Less is more? Yes, less is more.
by Volker Weber
A few things got me thinking:
- When I leave the house, I have to make a few decisions. Which coat do I put on? Do I need gloves? A hat? Then I need the leash for the dog, a bag for the stuff I am carrying, I put on my shoes, then carefully lock the door. Oh, I forgot my phone. What does the dog do? She just leaves the house. She only has one coat. And everything she needs is already on her.
- I was at this party, and this acquaintance, a doctor, was wearing two mechanical watches, one on each wrist, telling roughly the same time. I asked him why. He said, he often cannot decide which one of his many beautiful watches he wants to wear. So he sometimes wears two.
- A friend of ours was playing with his band. One of the guests, a friend of a good friend, told me he left the company he co-founded and now works out of his own basement. The reason was that he felt too much pressure from his co-owners to squeeze even more money out of the business. At first they had one house, then they needed another one further away, then a boat, a new car, etc.
- There is this guy who co-founded Ello. He makes bicycles, quite expensive ones actually. In a way, he is very old school. If you have a thing, only have one thing, make it really good and keep it for a long time. He could not find a bike that worked this way, so he designed his own and made that into a small business.
Now take these thoughts and figure out what you really need. What would you carry with you when you travel? Do you need a car? If you need a car, do you need another one? Do you need a new one every few years? You can have all of these things, if you maximize your income. If you think about how to make more. You can have more money, you can have more stuff, you can borrow money and have even more stuff.
That is not my definition of rich. My definition of rich is that you have more than you need. In relative terms. If you need less, it's much easier to be rich.
And then you figure it out. There is only one resource you cannot have more of. It's finite. You get exactly the same amount every single day. 86400 seconds.
If you have more time than you need, you are rich. The real rich.
Comments
Great article, Volker! You so speak my mind. However, there's still a lot of work left for me in order to become "rich" as you define it.
Having collected a plethora of gadgets a similar thought crossed my mind.
But then there is still the good old hierarchy of needs. Having covered the house (one), insurance, transport (car, monthly ticket, ...) one has this liberty.
All five examples you give (I'm including the dog, she also has a house) have something in common: they already accomplished something. Some recognised their situation and took action. Some did not (the watch doctor, partners)
If you still have to get there you can be stuck in the maximising income routine. And being there you may not have the ability to allocate your 86400s at will. At least not without jeopardising covering the physiological and safety needs. You can only be rich in that sense if you need little time to cover those needs you consider as basic. And have a profession that allows limiting daily time to anything less than the standard 8 hrs.
Having said that I see that those in your examples who took action are running their own businesses.
Tobias, I call this the "three beer rule". I figured out that I can drink three beers and then it goes downhill. The first one is the best.
Volker that is a very good observation and rule. But it requires a bit of discipline. You know, Bierlaune... which can be induced between the first and second beer :)
Can I congratulate you on, however briefly, forgetting your phone? The generation coming up would no sooner forget their phones than they'd forget their trousers, or perhaps their heads.
Not only do I forget it. I often leave it behind. ;-)
When you mentioned stuff, I had to think of George Carlin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac
Today in the newspaper: "working 4/5 is becoming the new fulltime".
Since my daughter was born 2 years ago I now know, what time really means. I changed a lot of things in my life - for her. And for myself. And now I can say: I am rich.
Another view on the 86400 seconds is here:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Time_–_Deine_Zeit_läuft_ab
And Alper, you did it right. Thats how priorities change. And priorities are a way to manage time.
Not saying I am really good at that.
Great article!
