Never Enough

Read the book called The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel and it changed my whole perspective towards wealth. Whether you want to make a career in the field of wealth or not, this book deals with very basic but very important mindsets of human life. Must read.

All the lessons are life lessons.

I have learned so much that I might end up writing about all of the chapters. But today I want to talk about chapter three. The writer talks about one of the most powerful mindsets which drives us as humans, the mindset of never enough.

As humans, our expectations keep rising.

It's like one step forward pushes the goalposts two steps forward.

and the hardest financial skill is getting the goalpost to stop moving.

If I have a goal post of X wealth, the moment I am going to achieve it, I will change it to something more. And it's so inbuilt in my nature that I don't even realize that I am doing it.

I have seen myself in this race of more and more. I still see myself doing it.

And it's not only about wealth, the craving for more power, more prestige, more love and more approval from people keeps rising the same way.

The problem is not that we have higher goals, the problem is that constant feeling of not enough. It's not a happy feeling.

When I see myself, and why I do that?

I could see two major reasons for doing it.

1. Comparing myself to others Comparison used to and still sometimes drives me to be a certain way, to achieve certain things. In this era of social media and show off, watching people achieving things, watching people getting more power, prestige, approval made me have more cravings. There is always someone ahead of me, and that becomes my new goalpost. The feeling like I need to have more, I need to be more, is constantly a pressure. Not because it is needed, but because if I am not achieving this or that, then I am not enough, something is wrong with me. What will people think? I can see that if this becomes a serious craving, then the more greed I have, the more I am likely to risk things to achieve more. Wanting to overtake peers can be the fuel of hard work but also a fuel of never enough. It's a battle that can never be won, or that the only way to win is to not fight to begin with.
   

2. Increasing the needs This is another reason, I realized when I was reading about Naval Ravikant. Let me take an example of money to explain what I mean. So I have seen in myself and people around me that the moment I start to earn more money than I need, my wants increases, and the more I get habituated by those wants, those wants becomes my need. And that is another reason for never having enough. First I wanted a car, now I want an iPhone then I will want an iPad then maybe Macbook, the wants are never going to end. It's a road that never ends. When I see very wealthy and sustainable people, like Warren Buffet, he stopped his 'wants' years ago. He knows what he needs and he makes sure that he has it. But the 'want' is stopped years ago. Warren Buffet is living in the same house for approximately 65 years. It's not that he doesn't want to spend the money or he can't, it's about limiting the bar of enough. He knows what is enough for him. He is worth over US$100.6 billion but says he would be 'very happy' with $100,000 a year. When I see myself, my wants are endless, and it's a battle of every day to get out of them. I don't mean to not spend on my hobbies, but that also with need and not want. If I like photography, I don't need to have all the latest equipment, I just need a good one which can last for years. If I love travelling, then I don't need to travel in business class, I don't need to stay in the most expensive room. That's where the difference between want and need comes. We can also use the term Frugal. Dr A Velumani says pretending rich spoils peace, teach children frugality.

I am not saying to stop working or stop having high goal or stop looking for opportunities and potential.

I am not saying to settle for less.

I am just trying to say that there has to be a limit.

The skill is to figure out where to stop.

The important question to ask is how much is enough for me and what is my limit?

Skill is to not get driven by comparison and greed.

The skill is to realize that,

Reputation, freedom & independence, family & friends, happiness, being loved by someone who you want to love you. These are invaluable.

Being enough is not taking risks which can damage the above.

When I read this chapter, it was all new to me, I could see that I have this problem. But after reading and writing about this, I feel this is an essential skill to learn, for me.

I can see the impact it can have on my life if I don't take it seriously.

After learning all of this, I made a budget of my monthly expense, and I try to not go over them.

My earnings have increased but the expense is almost the same.

The pressure of earning more has just disappeared. Now, most of my earnings go into saving. I can see myself getting out of the rat race and focusing more on value addition and learning.