Dream chasing unlocks more than money

                    By Bayo Ogunmupe

    Here are reasons why dream chasing unlocks more joy than money ever could. In my life, there has been poverty, plenty of money, then poverty again. The contrast between the rich and poor is so humbling that it has led me not to want to chase money. Making your dream come true will lead you to new heights and show you a side of life that you may never have known existed. If your life feels meaningless or you are just existing, your beliefs about money are part of the problem. Perhaps, the social media is telling you that everyone is having a great time, and that you need to up your game. The pictures you view online are blurring the reality of life. These photographs, accidentally tell you that money makes everything better. That money is what you have been missing, sadly, I daresay, that this notion is wrong.

    What is missing is chasing a dream. Without fulfilling your life dream, you can neither attain happiness nor satisfaction. The defining reason that has led me to write this column is a recently published article about making U.S.$11,000 monthly in investing. Profit isn't the point of my sharing my thoughts with you; it is the importance of the achievement of a dream I have enjoyed for the past seven years. The focus is the joy, happiness and high self esteem accruing from the achievement of a dream. Here is why you must stop chasing money and chase a dream instead.

    One, money is a byproduct of achieving your dream. It is two for the price of one. Focusing on chasing a dream allows you to give the goal everything you have got. Your energy, heart and focus will be in the right place. When you achieve your dream on a big scale you create a value. Value earned from chasing your dream converts into money. When you chase the dream, you will gain both the money and the self esteem arising from fulfilling your dream.  Making money your sole goal in life blocks it from entering your life. No lofty dream can be achieved without culminating in the receipt of abundance of money. You cannot achieve the dream of becoming a great inventor without becoming wealthy. Think of making your dream come true instead of focusing on earning money. Adopt the beliefs you need that will support your dream. Acquire the skills needed to achieve your dream. Brood in your conscious and unconscious minds everyday for ways to achieve your goal. Your dream and the process of achieving it hold the value not the goal of money.

    Two, money can be taken away in a heartbeat or stolen in a twinkle of an eye but a dream achieved will stand forever. I just finished reading a story of a man who was worth more than $100 million and lost the whole money because of a trivial lawsuit which should never have taken his fortune away but did. Jealous people could sue you. You could be divorced as a dead foe of mine was dispossessed of his two houses in London by his former mistress. You could be scammed. You could be robbed and killed. There are many ways you could lose money, whereas chasing your dreams has nothing of these dangers. Even if your dream gets ripped to pieces, you can always use the experience and skills you learned from the process to start all over again and accelerate your way back to where you previously were. No one can rob you of who you become from chasing your dream. But you can absolutely be robbed of your money without even knowing how.

    Three, you are happier better with dreams once achieved than money which will soon be depreciating. I am proud to have become the author of the best selling historical: Nigerian Politics In the Age of Yar Adua, that I never thought I could be. Once you reach your dream, you grow bigger and help more people. On the other hand, money doesn't hold the same power. You can never have enough money. You can never continuously be the richest, you must always acquire more to be among the rich. You can never continue to be the richest after you are dead. Whereas the Scottish American audiologist Alexander Graham Bell will forever be known as the inventor of the telephone. Have you ever met someone who just made a bucketful of money? Well, I have met some successful entrepreneurs who have sold their companies  and made more money than they could ever spend.

      You know what these people end up doing after cashing their cheque? They almost always go and create a foundation for charity. They might celebrate for a few days but what they don't do is sit on the beach for the rest of their lives. While talking to these entrepreneurs, what they tell me is that chasing their dream and getting it was much more important than the money. They say their satisfaction is the help they give people and the meaning their dream gives their lives that really count, not the money. The money only gives them the freedom to go off and chase another bigger dream with the advantage in not having to  work a normal job. Let money accruing from the success of your dream highlight how much value you have created and how many people you have helped rather than be the measurement of your success.