A study of business school graduates tracked the careers of 1,500 people from 1960 to 1980.  From the beginning, the graduates were grouped into two categories.

Category A consisted of people who said they wanted to make money first so that they could do what they really wanted to do later - after they had taken care of their financial concerns.

Those in Category B pursued their true interests first, sure that the money would eventually follow.

What percentage fell into each category?

Of the 1,500 graduates in the survey, the money-now Category A’s comprised 83 percent, or 1,245 people.  Category B risk takers made up 17 percent, or 255 graduates.

After twenty three years there were 101 millionaires in the group.  One came from Category A, 100 from Category B.

The study’s author, Srully Blotnick, concluded that the “overwhelmingly majority of people who have become wealthy have become so thanks to work they found profoundly absorbing…Their ‘luck’ arose from the accidental dedication they had to an area they enjoyed.”

Excerpt from: Mark Albion, Making a Life, Making a Living: Reclaiming Your Purpose and Passion in Business and Life via John C. Maxwell, Leadership Gold