I choose to live a life of abundance, not because I make millions of dollars a year or have more status items than everyone else, but mostly because I’ve been able to control my wants relative to my needs in order live in excess. Breaking it down, here are the components of my mindset that allow me to enjoy the freedom of feeling that I have more than enough.
Needs vs Wants
To live and be happy humans don’t really need that much. We need adequate food, water, shelter, good relationships and the opportunities to do what we want with our time and energy. No one really has a need to keep up with the latest fashion or buy the latest top of the line phone every time our phone plans expire. I choose to recognise that changing/upgrading for the sake of it is completely unnecessary.
Grow capability before desires
When I really want something I will always try to grow my ability to afford it before I even consider buying it. I create a plan and I will boost my savings such that buying it will not cause me to have to stretch financially. This way I feel that there is always excess.
Recognise that the world is full of opportunities
The world has so many opportunities for fun, for growth, for learning and all manner of things that can contribute towards happiness. When it comes to the earning aspect financial freedom I choose to see a world of opportunity when it comes to increasing earning power. There are so many ways to earn an income, all I need to do choose a path and put the effort towards progressing along it.
Zero consumer debt
I avoid consumer debt like the plague, this means no interest payments, which means I choose not to be a slave to a lending institution. This helps me free up cash flow to spend the money that I do have on building our investment portfolio or spending it on things that really bring me joy.
I realise that basic needs are minimal; I prioritise the few wants that bring joy to my life; and the excess makes me see how abundant life is.
So living a life of abundance is about recognising that there is so much opportunity in the world; it’s up to you to make the most of it. It’s also about realising that when you think that you don’t have enough money it is often purely your own greed taking away all of your excess. This is the realisation of living a life of abundance.
Engineer your freedom
This is very wise. Are you able to elabourate on your system of growing capacity before desires?
(also on a side note, it seems like some of your earlier posts dont allow comments – not sure if intentional?)
Hi Shaun
I like to equate money required for a purchase to time spent at work. When I realise how much time I’ll need to be able to afford something it forces me to consider how much joy the item/service is going to bring vs how much time spent at work I’ll need to sacrifice. Often this can be quite off-putting so it acts like a value check for proposed discretionary spending (desires). If I think the juice is worth the squeeze then I’ll make a plan (and stick to it) to save up enough to purchase the item using cash in the future. The purchase may be debt funded, if advantageous to do so, but the capability is always there so I never feel short. Cash flow wise, I almost never drain my savings account by purchasing something first then rebuilding the account up later.
About the comments I’ve adjusted the settings to allow for comments up to 1 year after article was published, default setting was 28 days.