Intelligence wars: Emotional vs. financial
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- Category: SME toolkit
- Written by Bridget Olotu
- Hits: 488
Just like in love, emotions are not the best judge because emotions can change, so also with respect to money, your ability to have the handle on your emotions will go a long way to shaping your financial destiny. I was having a discussion with one of my business partners on a project we were working on in 2008 and he shared with me what I think would also help many of us in our businesses, workplaces and lives.
This guy is one of the leading movie producers in Nollywood. His story will show us the need for high emotional intelligence. He told me that he was a partner to the guy who started the business of packaging comedy shows in Nigeria. The first one they did, did not yield the expected financial returns.
The second one was like the first one. In fact, they made more losses. At this point, he couldn’t go on anymore. He quit. The other guy continued.
The third show he held was also a flop. So was the fourth one. It was at the fifth show that the guy recouped his investment. Then followed the sixth which was a huge success and the rest is history. But he quit early enough. He scored low on emotional intelligence. The lesson he picked from that experience still guides him till today.
It is important I point out in this financial education series that financial intelligence is also the same as emotional intelligence. In fact, Warren Buffett, the richest man in the world says, “If you cannot control your emotions, you cannot control your money.” In the art of money making or income generation, we all have unique and different processes to get there. Some will achieve their financial freedom while working as employees in establishments; some others will achieve theirs while running or owning their businesses.
Whichever route you want to take, just bear in mind that there is a process to pass through. Making more money is to decide what the best way for you to make money is. If it’s to become a medical doctor, get ready for medical school. If it’s to pass your ACCA or ICAN exams, and become a chartered accountant, get ready for the process. In other words, choose your goal and choose your process. Always remember that the process is more important than the goal.
So in improving your financial status, you need to understand some facts that stop you from getting out of the rat race into financial freedom. Let’s consider some of them.
1. If you cannot control your emotions, you cannot control your money. Every day, people’s money decisions are not controlled by their wives or friends or family but by their emotions. Just like emotions are fleeting in nature, their money decisions are fleeting in nature, too. They buy on impulse, invest on impulse, want to live like the Joneses, acquire a lot of non-productive assets that turn out to be useless liabilities, etc. Their money decisions are controlled by their emotions. Who or what controls your money decisions?
2. If you quit when you are depressed, you cannot control your money.
Quitters rarely win. Like the story in my introduction, my business partner lost out in that business deal that could have been fetching him 7-digit figures every time the event is held. Don’t quit from your career because things are tough. Like a wise man once advised, “Don’t ask for an easier life; ask for the strength to win the battles of life.” There is also this friend of mine, who hastily left a job that was becoming better for him to go into a partnership when he could have enjoyed a little more benefits from his workplace before his resignation.
3. If you lose your temper when you are frustrated, you cannot control your money.
Many have lost business deals, closed the door of friendships, lost customers, missed opportunities, lost job or promotion opportunities and suffered untold financial losses because they could not manage their temper. Angry people can’t keep relationships. Even in marriage, their spouses live in fear with them; they sleep with one eye shut and the other open. Your temper can make you lose business deals if you don’t wake up and start growing your emotional intelligence. It is not that wise people don’t get angry. But wise people do the following when they angry. (1) they don’t talk when they are angry (2) they don’t take critical business decisions when they are angry (3) they don’t sign documents or cheques when they are angry (4) they stay away from the object of anger when they are angry until the anger cools off (5) they postpone meetings, ask for more time to think through when they are angry, etc. These can also help us!
4. If you cannot continue to study when you want to run away, you cannot control your money.
Some have lost vital opportunities of mentorship, training, education and coaching because they lost their emotional handle to fear, disappointment, unforgiveness and anger. How it works is this, whatever was the first emotion that comes to you when you are down or depressed or even afraid, check it out. Don’t obey it! Do the opposite if that is the commonsensical thing for you to do.
5. If you cannot live without instant gratification, you cannot control your money or be wealthy.
Some of us are carried away by instant gratification. We want to drive that big car now; live in that big house; move over to that neighbourhood; send our children to that big school; buy those expensive clothes now, and so on. To be rich, you have to overcome your itching for instant gratification. Choose delayed gratification over instant gratification.
6. If you want to keep up with the Joneses, you cannot be rich.
In growing your financial intelligence, one of the things you have to learn is that you are a unique human being and that you have your unique process of making money or achieving your financial objectives. You will run into trouble when you want to be like the Joneses. So your financial path may be different from your friends. You may have to start a new and/or small business and grow it from there. You may also have to work for many years and rise to the top of your career, thereby making a lot of money and using that to meet your financial objectives. But make sure you are true to yourself per time.
Emotional intelligence like we have seen is similar to financial intelligence and guides our money decisions. So when that emotion or those feelings are asking you to do what you know won’t help your financial goals, think again.
