Imagining a Post Work World

In order to consider a “post-work” world, I had to do some reading about minimalism, and explore the reasons why we get tied into expensive lifestyles. 

The default can be to commit to paying off the debt of expenses that end up controlling us. Each spending decision has unintended consequences. Minimalism doesn’t mean you don’t like the thing you don’t buy. It isn’t a case of “I don’t want it”... normally you do want it. The better question is, “in the broader context, is it worth it?”. 

At the time when I stopped working, I was single, and I had no dependents. I believed I could sustain paying for the things I valued if I held a broader context in mind. 

I get quite defensive of the younger version of me. The problem with being contrarian, and doing something that is different, is that almost everyone tells you that you are wrong before you do the thing that is different. Still, I took my shot. So, when I had to go back to work, there was an awareness of the obvious and plentiful, I-told-you-so retorts. 

The world is complicated. Plans change. I still believe it is possible to live off capital in a post-work world. There are consequences. I learnt a lot in my 6 years of attempting to step away from the world of money. So, I try and be compassionate to the younger version of Trevor that stopped working. 

I still think strategizing around how to release ourselves from the constraints of how to make money is something worth giving energy to. I still want to figure out a way to direct less of my time and energy to thinking about money. What I did realise about a year and a half in what just how fortunate my bubble of friends and colleagues were. 

There are obviously stresses, but decisions have consequences. There are tradeoffs. People make choices. Honestly reflecting on choices and constraints is a privilege.

Contrarian Choices

Being Reduced

My primary objection to hand-to-mouth living and anyone being reduced to a productive asset, is the inability to see each other. Whether it is reduction to money, muscles, and sperm. Or reduction to feeding, caring, and reproduction. Breadwinner. Homemaker. I don’t object to any of the things that need doing. Just to us being defined by the things that need doing, or forgetting the reason why we are doing the things that “need” doing. 

You may get marriages where the couple never see each other, but one pays the bills and the other holds their world together. Some would call that a good team. I call BS. Unless that is truly what you want… then I have no problem with that. Other than the risk involved if that world gets bumped. That is not what I want. 

I love deep conversations. I love “democratic goods”… things that are valuable but cost very little because they are plentiful rather than scarce. It’s not that I don’t like scarce goods or see their value. It is more the trade-offs that take the shine off. How much time do I sacrifice for those things? What conversations do I miss out on? What are the unintended consequences of choosing to work for that thing? What we do matters. 

Our actions have consequences. Consequences connect and build. Constraints, boundaries, and agreements create and destroy the worlds we experience, and how we see each other.

Reducing the Sauce

Beautiful Chaos

Even if you are micro-ambitious, you want to be able to keep momentum in the stuff you do. To be building on what you have done before. Constantly taking iterative steps. Trial and error. Learning, unlearning, relearning. 

We don’t know how the world and our path is going to play out. The information is not there. It is not that there is stuff you don’t know or that someone else knows and they need to tell you. You get to the point where you realise we are all experiencing the world in a different way. That is great. That is something to celebrate. It is okay. 

To empower others, we don’t have to go out and convince everyone to see the world in the way that we do. We do not have the capacity to understand the world. It is too complex. We don’t even experience the whole world. 

We experience a sliver of it. We get different information through touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste. It is fun to imagine yourself as tiny or huge, and how the laws of physics would change. Not in their essence, but in how they relate to you... and how you experience and interpret the beautiful chaos.

Turbulence

 

Understanding Incentives

The world is getting progressively (but bumpily) less racist, sexist, homophobic, and classist. We are breaking down barriers, but we still have hierarchy. The concept of people being better and lifting groups of people. The directionality of that is interesting because living a simple life can be a choice. There is a story of Alexander the Great out empire building and he comes across a sage sitting on a rock. The one doing external work. The other doing internal work. The Gini Coefficient measures inequality. A Gini of Zero (0) in a two-person world would mean Alexander and the Yogi had the same. One (1) would mean Alexander had it all. If we shared everything, there would be no incentive to get more because it would immediately be watered down (particularly if it was among the 7.8 billion people on the planet). We want to have a sense of reward for what we do. Conspicuous reward. Well done, here’s a gold star. Here’s some money. That’s how we do incentivization. You do something. You get measured against other people. You do something more. Understanding what we do, starts with understanding what incentivizes us.

