Frogs Who Pay Attention

Leap-frogging is when you skip a step. Following Best Practice is when you look around the world, see who is doing well and who is doing badly, and pick the best way. When there are 7.8 Billion people on the planet, being obsessed with uniqueness is going to severely limit your options. If you are building a bridge, you don’t want a Contrarian Engineer. When you are stuck with a problem in a particular context, the world now offers natural experiments of every shape and size if you pay attention. What happens if you change the story? Micro-ambition is small, achievable goals. A Daily Practice is the habit of connecting incremental progress. Pay attention to other people’s stories. Listen. See. Not as a form of comparison. Instead as Bruce Lee said, to “Absorb what is useful. Discard what is not. Add what is uniquely your own.” Wealth and knowledge compound. But much of that knowledge is freely available to frogs who pay attention. Then jump.

Pay attention to leaping frogs

Developing Tastes

Boths the ins and outs matter in building financial security. Because value is personal, it is possible to decouple how much you spend and the value you get. By spending better. Develop your skill at finding pleasure and meaning consciously. Not everything can be counted. Being aware of what you value can improve the quality of your decisions. No one else can do that work for you. Since we are trigger happy, our attention follows our thoughts and our thoughts are triggered by what we give relevance to. Out of sight, out of mind. Lots of pleasure and meaning is available from abundant sources. Be a seller of scarcity, and a buyer of abundance. Develop your senses. Your vocabulary of pleasure. Your taste. Develop wealth capacity by increasing the number of things you enjoy. Cultural Billionaires master the art of being able to adapt, adjust, and accommodate. They see more value because they are looking.

Abundant Rhubarb? Develop a taste.

Worth It

How will you feel in the morning? How will you feel on Monday? I like to buy Democratic Goods. Those where the price is low enough that everyone who wants them can mostly afford them. Dividends of being Cultural Billionaires, sharing in societies compounded cumulative skills and knowledge. Price is relative. Just because the price is high tells you very little about its relationship to value. But a low absolute price does reduce the amount of Due Diligence you need to do. The bigger the number and the less you know, the more research is required. The bigger the number, the fewer other people (also researching) are likely also buying. Bigger number, smaller market. In tiny markets, the story becomes more important. It becomes easier for there to be different knowledge on the part of the buyer and seller, and smoke and mirrors in between. The bigger the absolute price, the more dangerous the epiphany, “I am worth it”. Of course, you are worth it. That doesn’t mean people won’t try sell you a story to get a chunk of that worth. “Is everyone else worth it too?” is a good follow up question.

Is everyone else worth it too?

Big and Fragile

The size of your work income doesn’t determine your financial security. You can earn £10,000 a month in London and be more fragile than someone spending R4,000 (about £175) a month in rural South Africa (an estimate of the living wage for an individual). Work Income is fragile. Ask 2020. Hand-to-mouth living doesn’t work if the hands are tied. A Pass-the-Parcel economy doesn’t work if the music stops playing. A work income is usually the initial source of financial security. But what you do with it matters. The key is what you spend. Price indicates scarcity, not value. So if you want to maximise value, be a Cultural Billionaire. Spend on things everyone can afford. Democratic goods. Build a Buffer/Emergency Fund that covers 3-6 months of expenses (for the unexpected). Invest in an Engine that earns an income independent of your hands. Invest in your Community. Be wary of committing to fixed expenses that keep knocking at the door when you are at home because the work has gone. Your financial security is determined by your ability to endure and capacity to cope. Strong and flexible provides the foundation for creativity, learning, and building a meaningful life. Autonomy matters, not size.

Osmar Schindler (1888)

Democratic Goods

The most basic level of equality is time. We all have 24 hours in a day. Up to a point, wealth is the biggest factor in longevity... how many days you get bar accidents and preventable illness. But that 'point' kicks in quite early, and we all get roughly the same time. In the modern world, without the option of the land to live off, basic financial security determines whether that time is yours. You can, and most people do, carry on selling your time beyond basic financial security... but that is a choice.

We all spend (if we are being healthy) about a third of our lives asleep. When you close your eyes for those 8 hours, there is also a cap on how much it matters what you are sleeping on. It really doesn't matter if the house you are in has 1,000 beds. You sleep on one. As long as you are dry, warm, and safe, the world of sleep is completely democratic.

