Let’s understand what greed is. Greed means a selfish desire for something, such as wealth and power.

I want to start by saying power curses people, just like money. You are on a journey where there are unlimited sources of wealth, and your instinct always drives you to chase after it. You could spend your whole life chasing after it, but still, you will miss the maximum amount of wealth this world has to offer. Greed operates on different levels. The race narrows down by the level you achieve.

So, greed is endless, and it’s a different game that has no end. Now, if you think about how you can overcome greed and get rid of this rat race, then I have something that will help you understand the full scenario and the pros and cons of greed.

What is Greed:

Let’s understand it from the basics. Greed is a selfish desire for something, especially for wealth and money.

Is the desire for something bad? Suppose you are at a level in your life where financially you are stable and doing well. Now, if you want to achieve a new financial goal where you will gain more freedom financially, is it bad to desire or want that? Is it greed? Don’t these thoughts come to your mind? If it is not greed, then why do we run from greed?

Understand that having a desire for something is not bad. But when the desire is selfish and includes jealousy, then we call it greed.

But sometimes we fall short of this definition as well. For instance, suppose you have 100 bucks to spare. Now you gamble it to make it double in an instant. Irrespective of whether you win or lose, think about whether what you have done is greed or not. There is a selfish desire to win at that moment. But this is not greed. The money was spare. Even if you lose it, nothing happens. So, sometimes, a selfish or high desire is not bad, even if there are high risks.

Now you understand that there is actually no definitive concept of greed. It is very subjective and varies from person to person. If all you have is 100 bucks and you lose it to gambling, then it is greed. But if you have 100,000 bucks and you lose 100 bucks in a gamble with the hope of a high return, then that’s not bad, even if some consider that action greedy. So now we understand what greed actually is and why it is not always bad. But you need to control the desire so that the desire doesn’t become greed for you.

How to Overcome Greed:

Emotion Internal Linking:
First of all, greed is a human instinct. Greed comes from human emotions. If you want to know how to control greed, you need to understand emotions and how they create greed.

Limit Your Desires:

Greed is endless. There are no limits to greed. If you want to know how to overcome greed, you need to know where to stop and limit your desires. If you truly want to be free of greed, you need to free yourself from the concepts of greed.

How To Set Limits On Your Desires:

Brainstorm Yourself With Questions:

The desire for something is not bad. Calmly look at yourself.

Ask yourself: What are you doing or what are you going to do that could cause a risk or a high failure in the future?

If yes, then think: Are you capable enough to resist that failure? Think about it. Are you sure that if you lose all that you spend on this project, you could manage yourself and work back again without falling into depression? If no, then ta-da! You’ve identified your greed. This is greed. This could destroy you. This is the high time you leave it.

If yes, then ask yourself: Is the risk you are taking or have taken worth the goal you want to achieve?

Understand my words. If all of your answers are yes, then ask yourself again: Should you really do this or not?

What are the chances you will succeed? What if you lose? What if you win? Does the prize justify your risk? Calculate your investments. Calculate the time it’s taking or has taken. Calculate the money it is costing you. Calculate the relationships it’s affecting. Calculate how important it is taking from your life. Such things are priceless. Ask yourself: Are you afraid? Lastly, with a deep breath, ask yourself: Do you enjoy doing it?

Sit somewhere and think about it for hours. Remember to take a pen and paper to note down stuff so that you can have a clear vision. If you really brainstorm everything about it, mark the things that matter to you the most. Mark the pros and cons.

If the results come out positive, congratulations, you are good to go with it. Now that’s not greed; that’s an investment of your life. But if the result comes out negative, you’ve identified it as greed. Even if you succeed, that’s greed, and that’s harmful—truly dangerous. By luck, if you fail, that’s going to take things from you that you have never thought of. In the end, you will regret so much the people who destroy their lives for it. This is not just something financial; this applies to relationships, health, wealth, and every other aspect of life.

Greed In Relationships: Write Down Letter.
Greed In Wealth: Write It Down Later.
Greed In Health: How To Overcome Greed In Food.

How to Stop Being Greedy | How to Avoid Greed:

Understand The Consequences Of Greed:

Now, by analyzing, brainstorming, and questioning yourself, if you understand that what you are doing is greedy, then you need to stop being greedy, and you need to avoid greed, as it is the most deadly poison in human history. Here’s how to stop being greedy | how to avoid greed.

