Simplicity and Loving the Journey
After treating three points in the previous newsletter, we continue the Rich Life, Rich Mindset series in this newsletter with two more topics about developing the right perspective to attract wealth.
4. Focus more on the journey than the destination.
Get the idea of a destination out of your head.
It's crazy to live for tomorrow.
Some tribal societies don't even have words for time.
The Amondawa people in the deep parts of the Brazilian Amazonian rainforest, for example, have no watches, calendars, or age.
So it's possible to live without the concept of time constantly in our minds.
Many people quit because they are too eager to find success.
They put all their hopes into attaining success at a future date.
But a smarter way to go about it is to choose a lifestyle that you're currently satisfied with and also allows you to work towards a better future.
You can do this both externally and internally.
The internal process is about your perspective.
Once you believe the best life is a life of producing instead of consuming, you are more in control.
When you base your life on consuming, you depend too much on outside forces to complete you.
When you produce more, you depend more on yourself.
I'm not waiting for someone to make the perfect product.
I'm making the products I wish to see.
I'm making use of what I have instead of wishing I had something else.
A mindset that produces is relatively content.
A mindset that's focused on consuming is hardly satisfied.
You can be hungry for more as a producer, but then you feel useful and depend on yourself to bring about the life you want.
If you're consuming more, you feel like what you have is not enough.
As a producer, you're not waiting for things to be perfect to make a move.
You just do it!
As a consumer, you depend on how fast you can get some goods like food or how quickly your favorite series releases a new episode.
Producing and creating with what you have forces you to focus more on the present than the future.
So a good way to focus on the moment is to be passionate about producing.
I try to fill up my time with producing and being active even while waiting for some of my investments or activities to grow.
Another way to focus on the journey is to give yourself more time.
I once gave myself a year to make it in music.
I was 23, and I realized many other musicians got famous by 23.
Unfortunately, it didn't go as planned.
Then I got frustrated because I didn't like the life I was living.
I was broke and chasing clout.
I felt crappy.
Because I thought I was going to blow up fast, I pushed myself to do things I didn't like.
Now that I have decided to give myself a longer time frame, I am choosing to do things that are more comfortable, sustainable, and enjoyable.
Thus, the likelihood of quitting is reduced drastically.
One thing that causes patience to look difficult is a mindset that seeks perfection and ease.
No, problems won't go away at the top.
They will only transform and probably become more difficult.
So instead of rushing to the next stage because of discomfort and thinking there would be less discomfort at a richer stage, it makes more sense to bear the discomfort and take it as a part of life.
This will allow you to stick with a winning strategy even when it's boring.
This will also allow you to save and invest more.
When you accept that there's always discomfort at every stage, you can slow down a little and see the blessings at every stage.
The journey becomes more enjoyable when you accept the painful part as a part of what makes it beautiful.
Besides, I feel life would be boring if everything went smoothly and according to plan.
There's a feeling of accomplishment with every little win.
Instead of rushing to get everything you've ever wanted, embrace the tears, disappointments, relief, and growth along the way.
The external part has to do with your environment, your spending choices, and the type of people you surround yourself with.
I. Your environment.
Having your own space and places around you that make you feel good will encourage you to live in the moment.
I mean places where you can literally smell the roses instead of chaotic, overly busy neighborhoods.
A moderately calm and nature-rich neighborhood would be a good one for this.
I say this as I write in a park.
You can easily go for a job and reset your fight-or-flight response.
Being hungry for success is great but resetting your energy with adventure or relaxation in a beautiful physical world will keep your body engine from knocking.
It will also keep you from running in a meaningless rat race.
Like Isaac Newton, you might even get ideas while sitting under an apple tree.
II. Spending choices.
The higher your expenses, the more you have to spend to maintain your lifestyle.
Expensive cars attract expensive maintenance costs.
It makes sense to buy a more affordable car even when you can buy an expensive one.
It makes sense to go for the more affordable options or even see if you can do without a product before buying it.
Look at the value of the things you own from the perspective of someone who calculates the future expenses you have to pay to maintain them.
That's a clear way to identify the difference between an asset and a liability and to recognize how much of a liability an expense is.
For example, if I bought a Ferrari for 200k and the yearly cost for maintenance and insurance was 5k, then the true cost of the car in 10 years would be 10 times 5 plus 200, which is 250k.
Now I know a car's price can appreciate or depreciate, but it's more likely to depreciate.
And the majority of the world's products depreciate after you buy them.
Considering all this, it's advisable to take note of every expense and one's ability to afford them in the future.
Some other costs that are not quite flashy but are seen as necessary by many people are student loans, house rent, and expensive goals.
If you have to pay a student loan, you must pay your house rent, and your videography dreams have you spending a lot on gadgets in hopes of making it one day, it's safe to say you will find it hard to enjoy the moment.
You're likely to want to make money as quickly as possible.
And this might lead you to burn out, give up, and accept a boring job to survive.
III. Having enough saved for emergencies.
Having enough saved for emergency expenses will leave you feeling more relaxed than if you don't.
The mindset of abundance you get when you have enough saved is unparalleled.
However, if you're the type that spends immediately you earn or live paycheck to paycheck, you're likely to feel desperate and want to make fast money.
Living below your means leaves you with enough freedom to go after your dreams.
Imagine you have a business opportunity that can make you a million dollars, but you can't take a break from work because you don't know where your next meal is coming from.
This is one reason why the rich keep getting richer.