Food and drink become similar. The best food isn't necessarily the most expensive. Normally expensive just means rare. Really good quality food may be plentiful, and cheap to produce. What you then start paying for is exclusivity, not quality. I call these 'Nine Two' goods. Like ordering a taxi at 9pm or 2am on New Year's Eve. You are going to pay for being precious. You don't get a better party.

Then, of course, there is how we spend our time when we aren't working. Democratic Pastimes are cheap but also not necessarily worse. Road-running and Football are Democratic Pastimes. They are a real leveller of privilege. Privilege gives you some help, but mostly it is about love and commitment.

A good rule of thumb for spending well is to only buy 'Democratic Goods'. Try keep the price you are paying for exclusivity at a minimum. That doesn't make you into a shopping chain replica of everyone. There are enough different combinations of Democratic Goods that you can be as unique as you want. All snowflakes are made of the same snow, but they are still unique. It also doesn't mean you are sacrificing quality. 

The world has made indoor plumbing, safe housing, comfortable beds, tasty food, decent clothes and a good life way more affordable. We are increasingly all Cultural Billionaires. Use your time and money wisely.

Democratic Pastimes

Decolonisation

As a Soutie, I spend time in (and call home) both South Africa and England. The debate around decolonisation is viscerally real for me when I step off the plane on either end of the pond. 

The discussion around Britain's colonial past is noticeably absent in British politics. Currently, there is far more National than Imperial discussion. The narrative of Brexit is 'taking back control'. Unless you are Scottish, then the talk is against 'divisive Nationalists'.

The driving powers behind the European Project were the former European Colonial powers. Since the second world war (which was largely a European led civil war that spread), with less global clout, focus shifted away from maintaining global hegemony to working together to avoid a repeat of the industrial scale human butchery. In 1917, the House of Windsor changed their name from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha because of anti-German sentiment. The Emperor of Russia and Germany were first cousins of George. Emperor Nicholas was forced to abdicate in 1917. Emperor Wilhelm abdicated in 1918. The post World War II story had then shifted from the evils of Imperialism to the evils of Fascism, and the new cold war.

The Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

It is worth noting that England itself has a population of around 55 million people (would make it the 9th biggest province in China). That is roughly the same as (the official) population of South Africa. So a true blue believer in one-person, one-vote, democracy should believe that the two countries should have an equal voice on the global stage. You can't push against elites in favour of 'the people' if you want 'your people' to be elites.

The first European global colonial power was Spain. Spain currently has a population of 46 million, and since the 1898 Spanish-American war has had to radically alter its view of its place in the world. This is hard. The former world power China, refers to the period between 1839 and 1949 as the 'Century of Humiliation'. If part of your identity is being a pretty big deal, it is hard when other people start doing well. As America became the world's dominant power, it too developed 'American Exceptionalism'.

Unlike wealth, status is zero-sum. A big part of Britain's narrative, and identity, is that of being leaders. It is a very uncomfortable conversation to start unpicking the less attractive parts of the past. It is far better for self-image to celebrate the good bits. The British aren't the first to have to re-establish a place in the world after being on top. They are some way down the road, and the older generation still have lingering memories of grandeur.  

Perhaps we will one day be able to define ourselves in a way that doesn't require relative comparison.

Britannia

Assimilation (Tim)

I want to start by taking issue with the tendency of dominant (i.e. white, western and mostly English) cultures to demand assimilation from other cultures, but not to reciprocate when the shoe is on the other foot. Recently, there has been a lot of hand wringing in Europe about the supposed unwillingness of Muslim immigrants to assimilate into the culture of European countries. Observe France’s battle with the burqa. And, the sentiment is much the same for many in the UK, as evidenced by the tabloid press. They make the superficially reasonable argument, ‘If you want to live in Britain, you should embrace British values.’ 

Tim embracing British Values

However, they seem to have forgotten that when our forefathers were living in foreign lands, they never assimilated at all. In the days of the British Raj, those Brits who lived in India merely transplanted their British culture to a new continent – tealeaves, cricket stumps and all.

You might think that such chauvinistic attitudes are all in the past, but as someone who has lived in an expat bubble for fifteen years, I can tell you that you’d be dead wrong. This is how it works. Fifteen years ago I moved to Taiwan to teach English. I answered an English job advert, my interview was conducted in English, my training was in English and if ever I had a practical problem, the bilingual staff at my school would translate on my behalf. If I didn’t feel like eating Chinese food, I had a range of western fast food to choose from, or if I was feeling picky, I could go to one of several expat-owned restaurants in the area. Since my school was staffed by other foreign English teachers, I could socialise exclusively with them if I felt so inclined. 

