“Wanting money” isn’t the same as being “money-motivated.” Everyone wants more money. The difference between simply “wanting money” and being “motivated” by money is the willingness to take the actions necessary to get it.

Wanting Money

People that only want money aren’t willing to do the work necessary.

You want quality of life? You don’t want to get up early and work until late in the evening? You want to work as few hours as possible so you can spend time at home with your family? You want to work someplace cool enough that you are allowed to bring your dog?

Fine. It’s a wonderful life. But you aren’t going to make a lot of money.

Don’t let this message be lost on you, my Millennial friends. Money comes with trade-offs, trade-offs many in your generation are proudly unwilling to make.

Money-Motivated

The amount of money you earn is directly proportional to the value that you create for other people. Little value, little money. Massive value, massive money.

The creating value part is all about hustle. It’s about doing the work that other people avoid. It’s about getting up early, staying up late, grinding out the work, getting on airplanes, and oftentimes, missing your family something awful.

The more people you serve, the more money you make. The more people that benefit from your work, the more you earn. The money-motivated know this law and take relentless action in compliance thereof.

Money isn’t everything. And people that make money their master instead of their servant are never happy. But if you want money, you’ll never have it (except maybe through luck). If you are motivated enough to work harder than others are willing to in order to create more value for more people, than money will find its way to you.

Questions

Be honest. Are you money-motivated or do you just want more money?

If money is motivating you, what actions are you taking that you wouldn’t otherwise take?

What could you do to create more value for more people?

Are you really doing all that you can to produce the financial results you want?