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In his role as sports agent Jerry Maguire in the movie of the same name, Tom Cruise immortalized the phrase, “Show me the money!” The movie ends when Jerry succeeds in negotiating a multi-million-dollar contract for his client. As enjoyable as the film was, many people fail to recognize that the movie’s theme was not about making money but about caring for oneself and others. The real lesson was Jerry’s plea: “Help me help you.”
Related: Show Me the Money! Best Practices for Raising Capital for Your Startup.
Pattern recognition
Common sense suggests that making money is easy if you copy the methods of successful investors. Pattern recognition — the skill to find patterns and logically determine what those patterns indicate about what will happen next — is the process underlying their wealth accumulation. The exact process underlies machine learning and artificial intelligence in computers.
Everyone practices pattern recognition to a degree; some train their minds to be especially good at the skill. Good quarterbacks seem to have an uncanny ability to find an open receiver, throwing the ball before a player completes his route. Winning poker players learn the patterns of their opponent to learn “tells” to distinguish bluffs from a winning hand. Before technical analysis of the stock market became common, stock traders anticipated price moves by visually scanning paper ticker tapes to identify trends.
You get what you pay for
Most people experience life haphazardly, accepting its twists and turns because they believe the future is uncontrollable. Similarly, investors react by what they get from friends and neighbors, read in the paper or hear from one of the many investment gurus on television who know the “secret” of wealth communication.
Ironically, they give less effort to their investments than their golf game. While they expect their assets to compound consistently, they know they have no chance to compete on the professional tour despite their practice.
Life gives us what we earn by investing time, effort, education and experience. When you only invest a little, a little return is what you get.
Making money the old-fashioned way
Tony Robbins was a high school graduate who never attended college. He remembers stealing and eating food in grocery stores when hungry and working as a handyman during school to support himself and his siblings before leaving home at seventeen.
Despite his disadvantages, Robbins has enjoyed exceptional financial success. His estimated net worth in 2022 was $600+ million. The motivational speaker credits his first mentor, Jim Rohm, for teaching him a new way of thinking: “If you want anything to change, you must change. If you want things to get better, you’ve got to get better.”
Related: What Benjamin Franklin and Tony Robbins Can Teach You About Self-Improvement
Those who seek wealth need to implement four fundamental principles to succeed:
Final thoughts
True happiness comes from fulfillment, the sense that life has meaning. Money is important, only up to a point. Donald Trump, a former President well known for his wealth, admits, “I’ve got much more than I’ll ever need. I do it, to do it.”
The choice to pursue wealth or fulfillment is personal. Whichever decision you make, you must live it.
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