Hope for your financial life and beyond

Give Up to Go Up: Spending Money For Personal Growth

Hidden Nuggets Series #56 – “…Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God…” (Hebrews 11:24-25)

give up to go upToday and tomorrow I’ll be immersed in all things personal finance as I’m attending a conference in New Orleans known as FinCon. Finance professionals, bloggers and financial news media from around the country will be engaging one another on the current trends in the industry. I probably won’t see the craziness that might happen at an event like Comic Con or Dragon Con but I’m looking forward to it nonetheless.

I’ve read over the past few weeks that some of my colleagues were able to afford the conference trip through travel rewards received from their credit card. I think that’s awesome for them, as they will be getting a nearly free stay in The Big Easy. I’m completely off credit cards though so that option is not available to me.

Once I factor in all the expenses – conference fees for my wife and I, our hotel stay, food and travel expenses from Atlanta – we will spend over $1,000 for this trip. That seems like a lot of money and maybe it actually is for a three-day conference for two.

The more difficult part is that I’ll be missing one of my daughter’s volleyball games and two of my youngest son’s T-ball games. It’s his first season playing so I’m really looking forward to being there for him. Yes, there will be other games but I’m sad at having to miss two of them.

In the end though, shelling out the money and missing family time are all sacrifices I’m willing to make for the trip because this one thing I know…

You have to give up to go up.

Give Up to Go Up

This concept of give up to go up (get where you want to go) is another leadership principle I learned from John Maxwell’s book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Leaders have to sacrifice. You won’t meet a successful leader who hasn’t done so in some form or fashion.

Leaders who want to climb the corporate ladder because they believe power and freedom await them at the top clearly miss the principle of sacrifice. Those at the top have to sacrifice more of their rights than anyone below them. In reality, there is less freedom the greater one becomes in importance. That’s the paradox of becoming a leader…leaders have to sacrifice more than others.

And sacrifice is not a one-time event. It has to be repeated time and time again for anyone who wants to move forward.

My Favorite Sacrifice Example From the Bible

My favorite example of the give up to go up concept from the Bible can be seen in the life of Moses.

For those perhaps unfamiliar with his background, Moses was a Hebrew child who, in a very odd set of circumstances, was adopted by an Egyptian princess, the daughter of Pharaoh. So his whole childhood was spent in luxury, living in the palace as a royal, receiving all the best things that life could afford.

But one day God spoke to Moses and asked him to leave his royal life and lead the nation of his heritage. At first, Moses resisted God’s calling but in the end gave into what he knew was right. He chose to sacrifice the pleasures of the palace for what he believed would be a greater calling and a greater reward.

Make no mistake about it those sacrifices were not cheap. Besides losing his life of luxury, as leader of the Hebrews Moses:

1. Set himself against the leadership of Egypt.

2. Opposed the Egyptians treatment of the Hebrews, which led to great conflict and loss of life.

3. Was most likely forsaken by his Egyptian family and lost contact with the adoptive parents who had treated him so well and whom he had come to love.

4. Set himself as a target for criticism for those Hebrews who did not like his leadership.

5. Assumed the impossible task of serving as the spiritual connection and liaison between God and the people.

6. Shouldered the emotional burden of a people who were resistant to God’s leadership let alone that of Moses’.

In the end, these sacrifices were worth it to Moses. He knew that for his people to go up and become something greater than they were required that he give up the pleasures he had grown accustomed to.

As it turns out not only did the Hebrews develop into the great nation of Israel, we find Moses eventually received the credit due him. At the end of his life the Bible gives this fitting epitaph to one of the greatest leaders of all time:

“But since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face…” (Deuteronomy 34:10)

What Do You Need to Give Up?

The give up to go up principle isn’t just about leadership. It can be applied to any area of your life. Hopefully you can see that it has obvious application to your personal finances.

So yes…I’m giving up some money and some family time to attend FinCon. I’m hoping to make some connections and gain some insights here from all the great speakers that will help take my blog up to the next level.

What might you need to give up today to give yourself the opportunity to move forward? Without making some big sacrifices it is highly doubtful the results you’d like to achieve will ever happen in the end.

Questions: Is there anything you need to give up to go up? What one thing is blocking you today? How to you avoid the trap of sacrificing too much?

Image at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally or believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Next Post: My First Rant: Change Your Mattress Every 5-7 Years?

Prior Post: Saving Money Throughout College

I hope you enjoyed that post. Want more?
Sign up to receive my blog posts via email and get your free gift...
99 Ways to Spend Less and Save More

Privacy Guarantee: I will not share your email with anyone.

Comments

  1. I read about another blogger who was going to find someone to room with for fitcon. I didn’t even really think about that as far as saving money goes.

  2. What a cool concept, Brian. Real leaders have to sacrifice (like Moses, Jesus, etc.) I find I’m often really selfish when it comes to work (e.g. – how will this project get me recognition or compensation), and rarely think about my coworkers’ benefit. I’ll try today and this week to change that mindset during working hours.

    • “…rarely think about my coworkers’ benefit.” I agree, this is really hard. I’ve just been listening to a Michael Hyatt podcast where he talked about thinking through what your audience needs, not necessarily what you want to write about. Ironically when you are solving other people’s problems that’s when the real audience comes. I have to do more of that.

  3. Have a great time at the FinCon Brian! For me, I sacrifice some of my wants just to give it to my family especially to my daughter.

  4. Hope you’re having fun! The only thing that’s been a factor is time. Just feels like time goes by so fast and I have so much to do. I have to sacrifice a lot right now (otherwise you’d be seeing me at fincon) but I know it’s too much when I feel that breaking point where I might go off the deep end and finance a big fat vacation on a credit card. Thankfully I’m not at that point.

    • Hopefully the sacrifice now turns into a big payoff down the road in you finding your groove and doing what you love. I think that’s the goal for all of us.

Speak Your Mind

*