While the financially poor man is still trying to find food to eat the next day with a low-income job, the rich man, who has enough money saved up, is trying to work on a high-paying opportunity that can get him to the next level.
We can look at emergency here in terms of a slim opportunity window instead of something negative.
The more money you have saved up, the higher the chances of you benefiting from a slim opportunity window or being able to invest in a high-paying job.
In essence, make sure you keep enough saved and invested so you have the freedom to choose what is best for you financially.
5. Simplify everything.
The best plans are simple.
The best life is simple.
Complicated things bring stress and headaches.
They lead to slow progress or covert regression.
You can simplify your life to achieve success in different ways:
I. Relationships.
Complicated baby mama dramas will sap a man's energy quicker than you can say, Jack Robinson.
Many men have been wrecked by this.
Also, being close to an abusive parent or family member is a red flag.
Selecting friends wisely and cutting off unhealthy relationships is important for keeping your mind and energy pure and in a productive phase.
I once had a chaotic relationship with an ex, and we fought a lot.
We had issues every week, and every time we did, I found it hard to stay productive.
That's not all.
She was not in my financial class, and I took it as a job to bail her out of tight financial fixes.
This slowed down my growth and my ability to save.
When I broke it off and found someone more in tune with my spirit, it was easier to grow.
It's important to note that my mindset changed during this transition.
I decided I would not bear the burden of another person financially.
I decided to not be desperate and choose a partner wisely.
A wise man from the bountiful scrolls of a Facebook comment section once said that every man will have that bad relationship that will teach them to look for the right things.
This was exactly my story.
But I got into a new relationship, I was a new person, and I loved and respected myself more.
Additionally, I don't keep too many close friends.
I try to keep my circle small to keep my head clear and use my time effectively.
A complex relationship or having too many people depending on you might be quite crippling for a life of growth and balance.
II. Daily activities.
We've all had those complicated days where you have so much to do that you don't know where to start.
To avoid this, it's best to simplify your activities.
Here's how I simplify my activities.
I try to get to work as soon as possible immediately after I wake up.
Many people on the internet talk about doing stuff like cold water therapy, meditation, or exercise.
For me, I like to get in the flow state ASAP because I feel my morning brain is quite sharp, and I would like to make the best use of it instead of getting drained by tedious physical conditions or activities.
Also, I have a list of activities arranged by how important they are.
My first assignment in a day is to finish reading and writing a book review.
I usually start reading a day before and complete the reading in the morning or early afternoon.
I do this because it's the most important activity for me.
This is so because it's my surest path to making money.
Why?
I have built my skill level for years, and have some companies I work with.
I usually finish this in the early afternoon hours, around 1 or 2.
Then my next activity is my music because I've always had a passion for making music.
And I promised myself to spend every day making it.
I either write, record, or mix my songs for 30 minutes or one hour.
The next thing on my daily to-do list is working on my newsletter, which I'm trying to squeeze at least two hours for.
Then I'm out by 5:30 for a physical activity.
I wish to do more, and the answer to that is reducing the little breaks and unproductive social media time to zero.
But until I can do that, I don't bother myself or beat myself up about what I am not doing.
I have accepted that I will always have things I'm not doing as much as I want to.
I now choose to simplify my activities and arrange them according to the order of importance.
III. Projects.
Doing too many things and handling too many projects can mess with you.
If I could talk to myself in the past, I would say.
"I get it. The world has told you you could be anything you want to be. Yeah, that's cool, but can you slow down a little and ask yourself what you really want?"
I am much more experienced than when I wanted to do literally everything, and I realize that I only wanted most of the things I wished for because I hoped to look cool and didn't understand the law of diminishing marginal returns.
I now know that anything can be boring, even sex.
When I read about the law of diminishing marginal returns in school, I failed to understand the true meaning of the term.
I still believed I would have a perfect life when I got everything I wanted.
But after getting many of the things I wanted, the thrill quickly wore off.
After experiencing this over and over again with food, gadgets, and milestones, I realized that life shouldn't be about getting the next toy or achieving the next flashy goal.
Instead, life should be about enjoying the journey.
Instead of rushing to get everything done as soon as I can, I am currently seeking balance and enjoying the moment.
I still work towards multiple goals, but I do it healthily.
This way, I have a higher chance of sticking with what I'm doing and succeeding because I'm not overwhelmed.
The trap of working to work.
What I mean by working to work is placing a higher value on work and achievements than your well-being.
Many people fall into this trap.
The danger here is that you can easily hurt yourself by choosing unhealthy habits to maintain a high level of work, from drinking caffeine excessively to not sleeping enough and eating junk.
Another problem is you might be turning into a worse version of yourself and become a sort of machine to your loved ones.
I don't want to be another rich guy that's rude to the waiter.
Someone who does this is a good example of an individual who has become so materialistic that they forget to be human.
It's important to remember that work should serve you and not the other way around.
When work serves you, you are more likely to have a healthy lifestyle that will eventually increase your wealth.
Several affluent people use their money to make their lives healthier and more balanced.
Others overwork and accumulate so many bad habits that they might land in the hospital before realizing that they need to care more about their health.
Arianna Huffington is a good example since she worked 18 hours daily and woke up in a pool of her own blood after injuring herself during an accident that followed another exhausting workday.
Fortunately, she chose to prioritize her health after the health scare.
If you find yourself doing too much and wanting to achieve so much that you are living an unhealthy life, you might want to consider cutting back on your work and cutting your coat according to your clothes.
