![\"\"](\"https:\/\/iloverealestate.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/iStock-660234910.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Money can teach you how live a better life of service. No, seriously\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n You\u2019re not here to make money.<\/p>\n I know this is probably so obvious that it doesn\u2019t need mentioning, but still\u2026<\/p>\n We live in a world where we still get a gauge of something\u2019s value by asking about its price.<\/p>\n \u201cOhh. Nice car. How much did it cost?\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s a mental framework we carry around, and like any mindset, it can be a little sticky when we use it a lot.<\/p>\n (I can\u2019t go for dinner at someone\u2019s house without thinking about how I\u2019d renovate for capital gain!)<\/p>\n So if we spend a lot of time equating price and value, we can end up equating price and value ourselves, all the time, by default.<\/p>\n Obviously good to get away from this.<\/p>\n But there\u2019s a few things I\u2019d say about this.<\/p>\n The first is that just because many good things lie outside the money-system, it doesn\u2019t mean that everything that is outside the money system is \u2018good\u2019.<\/p>\n For example, no one\u2019s going to pay you to run a soup kitchen out of your van for homeless people. That\u2019s an activity that lives outside the current money system. However, we can probably all agree that it\u2019s a \u2018good\u2019 thing to do.<\/p>\n At the same time, no one is going to pay you to trawl through back-issues of Woman\u2019s Day and make a scrapbook of people wearing blue. That is also outside the money system, but it\u2019s hard to see much social value in it, no matter how many hours you put into it.<\/p>\n (I have an entire section dedicated to Princess Di.)<\/p>\n The second point is \u201coutside the money system\u201d isn\u2019t the only place where good things can happen. Many good things do happen there, but many good things can also happen within the money system.<\/p>\n For example, say you find a way to build higher density affordable housing. People who need it get homes, you take a cut for your efforts, and everybody wins. Money is just a vehicle that helped make it happen.<\/p>\n Ok, at this point I\u2019m feeling like a bit of an idiot. These things are as obvious as the nose on your face when you put them down on paper. And I don\u2019t want to insult your intelligence.<\/p>\n (The fact that you\u2019re here already says the you\u2019re a clever cookie.)<\/p>\n But it\u2019s worth laying out because I still see people getting this stuff a bit confused.<\/p>\n In our network, we put a lot of energy into our \u201cwhy\u201d. What\u2019s your motivation? Making money isn\u2019t a drive. Supporting your husband who has a bad back is a drive.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re not clear on your \u2018why\u2019 you can end up flip-flopping all over the place.<\/p>\n But our why\u2019s can change and evolve. Typically, after people have themselves and their family sorted out, they lift their gaze a little. They start thinking, how can I use this wealth and power to do some real good? How can I help others?<\/p>\n (This happens almost without fail, and gives me profound faith in human nature.)<\/p>\n This takes different forms for different people. Some people want to start an orphanage in Indonesia. Some people want to invest in clean water programs in Africa. Some people want to build women\u2019s refuges closer to home.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s true that many of these ventures \u2013 especially the ones that pass down into ILRE legend \u2013 happen outside the money system.<\/p>\n However, my advice would be, don\u2019t be in too much of a rush to take it there.<\/p>\n When you\u2019re in that early phase of expanding your circle of concern into something more global, remember that a lot of good can still happen within our money system.<\/p>\n And the fact of the matter is that money can actually be a really useful disciplining force.<\/p>\n People will pay money for things they value. So if you\u2019re creating something that people will pay for, you will become very focused on delivering something of value.<\/p>\n And when you deliver value, the world becomes a better place through the value that you create.<\/p>\n