I’m happy to say that I didn’t totally isolate myself from Taiwanese culture, and neither did my friends. Most of us enjoyed a mix of Chinese and western food, and we got along great with our Taiwanese co-teachers. In fact, a lot of us dated or married Taiwanese people. In my case, I also chose to study Chinese, and after a couple of years, I could deal with most issues myself. Not a bubble at all, then? In fact, it was a very real bubble – a semi-permeable membrane, through which I allowed only comfortable and familiar elements to pass. I might have spoken reasonably fluent Chinese, but I couldn’t read the newspaper or watch local TV, and that didn’t bother me a bit. My life remained largely westernised and English speaking in substance, with the addition of selected Taiwanese elements. 

This isn’t some kind of Stalinist self-criticism session. In fact, I think it’s okay to live like this. I’m doing the same thing in Korea right now. We all want to stay mostly within our cultural comfort zone, and it’s fine to do so as long as we’re respectful and open-minded. In my years in Asia, I’ve had plenty of opportunity to criticise other cultures, but I’ve just as often been humbled by their brilliance. So, I’d say that wherever you are, you should stay open minded and curious about other cultures. Otherwise, you’re going to miss a great opportunity for learning.

Los Angeles

Just three days in LA, so I dipped my toes in Santa Monica and Venice Beach. Saw friends who are reinventing themselves and diving into a world of creativity at the local art college. They talked me out of a visit to Hollywood, and instead we hiked, talked and just sat quietly. Most of the trip was an explosion of shared ideas. Californian Sun. Little blue beach houses. Volleyball. Experiments like Stockholm's Utegyms. Shared space. Outdoor Billionaires. For big kids who still love going to the park. A reminder of the consistent weather and urban sprawl of Johannesburg... but with a sea.

Climbing

An interesting side-effect of the idea of Social Mobility is that we start to visualise a ladder. 'Upper', 'Middle' and 'Lower Class'. Once you are a Cultural Billionaire, that is actually bizarre. When you close your eyes for a nights rest, being able to sleep soundly is as good as it gets. There isn't first class sleep. A ranking of sleep. It's not a competition. There are several ways to fill the hours of your day with deeply fulfilling things to do. It is only when we choose to do restricted things that scarcity makes us feel envious.

You can't buy a better view. You can climb the mountain though. Free.

One reason we like climbing is recognition. Austin Kleon argues we should enjoy obscurity. Once you are known for something, it becomes an expectation. As you wake up from that incredibly expensive bed, each hour of your day becomes set. Your moves monitored. Your words scrutinised. When you are obscure, you can experiment. You can make mistakes. You can learn. Once you break from obscurity, you can break into time poverty.

The idea of progress is a strong motivator. I am here. I want to be there. Every move has its costs and benefits. In order to be there, there will be things that you give up. Hegel was a big fan of history. Progress is messy. There may be bits we did better, or questions we asked more beautifully, that were obscured by other things that were unpleasant. The same of different times in our lives. 

We need to be careful of being seduced by success. It can take us away from things that require competence rather than brilliance. Some of the greatest pleasures, most fulfilling activities, and worthwhile treasures are on the bottom rung of the ladder. All we need to do is make time. All we need to do is add space.

Saving Starfish

There was a story I was told when I was young when people were feeling overwhelmed with all the problems in the world. An old man is walking on the beach and sees a young lady throwing starfish into the water. He asks her what she is doing and she says the sun will dry out the starfish. She needs to return them to the water. He points down the beach at the hundreds of starfish and says she can't possibly make a difference. She picks up another, and as she throws it back to its home she says, 'I made a difference to that one'.

This story was a founding parable for the Starfish Greathearts Foundation and they do great work. I love the tale and the lesson, but I have been mulling over a problem that it doesn't recognise. I am a big believer in the power of people on the front lines to know better than some grand central plan. Often we know the right thing to do without being able to communicate it. On the flip side, we struggle to increase our circle of empathy. In fact we quite often don't even know about the problems beyond those that come into our field of vision. At worst, we actively don't care.

We often think of leaders as people who will get things done. The leader has the power and represents groups of people's interests to make sure everyone is heard. That doesn't work if decision making is best left in the hands of individuals. I think a leaders role is perhaps to remove obstacles and let people get on with it, but also to ask tough questions. To point out inconsistencies.

