How to Feel Rich (Even When You Think You’re Poor)

20 Aug How to Feel Rich (Even When You Think You’re Poor)

 “Some people are so poor, all they have is money.”

― Patrick Meagher

Rich: A New Perspective

Last week we talked a lot about money, and put some of those ideas to work with a formula and worksheet for figuring out how much you need to do what you want and be happy. It was the most comprehensive free resource I’ve created in a long time.

I did it to help you get clear – because after you broke everything down, you hopefully saw that beyond making ends meet, most of us need a lot less than we think to do the things we care about and make our mark.

Being rich and wealthy is often misunderstood. And that misunderstanding can lead to sacrificing what matters to pursue what doesn’t.

So today I’d like to offer a reframe of what it means to be “rich”.

In many ways, you’re much richer than any billionaire used to be…

Better Information:

Your reading this means you have the Internet. For free, or the price of a few cups of coffee, you can access almost any type of information on the planet.

If you feel alone, you can find and befriend like-minded people all over the world. And you can even do the same to help find the right mate, and hopefully avoid a lot of wasted bad first dates!

You can choose to craft your own practical education, study experts on YouTube, watch TED Talks, find models and examples, and learn a skill or trade from the most talented people in the world. Or you could become the teacher and upload your own video, with the chance for millions of people to see it, without it costing you a dime.

What would a billionaire 30 years ago have been willing to pay for that type of limitless personal library, people, training and platform?

Better Tools:

If you have an idea for making people or the world better, you don’t need someone to give you permission to do it or accept suffocating loans to fund it. You don’t need to figure out how to code a website, securely accept payments from anyone anywhere in the world, or many of the massively complex steps between the two.

Very smart people with a lot of money have already figured most of that out and are willing to let you use their tools – often for free or for just a few bucks a month. There are so many entrepreneurial possibilities I can’t even believe exist. It took a $62.90 investment to start Live Your Legend. How’s that even possible? Because the real cost is dedication, and you can spend as much of that as you want.

What would those tools have been worth to someone 30 years ago?

Access to a Better, Richer Life:

If you want to explore, you have access to a fleet of state-of-the-art jets that will take you anywhere in the world on a moment’s notice, and you don’t have to own a $10 million private plane or go into massive debt to build the system and network. You can just hop online and find commercial flights starting at $100 (or a lot lower) and just go. In 24 hours from now you could be across the world. How privileged are we to have that type of access?

And while you’re at it, you could use something like Airbnb to borrow someone’s home (or light house, beach hut or treehouse) anywhere in the world, often for a fraction of the price of a hotel. And even better, you could rent your place out while you’re gone and possibly pay for your whole trip, and then some.

Or you could decide to stay in a clean room with all the amenities, fresh water and a daily housekeeper for $50, $100 or even $1,000 a night (if you’re feeling spendy). Whatever you pay, it will be an incomparable fraction of what it cost the hotel owner to make it possible (not to mention the business risk they took on). And you’ll still be living better than most kings of the past!

If you get sick, there are treatments or pills you can take that can heal you from things that would have meant near-certain death decades ago. They cost millions or billions to create, but not for us to consume.

What’s a network of luxury experiences and magical cures like this worth?

I’m in awe that I can write this from my little stone-walled Airbnb apartment in the center of old-town Dubrovnik, Croatia (or from any of the dozens of cafes nearby with free wifi, or the 17 other countries I’ve worked from during this year’s world tour), hit publish, and instantaneously you and the 100,000 others in our community can read it, from your homes in more than 180 countries.

And in doing that I have the chance to help you wake up to what you already have at your fingertips. And perhaps you’ll use that to pursue a dream, find work you love and do something you’ve been thinking about and putting off for a long time.

The Real Lottery Has Already Been Won

We are all the beneficiaries.

Yet it’s amazing how quickly our expectations adjust. What was impossible yesterday is normal today. Taken for granted, even. The steady rise of ungrateful expectations is a dangerous thing.

Look around you. Wherever you are in the world, there are things right in front of you that the richest men and women on the planet couldn’t have even dreamed of doing or accessing not long ago.

The list of our everyday wonders is endless.

However you’re reading this right now – via computer, tablet, smart phone, or some other amazing technology – that ability is one of the most luxurious and impossible-to-believe of all. It’s also one of the most important tools for doing just about anything you want.

Notice the wonders – every day.

Gratitude is a powerful emotion (and a valuable daily practice). Spend a few minutes right now to look around and list the wonders. The information, technology, tools, the air conditioner on a hot day, the apple grown across the world (or down the street) that’s yours for fifty cents. And most importantly, notice the nearly unlimited access you have to all of it.

That access to these luxuries, systems, tools, services and things is priceless.

Realize how rich you are, before we even start talking about money.

It’s a mindset long before it’s a number.

We live in a surreal time of luxury and possibility. What’s possible and even normal today used to be unfathomable, no matter your paycheck.

Remembering that makes me tremble with excitement.

And with that possibility comes responsibility – to take advantage of it and spend it wisely.

The real lottery has already been won. You’re already rich.

So, what are you doing with your wealth?

In awe from Dubrovnik,

-Scott

P.S. See the possibility in action & support a cause you believe in…

My friend Michelle Jones recently took the leap to fully apply all this possibility to create a new type of college called The Wayfinding Academy, and I’m in love with her vision.

It’s an affordable, 2-year college focused on real world experience, community support and individual passion, to be sure students go on to live a life and career they’re proud of. 

Her vision is obviously very aligned with LYL, and I’m super excited to be supporting what they’re doing and their fundraising campaign to cover the launch of the school.

Click here to learn about The Wayfinding Academy.

Seeing the world come together to make ideas like this possible is such a beautiful thing!