Here's The Critical Money Lesson That Shaped Jennifer Lopez's Career

After years in the entertainment industry, Lopez is a masterful businesswoman who is worth about $300 million.

Along with her platinum albums, she's made millions from movie roles, endorsement deals, clothing and fragrance lines, and as a judge on hit TV show "American Idol."

What has she learned from all that financial success? Time pulled out some of the most poignant career lessons in her new book "True Love," including a powerful point about money: "Don't let money make you complacent."

"Lopez says her parents, who held down multiple jobs to be able to send her and her sisters to Catholic school, were an early source of inspiration and taught her that hard work is about more than financial prosperity," writes Time, which presents this excerpt from the book:

There was a certain hustle I grew up with, a hustle that I learned from watching my parents. They showed me that you put your head down and work - you work for a living and then, when you're making a living, you still don't stop … We don't stop working because we have money in the bank - we do what we do and we keep on doing it.

Lopez's perspective is particularly interesting when we consider it in the larger landscape of what being wealthy really means. For many of us, it means having enough money to stop working and be complacent, although time and time again, successful people - like TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie - highlight the disconnect between working for money and achieving success.