A blaring inconsistency for me is the noise being made by 'the 99%' in America. The inconsistency lies in the fact that most of those 99% are in fact part of the 1%. You need just $34,000 annual income to be part of the global elite. The global median salary is $1,225.  I am not saying that inequality in America is not a problem. I just have two issues I need help with.

The first is wrapping my head around why people who don't think money buys happiness should be so concerned about there being people who have lots more than them. As soon as you benchmark your own happiness on someone else's level of wealth I think you can lose track of what is important to you. I am not saying that there aren't impoverished people in America. I would argue that most of them have 'enough' already. Most of them are cultural billionaires. In fact, if you are reading this blog, you are probably also a cultural billionaire. Money is a seductive measure because it is easy to quantify and compare. The good stuff can't be compared. The good stuff is priceless. We may just be scared of the good stuff and so making a noise about inequality gives us a way to kill time.

The second issue I have a problem with is getting emotional about 'high bar' problems when there are still lots of low bar problems for us to solve. There are enough people in the world that have enough to spare to deal with issues like ending absolute poverty. In America. In the World. That isn't the kind that depends on what other people are earning. That is the kind that ends lives.

I think it is good to focus. I think individuals are best placed to pick up the starfish and throw them in the water. If you live in a liberal democracy with a strong constitution, you don't need government to sort everything out. You don't even need consensus to sort some of the big problems out. You just need to care about the big problems first. The American '99%' can make a huge difference to global inequality if they want to. Perhaps that is the role of leaders, not to govern, but to tell stories. And to build a bigger tribe.

The Emperor's New Watch

The Emperor's New Clothes was an example of conspicuous consumption. But it was an example of the good kind. People love stories and we can create all sorts of things in our wonderful imaginations. Even clothes. If the invisible clothes don't stop anyone else from getting anything, and make the Emperor more likely to parade around rather than leading troops in pillage and plunder, then we should cheer him on. The payment he made was a 'stupidity tax' to the cunning weaver who wove his deception.

One of the tricky problems facing many knowledge businesses is how to monetize them. Capitalism is great at dealing with allocating limited resources in a way that reflects supply and demand. Once you get to the finer things in life, we end up being faced with a brand new set of challenges. The finer things don't necessarily make for good businesses. Apple is great at weaving the kind of stories around it's products that allow it to charge much more than it costs to make. Even then, an iPhone isn't completely out of reach of the middle class. Other smartphones are also available. Information and communication is fine. Information and communication is almost free. You can slap a smartphone on your wrists and add golds and diamonds, but functionally it does the same thing. It is just sparkly and emperorfied.

If we live in a developed country, the majority of us are cultural billionaires. We likely need much less than we have. It is just a combination of weaving stories and a lack of time that don't allow us to realise it. A good kuier with your favourite people costs very little depending on your chosen 'clothing'. If you have the emperor's dress sense and the weavers thrift, you could drink water and spend the time au naturel and it will cost nothing.

The type of conspicuous spending that is a problem is when we aren't dealing in story territory. There are still lots of people who aren't in the territory of realising they already have more than they need. They still need to get the basics. Sometimes we just think the problem is too hard, so we prefer to close our eyes can get on with our own lives. Peter Singer makes lots of practical suggestions of how we can make a difference.

Those of us in story territory had a helping hand somewhere along the line. Whether we were lucky enough to be born in a wealthy country, in a culture with a legacy of learning, or just bumped into some awesome mentors along the way. All success likely comes from some sort of privilege. There is however a sense that we want to help empower people rather than come from that place of privilege with handouts. It is tricky. Saying we want to help people who help themselves may not adequately recognise how much help we had. There is the risk that we don't understand the obstacles faced by those 'not willing to help themselves'. That said, a partnership seems the most powerful way to bridge the gap. There is something we can do.

The Unogwaja Light Fund is an attempt to look for projects that try give people back dignity and allow them to create lives for themselves. All the other stories, whether on foot or by pedal, are a side show to create and share stories that energise. The real story is getting everyone to the point where we sustainably have enough. Then we can all become storytellers and wear as much gold on our watches or as little invisible robes covering our wobbly bits as we want.

