Get rich quick.

I was having a conversation with a friend yesterday and he’s kinda fed up with his current job. He worked extremely hard to get to this position but it’s not doing what he hoped it would.

We started talking about AI and ways that he might be able to earn money without doing much work. Then we kind of started to debate the merits of work.

Here’s where I landed.

Work can be a good and positive thing. And I don’t think it needs to be something you’re madly passionate about. It doesn’t have to be your “life’s work” or anything that dramatic.

I’ve literally dug ditches and found contentment and satisfaction in a job well done.

As humans with opposable thumbs and the ability to make tools, it sure feels like we’re designed for work. But not everyone loves it and not everyone has a strong work ethic, but I do.

Maybe it’s semantics but I think work can be an avenue to express creativity, to create progress, to collaborate with others, and to learn how do something well over time.

Working in the helping profession has a particularly positive effect on me, but I have to be careful with this. There’s a reason that social workers, nurses, teachers, and psychiatrists experience a high degree of burnout.

I love working with people whether it be coaching clients or working with new guys in recovery, but I have to balance that with some serious self-care (which I’m not great at).

But this is where our unique ability comes into play. Helping others as an occupation isn’t for everyone. But my unique ability is to listen and discern and offer up insights. To ask questions and share my experience, strength, and hope.

Learning what our unique ability is can take some of a lifetime. But I believe that when we do, we unlock the power of work to transform ourselves and others.

I once invested in a get rich quick scheme. Not long ago actually. As you might imagine, it went sideways and I lost a chunk of change.

However, the learning from that experience has made me rich. Not only will I not be tempted by some dumb shit like that in the future, but I’ve also seen through the delusion of the “get rich” notion.

There is nothing about my higher self that benefits from getting rich by doing little work. Only my smaller self profits from that, and that’s not a part of me I’m trying to cultivate.

Full Transparency: I do earn some of my income passively from real estate investments and I guess you could consider that a means of making money by doing little. But at least I had to work hard for the initial investment.

I also don’t want to diminish someone’s desire to make a lot of money. Hell, I want to make a lot of money! I’m just not willing to get it in a way that doesn’t feel fully aligned with my values and I don’t want to stop doing the good work that feeds my mind and feeds my heart.