effort) get a man to the moon and back within a decade, but crucially, they believed the Soviets couldn’t. President Kennedy then announced it to the world, and the rest is History. So putting a man on the moon wasn’t the goal; the goal was to be able to shout out to the world, “Hey, look how much better than the Reds we are!”, and putting a man on the moon was the means by which the Americans achieved it.

What has this got to do with being rich? Well, most of us would admit to having the goal of being wealthy, or at least being wealthier. But, like going to the moon, this is not our real goal but rather a way of achieving something else, which I would guess is to be happy, or obtain some peace of mind. Going to the moon or becoming rich are technically only the means or objectives - particular ways to satisfy goals.

So what? Well, once we understand that becoming rich is a way to satisfy our goal to be happy, we may also realise that it is only one of many possible ways. Not realising this may lead us to believe that our happiness ‘depends’ upon becoming rich and, since most of us aren’t, we will remain unhappy until we are. However, if we recognise that being happy is our real goal then there are certain things we can do right now to make that happen. Many things make me happy: a good bottle of wine, eating with friends, connecting with someone special, seeing my nieces and nephews giggling, reading a good book, watching football - heck, even a glass of water after a run. The point is, there are usually many alternative ways to satisfy any given goal. But the trick is to recognise what your real goal is, and not to mistake it for the means you use for its satisfaction. This mistake is common; try to avoid it.

So why did the Americans put a man on the moon? To beat the Soviets. Well, maybe, but I suspect that too was merely an objective for yet another, deeper goal; it made them feel cool, and by implication, happy!

What other things can you think of that people often mistake as goals but are really only ways of achieving other, more meaningful goals? Here’s a few to get you started…