Less stuff please
“Life can be improved by adding, or by subtracting. The world pushes us to add, because that benefits them. But the secret is to focus on subtracting.” — Derek Sivers
Three years ago I loved stuff. House stuff. Car stuff. Stuff to wear. Stuff to drink. Stuff to show my friends and employees.
The only constant was wanting more. And my belief was that working more and earning more would get me more stuff. More stuff would ultimately lead to more happiness.
But I’d been on this treadmill of more stuff for years. I wasn’t feeling any happier. At times I dreamed of the past. A time when I had significantly less stuff. Which confused me because the point of all of this was to get more, right?
Actually, no.
The pursuit of more stuff just leads to… well, the pursuit of more stuff.
I’ve been around enough rich and “successful” people to know that they also want more stuff. If their mate down the road has a bigger house and a better Range Rover, they’re often jealous.
So when does this end?
I don’t think it does really. Not until we think about Sivers point — you can either add or subtract.
Adding means a life imprisoned by the materialistic world. Chained to the hedonic treadmill, hoping that one day life will be just I’d imagined it to be.
Or we can subtract. To want less stuff.
Since choosing the latter my life has improved almost beyond comprehension. My car cost £500 and was made in 2004! Tell that to my 27 year old self and you’d get scoffs.
But it’s a car. It goes from A to B. Just like a car 10x it’s value. And because I don’t care about how I look to anyone any longer, I can drive around in a piece of shit from 2004 that only unlocks from the passenger door. Because that’s the joy of subtracting. I now own almost nothing and feel 1000x richer than I did when I had, from today’s perspective, a lot!
As always, this advice is purely autobiographical. And your mileage my vary. So please, you just do you. But if you do select the subtract route, let me know and we can discuss how fucking great it feels.
