Just to clarify a bit more, I have worked three jobs at one time. I didn’t do that because I am a workaholic. I assure you I am not. I have worked seven days a week for an extended period. I have done those things, and I would again, because there was a specific need in our household, and the best way to meet that need was some additional income for a period of time. That was taking care of something that needed to be taken care of. I don’t consider that chasing money.
Many years ago, I was working a job that I was not very thrilled with, to put it mildly. I had a gentleman approach me with an opportunity to earn some serious cash quick. It was a sales related position, and he made it sound very attractive. I was young, stupid, and chasing money. I wanted to make some quick bucks, and I felt like I deserved to make some good money without much effort. Remember, I said I was young and stupid. So without leaving my other job—I wasn’t totally brain-dead—I took the guy up on his offer of joining the door-to-door sales force.
I got no further than a gas station when I opted out. The young guy I was to be learning from and working with for the day told me how the whole thing worked. We would both work on the sale, and he would take most of the commission for it because I was new. That didn’t sit well with me, and I asked him to take me back to my car. My short lived opportunity lasted about a half hour. I felt like I had been conned, wasted my time, and learned a valuable lesson: If it seems too good to be true, it is.
I wish I could say that was the last time that I wanted to, or thought about, chasing money. In the years since, I have been able to temper my urge to go for the quick buck. Whenever I have started to move that way, the money never comes. It has taught me that the old slow and steady works better. I think that is a large part of why I have only played the lottery once or twice in my life. Chasing those big bucks without any effort is a recipe for disaster.