Mega Millions, the $500 million lottery jackpot is currently at its highest level -- ever. The jackpot is up for grabs this Friday night.
The fever to buy Mega Millions lottery tickets is understandable. After all, having nearly half-a-billion dollars—or even a fraction of that—would end almost anyone’s present concerns about money and change that person’s life forever.
I want to tell you the absolute truth about getting rich, though. I’ve learned it over decades spent talking to people from every imaginable socioeconomic statum, at a very deep level—billionaires and the homeless, CEOs and people on public assistance, U.S. Senators and young people who haven’t ever taken the opportunity to vote.
True wealth is only one thing—always, and without exception—and it has nothing to whatsoever to do with cash: It is the absolute, unshakable knowledge that you love yourself, are loved by another human being, have the capacity to love others and understand that love is immeasurable, inexplicable and evidence of a force greater than any one person or, perhaps, all that is mortal.
The enormous sum of $476 million will just be fuel taking you deeper into a black hole of despair if you harbor questions about whether you’re really worth anything at all, at your core. -- And I mean worth a father’s time spent unselfishly with you as a child. I mean, worth a friend’s devoted attention. I mean, worth a husband or wife’s real devotion. I mean, worth the respect of honest critics. But, first and foremost, I mean worth investing in yourself by doing the work you truly love in this life, by surrounding yourself with people who truly care about you, by shaking off the self-defeating habits that roil your mind or body and are rooted in self-hatred or self-doubt.
If you won the lottery and came to my...