Gini Coefficients by Country

Half Squash

Every decision has trade-offs and constraints. It is nice to believe we can identify and avoid all the things we don’t like and hide them under an upturned Gem Squash. It is nice to believe we could all run the 100 metres in under 10 seconds if we really put our mind to it. We can’t. As Cicero said in the Gladiator, “Sometimes I do what I want to do. The rest of the time, I do what I have to.” Brutal honesty combined with some optimism and belief in small, achievable goals can gradually disempower constraints. Given time and application. Facing harsh realities can be done with kindness. We can build buffers to soften blows. To give us recovery time. To allow us to build flexibility and strength. We can chip away at reality, and change it. But every journey starts where you are. 

You can't hide the bits you don't like under the Gem Squash

 

Home for Bees

Two concepts I am progressively incorporating into my investment philosophy are Rewilding and Biodiversity. My Father-in-Law is a Natural Beekeeper and I like the idea of Natural Stockkeeping. Recognising that it is the bee that does the work. Where the goal is to do as little as possible, but not less. You have a roll, but it is more custodial. As we are grappling with a world that consumes too much already, yet is still struggling with mass poverty and hand-to-mouth living, we have to come up with new stories. In “Stubborn Attachments”, Tyler Cowen talks about twisting the maths of finance to not excessively discount (ignore) the future, and to focus on Maximum Sustainable Growth. David Attenborough reminds us of the seemingly obvious observation that something is only sustainable if you can do it forever. One measure of growth that is dangerous is activity. Doing more is not always doing better. Controlling more is not always doing better. Sometimes we can do better, without doing, and releasing the potential outcomes.

Wildly Constrained

“Rewilding is about letting nature take care of itself, enabling natural processes to shape land and sea, repair damaged ecosystems and restore degraded landscapes. Through rewilding, wildlife’s natural rhythms create wilder, more biodiverse habits” (rewildingeurope.com). Rewilding is David Attenborough’s call to arms in his witness statement, “A Life on our Planet”. He points out that “a species can only thrive when everything around it thrives too.” I don’t buy into Abundance culture. I can’t, having been born in Apartheid South Africa. The world has constraints. We have to solve the dual problem that we are consuming too much, and yet masses of us are living in poverty. In “Stubborn Attachments”, Tyler Cowen talks about Maximum Sustainable Growth. We need to grow our way out of poverty, while rethinking growth. Rethinking consumption. Rethinking how we impose ourselves on the world. And getting wilder.

Find Shelter

First, find shelter. It is impossible to build if you don’t survive each day. Warmth, sustenance, and protection from the elements aren’t negotiable. To still financial waves, there is groundwork that needs doing first. If you are spending more than you are earning regularly, you are bleeding. Stem the flow. If you are being knocked back to the start irregularly but reliably, you need to find refuge. Living aggressively within your means may feel like a lack of ambition. It is the opposite. There is way more to learn from people with less than us, than from people with more. More is the distraction. We can only see the conspicuous. We can’t see other people’s storms. We can’t see other people’s foundations. Shelter is normally internal and subtle. The ability to breathe slowly, smoothly, and at length. Then with time, and constraint, you can build each day, on the day that came before, for the day that comes tomorrow. With strength, flexibility, and control.

Desert Storm

Swallowed Whole

Not all good ideas are good business ideas. Care Work is the most obvious example. You can force a business model on 1-1 relational care, but there is no real possibility to scale. The only way to make it “worth the time” of the person providing support is to push the price up. Charging by the hour is done mostly because it is easy. Care Work starts to hurt if you push the price up. If you know your hourly-rate, and you know you aren’t being paid because you are doing something else, it can hurt. Like a self-employed person taking time off. Like a consultant going for a coffee with a friend. Like a lawyer or tradesperson doing small talk when you know the clock is ticking at your expense. Long handed pennys. Short handed pounds. The cornerstone of making money is constraint. Being able to put things in a box. To control supply and demand. But, and this is important, you have to be able to put money making in a box too. If you aren’t able to accept limits and constraints, and be comfortable with the concept of enough – money will swallow you whole.

Saturn devouring his son

Francisco Goya

The Number

The size of Engine you require depends on the lifestyle you are wanting to finance. In 1930, Keynes predicted (because of improvements in productivity) we would only need to work 15-hour work weeks. That productivity did arrive, but we don’t want 1930s lifestyles. A 2020 lifestyle in a rich country costs more. In the bubble I worked in, lots of people spoke of “The Number”. An Engine size they thought they needed before they could take a shot at going on their own path. My Number was significantly lower than the ones thrown around. Many of my friends would not want to make the choices I make. When I say I don’t want money to constrain my choices, I don’t mean having so much money I can do anything. I mean defanging money by self-imposing constraint on my spending. This limits my choices. Within those limits, there is still a world of possibility. I am not a Martyr. That world still excites me. But it does mean “can’t afford it” is a real thing. Yes, I could make different trade-offs, work on things that make money to move those constraints. That is a privilege many others don’t have. Bigger, better, more is a valid choice. I am choosing differently.

