Knowledge or Hustle?

Which is most important?

Both. You need to build knowledge and skills. And you have to hustle. But, hustling is more important. Why do I say that? Because you can become successful without a lot of knowledge. It has happened. However, few have found success without effort. Never stop hustling.

Playing Through Life

We often think of life as a “journey.” But, is it really akin to travel? Where are you going? Is there a destination?

Or, is life more like music? A beginning and an end. But, the end is not the goal. Rather, the play of the music along the way is the point.

Fast noes, and slow yeses . . .

How much time do we waste on things that we don’t really care about? Impressing people that aren’t even paying attention, and don’t really matter anyway. Buying things that we don’t need, and don’t really add any value to our life. Wasting time on a new idea each day, when we simply need to stick to one path.

We are constantly bombarded with advertising, social media, ideas, that don’t really add to our core mission. Choosing what to say no to, is as important as choosing what to say yes to. We can’t do everything, and our success at anything is dependent on our ability to say no to almost everything else. For every yes, there should be a thousand noes. Otherwise, the things we do choose get lost in the ones we shouldn’t have. Fast noes, and slow yeses make for good decisions.

Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness. It Buys . . .

Money doesn’t buy happiness. At least not directly. But, success, and the often-resulting financial security does benefit those that achieve it. How?

It buys time. Much of our basic needs, such as food, housing, and other necessities, are relatively fixed. They are not fully changed depending on how much money you have. Sure, wealthy people have larger houses and other assets, less fortunate individuals may not enjoy. But, still, someone that makes $20,000 per year spends a larger percentage of their income on food and housing than someone that makes $1,000,000 a year. Even after adjusting for a larger house, and other larger expenses associated with higher income.

Lower income means that the individual spends a larger portion of their time earning money to support the basic needs they have. Therefore, if the basic necessities are relatively fixed, and do not directly increase with income, a larger income means that this individual should have more time to spend on what is important to them.

If you are spending your day making money to live, you have little time left to pursue the things that make you happy. Success, and money, doesn’t buy happinesss. But, it does buy time, which can be used to pursue happiness.