If you truly understand what you are doing is bad, greedy, and harmful, then you don’t need to change yourself. If you truly see the harms, the badness, and the consequences of greed or the thing you are doing or going to do, then you don’t need to change yourself. You will change automatically by default, with the power of your consciousness.

Let’s understand it with a great example:

Suppose you are in college and all of your friends are smokers. Smoking is cool, just like buying cars.

Now, all of your friends smoke. Smoking is cool. And sometimes you feel like you have an inferiority complex, so you start smoking. For a better understanding and to have a bird’s eye view, let’s suppose it’s your son who started smoking.

Understand, your son already knows smoking is bad. It causes cancer and creates harm. Smoking is like greed. Smoking gives you a great feeling for a time period and makes you cooler.

But over time, it will kill you, just like greed. You do extremely well with greed. But in the long term, it destroys you, irrespective of your understanding of the harms of smoking. The child starts smoking to be cooler and feel good.

The only reason he started smoking after knowing it’s bad and harmful is that he knew smoking was bad and harmful theoretically, but not practically. Even if he knew that, it was not his own belief; it was imposed on him by his family or someone else.

There is a big difference between knowing, understanding, and feeling. I know smoking is bad, but I don’t understand or feel it.

But if your son goes to a cancer hospital and sees what actually happens to people when they smoke for a long time, then there is a strong possibility that he will quit smoking. There he’ll see how people suffer from cancer and asthma. He’ll feel it’s poison. Because now he is feeling the danger of smoking. This is called true understanding. There is a big difference between knowing and understanding. Similarly, to get rid of, stop, or overcome greed, you need to feel its danger and harm.

Just like with smoking, if you observe greed, then you will understand the harm of it. It feels like it is our friend, but it is our biggest enemy.

If you have to make any decision related to anything—financially, in relationships, or in your career—can you do it with a cool mind or an agitated mind?

Similarly, greed feels like it is moving you forward, but in actuality, it’s pulling you down. To progress in life, you do not need greed; you need the right understanding.

Greed will kill you. When you feel it deeply and understand the full structure of greed, only then can you be free of it. Getting free doesn’t mean you get rid of greed. It means that even if you do something greedy, you know you are doing something wrong.

How to Stop Being Greedy Financially, In Business And Trading:

See, you need to increase your money. You need to set your life. There is nothing wrong with that. You need to support your family. You need to retire. Nothing is wrong with that.

So, the desire to earn money is not bad. You need money. Get out of this stuff that money is bad.
Now, if you act out of greed, then will the money increase? Or if you act out of intelligence, with the right understanding and a cool, calm mind, then the money will grow?

Ask yourself and answer yourself. See, my goal isn’t to provide you with the exact path.
My goal is to make you able to think things in the right way. If you act out of greed, then you can have a great return in a short time. But in the long term, you will get trapped.

Because of greed, if you succeed, then the greed grows, and we fail in bear traps. A man takes limitless risks, then it becomes an endless loop. Then one day comes when he loses everything. Then how is greed helping you?

Do you understand how I am approaching the problem differently from everything in this world? I am not creating an opposite concept of greed. I am not telling you to not be greedy. I am just saying to observe the repercussions of greed. Observe the harms of the bad losses of being greedy. If it’s good or doesn’t harm, then be greedy.

Let’s ask you a question. If you have ever faced a big loss in your life, then why did this happen? Think about it. But I know the root reason for it is greed. You get inside of things without knowing their reality. You jump into it. So, never create concepts in your mind. Look at the reality as it is. This is called wisdom.

If you have violence, everyone has it, in animals and in you.
I am not saying don’t be violent. I am not creating the opposite concept of violence in your mind as non-violent. “The more you try to be non-violent, the more violent you become”. Similarly, “The more you try to suppress greed, the more greedy you will become”.

But once you look at violence with a completely unbiased and open mind, then you can get free from violence. Then you will understand violence isn’t helping.

So, the things that cause harm to us, we get free from them anyway, by default. If we are smart enough, similarly, if we understand the harms of greed, we stop being greedy and overcome it.