Quotes of the Week from Me:

“Always keep your enthusiasm.”

“How often do you want to speak up but don’t? How often you do speak up but wish you hadn’t?”

“Money can buy happiness. Money cannot buy happiness. Well, which one is it?”

“Calm your mind.”

Quotes of the Week from Someone Else:

“I’ve always liked quiet people: You never know if they’re dancing in a daydream or if they’re carrying the weight of the world…” – John Green

“It’s easier to notice when you lose money than when you lose time. Be sure you’re making the trade you want.” – James Clear

“Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.” – Franz Kafka

Quick Optimism

5 Misconceptions About Living a Positive Life

1. You have to be happy all the time
2. Thinking, feeling, and being positive is effortless
3. Finding, creating, and maintaining positivity is impossible
4. Positivity is expensive
5. Positivity is the absence of negativity, pain, disappointment, and struggle

Full Newsletter

Money buys time, but time pays for money. Cash is trash, assets are king. No wait, vice versa. Escape the 9-5. Entrepreneurship is 25 hours per day, 8 days a week, 366 days a year. Buzz, buzz, buzzwords and phrases everywhere I look.

Money Buys Time, Time Spends Money

I surround myself with brilliant minds new and old. In my millennial-esque approach to research, I combine technology and scripture. I read stories and studies, jump into psychological and philosophical research, and scour the internet for trending videos and articles. I follow Ryan Holiday, known as one of the world’s bestselling living philosophers. I also follow Brad Stulberg, who, though somewhat established, I still consider an up-and-comer. I enjoy learning lessons from Zoroaster, Lao Tzu, and of course Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle. The access to this information is abundant, but I find that most short clips online lead to contextual contradiction upon further exploration.

I just reread that sentence and realized it was a very “look at these big words” version of “people make appealing videos that don’t tell the whole story.” Anyone can get their hands on some text, edit a video, add some music, and post it. I need more. We need more.

I tend to correlate optimism with much of the philosophy I have learned about. It has to be practical and applicable to our lives today. Being optimistic sounds good on paper, as does Socrates telling us that the true meaning of life is defining and understanding ourselves and our purpose. Or as Plato claims, there are only 4 questions we can ever ask about anything in pursuit of such definitions:

1. What is it made of?
2. What is it made into?
3. What made it or changed it? (over time)
4. Where is it going to?

These four questions can be material, spiritual, situational, and so on. As I continue studying these core ideas and values, I continue to come to the same conclusion: I want people to think critically about their lives and ultimately feel better and be happy. Not all the time, just more of the time. I also believe it is possible. Change the questions. What are you made of? What were you made into? What made you or changed you? Where are you going to?

The more examples I read and the more analogies I try to come up with, the more I realize how important it is to keep happiness simple. Pause to think more often. Acknowledge your health, your loved ones, and your time. Do all you can to stay positive.

Within the mixing pot of old and new, several themes present themselves. Words that I am familiar with such as success, purpose, and respect get mixed in with money, relationships, family, and time.

One recent study I read conducted a survey with over 6,000 participants to compare satisfaction levels between people who bought material things versus time. For example (not examples from the study), buying a watch vs. hiring a landscaper. It was part of a project in collaboration with some big names in education (yes, name brand schools) and psychology. Based on the survey, buying time does make people happier than buying material things.

There was little explanation as to why, but I am going to take this a step further as I reflect on my week.

My family and I are kicking off the summer with paternity leave and boating. The calm backdrop of the lake is laughably ironic at times when Taylor and I are changing diapers simultaneously and chasing our toddler around while he tries to learn about what floats in water. No, sunglasses don’t float. Phones either. Oh, and definitely not all shoes, t-shirts, or snacks.

It’s kind of like, “Hey look how beautiful that island is, SHIT WHAT JUST SPLASHED?!” and then we make sure all the expensive stuff is still with us. Like our phones. Which are expensive but also important for emergencies. Now my “parent” side is showing.

This week I started thinking about boats. They have showed up in the movies and shows I watched this week. They are all over the lake where I like to spend a lot of my time. And they are a very interesting example of money buying time.

Some of them definitely cost money. But they can save it too. Sometimes they save time. But they can definitely spend time too. It really depends on things that are similar to Plato’s four questions.

1. What is it made of? Or how expensive, fast, and capable is the boat?
2. What is it made into? Is it used as a tool for camping, tubing, racing, and/or partying?
3. What made it or changed it? This could also be “who” – but what made buying and enjoying the boat possible?
4. Where is it going to? If you live in a place like Vermont, sometimes the boat is in the water, sometimes it is stored for the winter. Some people tow it to the lake, others live on the lake, and so on.

There are levels to making money and buying time. There are levels associated with how close our reality gets to our dreams. I like to think boats and boating have helped me understand this a bit more.

Some people dream of paddle boards. Others dream of yachts. Some dream of living on or near a lake. Others dream of seeing a lake for the first time.

The simplest version of boating that I came up with during this week’s brainstorming was paddle boarding. Simple setup, good exercise, low operation and maintenance costs, and easy to store whether living on or near a lake.

The fun, extravagant version of boating that I thought of was Rafael Nadal’s 80-foot super yacht. Apparently, the largest yacht in the world is 600 feet. But Nadal’s video tour of his yacht, Great White, on YouTube was pretty incredible too.

Buying a boat in general means buying time with family and friends. Day trips. Cruising to get ice cream. Camping trips. It can also mean buying a living. Think fisherman, tour guide, racer, and more.

Buying a mooring and keeping the boat in the water eliminates trailering the boat to and from the lake with each use. But it also means more work to clean the hull at the end of the season (took me 3 hours this year).

Take the boat out of the equation, buying a house on the lake eliminates commute time to the water.

Buying a boat lift and dock for your lake front property means the hull stays clean and you don’t have to put a cover on your boat. There are so many buttons to snap in with a boat cover…

Finally, if we jump back to Nadal’s 80-foot yacht example, at that point you wouldn’t even have to buy a house, mooring, boat lift, dock, or other accessories. Your commute time is zero minutes because your bedroom is on your boat. To buy time you might hire a crew to captain and maintain the boat, and so on.

Within these examples are the trade-offs between money and time spent vs. money and time saved. Boats buy time for memories and relaxation and they buy time for hard work and making a living. When thinking about Plato’s simple questions, which level is your dream? How will you spend your time and your money?

There is always another level. Be mindful of the time you spend to get the money you need for the time you then want to buy. Not everything in life needs to be a super yacht, but it’s also perfectly fine to want more than a paddle board.

Make it an enjoyable Monday!