Chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow

Chasing the Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow

Before getting started, I have a quick question for you.

I want Nollege to be a collection of helpful, deep dive guides around topics that need additional detail & nuance. I’m getting started on my first guide.

Which of the following topics would most interest you for one of these guides?

Chasing the pot of gold

Welcome to the St. Patricks Day edition of the Nollege Newsletter where we keep it short like a leprechaun and talk about one of the greatest secrets to financial success.

If you’re anything like me, chances are at some point in your life, you’ve felt like the leprechaun chasing your hypothetical pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Perhaps it’s a yearly or monthly exercise for you, or, perhaps it’s a weekly or daily exercise for you. But nonetheless, it’s very likely that you have or are thinking about your pot of gold — the day that you make or have “more than enough.”

How you get there can vary - you might dream of:

• Winning the lottery

• Earning a large salary

• Selling a business

• Marrying into a better financial position

• Hitting it big on roulette

• Selling a home for much more than you bought it for

• Earning a huge commission after a great year

No matter who you are or what your career path is, we’re all prone to daydreaming about the models & scenarios that land us in a place where we have enough, which nearly 100% of the time means more than we have today.

Is it wrong to dream?

No. Absolutely not. In fact, I think it is nearly impossible to change your reality without a vision of where you’d like to end up.

But where dreaming can go wrong is when the source of the dream is scarcity.

If our emotional or financial foundation is one of lack, or not having enough, it almost always turns healthy desires for growth into obsessive longings for more… and that’s when greed seeps in.

Greed can be deceptive or hard to identify. Personally, I’ve seen it look like:

• Always feeling like you’re chasing or striving

• Talking like you never have enough

• Giving to others begrudgingly

• Feeling reluctance to express gratitude for your current situation

And if you’re chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow with greed in your heart, the sad reality is that even if you find it, it will never satisfy you.

There will simply just be another rainbow. A larger pot of gold. And more to chase, all the while leaving you in a place of feeling like you still don’t have enough even when you have more than you’ve ever had before…

Antitode to greed

So what do we do to not end up like the leprechaun on a fleeting, fruitless pursuit of the pot of gold at the end of the never ending rainbow?

Earlier I promised one of the greatest secrets to financial “success”. And that also happens to be the number one antidote to greed: gratitude.

When you have a grateful heart or posture in your financial life, it disempowers all of the previous thoughts of lacking or not having enough. It allows you to calm the striving and instead enjoy the financial gifts you’ve already received and the ones that are yours to give away.

And the reason I believe it is a key to financial success is because a grateful heart keeps you from making greedy, short-sighted decisions that are misaligned with what you truly want in life.

Your turn

If this is isn’t a practice for you already, take out your phone and write down 3 things you’re grateful for. These don’t have to be financial, just people, circumstances, experiences, or relationships that you’re grateful for. Make them specific and recent, and really give yourself a moment to revisit that person / place / circumstance / relationship and feel the gratitude that you have for it.

Then, if you’re willing, make this a daily habit. Nothing will stave off the greed of the leprechaun like a daily habit of gratitude. I’ve been doing this almost every day for the past 6 years, and I’m so glad I have.

Hope you’re wearing green today.

Until next week.