When discussing money, most of us think of all the ways money can enhance our lives, the things we can buy, or the places we can now afford to travel. But then, along comes the warrior. Unlike the prestige spender who gets a rush from being the first with the most expensive, or the compulsive spender whose thrill is acquiring; the Warrior has an unyielding desire to succeed. The Warrior is locked in mortal combat against all comers and money enters the picture simply as a method of keeping score, but no score is ever high enough.

His behavior can manifest itself in workaholic tendencies that ultimately prevent being able to enjoy the fruits of his efforts. No time is exenpt and evening, weekends, or vacations are subject to business phone calls or the next big deal. Family life for this person is almost nonexistent and relationships with wives and children are distant at best. For example, Ted Turner in his drive to create the 24 hour news station CNN converted his office into an apartment and slept most nights at the developing company headquarters. It is reported that CNN staff regularly saw him most mornings leaving his office in his bathrobe.

The game is the “getting” and the Wall Street film bad guy Gordon Gekko and his pronouncement “Greed is good” is the mantra of the Warrior. He may have things but the struggle for that big payday over the next hill is what really gives him a short lived rush. Turner’s quotes “Life is a game and money is how you keep score” perfectly illustrates the Warrior’s drive followed by “Money is greatly overrated, it’s not nearly as good as average sex’ also illustrates the isolation.

These are the people who at their best can be quite innovative and build great empires and at their worst fail to realize their desire for ever more makes them vulnerable to get rich schemes that often leave them far from being the titan of the universe they aspire to become. The Nigerian email scammers keep sending out those 20 million dollar messages that you and I know are ridiculous because they are playing the odds and fishing for a Warrior that is willing to believe. Some times these ill fated attempts end tragically such as the murder suicide of a couple where the husband wired off their life savings in one of these scams and could not live with the thought that they were now penniless.

The Warrior has a lot in common with a Mr. Bling in that he operates from a deep seated sense of “I am worthless without money” and is overtly competitive and judgmental due to the fear that any weakness in others will highlight weakness within himself. Others often see the Warrior as cold and distant because there is little emotional life left to interact with others.

Reframing the Script

• Set a specific figure of how much would be necessary for you to say you are successful.

• Begin to count the other aspects of your life as the assets they are such the relationship with your children or the time you have with a spouse.

• Start small and set boundaries around time for recreation or social events that add depth to your quality of life.

• Think in terms of how you would like to be remembered and look at the ways your current behavior has only been focused on acquiring.

• Attempt to remove yourself from people who support your workaholic tendencies or at the very least let them know there are now limits.

For someone who is a Warrior you need to know that it can be done. Ted Turner woke up one day and had to ask himself “What am I going to do with all this money?” He set a figure that he thought would sustain his lifestyle and began to manage the donation of the rest to causes he wanted to support. By his own admission, his hand was shaking as he wrote out the check but life seems a lot more fulfilling now.