I know of billionaires who have gone broke. And here is why you should care about it.
No billionaire has ever gone broke by consuming too much — after all, how many designer clothes or jewellery can you buy?
Instead, the super-rich go broke by ‘investing’, and doing it poorly. There are two underlying factors:
1. When you are investing, there is no friction to slow you down — you can invest a billion dollars in one click. But try spending your fortune away on vacations and you will die of exhaustion before your money runs out.
2. ‘Investing’ takes the guilt away — you feel like you are doing something positive. But if you start consuming money, at some point, your mind will apply a brake and say — ‘What nonsense am I doing?”
Now why does this matter to us non-billionaires?
When it comes to using our time, we become victims of the same fallacy. If you just sit idly or watch TV endlessly, at some point, guilt will kick in and make you rethink.
But if you stay busy doing even meaningless things, you won’t have any guilt. Also, I have seen people waste years and years on meaningless projects — there is no automatic brake.
So when you are not sure what to do, don’t stay busy doing random things. Sit idly and feel that guilt. Let it make you move in the right direction.
A perpetually busy person is a serious hazard to himself.
– Rajan