(N.B. Wealth in this context refers to financial well-being.)
Being an intellectual or even an academic has its benefits but is not mandatory to attain wealth, so kindly lay aside your PHDs and shelve the sophisticated economics definitions and theories for a while. What I’m about to share is most likely not in any school or university curriculum; but if read with an open mind could provide the eureka moment that leads to wealth consciousness. Some people will realise they already understand it on a subconscious level, but have not gone to the lengths of articulating it
What if you were told the key to wealth lies in feeling good? Sounds ludacris, but bear with me – remember: open mind required.
Since we are already discussing the seemingly absurd, let’s go even further. What if you were told that people do things in order to feel good, or at least to feel better than they are currently feeling?
Resistant thoughts immediately surface, so instead of brushing them off let us analyse the real world from this ‘new’ view-point to see if the afore-mentioned statements make sense. Since our current focus is on wealth we will confine ourselves to business related examples.
The perfume industry understands pheromones, the chocolate industry understands endorphins, the motorsport industry understands adrenaline, the music industry understands dopamine, the fitness industry understands serotonin, the list goes on. Why would all these businesses concern themselves with hormones? It’s for one main reason; the hormones are all associated with feeling good at some level. The ultimate product offered by these industries, which is intangible, is feeling good!
While the world is being told negative things associated with feelings, those who have a real grasp of the significance of feelings are thriving financially.
Take for instance the insurance and security industries. They make people aware of the worst case scenarios e.g. high risk of losing their assets; which provokes fear. They then provide an antidote to the fear by offering their services e.g. protection or replacement of the assets (for a fee of course), and the clients feel safe. Whether the worst case scenario occurs or not, the clients are actually paying for that feeling of being safe; which of course is a form of feeling good.
Let’s put the ethics debate on right and wrong aside for a moment and only focus on the business aspects of the following. The selling of illicit drugs and sex has been a headache for governments for generations. Numerous laws have been created and other resources have been availed to eradicate the industry, but the industry still thrives. Why? It’s simple. The ‘high’ that comes from administering drugs is a form of feeling good. There are side-effects but for the consumers the feeling good seems to override any qualms. Discussion of the latter might be inappropriate on this forum, but the summary is this – whatever feels good sells, whether it’s illicit or not.
Comedians make people laugh and in turn they feel good. So people who watch comedy are actually paying to feel good.
Imagine getting an adrenaline rush but without any real danger to yourself and friends. That is exactly what horror movies provide. The adrenaline rush is of course a form of feeling good.
People buy expensive labels because of the way owning and wearing the ‘label’ makes them feel – good of course.
This is all over-simplified one may say. Well, life is simple but humans complicate it to become sophisticated. Imagine attending an economics class and discussing needs and need satisfaction. You get introduced to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and the lecturer simply explains that achieving any level in the hierarchy of needs makes people feel good. Then instead of the ‘need’ levels you would end up with ’feeling good’ levels. The economics class would have to end thereafter – syllabus completed! The students would understand the essence of what drives the economy and quit school prematurely and the lecturer would be out of a job. Simplicity is a threat to the man-made complexities that shape the dogma taught to the masses.
We can discuss this indefinitely, but those who are open minded get the message. If you can monetise anything that makes people feel good, or at the very least makes people feel better than their current state, then you will be on your way to attaining wealth.
Removing blinkers of the mind
