There aren’t too many people today who don’t desire success in the areas of love and money. Unfortunately, people struggle with identifying principles to generate success in both of these key life areas. In an attempt to assist with this dilemma, I have identified one word that is a key to achieving success in both wealth and relationships. Allow me to introduce you to APPRECIATION.
According to dictionary.com, the root word appreciate has multiple meanings: to be grateful or thankful for, to value or regard highly or to raise in value.
I could stop the article here because the definitions really speak for themselves. However, allow me to further elaborate in order to ensure the point hits home.
When it comes to finances, the
world’s wealthy understand the power of investing in assets that appreciate in value. Their knowledge has allowed them to master the art of creating a Return on Investment (ROI). Very rarely do you see wealthy people amassing a lot of goods (e.g. cars, clothes, etc.) that don’t add value to their financial lives. Notice I said wealthy and not rich. Rich people generally make a lot of money; whereas, wealthy people create avenues to grow their money. Many of the wealthy individuals I know live very simple and money savvy lives. They don’t pride themselves in purchasing the latest shoes, purchase depreciating automobiles or maintaining a closet full of designer fashions. Many are quite frugal.If we were to look at your lifestyle, are you investing in things that appreciate or depreciate?
Now allow me to tie appreciation to relationships. Appreciation is something you should require from all of the intimate relationships in your life. Recall the definition above states “1. to be grateful or thankful for.†Another definition also states “2. to value or regard highly.†I know you can’t avoid interaction with everyone in the world, but you can control those who gain access to the prime real estate of your personal time and mind. STOP INVESTING YOUR TIME AND MENTAL CAPACITY IN RELATIONSHIPS THAT DON’T APPRECIATE YOU! Did I say that emphatically enough for you?
Your life experience is the sum of your time and relationships. You are given a certain amount of time on earth and
it’s up to you to make the most of it. You are also given a number of relationships throughout the course of your life to navigate. The quicker you can identify the healthy relationships, the more positive your life experiences will be. Unfortunately, too many people invest in relationships or people who don’t appreciate and wonder why they end up with negative ROI. Is this you? Don’t worry you still have time to correct the trend.From this day forward vow to only allow people into the intimate spaces of your life who truly appreciate you. They appreciate who you are. They appreciate your dreams. They appreciate who you are without respect to your title, celebrity status or money. They are willing to stick by your during the ups and downs in life while still appreciating your humanity.
Appreciation is a very valuable key to succeeding in both wealth and relationships. Take time today to evaluate where you stand and get a core understanding of where you are investing both your time and money. Things that appreciate will make your life much happier over the long-term than things that don’t.
Kenny Pugh is a Life & Relationship Strategist, Author of ‘Can You Do It Standing Up?’, Speaker, HLN Contributor, Host of the Chat Kafe Radio Show (http://www.chatkafeonline.com), singles leader and sought-after speaker on singleness, relationships, finances and life. You can find more information about Kenny at http://www.kennypugh.com. You can follow him on Facebook at Kenny Pugh or on Twitter @mrkennypugh.