Articles
Intelligence wars: Emotional vs. financial
Category: SME toolkit Written by Bridget Olotu Hits: 488
Just like in love, emotions are not the best judge because emotions can change, so also with respect to money, your ability to have the handle on your emotions will go a long way to shaping your financial destiny. I was having a discussion with one of my business partners on a project we were working on in 2008 and he shared with me what I think would also help many of us in our businesses, workplaces and lives.
This guy is one of the leading movie producers in Nollywood. His story will show us the need for high emotional intelligence. He told me that he was a partner to the guy who started the business of packaging comedy shows in Nigeria. The first one they did, did not yield the expected financial returns.
The second one was like the first one. In fact, they made more losses. At this point, he couldn’t go on anymore. He quit. The other guy continued.
The third show he held was also a flop. So was the fourth one. It was at the fifth show that the guy recouped his investment. Then followed the sixth which was a huge success and the rest is history. But he quit early enough. He scored low on emotional intelligence. The lesson he picked from that experience still guides him till today.
It is important I point out in this financial education series that financial intelligence is also the same as emotional intelligence. In fact, Warren Buffett, the richest man in the world says, “If you cannot control your emotions, you cannot control your money.” In the art of money making or income generation, we all have unique and different processes to get there. Some will achieve their financial freedom while working as employees in establishments; some others will achieve theirs while running or owning their businesses.
Whichever route you want to take, just bear in mind that there is a process to pass through. Making more money is to decide what the best way for you to make money is. If it’s to become a medical doctor, get ready for medical school. If it’s to pass your ACCA or ICAN exams, and become a chartered accountant, get ready for the process. In other words, choose your goal and choose your process. Always remember that the process is more important than the goal.
So in improving your financial status, you need to understand some facts that stop you from getting out of the rat race into financial freedom. Let’s consider some of them.
1. If you cannot control your emotions, you cannot control your money. Every day, people’s money decisions are not controlled by their wives or friends or family but by their emotions. Just like emotions are fleeting in nature, their money decisions are fleeting in nature, too. They buy on impulse, invest on impulse, want to live like the Joneses, acquire a lot of non-productive assets that turn out to be useless liabilities, etc. Their money decisions are controlled by their emotions. Who or what controls your money decisions?
2. If you quit when you are depressed, you cannot control your money.
Quitters rarely win. Like the story in my introduction, my business partner lost out in that business deal that could have been fetching him 7-digit figures every time the event is held. Don’t quit from your career because things are tough. Like a wise man once advised, “Don’t ask for an easier life; ask for the strength to win the battles of life.” There is also this friend of mine, who hastily left a job that was becoming better for him to go into a partnership when he could have enjoyed a little more benefits from his workplace before his resignation.
3. If you lose your temper when you are frustrated, you cannot control your money.
Many have lost business deals, closed the door of friendships, lost customers, missed opportunities, lost job or promotion opportunities and suffered untold financial losses because they could not manage their temper. Angry people can’t keep relationships. Even in marriage, their spouses live in fear with them; they sleep with one eye shut and the other open. Your temper can make you lose business deals if you don’t wake up and start growing your emotional intelligence. It is not that wise people don’t get angry. But wise people do the following when they angry. (1) they don’t talk when they are angry (2) they don’t take critical business decisions when they are angry (3) they don’t sign documents or cheques when they are angry (4) they stay away from the object of anger when they are angry until the anger cools off (5) they postpone meetings, ask for more time to think through when they are angry, etc. These can also help us!
4. If you cannot continue to study when you want to run away, you cannot control your money.
Some have lost vital opportunities of mentorship, training, education and coaching because they lost their emotional handle to fear, disappointment, unforgiveness and anger. How it works is this, whatever was the first emotion that comes to you when you are down or depressed or even afraid, check it out. Don’t obey it! Do the opposite if that is the commonsensical thing for you to do.
5. If you cannot live without instant gratification, you cannot control your money or be wealthy.
Some of us are carried away by instant gratification. We want to drive that big car now; live in that big house; move over to that neighbourhood; send our children to that big school; buy those expensive clothes now, and so on. To be rich, you have to overcome your itching for instant gratification. Choose delayed gratification over instant gratification.
6. If you want to keep up with the Joneses, you cannot be rich.
In growing your financial intelligence, one of the things you have to learn is that you are a unique human being and that you have your unique process of making money or achieving your financial objectives. You will run into trouble when you want to be like the Joneses. So your financial path may be different from your friends. You may have to start a new and/or small business and grow it from there. You may also have to work for many years and rise to the top of your career, thereby making a lot of money and using that to meet your financial objectives. But make sure you are true to yourself per time.
Emotional intelligence like we have seen is similar to financial intelligence and guides our money decisions. So when that emotion or those feelings are asking you to do what you know won’t help your financial goals, think again.