Thornhill Wealth Forum
Long Term Pride And My Friend Eric
Pride can drive us to great things and pride can also drive us to disaster.
Pride can push us to work harder and help us not to give up. But, pride channelled in the wrong direction, can push us to spend our time and money in incredibly foolish ways. Let me tell you about my dear friend Eric. This is a story of how pride nearly drove Eric to financial ruin.
Eric tried incredibly hard to keep up with the people in his life and he did so by buying things and going out for expensive evenings almost constantly. He would think nothing of dropping $50 on the latest video game or $40 for a trip to the movies so that he could talk about them in his social circle or at work.
Instead of chasing long-term meaningful relationships, Eric chased the short-term rush of being envied by acquaintances. He was proud of being the guy who knew all about the latest movies or always knew about the latest gadgets. He took pride in that and chased it.
Being that guy merely left Eric without money and without a lot of long-term valuable relationships. Eventually, he had to re-evaluate his sources of pride. He began to seek out long-term sources of pride.
What’s the difference? If you own the latest phone, you can be proud of that and make your friends envious for a short while, but it’s not going to be long before someone else has a better phone.
On the other hand, if you have a beautiful home that’s paid for; you’re going to be able to be proud of that for a very long time. It’s a symbol of financial security and stability.
If you have a shiny new car, it won’t be shiny and new within a few years. If your pride is based on having a shiny new car, then you’re going to have to replace it regularly at a pretty high expense.
If you’re proud of having a reliable car instead, you can be proud of that for many years. Take pride on having a car that’s ran well for 200,000 kms instead of a car that’s got a recent model year.
In almost every case, being proud of something that will last for a long time will serve you much better than having pride in something that is short lived.
Pride can push us to work harder and help us not to give up. But, pride channelled in the wrong direction, can push us to spend our time and money in incredibly foolish ways. Let me tell you about my dear friend Eric. This is a story of how pride nearly drove Eric to financial ruin.
Eric tried incredibly hard to keep up with the people in his life and he did so by buying things and going out for expensive evenings almost constantly. He would think nothing of dropping $50 on the latest video game or $40 for a trip to the movies so that he could talk about them in his social circle or at work.
Instead of chasing long-term meaningful relationships, Eric chased the short-term rush of being envied by acquaintances. He was proud of being the guy who knew all about the latest movies or always knew about the latest gadgets. He took pride in that and chased it.
Being that guy merely left Eric without money and without a lot of long-term valuable relationships. Eventually, he had to re-evaluate his sources of pride. He began to seek out long-term sources of pride.
What’s the difference? If you own the latest phone, you can be proud of that and make your friends envious for a short while, but it’s not going to be long before someone else has a better phone.
On the other hand, if you have a beautiful home that’s paid for; you’re going to be able to be proud of that for a very long time. It’s a symbol of financial security and stability.
If you have a shiny new car, it won’t be shiny and new within a few years. If your pride is based on having a shiny new car, then you’re going to have to replace it regularly at a pretty high expense.
If you’re proud of having a reliable car instead, you can be proud of that for many years. Take pride on having a car that’s ran well for 200,000 kms instead of a car that’s got a recent model year.
In almost every case, being proud of something that will last for a long time will serve you much better than having pride in something that is short lived.
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