I saw the quote “It’s Not What You Earn, It’s What You learn” on an image in social media and it was gone before I had a chance to note who first said it.
Whoever you are, thank you… it is so true.
In this hard-hitting, dog-eat-dog, world of course a default measure of success is invariably how much wealth you portray in your choice of house, car, branded clothing and overt consumption of often unnecessary commodities.
These things need a steady flow of earnings and there is a clear perceived link between income and spending and we use this to fuel our extrovert ego as we strive to keep up with neighbours and friends.
But those who are equally, if not more, successful and less driven by ‘the tribe’ consistently tell us that a more accurate measure of success is learning, self-awareness and an internal feeling of satisfaction that comes from continuous self-improvement.
Watch closely those who are really and truly comfortable in their own skin, setting their goals against their own aspiration, rather than someone else who is on a completely different life path, and you’ll see a pattern of learning.
These wise people have not ‘made it’ yet because they know that we only complete our journey and our destiny at the end of our life when there is no more we can learn. If we are continuously striving and chasing the spoils of commercial wealth, enough is never enough.
But look more closely, inside ourselves, and by becoming more self-aware, by understanding our true path and the value that we bring to the world and those around us, we have a chance to put in place the resources, people and time to enable us to learn what it is we are here to learn.
And it’s not about chasing the ‘I have now learned it all’ because as we all know, we can never learn everything. It’s about understanding our soul contract, the deepest most profound things we are here to learn. These may be practical, operational, physical or spiritual things and for each of us the combination will be very different.
The next time the people around you (or maybe you) are wowed by the trappings of someone else’s financial wealth, ask yourself what they (or maybe you) are learning. Because that may prove significantly more valuable, than what they (or maybe you) are earning.
