Staying in a “cheapskate” mentality will just make you think like a broke person and worry about every expense. Eventually it settles in to become your identity and who you are. Essentially poor.
Are you eating tap ramen or off the dollar menu every day or multiple times a week, for years? No wonder why you don’t have any energy and feel like crap.
Giving your wife or husband and kids or other loved ones a maximum of 30 minutes or an hour a day? No wonder why they don’t know who you are, or how to show you respect.
Are you working 12-16 hour days 5 to 7 days a week and never taking a vacation? “Making do” by using outdated tech or worn out gear? Never going on any adventures or exploring outside the boundaries of your daily routine? No wonder why you are slow and boring and no one finds you interesting!
As much as the “corporate media and success gods” perpetuate making these sacrifices as “the way to wealth”, I personally don’t believe that there is honor or fulfillment in that.
Isn’t this just a boring as f*ck way to spend your life? Isn’t it just a situationally unaware lens of navigating the world and a conforming personality to have!?
If that is your style of living, I wouldn’t care how many zeros are on your bank account, unless you are doing something big that is truly changing the world, I wouldn’t respect you, I couldn’t respect myself for being like this.
Rather than living like you are broke and forgetting about living a life, why not take the time to plan your big lifestyle goals and get excited about building an income that is large enough to fund them?
I am not saying to go out and live beyond your means using 29% interest rate credit cards to fund fancy vacations and overpriced toys…
But I am encouraging you to dream big and get an idea for what it will take to plan and live a good life.
Once you have numbers pegged to some of your lifestyle goals, it then enables you to prioritize. It gives you a vision.
So what is your goal? Is it a goal that YOU care about, or one that has been assigned to you? What is it going to cost? Will your current employment or salary ever enable you to realize this goal? Is this a goal that you want to accomplish now, in the short term? Or is this a lifestyle goal that could be postponed and paid for in the future by directing that same amount of money today towards starting a new business or buying investments that will grow and later pay off exponentially?
Flipping the switch is up to you. And it’s something to strive towards without just being on autopilot for the system driven by financial products, marketers, and the corporate dictators.
Personally, some things can’t wait for me. My sons are growing up fast, and experiences will never be captured if I choose to postpone some types of purchases just so that “one day” my bank account might be bigger. For example, buying gear and equipment and giving them experiences like going camping, mountain biking, and snowboarding - creates bonds and memories that will stay with us a family and pay off in different ways as we grow in life. It’s a kind of wealth that can’t be measured by a number in a bank account.
Honestly, you’re going to wake up screwed one day in the future if you continue to believe that having ONLY a job or income streams that provide anything less than $250k a year is ok. Less than this amount will not provide the means for you to accomplish big lifestyle goals without going into serious debt.
My message here is that you are a fool if you accept the idea that if you just live like you are broke on a small salary, and save, save, save - that it will one day give you financial independence and the meaning that you seek in life. The result of taking this path will just be a slow, long, hard, boring, and likely disappointing journey.
The key is to start thinking in terms of providing value to others, building momentum, and gaining leverage by doing things that produce bigger outcomes without sacrificing more time, effort, and energy.
