One of people’s greatest weaknesses is the temptation of making fast, easy, chunks of money. It’s a reliable button that’s constantly being pushed on and taken advantage of in every which way in today’s society.

The motivation varies but the underlying premise is you want to make as much money in as little time as possible with minimal effort.

The most obvious way to do this is through criminal means. You rob a store, deal drugs, steal nice cars, rob a bank, etc.

Then, for the less brazen comes a more legal way (in some states) of satisfying the chase for money. Gambling. Casinos know all too well how powerful greed can be and they profit immensely from it.

Then come the get rich quick schemes that seem “legitimate” at first, at least to some naïve people. Pyramid schemes, make money on autopilot schemes, Nigerian princes contacting you via email, promising you hundreds of thousands of dollars if you send them a couple thousand their way first so they can get out of the country, etc., and of course, all that does is waste even more money.

Then, some will start to pursue real, legitimate ways of making big bucks by pursuing avenues such as real estate, sales, or starting their own business, because they know such and such person who did that and now they’re rich, but since those avenues require a lot of time and effort, most probably won’t stick it out to the end.

But for the ones who do stick it out to the end and find themselves at last with the money they’ve always wanted, it will prove to be a hollow victory simply because they did not take themselves into account.

That’s the problem that comes with chasing money.

By chasing money, you tend to become so focused on the external means of doing so that you activate an unnatural process because you constantly focus outside yourself, which prevents you from focusing internally on how best you can serve.

All the avenues that people pursue to chase the almighty dollar have the hidden flaw of taking you out of the equation.

By constantly focusing on finding a “vehicle” outside yourself to make money, it stops you from asking the right questions to put the focus back on you because that’s the correct solid foundation you want to work off of. Questions such as:

What am I good at? Where do my strengths, interests, and talents lie? How can I best use these to serve others?

You have to factor YOU into the equation.

Don’t look for external factors first because if you don’t know what “shape” you are, you won’t know which “piece” out there will fit correctly with you.

But since many people don’t realize that, they engage in money making ventures that don’t suit their personalities, their preferences, values, interests, etc., simply because they do it for the money. As a result, they become miserable and conflicted with themselves because the outside venture does not “fit” with them at all and all those negative, bitter emotions carry over and infect other areas in their lives.

A classic example is a person wanting to become a lawyer simply because he hears they make good money. He invests a large amount of money in law school, graduates, but finds he absolutely hates practicing law. The long hours, the long commute, all the research he has to do, the stress level - sure he’s making money, but the job and everything about it doesn’t “fit” with him at all.

I’m not saying it’s bad to make money. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with making money. Making money is something we all have to do but when it becomes the #1 thing, it’s not conducive to helping us find the right “fit” for ourselves and it also helps us forget one of the most important parts about making money – the desire to truly serve.

People make the mistake of chasing money first, not realizing it’s a byproduct of serving as many people possible in the best possible way. Money comes as a natural byproduct of that.

When you focus on money first, you skip the part of desiring to truly serve others first and your self interest becomes #1 at the expense of others. When that happens, it becomes really easy to blur the moral line.

It becomes really easy for you to tell a customer that their car engine needs to be replaced, when all it needs is a little tune up, just so you can make a couple extra thousand dollars.

It becomes really easy for you to cut back on the quality of your products and services so that your profit margin will be larger at the end of the fiscal year. It becomes really easy for you to do a lot of things that in the short term, will seemingly benefit you, but in the long term, will come back and bite you in the rear.

Chasing money will seem very appealing and tempting at first, but you will always find upon closer inspection that the end result just isn’t worth it.

Focusing on taking into account everything about yourself and how best YOU can serve will prove to be the journey that’s ultimately worth it.