Precious

What would happen if we all won the lottery? If a machine was discovered that could make a limitless amount of everything including itself. Prices would then be meaningless since they are only set by having a limited supply and something to compare it to. A price is a way of comparing X many massages to Y nights in a fancy hotel. The flip side of jealousy is the feeling you get from having something that others don't. The closest word I can think of to this is Schadenfreude although that is pleasure at someone else's misfortune. The Germans have some cool words so they probably have one for this too. We would have to let that pleasure go.

Who would be the 'wealthy' people? They would be the ones who had the things that couldn't be replicated. In order to get them, they wouldn't be able to pay with money though. They would need to have a deep sense of empathy to discover what the owners of these pieces of art or performance or time really wanted. Presumably even this ability wouldn't matter unless other people also desperately wanted that precious thing, and couldn't get something else that could compensate for that unmet desire from their machine. They may even want precious so much they forget they have a machine of their own. Does it matter that someone else has more than you if you have everything you want?

Exclusivity is the thing that really makes something's price explode. Possibly the number one lesson in managing your finances is 'Never be a forced buyer or a forced seller'. You can certainly extend this beyond finances to other life lessons. I know that I personally am at my very least attractive when I find a lady incredibly attractive in every possible way. It may be just a slight taste of desperation, but it can be like just a drop or two of crude oil in a bottle of fine wine.

In a way, most of us, and certainly most of the people reading this blog have won the lottery. I spoke in 'Global Citizen' of just how big a factor where you are born is in determining your happiness. Another factor is when you were born. Forget stories of 'The Good Old Days'. Perhaps get some perspective from your Gran. The best time to have ever been alive is now. Take a look at 'Our world in data' or read The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker. We need to be careful that we are choosing what we want. Winning the lottery isn't enough, you have to realise it.

Natural Liberty

One Tongue. Two eyes. One mouth. Two hands. One bum. Two legs. Done. There are natural limits to what is available to you. You can't have coffee and herbal tea at the same time, in the same mouth, and enjoy the individual tastes of each. You can't enjoy one moment if you are thinking about the next. Unless, of course, you find thinking about the next moment pleasurable. Antici...

On and off the richest man in the world, Warren Buffett got to that point partly by being very good at relinquishing control. He often gets good deals because owners know that if he buys their company, he is keen to leave them in control. This is the irony of thinking Capitalism is about being power hungry. Communism failed not because of the ideals of sharing, but because of problems with power and incentives. Capitalism fails when it gets those things wrong too. Since growth is the primary incentive and giving up power turns out to be the best way to do that, Capitalism has made a better go of it. The reason giving up power helps is because of the Postrel Problem. There is tacit knowledge on the front lines. That pair of eyes, hands and legs and its other bits understands some things it will never be able to communicate. The world is better with devolved control. Those who get this, excel.

Capitalism, at its best, is about empowering individuals to release potential

Those who don't get this build empires which eventually crumble. Liberty is hard wired into us. Even when there were individuals who decreed what people believed, they had no control over hearts and minds in reality. Whole countries would 'change' religion depending on which cousin was winning the game of thrones. Really? I don't think so. Since religion at its heart is deeply personal and faith based, people believe whatever they want. No one else actually knows what is going on in your space. All you need for true liberty is a room and a closed door. You can have that anywhere, anytime, by closing your eyes.

Although some people have notional 'control' over others, what does that control mean in reality? Any individual, no matter who they are, has 24 hours in a day. They have limited ability to understand problems that take any length of time to wrap their heads around. If they want to enjoy their wealth, they will want to spend about 8 of their hours asleep, some of the time eating, some of the time exercising, and some of the time relaxing with friends. They too, need to visit the loo. If they don't get to do that because they are busy 'controlling', is that a power worth envying?

If you live in a wealthy country, you are already a Cultural Billionaire. If you don't, but you are reading this blog, your are more than likely a Cultural Billionaire. Poverty is in the process of being dismantled. If you have your basic needs met, being wealthy, like being happy, may be a choice rather than a goal.

...pation.

Related Posts

1. Big Hand to Big Mouth - The pursuit of equality can be an obstacle
2. Scary Time - If wealth is time, be sure you aren't scared of being rich
3. Cultural Billionaires - Living the dream when you can
4. Hiding in the Open - Happiness is like a toddler that wants to be found
5. Nine Two Assets - When everyone wants something, it get's expensive
6. Postrel Problem - Bosses are distant from the action, and need to delegate

Scary Time

We are scared of free time. When Keynes started to speak of progress leading to 3 hour work weeks, largely for those who felt like it, social psychologists started to panic about what people would do! See this article by the Economist on 'why is everyone so busy'. History has typically been about survival. Survival sharpens the mind and keeps you active, busy and alive. Survival keeps you alive, good one Trev.

