Play with Your Toys!

Do you have a house or garage full of toys? Things that you just had to have, things that you used for a while and now they are sitting unused and untouched. We spend a great deal of time acquiring our toys, but quickly put them down and head out in pursuit of the next toy. We spent many years eagerly pursuing the next toy and the next and the next, but somehow the satisfaction that came with acquiring the toy lasted for shorter and shorter periods of time. In today's economy, the common advice is to sell your toys and make money off them (to pay bills or to buy other toys). I would like to suggest the opposite, keep your toys and play with them.

Part of the 750,000 Hours philosophy is to have fun now and to have fun along the way. Life is not all nose to the grindstone, work, work, work. And while achieving your dreams is important, if that's your only focus, you miss out on a whole lot of fun on the journey. So how do you build in that fun while you're working towards and saving for your dream lifestyle? Why not pull out some of those toys that you worked so hard to acquire (and loved so much at one time) and play with them?

Bikes in the garage? Take a ride with someone you love, bring a picnic (and your Red Book?!). Roller blades, skates, skis, balls, rackets, the list of outdoor entertainment toys goes on and on. What about indoor entertainment? We've rediscovered games. You know, games, where you spend an evening competing with live people perhaps over a nice glass of wine? Live somewhere beautiful and have the gear to get out and enjoy it (sneakers, hiking boots)? How many 'learn a language' CDs do you have hanging around? What other skills have you really wanted to learn, an instrument, a craft, an art? Are the 'toys' for doing those things sitting right in your house?

We've made a conscious effort to avoid buying new toys and to play with what we have. We loved the things we bought when we bought them so where did that enthusiasm go and how could we bring it back? What we found is if we removed the distraction and pursuit of the next toy, often that love and enthusiasm for what we have comes rushing right back! The result, Steve and I are both learning to play music, the sax and the guitar, and we listen to the music we have. In the evenings, we, our family and our friends talk, laugh and vigourously compete to win at games which have been sitting on the shelf for years. I've made both practical and nice things for us to use on the boat. We love having our family and friends over for 'themed' dinners - Italian, American, French. We're swimming and snorkling, and the Italian lessons will be underway any minute. We've learned how to sail, how to live on a boat, and tons about weather and nature.

It's funny, but we often buy our toys because they're part of our dreams - how many of those dreams do you already have?