You may not have to choose anything

A favorite quote of mine.

From The Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin.

(Once, a few years ago, I sent this quote to someone who was STUCK in passivity, career-wise, and this quote alone completely changed his life):

"As a man's real power grows;
and his knowledge widens,
ever the way he can follow grows narrower:
until at last he chooses nothing,
but does only and wholly what he must do."

                                         *     *     *     *

One day it hit me that I wanted to help people become self-reliant and create wealth for themselves and their families. It wasn't exactly a choice. I had just finished Time Warrior and was enjoying the response to that book, and the break between books.

A year passed and my publisher was ready for a sequel. My original idea for the sequel was Catch Fire, yet another book about motivating yourself. Then I asked a trusted friend and mentor about what ought to be next. What do people care the most about? What's even more vital than becoming a warrior around managing one's time?

"Money," my friend said. "People want to know how to make money. That's even more important to them."

It hit me like a thunderbolt and it was beyond choice. It chose me. I whispered to myself, "wealth warrior."

                                         *     *     *     *

something for you from Wealth Warrior:

 

This kind of "service" does not pass the giggle test

 When I say the word "service," what do you think of?

If you are leaning toward warrior, then I know you are not thinking of "public service."

Often people think of politicians who have been in the government for long periods of time—senators, congressmen, people like that—as being somewhat heroic for spending their lives "in public service."  

We see tributes and very expensive dinners featuring toasts to these politicians who have "given their lives over to public service" as if it was a tremendous sacrifice on their part.

This whole "public service" idea has inflicted confusion upon the word "service" in the worst possible way.  

Because this senator (Republican or Democrat, doesn't usually matter) sitting there being toasted and roasted is someone who has lived a lifestyle of deal-making and good-old-boy favor-trading while never having to pay for anything. He is being chauffeured and flown around the world like the king of Brunai on government money.  

Not his money.  

He has a huge staff running around doing work for him so even if he has to sit in a committee hearing, you can see the staff around him buzzing like bees—a staff of people who have done all the real preparation for that meeting.

So, where's the "service" they are all talking about?  

Not only does this "public servant" live off other people's money and do no work of his own, this same public beneficiary gets rich, and receives huge speaking fees. When he comes into office, his net worth is x and when he leaves office it's 100 times x—how did that occur?  

Service!

Really?

No. Some company he did a political (financial) favor for is now going to have him come speak for $50,000 at their big dinner.  

When presidents come into office without a lot of money and leave multi-millionaires, even though their presidential salary was not all that big, we have to wonder about the term "public service."  

It's a mockery.  

It's hilariously mislabeled.  

It hardly represents a service to the public.  

This is one of the reasons it's sometimes hard with clients of mine to have them understand that the source of all wealth is service.  

Because they hear terms like "public service" and "a life of service" about these people that they know are not serving.

They know that these people are actually being waited on hand and foot.

While performing "public service" from the back of a limo.

It's a tremendous disservice to so tarnish this glorious word.  

Part of seeing the source of wealth for you and for me is to clean that word up and give it a fresh new understanding so that it really means something. It really means helping someone else, assisting another person, and delivering actual value.

Politicians are not public servants. We just all call them that because we've fallen asleep.

It's like the hotel operator said to me this morning. This is your wake up call.

 

Comments

[Billa]

Dobson, I actually used the brnignig the car in to the mechanic analogy with my first shrink. I was very upset at having come to see him for two years and not being cured yet. I didn't give a damn why my car, or my mind, wasn't working the way it was supposed to; I just wanted it fixed.Unfortunately, I've learned that I need to figure out what's wrong with my own mind and fix it myself, because those word-tools don't really work, except to help you figure out what kind of mind-tools you need to use on yourself.

[Viktorya]

Having worked at a meantl health center I completely understand meantl health professionals' need to be paid in a timely manner. I had the unfortunate job of making the insurance companies pay and when they wouldn't I had to make sure the clients did. I was everyone's bad guy. If you were a therapist/psychiatrist I made you sign paperwork and sometimes talk to insurance companies. If you were a client I made you sign paperwork and pay money. Too much fun. But I digress.I don't understand why so many people expect those in helping professions to be godlike in their chosen vocation. Just because they're helping people doesn't mean they don't need to eat and have a place to live. And, occasionally, have fun. In fact, I would say that those in the helping professions would be incapable of doing good work if they did not take care of themselves as well as their clients' needs. Frankly, I would rather have a well-paid, happy shrink than an underpaid stressed one any day of the week.

[Tony]

You do realize your enitre site does nothing but reinforce the snooty' image people have of you people don't you?After going through the motions with designers for years I finally tried crowdsourcing last year. I'm never taking the risk of hiring one designer again.

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[Cy Garrick]

Great post Steve. I am really looking forward to reading Wealth Warrior. If money is an exchange for service rendered I wonder how do we measure the service of people like Mother Teresa and Gandhi? Could it be the level of their fulfillment?