EXTRA – SPECIAL EDITION
Vol. 10, #5.1 – May 22, 2018 ALLAN GOLD’S BLOG
Next (extra) blog post of weekly series over 3 months on contracts for company executives & owners of family-small businesses.
TODAY’S TOPIC: “Business & Money – Everything Vs Nothing ($+$+$+$+$ +$ versus Ø): Everything you wanted to know about everything and also nothing you expected about nothing*”
Business and money go hand- in- hand. People go into business in order to make some money. Once in business, some will stop at nothing to stay there. You see, they know that if not making sales, they’re not going to stay in business very long. That’s why they’ll usually do everything they can to do more business; and some will let nothing stand in their way to the next sale. They also know that if they lose everything, they’ll have nothing. But there is a silver lining to going broke. Of course, when you hit rock bottom, the only way is up, But more, if and when having nothing, needing everything, you’ll probably be on the make, looking again to make a little money. And once you get it, you’ll try to make some more. And before you know, you’ll have a stake to go back into business for yourself.
Now, here’s a little something extra about “everything.” When using this word, many of us really don’t mean everything – this is because it’s so much that it’s incalculable. Yet we say it quite often. For example, wanting life to be the best that it can be, we might say: “I want everything …everything that life can offer.” Of course, what we’re really saying is that we want riches; and we equate that with the cash needed to buy all the material possessions, which we then desire. While most of us chase the almighty dollar, we give nil thought about how it would be if we’d be, in need of nothing. But, here’s the thing. It often happens that when we get it, we find that it’s not everything we had imagined. Here are a few ‘for instances’.
- When we get the sum we dream about, we often determine that it’s not enough and we want even more.
- If mature and on finding ourselves with lots of cash, we soon realize that it’s not all fun and games- instead, it’s a big responsibility, taking much time and effort. And there’s usually lots of worry and stress. You see, people hope to go from rags to riches, but they’re fearful of going the opposite way…from more to less. And they’re absolutely terrified over losing everything. Being so afraid of making a mistake, they’re unsure about everything. And in the end, although wanting to do everything that it takes, but not knowing what to do next, some of us just stop and do absolutely nothing.
- On becoming one of the few who seemingly have it all and seemingly for want of nothing, we might discover that it’s not as great as it was all cracked up to be. And since everything is a whole lot, we might find ourselves no longer having room for what’s really important. Indeed, for some, on having everything, it might then feel like nothing.
- More often than naught however, we go on a buying binge, purchasing just about everything in sight. And then, finding ourselves up to our neck in too much stuff, it could go in one of three ways from there.
o We might continue on adding to our stuff, keeping it all. And on becoming a hoarder, and having a little bit of everything, our lives then would be worth nothing.
o Or if there’s much not used every day, we may opt to store it in a public warehouse. And then the storage might cost us everything, and we might lose it all and end up with nothing.
o Or it might be so much that we might feel the need to throw something out. In such case, we might then have less than everything, but since we’re making space for something new, we might go out and buy something, and be back where we started in the middle of everything, but with nothing much of a life.
o Or if we end up squandering the money, feeling bad is an understatement. Indeed, depression is more like it. And when asked, “How’s everything?”, we might answer: “Not so bad”; but this is untrue, since we then see everything dark and feel like nothing!
And now here’s the scoop about “nothing.”
- We don’t value nothing. You see, it’s not very much. A sack of nothing is nothing. And nothing beats nothing. More, two times nothing is still nothing.
- We feel bad if someone feels like nothing. But we don’t like a “good for nothing.” This is because we know that nothing works like effort; and without it, you’ll amount to nothing. That`s why we don’t understand someone who thinks nothing is good. Of course, having everything must be better. But here’s the oddity. It does happen that, when trying very hard, and on giving everything you got and then some, you might then feel like you have nothing left.
- It’s also strange that while we may turn up our noses to someone with next to nothing; the fact remains that such is a bit more than absolutely nothing. Such a person might think that there’s nothing to lose, but he/she is wrong as there’s always room to go in order to arrive at worse off. However, some may just give up and you guessed it, do nothing, thusly becoming a “do nothing”,
But on the other hand, everything could all be for naught and “Much ado about nothing” – you be the judge!.
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