You don't need much to live
I grew up in an upper middle-class family and learned upper middle-class (Midwestern) values. Being a 1980s kid means my parents and family were 1940s/1950s kids. I owe much of my knowledge and wisdom to my parents. I also owe some of my flaws to them, too. I'm not a prisoner of them, though. One gift I have that many folks don't know they don't have is the gift of being observant of those flaws.
Fixing flaws in yourself (whatever they may be) takes a lot of time and discipline. It's really tough to disambiguate them sometimes, not to mention just difficult to break habits. Difficult, sure, but definitely something worth doing. The interesting thing about fixing some of these flaws over time has been seeing new flaws emerge. We all change and much as we try to improve ourselves, we also introduce new flaws in ourselves. It's a by-product that perfection isn't possible.
That's actually the way of the world, not just the way each of us individually behaves. Fix one thing, and something else breaks or another problem emerges. Our dissatisfaction with practically everything is a function our being prisoner to relativism. Give a man a million dollars and he'll want more; Give a man ten dollars and he'll want more. Give a man pain and he'll want less. Give a man a lot of pain and he'll want a lot less.
The power to overcome relativism is adaptation and flexibility. In other words, live below your means. Don't buy the new car, don't buy the new house, don't go on that expensive vacation. If you are trying to save your money, the fact is you must sacrifice something. You really have to put off some of those expensive things in order to accomplish whatever it is you set out to do.
Living below your means is the same as living with an attitude of "you don't need much to live." I can't stand how often I hear about people fretting that they "need" a new car or "need" that new house or whatever the hell they damn well "need." 95% of the time, they don't need it at all, they just want it badly. Restraining yourself from wants when you should focus on your needs probably accounts for the lion's share of any successful person's life. Successful people focus on their needs and their wants become fulfilled as a by-product. People that focus only on their wants end up just treading water and often never reach neither their wants or their needs.
It really requires basic financial discipline and self-restraint to keep one's self from being overwhelmed with debt and unnecessary things. By ignoring a lot of those wants, your emotional stress will find itself a new home in some other schmuck.
Fixing flaws in yourself (whatever they may be) takes a lot of time and discipline. It's really tough to disambiguate them sometimes, not to mention just difficult to break habits. Difficult, sure, but definitely something worth doing. The interesting thing about fixing some of these flaws over time has been seeing new flaws emerge. We all change and much as we try to improve ourselves, we also introduce new flaws in ourselves. It's a by-product that perfection isn't possible.
That's actually the way of the world, not just the way each of us individually behaves. Fix one thing, and something else breaks or another problem emerges. Our dissatisfaction with practically everything is a function our being prisoner to relativism. Give a man a million dollars and he'll want more; Give a man ten dollars and he'll want more. Give a man pain and he'll want less. Give a man a lot of pain and he'll want a lot less.
The power to overcome relativism is adaptation and flexibility. In other words, live below your means. Don't buy the new car, don't buy the new house, don't go on that expensive vacation. If you are trying to save your money, the fact is you must sacrifice something. You really have to put off some of those expensive things in order to accomplish whatever it is you set out to do.
Living below your means is the same as living with an attitude of "you don't need much to live." I can't stand how often I hear about people fretting that they "need" a new car or "need" that new house or whatever the hell they damn well "need." 95% of the time, they don't need it at all, they just want it badly. Restraining yourself from wants when you should focus on your needs probably accounts for the lion's share of any successful person's life. Successful people focus on their needs and their wants become fulfilled as a by-product. People that focus only on their wants end up just treading water and often never reach neither their wants or their needs.
It really requires basic financial discipline and self-restraint to keep one's self from being overwhelmed with debt and unnecessary things. By ignoring a lot of those wants, your emotional stress will find itself a new home in some other schmuck.
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