Different Beauty

The beauty of conservatism lies in protecting the things we love. In keeping them holy. With less questioning, and more trust, we can build. Lean in. Go deep. Rather than poking and prodding the foundations to find weaknesses, we can refine the structures. By trusting what has come before, we can move forward. The constraints allow for creativity by cutting off the stress of which path to choose. There is one path. Continue.

The beauty of change lies in the new. In possibility. In multiple paths. In keeping life holey. In tearing down the structures that had held us back, and starting again. Choosing new constraints, or throwing constraints away altogether. Rather than building consensus, change can empower us to strike out on our own. To make decisions without permission. To redefine the impossible. To run. To scream. To cry. Start.

Being Part

Imagine a world with zero transaction costs, perfect transparency, and the instant ability to repeat anything that has been done before. A world that understands how we learn, and can teach skills freely, efficiently and effectively. To everyone. What competitive advantages would be left? Relationships. Deep soaking. Understanding the unique context of the way individuals interpret the world, by being part of that interpretation. There are some books that are worth rereading. People that you want to to see again. Radical honesty isn't removing the filter, it is adding time. Time doesn't scale. Personal relationships would be left.

Complex, Unique, Temporary

Ask

I find asking for help difficult. I don't know with clarity, what it is I need, or want. What is available to me? What strings are attached? What is the expectations cost of the help? I come from a culture deep soaked in the idea of self-sufficiency. I don't believe anyone is self-made, but there are many that believe they are. A belief in self-sufficiency, even if it doesn't recognise the support available, is a powerful motivator. Stop whining. Sort it out. It also shrinks the universe of options to something more controllable. Every decision is yours. My options are constrained by my abilities. Part of my resistance might come from being a guy. Delegation is fine. Help less so. Being in control of an organisation which implements decisions doesn't have the stigma of looking for support. We consciously negotiate and agree service and employment contracts. Roles and responsibilities are defined. The softer stuff is far less conscious. Asking isn't whining, but it feels like it.

Do you want some cheese with that whine?

Create Within Enough

How much is enough? Money isn't actually a thing, but it is part of our made up story. Deciding what type of story it is helps create the constraints necessary for creativity. If the answer to 'enough' is 'more', then you won't be able to read the story, as you will always be writing it. You will never get to the second draft. You will never fix the typos, and read it aloud to see if it sounds the way it does in your head. You will never let others read it, and see whether it connects to a smile, tear or wistful look. Know what is important to you. Know what that costs. Then build buffers and engines to free yourself to create within enough. Enough isn't settling. Chosen consciously, enough is empowering.

Creativity within Constraints

15-hour Work Week

"In the 21st century a 15-hour work week will suffice, as we turn instead to "how to use freedom from pressing economic cares."

John Maynard Keynes (1930)

Constraints are powerful. Liberty isn't the lack of constraints and rules, it is consent. More than consent, it is willing and enthusiastic participation. Liberty is belief and participation in the social contract you have with others. I love the idea of working towards a 15-hour constraint on the work week. Not on 'work' in the sense of doing something fulfilling, but work in the sense of doing an activity that can be monetised. The best chess players are neither people, nor computers. They are people using computers. Technology can play a part in freeing up our capacity to think about other things, because we have done the bits we have to, faster. I would love to get to the point where I can allocate just 3 hours a day to the stuff that meets the rules of money. Where the people I love also have lots of 'free time'. 3 focused, productive hours on stuff we can count, so we can spend the rest of the day on stuff that counts (but can't be counted).

15-hours

Perpetually 'On'

One of the best parts of my period of 'independence' was not having to check emails. My inbox was no longer my onbox that determined much of what I needed to do each day. I was able to wake up, and be micro-ambitious. One of my 'mini projects' was getting fit, and so I would pick a place to do my writing and walk to it. I would put on an audio book and head out. I felt super productive, even though I had far fewer big goals. Each day, I was a little fitter, and had learnt and shared a little something.

One of my key ambitions was to be 'the guy with time'. Available for conversation. I have a chip on my shoulder about how busy everybody is, and how much we super specialise.

I fully buy into the value of focusing on areas of 'Comparative Advantage' in a world of scarcity, but there have to be clear constraints. We can't be perpetually on. Perpetually available. 

In exchange for not being available for certain periods, you can be fully present when you are available. A friend described it as 'I would rather be 100% present 80% of the time, than 50% present 100% of the time.'