It’s not so you can lead an easier life, once you become successful. People who seek success, fame, or wealth because they want to live life on Easy Street, are usually bitterly disappointed once they achieve that success and see that Easy Street really doesn’t exist anywhere, rich or poor.
“Oh, I’d live an easy, laid-back life if I had fame or wealth,” That perception is wrong and there is no wealthy or successful person whose life could properly be described as simple, easy, laid-back, or stress-free.(Unable to find happiness in the wealth and fame they sought—and also, to find temporary reprieve from the additional stresses—many celebrities turn to drink or drugs in an extreme fashion. This just adds one more layer of complexity to the whole mess.)
People who struggle with problems more common to the middle class of the developed world (I hate my boss! I wish I earned an extra $20K! Why can’t I ever lose that last 20 pounds? Why is my kids’ school so bad? Why does college cost so much? etc.) often want to become wealthy, or more successful, because they think their problems will all of the sudden magically disappear. Well, those problems might disappear, but what people don’t understand is that a whole new set of problems will open up, making their cherished dream of a worry-free life of ease stretch once again far away into the horizon.
If you’re still skeptical, think of the ways fame and money impact family relationships. Simply put, they often tear families apart, with a viciousness that we less wealthy or famous people cannot imagine. All human beings,no matter how much money is in their bank account or how many fans they have, feel deep anguish when involved in family feuds, rivalries, backstabbing, power plays, cheating, depression, substance abuse, disintegrating marriages, and divorce.
These happen in all kinds of families, but somehow money and fame add tankers worth of fuel to the fire, bring out the absolute worst in people, and make these dramas play out on grander, even mythic, levels. We can laugh at these problems of the rich and famous, but then we are laughing at true human suffering, which is a sure way to dehumanize ourselves. This is all about the myths we hold around why we’re seeking more success in our lives. It’s about piercing those myths. Because, the longer we hold these myths about success, the less likely we are to achieve the real benefits of the success we seek.
The right reason to seek wealth, fame and material success, if you are seeking them, is not to bring more ease into your life. If that’s what you’re seeking, you’re looking in the wrong place. Take a meditation class instead. The right reason to seek fame, power, and material success is this: there’s some change you want to make in the world, some mission or purpose you wish to fulfill, which requires the additional resources, attention, and leadership that fame and wealth command.
Your purpose, your mission, your vision, is so massive, and so important to you, that you willingly take on the additional burdens, stresses, and complexities of being a powerful leader in order to bring it about.
If that’s your reason for seeking power and success in your life, and you finally achieve it, will it be meaningful? Sure. Worthwhile? Of course.
Easy? Forget it.
Author of Source article: Michael Ellsberg