It is not what you have but how you use it that makes you prosperous

It is not what you have but how you use it that makes you prosperous             080810

                There are many times in life when two people seem to be equally gifted but in the end one goes much farther in life than the other. People who have the same resources end up at different levels of success. The secret for success is, therefore, not in the resources available but in their use.

                It is not what you eat that makes you healthy but what you digest and absorb. You may eat a lot of food everyday but if your digestive system cannot digest that food then the food will not nourish you. If the food is thoroughly digested but somehow your system cannot absorb it then it will not be of any help to you either. Food gives you energy and builds your body up if it is reduced to some soluble level where it can be taken into your blood stream and be used by the body cells. If you eat little food and all of it is absorbed, you will get more nourishment than someone who eats a lot and none is absorbed. The nourishment is, therefore, in the amount of absorbed food.

                You can spend the whole day eating grass like a cow does but you will remain undernourished despite being full. This is because your digestive system is not designed to digest grass.  A cow, on the other hand, gets all its nourishment from the grass that you would not get anything from. The reason you are not nourished is not that there is no nutrients in the grass, you just cannot access it.

                Lions and other carnivorous animals have a digestive system suited to digest mainly proteins, the main nutrient in meat. They do not produce digestive juices that digest plant material because they do not eat plants. You can feed a hungry lion a lot of plant material and it may enjoy it but at the end of the day it will not get nourished because it cannot digest plant material. The same is true for animals that feed primarily on plants. They cannot digest meat. Nourishment is, therefore, determined by whether you can digest what you put in your plate and not its quantity. It may taste nice and still leave you undernourished. You therefore need to choose your food carefully because if it is the wrong type it may cost you a fortune and leave you still undernourished.

                It is not what you earn that makes you rich; but what you save. There are many people who earn a lot of money at their work places who die poor. They use all the money they earn to pay for luxuries, and go on to borrow more to make sure they live more luxurious lives. When they eventually die people are surprised to find out how much in debt they are. All observers see the flashy lifestyle and think that all they have is paid for. They may earn more but true wealth is not measured by earnings but by savings.

                There are many people who earn little but end up with more assets than those who earn a lot. They understand the concept of investing. Investing, in simple terms, is using money to make more money. If what you buy with your money needs more money to maintain than it is producing then it is not an investment. If you can get more money from it even if you are not using it then you have an investment. There is nothing bad in getting the basic needs in life but those who borrow to spend their money on luxuries will never be rich. The richest people in the world do not use their money to buy luxuries. They buy luxuries in the end because they used their initial earnings to make more money. At some point they reach a time that even if they stop working the money they have is able to make more money for them. They are rich for what they saves not what they spent, or earned in the first place.

                In general, it is not what you have that makes you successful, but how you use it. There are many things that you can do well but if you do not take time to apply them you may not be able to benefit from them. If you can run fast but remain on the starting line when the starting pistol is fired you will not win the race. There may be a lot of potential in you but you have to make sure that this potential is put to full use before it benefits you.  Take time to find out what you can do well and develop the talents so that you can become successful. Eat the food you can digest and you will be nourished. Save as much as you can and you will be rich. Your success is in what you do with that which you have; not necessarily in what you have.