Evan Carmichael argues money is a tool, not a passion. He points to Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and Steve Jobs, whose real drives were purpose and impact, not wealth. To find what truly motivates you, experiment with activities, reflect on moments of happiness, and ask how you can serve others.
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What if your passion is money? So I got a great question from one of my newsletter readers, love you guys, Andrew, who wrote in to say, "Hi Evan, it's funny that you sent me this today. As you know, I'm a big fan of your videos." Thank you, Andrew. "What if your passion is money? What if actually earning money is your passion? Or do you think that this isn't possible and money is an outcome from passion? I've been thinking about this for a while now. Kind regards, Andrew." Andrew, this is a great question. And one that I either get asked a lot or people are thinking a lot. Money comes up so much. I think a lot of times because people just don't have enough money, right? Like, you don't have money to do the things that you want to do in your life. You're maybe under crushing debt and you want a greater lifestyle and you see money as the escape, right? Money is never the passion. At best, money allows you to buy a lifestyle, allows you to buy freedom that you don't have now. What would you do with the money? Making the money is not a passion. What would you do? You want the result, right? You want to buy the car, the house, you want to pay for medical treatment for your family, whatever it is. You might have a really burning desire to make more money, but there's a reason behind it. But imagine a world where you had— this is a great exercise— if you had the most money in the world, if you had all the money you need, you could do whatever you wanted, you didn't have to worry about your bills, you didn't have to worry about if you have a boss, you don't have to worry about your boss, you don't have to worry about anything, you got all the money you need, what do you do with your life? And at first you might say, "Oh, I'd travel the world, I would sit on the beach and just sip piña coladas or whatever." But you know what? That gets boring, man. It gets boring. And you look at people who have who've gone that route and they've sold their businesses and make tons of money, and maybe they do, they travel for a year, but honestly it gets boring. Because that's not a sustainable lifestyle that makes you happy. You're put on this earth for a reason. You got to find what your passion is, and you should want to leave the world in a better place than what it was when you came here. The world should be better for you having lived here. It's not going to be because you made a lot of money. Nobody's going to come to your funeral because they said, "Andrew made a lot of money." Here's a great example. Look at the people in the world who've made the most money. Okay? Look at, look at the Forbes list of the richest people in the world. You look at Warren Buffett. Look at Bill Gates. Look at these guys who've made the most money in the world. Okay? Warren Buffett gave away most of his fortune to charity. Bill Gates from Microsoft created software, created a huge company, and now left to go run his own charity. These people were not motivated by money. Look at Steve Jobs, one of my favorite stories. Steve Jobs was a millionaire by the time he was in his early 20s. Early 20s, millionaire. Late 20s, multimillionaire. He had more money than, than he ever needed by his late 20s. And yet he continued to work every single day on his business ideas. He came back to Apple and he worked until the day he died. In failing health, he kept working on Apple because it was important to him. You look at Apple, he built the company that has the largest market cap, right? It's the most valuable company in the world. And Steve Jobs built this by not focusing on the money. You look at the guys who have the most amount of money in the world, and their focus isn't just on making money. That's the difference. The guys who say their passion is just money, they never end up making a lot of money. They end up broke because they think their passion is money. You got to find your calling, and for, for everybody it's different, but What it involves is helping people. You feel good when you're helping somebody out. When you know you've helped somebody out of a jam, when you've used your resources, your knowledge, your ideas to make somebody's life better in some way, that gets you here. That's something that's important. So you got to find out what that is. And for some people, they know it. They know it easily. Others, it's a journey. It takes some time. If you don't know it yet, it sounds like you don't, and that's fine. That's a lot of people, man. That's a lot of people. Just start experimenting. Think about the things that make you happiest. Think about the times that you're happiest. Go try some new things and see where you can contribute. Something I guarantee you will follow, if you're going into something with an open mind, You will find your passion. I mean, I have a Zuga guide that can walk you through step by step how to find a business idea that is your passion. But it's not about the money, man. I guarantee you, the people who say that just haven't found their life's passion. And I feel a little sad. Because when you figure that out, you'll feel so much happier and the world will be a much better place. The world should be a much better place because Andrew Leong lived here. Now, what do you do to make that happen? Believe. Those of you watching, I'd love to know what your passion is. Leave it below. Get me to feel something. Make me excited. Leave it in the comments. I'd love to hear from it. And, uh, if you like this video, give it a thumbs up below. Click on my face, subscribe to the channel. Thank you so much. I'll see you soon.
