#5 Finding My Why
Aug 18, 2021
By The Six Figure Guitar Teacher
It looks like The Pragmatist thinks he’s got me backed into a corner. He’s definitely right about the million dollars though, but in his calm, logical and by the numbers approach he’s missed a lot of reasons why being frugal, and having a positive mindset about money is great!
And when I mean great, I mean it’s not just great, it’s the only lifestyle that makes sense for a conscientious person. This is because many of the people who are happily being frugal, or happily working endless hours towards their goals, have a higher cause that they are working towards beyond just money.
There are many reasons why the act of going to a supermarket or store and buying yourself a product that you don’t really need should hurt you a little bit. And while sometimes we can’t avoid spending money on things, it’s important to start putting some thought behind our purchases and considering alternatives before we pull the trigger and buy.
One big reason is the earth. Whether you believe in climate change or not it’s important to be considerate of our natural resources and to never be wasteful of them. If you feel a love and appreciation of our earth or the animals we share it with, perhaps consider whether the purchases you make have a positive contribution on our environment or are fuelling mindless consumerism to the detriment of the planet.
Unfortunately buying products is often at odds with preserving the Earth. You might think that you’re being environmentally conscious by getting an electric car, but were you aware of how much fuel was used to produce the vehicle in the first place, not to mention the effects on the environment of digging the lithium used in the battery out of the ground. Even buying and using recycled plastics (which we’ve traditionally been taught is a good thing) is misdirected and is not nearly as beneficial as if we were to put more pressure on manufacturers to cut back on using plastics and metals in the first place.
Now I’m not saying don’t go out and have fun and do all the things you love, nor am I advocating that you abandon capitalism and modern society and go live in a forest. I am simply saying that a lot of what we purchase has a much bigger on the environment than most of us realise, even all the ‘green’ products that are trending right now and are presented as more environmentally friendly options. This is often just smart marketing by companies who want to make it seem like they doing the right thing by the environment when it’s often just a distraction from all the really bad stuff they are doing.
But I digress. Not buying things is not only the solution to being more environmentally conscious, but it’s also a great way to save money. While this might seem like a no brainer. So many of us are so used to consumerism and buying things that are little conveniences that we don’t actually realise how much money we are spending on things we don’t need.
But what about being happy and comfortable? I hear many of you ask/
Won’t I stop being happy If I stop buying all these items to bring me joy or distract myself from the reality of my situation?
This is a great question, and ties into our next reason for why Frugality is great! It actually makes you happier!.
Here is the scientific reasons to back it up!.
Most logical people would agree that the pursuit of happiness is one of the main goals in life. Bu what does it mean to be happy?
At the lowest level is means that something in our body is releasing chemcles inner brain that we interpret as feeling good or content.
These chemicals are usually triggered by things that have traditionally been good for us over the course of our evolution like eating nutrient rich foods, pleasurable experiences with mates, satisfying tasks like building and creating things, earning social status and many other things that contributed to our survival over the years. Thus, our brains evolved to reward us to keep doing these activities.
The problem with modern consumerism is that we are able to recreate the feeling of happiness and satisfaction through the act of shopping. If we want more social status, we can just buy an expensive car or a new pair of shoes, if we want food we can have whatever we want delivered to our door by Uber Eats, if we want to recreate the feeling of nesting, we buy some super cool LED lights to deck out our bedroom with. Sure we get temporary happiness from buying new stuff, but after the glow has worn off and the dopamine hit fades away, we’re stuck with junk we don’t want, need or use, and have spend the money which we previously traded hours of our life for. When we don’t have money we start to worry about the future, and our short term gratification is traded for long term suffering as the reality that we’ve squandered thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars throughout our lifetime on pointless shit.
So what is the alternative?
What if you made a list of your top ten favourite activities that make you happy and are good for you in the longer run, both in terms of your happiness and your health.
For example, my list of things would be:
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Playing guitar and trying to improve my skills, technique and knowledge of the instrument
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Playing in a band and performing for people
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Writing and releasing music
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Going for walks and exploring new parks with my family
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Working out and exercising, particularly out in the sun
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Going fishing, camping and exploring the outdoors
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Writing books and informative articles on the topic of guitar, music education and money.
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Reading books on my favourite topics or in my favourite genres.
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Cooking a meal and enjoying it with my family
Notice how almost every item on my list doesn’t require me to go out and spend any money (after an initial investment in the right equipment of course). I already have more things that I can do to make me happy than I have hours in a day (or even a week) to do them all.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love getting new gadgets and material things as much as the next person and there are days when I have an angel and a devil on my shoulder duking it out as to whether I buy something or not. I even have these items on my shopping list right now:
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A Tesla (probably a model S or even the Cybertruck)
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A new Guitar (always and forever)
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A new top of the range iMac computer (for making music and editing videos)
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A big long wishlist of business and guitar books off of Amazon (I own about 30 books that I am yet to read which I should probably finish first)
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A boat for fishing
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A whole bunch of biohacking equipment to optimise my performance
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Almost every personal development and business program that hits me with their targeted ads (it all looks so good and I need all the knowledge!)
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A Playstation 5 (I’ll hold out until the next Elder Scrolls comes out)
But at the end of the day, I am able to differentiate between my wants and my needs, and I can pretty much cross a whole bunch of the items off of my list because I want them but don’t actually need them. I make do with the equipment that I have until it stops working and I have to upgrade it. If I really need something (like a home workout item called an X3 Bar I recently purchased) I do the research, make sure the purchase makes sense, and then set a business goal that allows me to buy the item if I hit a set target of new student signups or projects completed to justify the purchase.
This way I can feel good without the need of retail therapy, and can rest easy knowing I don’t obliviously contribute to mindless consumerism and the wasting of the earth’s resources out of sheer ignorance.
Now when it comes to making lots of money, I can also rest easy knowing that the money I earn is an indication of the value that I provide to people. After all, my guitar students would keep paying for lessons with me if I wasn’t providing them with value. I also take a percentage of what I earn from them and put it back into buying better equipment for the studio, my own personal development so that I can create a better learning experience for them, training my team and giving them a great working environment so that they are happier and perform at a higher level, and the higher the quality of life for me and my staff members, the better we feel and the more positive energy we put back into everything that we do.
Money is a resource that when used to create a better life, brings up the standard of living for everyone.
This is why earning more money and being frugal go hand in hand. Save money, invest money, save money, invest money, avoid wasting money on things you don’t need, invest money on things that save you time, produce more income, or raise your quality of life. Rinse and repeat over and over and over until you reach your financial goals and can fund your ideal lifestyle.
This is why I am both relentlessly frugal and obsessive about making more money. It’s the ultimate cycle of financial growth, a yin and yang of saving and investing that propels you closer and closer to my goals. I get to be environmentally conscious, provide value for everybody I meet, and find meaning and happiness in my day to day activities. I’ve no doubt that you can find happiness in your frugality and the pursuit of wealth and success too.
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