The Difference between Enjoying Your Money and Being Unnecessarily Wasteful

It’s another one of those traps just waiting to engulf the unsuspecting entrepreneur, that being wasting your money in the name of “enjoying your money.” There’s a stark contrast between enjoying your money and unnecessarily wasting it and being able to make that distinction comes down to knowing thyself!

The first thing you need to ask yourself is “What did I get into this for?” When you started out in business and you took the first couple of step towards building your start-up, business or other venture, what was the end goal you had in mind? Was it to be free? Was it perhaps more out of necessity than anything else? It’s perfectly fine if your reason was indeed that you’re in it for the money because let’s face it, that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?

Just as is the case with the actual proceedings which form part of the development of your business, it’s perfectly okay to go in with a “just make money now and see what happens in the end” attitude, but at some point you might want to take a step back, breathe deeply and re-evaluate everything. Otherwise you run the risk of getting caught-up in the facade the world of business always wears, comprised out of the trappings of what you think you want to buy with your money.

Sometimes it’s almost encouraged to make a few mistakes with your money and spend it on those things which you really think you want, just so that you’ll come to realise that there’s more to this than just being able to buy something and then post it on Facebook to see how many “likes” you can get.

If you have to tell someone about what you bought and that acts as a means through which to justify and validate the purchase, then you’re really wasting your money, perhaps with the view that spending the money you work so hard for on anything your heart desires constitutes enjoying it.

Let your pockets get deeper for a while — it’s okay to leave your money alone and let it pile up a bit if you never planned to use it for anything in the first place and if there is no pressing need for you to use it. Remember, one of the few things which go into what it means to be living in comfort and luxury is indeed having time. When you have money you have time and that also comes with having options.

Chasing the latest fads just so you can say you also have them or even just to say you’re one of only a few people to have them is not unlike withdrawing a stack of your cash and “making it rain” the way rappers do in their music videos.

Spend your money on things that you enjoy doing and experiencing — things which even if nobody knows about them or nobody is around to see you indulging in them make you happy either way.