How Much and How Long?

Came across a couple of really interesting quotes:

"In the context of losing wealth and job security, more people are choosing to seek the experience of being alive." (Attribute to follow)
"Real Wealth – What are you worth when you don't have any money?" (Anonymous)

These quotes remind me of two things – the Mexican Fisherman story and Steve's Concept of Enoughness

The Mexican Fisherman story comes from a book called The 4-Hour work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich and goes 'something' like this:

There once was a Mexican fisherman mending his nets on a dock A Harvard businessman walked up and and started talking with the fisherman and asked him what he did all day. The fisherman replied that he does a little fishing, spends time with his family, plays guitar with his friends in the evening.

The Harvard businessman rubbed his hands together and said, "I can really help you, have you never thought of expanding, getting a couple of boats and catching more fish?" The fisherman replied, "Then what would I do, Senor?"

The businessman said, "Well, if you got even more boats, you would catch even more fish and you could set up your own canning plant and really make some money!" "Yes, but then what would I do, Senor?" asked the fisherman.

The Harvard businessman was really rolling now, "Then you could expand even further! You could open a chain of fish restaurants and go public and make a fortune!" The fisherman thought about this for a moment and then asked, "But then what would I do, Senor?"

To which the Harvard businessman replied, "Well, then you could retire to a little village in Mexico, do a little fishing, spend time with your wife, play guitar with your friends…"

The key thing that strikes me in this story is that a critical step is missed when one pursues financial wealth without knowing specifically what you want it for. "I want to be rich." But what are you going to do when you have more money? Is it the same thing you do today? Well, then you don't need to work for years and years to be rich, because you don't need that much money. This is a missed step in the constant push for people to keep going until they are rich. If you are going to do the same thing or something that requires a similar (or lower) income, why waste your precious years working rather than living?

And this is exactly where Steve's Concept of Enoughness comes in. When he said he wanted to 'give up serious work' (i.e., retire), I was concerned about two things – what would we do all day when we didn't fill the time with work (we've managed to fill the time) and how could we do it, we weren't rich. That is when Steve introduced the Concept of Enoughness, he said, "Well, what would we do?" And we talked through and came up with a list of all the things we would love to do if we weren't working – walking trips, learn to dance, sailing, motorbiking, spend time with family, spend time with each other, etc., etc. As we went through the list, I realised that none of the things we were talking about required a fortune to be able to do them. They did require some money though and we had to do some work to get there. Essentially enoughness is understanding what it is you want to do and then working to get to the point where you have enough to do it, and working no longer.

I think there is a critical step that needs to take place before one works for years to become rich. This is not taught at school, the consumer culture doesn't share this little insight, and without it you will never know when to get off the treadmill. How much time do you want to work and how much time do you want to spend being alive? That first step is critical, defining - what is it that you want to do and how much is enough to do it?

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