“I poured myself a vodka in the morning and started writing until the tears filled my eyes and I couldn’t see the pages anymore. I kept trying to figure out what I’d done to deserve this. I tried being kind to everyone, helping everyone, being truthful to everyone… And all of this still happened.”
The ‘all of this’ that Johnny’s referring to? The fact that he’s lost nearly all of the $650 million that he earned over his film career.
He blames the management firm he hired for his situation, and sued them for $25 million, even though he acknowledges outrageous spending. Spending that includes $5 million to have his friend’s ashes shot out of a cannon. True story.
Three lessons for us all and one piece of unsolicited advice for Johnny:
1. No amount of money absolves you from the consequences of reckless spending. You can never have so much that you don’t care what you buy.
2. No expert, nor team of experts like a management company, can absolve you of your responsibility to watch over your money.
3. You can never be nice, helpful, or honest enough with people to absolve yourself of the understanding that money doesn’t much care how you treat people – it cares how you treat it.
4. I will further say, that on a spiritual level, Johnny, your ego was running the show, not your authentic self, and the universe was not fooled. That’s how you ended up here. It’s not that you did anything to “deserve” this, it’s what you didn’t do that brought this to pass. You didn’t understand and respect money.
Tough, maybe even harshly stated lessons, I know. And Johhny, it’s not too late. Put down the vodka and let me coach you to a new way of thinking about and dealing with your money.