Is Leveling Up Selfish?

Leveling up is all about changing your life for the better and becoming the person you want to be. In other words, it’s all about you. But does that mean that leveling up is selfish?

Rich and successful people are often considered selfish, self-centered, or immoral, simply because they are well off. Their work and achievements might be seen as simply being based on luck, although luck has very little to do with success.

Hearing people talk badly about people who are successful or who went and made something of themselves might discourage you from trying to level up your life. But that doesn’t help anyone and it keeps you unhappy. That’s why I am writing this post. Leveling up isn’t selfish and I don’t want you to hold yourself back.

Why is there a stereotype of successful people being selfish?

As said, many people think that successful people are selfish. They are seen as bad people who lack good morals and don’t care about anyone else. But why is this?

Some people might be simply jealous and feel like people who are doing well in life don’t deserve what they have. Many people also don’t understand how much people who have become the best in their field or who have built a successful business have worked. Especially social media influencers get this a lot – as if creating good content was a walk in the park!

Also, some people don’t understand that while making big dreams come true is hard, it’s not impossible. It takes a lot of work and perseverance, but there’s nothing stopping the average salary worker from creating a better life for themselves.

Because you often hear bad things about rich and successful people, it’s easy to buy into it.

People are always saying that Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and Bill Gates are bad. But are they really that much worse than other people? How is the average Joe any better than them by working a simple job they don’t like or living in a cheap apartment? How does it help anyone?

When I worked as a fundraiser and my job was to find monthly donors for a cancer organization and a children’s foundation, I heard a lot of reasons why people couldn’t donate. It only takes 10 euros a month to do your part – yet practically everyone said that they don’t have enough money for that or that they only want to help children in a certain country. How is that any better?

It’s about you because you matter

Your leveling up journey is centered around you because you matter. It’s as simple as that.

You deserve to be happy and wake up excited about the day ahead. You deserve a job that you enjoy, a house you like, and a lifestyle that makes you happy.

Life is meant to be enjoyed and it doesn’t make any sense to stay in a bad job or hang out with people who have a fixed mindset. You deserve better. Don’t waste your time thinking that maybe you simply are not meant to have a lot of money or a nice house. There’s no such thing. You deserve it all because you and your life matter.

If you don’t level up, does that help others in any way?

The opposite of being selfish is being selfless. In other words, thinking about others. If that is your goal, you of course have many ways in which you can do that.

You can choose a career that is about helping others, you can donate money or you can for example do a lot of volunteer work.

But does staying still and not leveling up help someone? Does having a negative mindset, little money in your bank account, a cheap apartment, or a job you don’t like benefit someone? Of course not. If anything, it’s away from someone in need.

That’s why it doesn’t make any sense to think that living a modest life and not trying to go after your dreams is somehow better or more selfless than deciding to change your life.

When you are more affluent, you can easily help others

If one of your goals is to do good things to others, you’ll be glad to know that the more well off you are, the more you can do for others. Becoming a monthly donor might sound like too much for someone who is only making minimum wage or who doesn’t have much money left at the end of the month. But what if your monthly income was five or ten times more than it is now?

Or what if you were a millionaire? It might sound far-fetched, but you wouldn’t be the only person who has become rich after first living a perfectly normal life.

You can inspire others

Not everything is about money. You can also be a good person by inspiring others to go after their dreams. If you for example have built a company from scratch and have been able to pay off a big student loan, that’s a valuable story that can give others hope and motivation to do the same.

For many people, the main thing that keeps them from pursuing their dreams is a lack of belief in themselves and their ability to change their life. The world needs inspiring stories and your story can be one of them.

Maybe it’s selfish to not level up

It’s questionable to call anyone selfish for living their life the way they want, whether that includes leveling up or not. But since that’s what this blog post is about, let’s turn this the other way round: what if not leveling up is selfish?

If you live a mediocre life that you’re not content with, you’re not inspiring anyone by being a good example. You can’t donate much money to help others. In other words, you’re not helping others as much as you could.

At the end of the day, what really matters is that you do what you feel is right. You deserve to be happy and make your dreams come true. Simply because you matter. We do everything we do mainly because it benefits us. That’s how life works. Trying to make successful people or people who want to make something of themselves look bad doesn’t make sense.

Just do your thing and don’t listen to any negativity. You deserve to have exactly the life you want.

What do you think about this? Can leveling up be selfish? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

If you are just starting your level up journey and you need some motivation and tips every now and then, sign up for my newsletter. You’ll get my free ebook ‘A Simple Guide to Productivity” and motivational emails twice a month.