We have a goal of retirement and we think, a little, about what to do in those golden years. There are dreams of fishing, or golf, or reading but typically most people never get to the point where they can comfortably retire. Sometimes this is a strong motivator that drives us to do work we would rather not be doing. My friend Megan has done some detailed work looking at retirement adequacy targets. I will need to find updated figures, but when I was working in the space in South Africa the figures were about 6% of people could afford to retire and about 1% of people could afford to retire and maintain their the standard of living. The figure thrown around is you need to be able to continue to generate around 75% of your pre-retirement income from your investments. Much of Meg's discussion is whether this figure actually needs to be higher. Most people never get there, and when they do they often have very little energy left or feel daunted.

My Father and his wife run 'Potential Unlimited' where they put together courses for people making the transition to retirement. They focus less on the financial side and more on the psychological journey. Retirement 'involves restructuring your time, changing your role, re-defining your social interactions and finding new goals, meaning and purpose in life. Many individuals approaching retirement experience increased anxiety about the nature of retirement and what to expect.'

I think their project is interesting. I also think that that type of thinking should maybe start when you are 6 rather than 60. Education is wrapped around how to generate an income. We don't actually spend much time at all on how to spend that income, and more importantly how to spend that time. Our answer has always been to spend our time surviving. A very small slither of the community has had to deal with the 'problem' of how to occupy themselves when at leisure. The irony discussed in the Economist article is that while 'work' used to be a dirty word for the financially free, many of the very wealthy are becoming more stressed. The job of Chief Executive Officer is usually rather unpleasant in many ways. A case of careful what you wish for.

We think very consciously about one side of the equation. How to generate income and how to generate a nest egg. My suspicion is that we need to give more thought to the other side of the equation, and perhaps escape from the direct financial terms. Instead of Income Replacement, perhaps we can think of time replacement and the perfect day. If your perfect day includes a good nights sleep, a walk in the park, visiting friends, a swim in the sea, an afternoon snooze, a little reading and a couple of hours doing something you love (dancing, painting, music) you may find you are a Cultural Billionaire. You may find getting better at using your time is an easier way to reduce the amount of money you need to do it. That is part of the aim of this blog. I have spent years focussing my attention on trying to understand money and how businesses work. Now I want to spend time thinking about time.

One way of spending time as a Cultural Billionaire

Hiding In The Open

Dan Gilbert's book, 'Stumbling on Happiness' is one of the most entertaining (while backed by solid research) books I have found on the subject. His TED talk below is pretty cool too. In it he looks at our innate ability to make do - the unanticipated joy of being stuck. I am not sure if this story comes from that book, I read it in 2009, but there was research done looking at Significant Memories*. For me, examples are Nelson Mandela's release, the 1995 Rugby World Cup Final, 9/11, and finding out Princess Diana had died. We are all convinced that we know where we were on these occasions. The studies followed samples of people and evidenced how the memories changed in significant ways to the point where over time the majority of people were wrong about where they were (while close to certain they were right). You are no doubt shaking your head and saying not me, "I know where I was". We are very good at changing memories. We cover for ourselves. We learn to accept things. Our single memories are a combination of different events. It is all very fuzzy. If you accept it though, it is quite a powerful case that the pursuit of happiness is actually the wrong approach. Happiness isn't a thing to be found. If it is, it is a toddler who wants to be found, hiding in the open. If you are being harsh, you can say that happiness is a choice.

In the talk, he does touch on the dilemma this presents though. From a material perspective, a world full of people who didn't desire much more stuff would present problems. Being unhappy is a pretty good motivator for productivity. Believing that that different life path will be the thing that does it can inspire you to put in an extraordinary amount of effort. For most of human existence we have been abysmally poor with the first glimmers of hope around 500 years ago in Renaissance Italy. It was only through Industrialisation that we ripped ourselves out of poverty. At some stage though, once we have moved beyond safety and being well fed, perhaps other choices become more viable. If you live in advanced countries like the US or the UK, there is a case for saying you are already a cultural billionaire. Be happy.




*Shoddy sourcing, I will try find the study and link to it.