Get Rich or Die Trying?

First, a tip of the hat to 50 Cent for borrowing his catchy album and movie title. Seems like everyone wants to be rich, but rich people statistically are the least happy people in America (Gates Foundation, etc.). Why?

According to the research from Positive Psychology, there are four major sources of happiness:

1. A caring relationship with yourself.

2. Caring relationships with other people.

3. Work you love doing.

4. Enough money to pay your bills with some left over for fun.

My experience has been that rich folks tend to spend too much time chasing money and not enough time pursuing the other sources of happiness; i.e., their lives lack balance. In business circles, this leads to a typical leader career arc which evolves like this:

• First half of career: work really hard and get rich.

• Second half of career: pay off ex-spouses and try to buy back health.

Of course, in my efforts we try to avoid this syndrome by working "smart" instead of "hard" so that we can enjoy the ride to financial independence and maintain a reasonable semblance of life balance along the way.

Easy peasy? No, but doable--don't settle for less.

High-Performance Habits

1. Learn how to work "smart" in building a successful career and financial independence.

2. Be willing to ask for help instead of reinventing the wheel--use mentors liberally.

3. Enjoy the ride (and avoid serious regrets when your time is done).