By Jack Perry
Greed is an unfortunate sickness that all too often flourishes in the business world. While a desire to be wealthy and successful can be important to an individual, those desires can go too far and actually cause people severe life-time pain. Remember Michael Douglas’s character from the movie Wall Street? During his speech to stockholders he said, “Greed is good… it works.” But in the end of the story, greed destroyed him and ruined his successful career.
Greed is the ugly second cousin of selfishness. Greedy people take more than they need in all phases of their life. They are very self-centered, tight with their money, and are always thinking of how they can get more for themselves. And they aren’t just greedy with material things and money. Some people are greedy for attention, for always having to be number one, and for having more toys.
However, most people don’t realize they are greedy. They have a giant blind spot that blocks them from seeing their inappropriate behavior. They lose sight of what’s really important in life. Mistakenly, these people think by being greedy they will gain more power and status.
Are You Greedy?
If these greed characteristics sound familiar, self-examination is one of the most effective ways to eliminate your blind spots and determine whether you are greedy or not. Essentially, you need to periodically sit down, have a personal meeting with yourself, and be honest with yourself. When was the last time you generously gave your time or money to a charity? Would you ever choose to give annonyously? Do you always think of yourself first? Do you take the time to share your experiences with new people at work? Would you consider taking your administrative staff out for lunch? Develop your own list of questions, and make this exercise a personal weekly drill.
Another way to keep yourself in check is to have people in your life who will be honest with you. You need good friends or mentors (who aren’t greedy themselves) to tell you when you’re acting inappropriately. You can approach these people for their advice when you are unsure about a particular situation. You can ask them, “Do you think this is a large enough bonus for my assistant?” Or, “Should my department be doing more for charity this holiday season?” As long as the person you ask isn’t greedy, then that second opinion can be a valuable gauge of your own behavior.
How Can You Overcome Your Greed?
If your friend tells you that you’re greedy, one of three things can happen. Either you think your friend’s observation is accurate, or you choose to believe he doesn’t understand your situation. Or your friend’s words act as a serious wake-up call in your life.
Your blind spot might be blocking your view of the truth….your greedy tendencies. If you get a wake up call and realize that your greedy mind-set is a problem, make the decision to immediately change your behavior. Start by changing your thinking. At this point, you can ask yourself, “How do I want to be remembered? What do I want people to say about me when I’m gone?” These questions can be very powerful. And the answers you come up with will show you how you need to change.
Whether you overcome your greed will depend on whether you clearly see it and believe it, and if you are committed to this new way of life. There’s no sure way to know that you will overcome your greed. It will depend on how important the change is to you.
If you’re committed to changing your greedy behavior, you can use the following tips.
1. Use Positive Affirmations
Positive affirmations can start a chain reaction in your life. When you say them over and over again to yourself and visualize them, they can change your thinking. The change in your thinking results in behavioral changes. So if you want to overcome your greedy behavior, say to yourself, “I take great pride in being generous.” Or, “I really enjoy sharing my financial success with other people.”
You can choose any positive affirmation to facilitate change in your life. But when you use affirmations, never put them in a negative context. Don’t say, “I won’t be greedy with my money.” Instead, say, “I will give a minimum of ten percent of my earnings to charity this year.”
2. Become More Sensitive to the World
Another way to change your behavior is to observe the impact it has on other people. Take time to observe other people’s greed. Notice when your co-worker grabs up all the big accounts and coveted projects. How does that make you feel? How do your other team members react? Notice the person in the restaurant who never tips the server. How does the server respond? How do you think it makes him or her feel to get stiffed after working hard to satisfy the greedy customer?
Finally, take a step back from these situations and ask yourself, “Is that how I want to be perceived?” Seeing the impact of greed can help you think about how your own behavior affects the people around you.
3. Be a Leader in Your Company
Whether you lead your company in a charitable food drive or set up a volunteer program, you should encourage your co-workers or employees to be generous with their time and money. In this leadership role, you will help others experience the joy and satisfaction of helping other people up the ladder. In turn, the new converts will be able to teach other people to share the habit.
Eliminate Your Greed for Good
A critical part of success means sharing your knowledge, experience, and wealth with other people. If you’re greedy, you’ll never be able to reach the highest level of success possible.
When you eliminate your personal greed, you earn other people’s respect. You help other people by sharing your time, resources, and wealth. You meet new and interesting people and will be exposed to new opportunities. As always, doing good things for other people will come back to repay you in the future. Yes, what goes around does come around. Use these tips for eliminating greed, and you’ll start to see the positive impact a charitable outlook can immediately have in your life….Go and be a Giver.
Greed from The Respect Factor® Series
THE RESPECT FACTOR® is a trademark of Jack Perry in the United States and other countries. Used with permission. ©2009 Jack Perry. All rights reserved
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