In May of 1998 I was in the middle of an Elvis Presley obsession, so I went to Graceland. Everything about the place seemed awesome to me, from the giant Corinthian columns out front, to the purple and yellow room with three televisions built into the wall, to the big man’s grave out back.But what has stuck with me the most from the visit is a particular story about Elvis.During a party at Graceland he was inside with a guest who came from a poor background, and the other partygoers were outside on the lawn. His friend commented on how sophisticated all of the partygoers seemed. Elvis walked over to his desk, pulled a stack of money from one of the drawers, opened a window, and threw the bills out the window.The partygoers scrambled after the bills, shoving each other, trying to grab as much money as they could. Elvis turned to his friend and said, “They’re not that sophisticated.”I love that story because it shows both how money can mean so much to some people and how it can mean so little to others.Elvis grew up poor, and I’m sure when he was poor money was important. But when he started to make more money than he could ever spend, or maybe just enough money to have every material thing he wanted, it no longer held importance to him.My thoughts about money have always been in line with the old saying, “Money can’t buy happiness.” I think that’s true. However, it can make things easier, it can open doors, it can provide opportunities, and those things can lead to happiness.I’ve never been driven by money. I’d like to be rich. I’d like to have more money than I can spend. But if I were driven by money I would have gone into a different line of work, I would have prioritized my career over my family, I would have taken a different direction entirely.I recently heard two celebrities who have earned a degree of financial success comment on how money has affected them, and they’re both great examples of basic reasons why people want more money.Marc Maron, a comedian who produces the awesomely spectacular WTF podcast, recently said that he hasn’t made any large purchases since his financial success, but he goes to the grocery store and buys whatever he wants. He doesn’t even look at prices.An unlimited grocery budget. That’s why I’d like more money.Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the cultural phenomenon Hamilton—which I’ve somehow never seen or heard!—posted yesterday that he knows he’s successful because he paid the premium overnight shipping rate when he ordered something and didn’t think twice about it.That sounds nice, too.I’m not a New Year’s resolution type of guy, but my main goal for 2017 is to end the year in a drastically improved financial situation compared to how I will begin the year. I have plans in place to do just that, but any success I attain toward that goal will be meaningful to me only to the extent that the success is non-monetary.I don’t equate money with success. Perhaps that’s inconvenient because of the world in which we live, but just because someone has money doesn’t imply to me that they’ve been successful. At least not in a meaningful way.True success has many non-monetary measurements. Are you professionally fulfilled? Are you personally fulfilled? Do you make a difference, in your work or in your life? Are you helpful? Are you creative?Although the challenge for this writing exercise is to “Write about how you view money and/or the role it has played in your life,” I think the more basic, core issue that should we should examine is how we view life, and the role it has played with our money.Some of us are rich. Some of us are poor. Most of us are in between. Some of us have been or will be both. And most of us have wished for more money at some point in our lives.Money is nice. But when I come to the end, and I look back at what I’ve done, I won’t wish that I had more money. I’ll wish that I had more time.Click here to receive an e-mail each time I write a new post! Guaranteed spam-free, unsubscribe any time IF YOU LIKED THIS POST I BET YOU'LL ALSO LIKE: SkyMall is Bankrupt, But How do These Places Stay Open?PREVIOUS POST: True Horror of Gun Violence in Russian Ambassador Assassination Photos