The other day I asked myself: "Why is it that for everything you do, society expects you to get rewarded monetarily?" In my immediate world, it is very rare to find someone who enjoys doing things without having monetary expectations from them. You would argue that money is a tool needed for survival. However, why is it that even amongst the wealthy people in Uganda, money is still a big motivation for doing things?

If an activity does not promise money or an added benefit like an increase in status, not many people will see it as something worthy of their attention. I too have fallen culprit to this: I won’t hold myself holier than thou. Due to the need for survival, whenever I am asked to be part of an initiative, I am not ashamed of asking if there is any monetary reward for me; if I agree to be part of it. Let's face it: it is a natural thing. Nevertheless, what if we stopped and pondered on whether money is all that matters when faced with decisions about whether to take up certain tasks in our lives? What if we became aware of particular benefits that can be obtained from taking up certain tasks whose match can never equal monetary rewards? Isn't this something we seriously need to start reflecting on?

In Here I Stand by Nick Twinamatsiko, he talks about "honour" being more important than monetary rewards. He compels us to think beyond "money". Besides honour, we should not be surprised if we find out that certain things could be more important than money. Whenever you put money as your soul motivator for doing things, your creative energies get stifled. It's widely known that money-minded people have a big fear of failure: they tend to play it safe and don't give room for experimentation and bold thinking, yet these are key factors of creativity. It once crossed my mind to picture a world where money was not needed for survival. Would we have the energy to do certain things? When you are the kind that prioritizes gold over anything else, you tend to favour quick wins over deeper innovative work. This makes you a short-term thinker and therefore you cannot do work that qualifies to be considered as "great". Plus, since the market decides what deserves the money, you're more likely to suppress your original ideas in favour of pleasing clients, markets and trends.

Let's peep into the future: how will it look like if money remains the prime motivator for whatever we do? Firstly, we are most likely to have people who are not in tune with their life purpose: chaotic-jumping from one thing to another unnecessarily; not creative and not original thinkers. At a societal level, this is likely to stifle development and exploration and contribute to erosion of values, widen inequality, contribute to broken relationships, create stressed and healthy populations and drive environmental damage. We have seen people betraying their best friends just because they needed to get the "money". We have seen people who choose careers, friends and partners based on financial gain rather than genuine connection and passion. We have seen people get burnt out and develop mental health issues all because of "chasing the bag". We have seen people shamelessly erect buildings in swamps and forests all because money is all that matters to them. Today, let it be known that those who price every breath may soon sell their souls before the sunset.

When every move is measured in coins, the heart forgets how to feel. Monetizing everything kills a large part of what makes us human.

Okay, what has the constant monetizing of everything robbed us of? We no longer have authentic human connections. Like I said earlier, I have seen people befriend only those who have more money than them. I have seen women only date men with money and wealth. I have seen people who possess a lot of wealth belittle and disrespect their parents, friends, and siblings who are broke and poor. One time I was at a certain gym and this guy on entering only greeted the owner of the gym who was seated with us! He just looked at us after greeting "the rich man" and moved away, probably because we didn't matter since we exuded any signs of wealth. When human interactions are transactional, relationships become shallow as they are driven by gain rather than genuine connection, care, or community.

Secondly, monetizing everything robs us of intrinsic motivation and purpose. It is why you rarely see people value passions that don't bring them money. Even those who value their passions try to squeeze money from them. However, when that happens, the intrinsic value of the "passions" vanishes into thin air. This is because money inevitably corrupts the soul behind passions: even a blind man can see this. This year I was really happy when a friend teamed up with his other friend to set up a basketball court. It is no doubt that they combined their monies to set it up. However, when I asked him about how he and his friend would get back the money invested in the project, he told me that besides the money bit, the basketball court was of great benefit to the community in aspects like promoting physical and mental health, was of more importance. This is someone I've known for half a decade. He exemplified the idea that you can also get joy from doing things for passion and meaning rather than for only money.

I seriously think we need to start doing certain things in our lives that don’t necessarily have money expectations attached to them. It could be as simple as volunteering once in a while or donating to issues that don't have anything to do with you or your values. The serious question we ought to answer here is: how can we kill the demon of monetizing everything in our lives? Here are some points. Many a time we forget that there are certain things that money can't buy, like genuine friendship, trust, true love, integrity and many other virtues. We only become aware of these things in times of crisis, but I think it's high time we thought about them every day.

To kill this demon of monetizing everything in your life, I encourage you to think about whether your mother or sister could ask for money to be by your side for weeks, after a complicated surgery in the hospital despite the unbearable sleeping conditions there. I dream of a time when parents will seriously teach their children that there are more important things than money; schools will make it compulsory for every student or pupil to work on a project that is not monetarily rewarding; society will shift cultural definitions of success away from wealth accumulation to include impact, community, well-being, and creativity; more people will start perceiving money as a tool-not a goal and primarily equip themselves with it to resist exploitative systems. That day begins with you changing your mindset about money right now, after reading this article.