The Man Who Desired Gold
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Chapter Summary
Bansir, the chariot builder, sat on a low wall outside his house. As he surveys his home and property, his wife pops out giving him the disapproving “you should be working” look. As his glance moves to the hustle and bustle of the surrounding city, his friend Kobbi the musician walks up. Noticing Bansir is sitting around instead of working, Kobbi assumes things are going well for Bansir and asks to borrow two shekels for the Nobleman’s Feast.
Bansir explains that he doesn’t have two shekels to lend, not even to his best friend. Kobbi asks why, if Bansir is in such dire straights, he isn’t working on the half-completed chariot in his workshop. Bansir replies that it’s due to a dream he had the previous night. In the dream, he had all the money he could want and purchase all his heart desired. Upon waking, he came back to the realization that he had no money at all. He's been sitting glumly on the wall ever since. Bansir goes on to explain that both he and Kobbi had worked hard their entire lives, and yet we both had little to show for it. How, then, could two educated men, who have worked so hard, be at a point in their life where they have attained so little?
Kobbi agrees with Bansir and brings up the fact that he passed their mutual friend, Arkad, in the streets earlier that day. Remarking on the fact that his purse never seems empty. Kobbi realizes that the reason neither of them are wealthy is because they never sought it. That comment "sparks" of sense of hope for Bansir. They decided that, since they both knew Arkad, they would go to him and ask him to teach them about money.
Conclusions & Interpretations
We can draw many conclusions from the dialogue between Kobbi and Bansir.
What is the relevance of the "dream"?
We can draw many conclusions from the dialogue between Kobbi and Bansir.
What is the relevance of the "dream"?
- The chapter starts with Bansir having a dream that he was wealthy. He dreamed he had all the money he could want but woke up realizing that he was not where he wanted to be financially.
- The fact is we all "dream" about having more money and a better life but few of us know how to do anything about it.
- As Bansir was pondering and reflecting on his life, he realized that all his efforts and years of hard work had amounted to very little and he was no where close to the lifestyle he really wanted.
- The author is suggesting that you (the reader) should reflect on your life, in this same manner. You should ask yourself this same question. Are you really where you want to be financially? If not, why and what can you do about it?
- Like Bansir, we too must assess the reality of our situation so that we can wake up to the fact that if we keep doing whatever we're doing, we will keep getting whatever we've been getting.
- Bansir's broke friend (Kobbi) offered the only solution he knew - which was to keep working (finish the chariot). But, Bansir was coming to terms with the reality that he has always worked very hard and that wasn't really going to get him the kind of financial freedom he now realized he wanted.
- Bansir points out that they are "educated" men. Does having an education really translate into wealth? The author is suggesting that if hard work and an education was all it took to be truly wealthy, then perhaps everybody would be wealthy. But, this is NOT reality is it?
What problems and solutions can we take from this chapter?
- It wasn't until Bansir had this vivid dream about wealth, that he realized that he didn't have it. Take time to bring your dreams into focus. Define what you want financially. Identify what your lifestyle could be with financial freedom. Once you know what you want, then you can figure out how to get what you want. It doesn't work in reverse. You can't work towards something that you can't see. The purpose of having a "dream" is to define the lifestyle that you want, and then you'll figure out how to get it.
- Don't turn to your broke friends and family to figure out how to become wealthy. Whatever solutions they may suggest are not going to really work. Why? You can't talk about wealth and financial freedom with people who don't have it and don't understand how to get it.
- You must understand what it really means to be poor or broke. Employment is referenced in the later chapters of the book as slavery. Why? It's because you must trade your time for someone's money. You are not free. Your financial well-being is contingent upon your ability to continue trading your time for money. What happens when you unable to trade your time for money? Wealth is the polar opposite of being employed. You must come to terms with the fact that wealthy people not only have the money to buy "things" they want, when they want them, but they have intangible wealth. If you didn't have to trade time for money, you could travel and enjoy visiting places with your loved ones. You could give freely to charities, your family and loved ones. You wouldn't have any stress. If you have true financial freedom, when life throws you the unexpected, you don't have to scramble to make ends meet.
- Don't confuse higher paying jobs with financial freedom. Bansir had a thriving business building chariots. He had what most would consider a good life. He had a nice home, land, clothes, food, etc. He had his own business with a workshop full of tools and assets. All of these things made it seem as though he was "well-off". The reality was quite the opposite. Compared to what his friend Kobbi had, perhaps he was just broke, at a higher level.
- At the end of the chapter they go to see Arkad, the richest man in babylon. Instead of going to their peers, they realize they have to seek counsel with someone that has what they want. We must do the same. This will be elaborated on more in the following chapters.
Exercises
1) Define what your lifestyle would look like if you had as much money as Arkad. If you need a monetary number use one of the figures of the top 9 wealthiest people in the world. Click Here to access an outline of what your lifestyle might look like. 2) List at least 3 ways you can acheive the lifestyle you want in 5, 10 and 15 years.
3) Define the following terms.
4) Listen to Jim Rohn - click here
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Next Steps...
- Complete the Exercises.
- Email the exercises to [email protected].
- Be prepared to discuss what you emailed at the beginning of the next conference call.