This is a 2 piece essay. Today is coming the first part, and tomorrow the second one. I hope it will trigger a new perspective and break some false beliefs. Let me know what you think. Enjoy reading. - Andela
I was triggered after watching this video. It capsulated me to write this article.
And let’s make something clear. This point of view is NOT True.
This one is:
Living Below Your Means is the Biggest Lie Sold to Society.
You must stay strong and ignore all “financial experts”!
As Tate would say:
Poor?
Then money isn’t your problem.
Your brain is the problem.
YOU are the reason for your own poverty.
YOU are the reason you can’t make money.
Money won’t fix you being a coward.
Money won’t teach you how the world works.
Money is a bandaid for a gashing wound which is who you are.
This is why I’ve ALWAYS been a spender.
I knew saving was garbage, traditional investing is garbage,
everything society tells you is “the way out” is all garbage.
The simplest way to increase the gap between expenses to income is by lowering expenses. It's also, most of the time, the wrong decision for the person’s self-development. Getting people to decrease their spending habits is NOT the objective of a healthy person. Making money is. And lowering expenses is a one-way road to destruction for most - you can only go down to $0, but you can go infinitely high in the other direction. So, unless you have a revolutionary way of decreasing your life costs to 1/100th compared to your peers, don't compete on expense reduction. There is no strategic benefit to being the person who spends the least, but there is for being the person who makes the most. So the goal of our discussion today is to get more people to say YES to making more money and NO to reducing their spending habits.
We, as human beings, have some inspirations, dreams, hopes, and desires. We are not brought to life to live miserably. We are here to suffer and thrive, so don’t let yourself play unwinnable - finite games. Reducing spending is a finite game, making more the infinite one. Finite games are achievable, but they are not what is needed to win the game of life. Life in its marrow is an infinite game.
This minimum desired lifestyle (MDL) to allowed expense budget (AEB) discrepancy is what you need to avoid at all costs.
The moment your allowed expense budget dips below your minimum desired lifestyle, you are entering the territory of unhappiness. (Hint: You don’t want to be there).
At the beginning of the “ I will deflate my lifestyle” journey, you think you can live “a little better for a little less," until eventually, you can’t provide any more for any less. At this point, you can stand your life just enough to keep going. After a few months, 90% percent of people get washed out and lose the will to fight and save.
In plain words, you are living just above what it costs for you to stay satisfied with your life.
You cannot pay the rent less than the minimum. You can’t eat less food after a certain threshold. You can’t walk shirtless in nowadays society if your clothes get ripped.
You are trying to minimize your spending while prices are still going up. You end up living cheaper life at a higher cost.
And let’s make this clear, I am not encouraging inflation of your current lifestyle. I am just saying it is not a solution to continuously try to minimize your spending while living on the same paycheck while inflation is eroding your salary anyway. The upside is unlimited while the bottom is well, the bottom. You cannot go down further.
This chart shows real (inflation-adjusted) hourly earnings declining in March. Wages failed to keep pace with higher prices for a record of 24th consecutive months.
Allow me to give you a brief overview of why I see making money as not only a very smart life decision but a moral one. Furthermore, it's the only choice that will allow you to truly provide the most value to yourself and others.
Here's the basic premise of why you need to make more if you want to serve yourself best, therefore, others.
When you decrease your spending, you:
Decrease your emotional happiness since it did cost you to sacrifice your desired life
Decrease respect from others because they do not value your modest lifestyle and lack of power and status
Attract the worst type of people, the average Joes. They will attach themselves like ants to you because now they can relate their low lifestyle to yours, and they will think you are friends now.
Destroy any margin you have left to be able to actually live and provide an exceptional experience to people dear to you.
In essence, your world sucks. And to make matters worse, you are probably not getting to the goal as fast as you could because you are squeezing blood from the last zest of your life. There's just not enough money left over to make something exceptional. As a result, you fall in line with the armies of average “investors” that race to the bottom. I've lived that life. It's terrible. If you love yourself and the people around you, please stop torturing them when there is a better way.
Here's the reverse.
This is what happens when you focus on increasing your revenue.
When you raise your income, you:
Increase your confidence, therefore, your happiness.
Increase admiration among people because they value your discipline and hard effort invested.
Attract the best people who will contribute to your personal growth and fulfillment and who are the most likely will receive value by spending time with you.
Multiply your margin because you have money to invest in the business, self-development, and life’s systems to create efficiency; gain access to smart people; improve your family experience; and scale yourself.
Most importantly of all, keep watching your life satisfaction go up and up, month after month, even with spending more money than ever. This allows you to ultimately enjoy the process for the long haul and help more people as you grow, rather than burning out and shriveling into obscurity.
To be continued in the next newsletter…
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedI would like to thank Alex Hormozi for writing such a great book that helped me escape the virtuous cycle. I used a great amount of his writing to build upon. A good chunk of the last few paragraphs is rewritten from Alex Hormozi’s book - $100 Million Offers
Make sure to don’t miss out on the second part tomorrow!
Love you all,
Andela