As a little girl, I imagined hosting colourful dinner parties with members of the highest class of the world’s society in attendance. I imagined wearing gorgeous dresses sewn by me and being the highlight of the evening. I imagined having birthday balls in well-decorated halls, lit with beautiful chandeliers, wearing ball gowns I sew that swept through the whole place. All my life, I have seen myself in big places, attending important occasions, receiving honours, bagging awards, being recognised as an elite in the society…, wearing dresses that I sew. Most importantly, I have seen myself severally, walking down the aisle in an elaborate wedding gown that would be designed by me. All these fantasies pointed to one thing and that was, my desire for fashion. Fantasies point out our wildest dreams, adventures we will love to undertake, passions we crave to fulfil…
What are fantasies?
Fantasies are like dreams. Mine pushed me to discover my passion for fashion and led me to take decisions towards it. Oh! You should have seen my joy when I made my first dress. I do not imagine fashion poorly. Oh no! I imagine the best of it; fashion in its richest and most elaborate form, the type that belongs in the places where kings and queens sit. Fashion was and still is the rock of my money fantasy and the well I now drink from financially. Your money fantasies can either make or mar you. I’d list three ways they can make you and two ways that they can mar you. They can help you discover your passion, motivate you and inspire you to take steps towards actualising them. These fantasies can however cause you to take wrong decisions at delicate seasons and lead you to frustration.
Of what use are my fantasies?
Firstly, fantasies can help you track your purpose. Discovering one’s passion is as important as knowing one’s name. There is no fulfilling wealth that can be amassed outside the place of passion. A fulfilling wealth does not imply disinterest in making more wealth but a feeling of joy at the source of one’s wealth and more energy to make more wealth happen. Criticise your fantasies by asking; what do I dream about the most? What desire occupies my thoughts mostly? Have you answered those questions? What do they point to? Your fantasies are pointers to what drives you. They help you discover what you are most passionate about. After you have discovered your passion, your fantasies will then serve as motivating factors that will drive you to achievement.
Consequently, fantasies motivate. Motivation is an incentive for doing something. Therefore, if we refer to fantasies as motivators for wealth, we mean that they are incentives for wanting to make money. Let’s examine how motivation works: motivation is of two forms; intrinsic (internal) and extrinsic (external). My intrinsic motivator was my desire to wear beautiful dresses sewn by me. It drove me to pursue my passion. In the process of pursuit, I started getting paid for dresses; saw other renowned designers whose massive wealth came from their jobs and this became my extrinsic motivator (the desire to make wealth). Resultantly, every fantasy inspired me to try out new designs that I could call my own. Your fantasies can make you rich by helping you discover your passion, motivate you towards achieving it and inspire you to achieve greater success.
If fantasies are that good, can they possibly harm me?
Unfortunately, the answer to this question is, YES. There are several ways your fantasies can mar you to poverty. I would, however, examine two points here, which are; DISTRACTION and FRUSTRATION. Have you seen how some low salary earners take some money decision that puts you off? Decisions like; a #50,000 salary earner taking out a huge loan to take a vacation to Dubai because he fantasises about it or a poor school teacher using his savings (big enough to buy/build a moderate house) to buy an expensive car. Fantasies can distract you from making the right money decision at delicate seasons of your life. If your focus is to drive expensive cars, own expensive houses without putting work forward, you’re in for poverty.
Quick teaser: I have a fantasy to wear beautiful gowns? Which of the following money decision is more reasonable and would be an investment for my future?
- Taking out #30,000 from my savings to by a beautiful gown I saw on Jumia (a major e-commerce platform in Nigeria), or
- Buying a fairly used sewing machine of #25,000 (also on Jumia) and paying my friend a fee of #5,000 to teach me how to sew.
Fantasies can also lead to frustration when efforts are being pushed aside. I’ve seen people go from wishful to bitter when they got disappointed severally. A poor mental state is unhelpful to money-making and wealth building. What frustration does to people is to deny them of hope thereby causing a state of mental unwellness, a sickness of the soul. Building wealth is as much mental as it is physical. So, if you get frustrated from the futility of your efforts towards fulfilling your fantasies, you will be denying yourself the mental wellness required to make wealth.
In the end, your fantasies are powerful tools; they may be the reason for your becoming the next Mark Zuckerberg of your generation or Aliko Dangote of Africa. All things being equal, you might want to start taking note of your fantasies and taking precious steps towards making the money you want!