Eating is an agricultural act - Wendell Berry

Monday, September 07, 2009

definition of rich

in this article, gary north explains 'rich' as follows:

I have a peculiar definition of "rich." It is easy to understand. I know almost no one who has achieved it.

"You are rich when you quit your wage-earning job and pursue your life's top goal without ever drawing a paycheck again."

Note: I did not say "when you can afford to quit." I know lots of people who are rich by that definition. But they don't quit. This includes me.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating. The proof of riches is to unlock the golden handcuffs, hand them back to their owner, and walk away.

But what if you love your job? It pays a lot, you say, but you would be willing to do it for free.

Then do it for free.

Why?

To get rid of the golden handcuffs. Do not depend on them.

success versus significance

When men reach middle age, they face a decision point: success vs. significance.

If a man defines success as being different from significance, this decision point is a big one. Mid-life crisis is associated with it.

If he regards success as significance, he may have to make a career change. Most men's careers are not geared to significance.

The larger your allocation of time to significance, the better. The earlier you begin, the better. The justification for focusing on money rather than significance is that you need to accumulate a lot of money to finance your significance. When you reach your goal, turn in the golden handcuffs.

unlike gary north, i know a few people who are rich :-)
many write on this blog and many are somewhere in the fields of rural india.

3 comments:

Preeti Aghalayam aka kbpm said...

did I mention I have not yet drawn a paycheck here? :-)
(I am, of course, very extremely poor, because the reason behind it is, what can be termed administrative pig-headed-ness; plus the fact that I don't want to ask).

on a serious note, interesting, as usual.

csm said...

kenny - are you on strike as well?

Preeti Aghalayam aka kbpm said...

csm, no, no strike. i am an atheist. meaning i dont believe in the govt. or recognise its existence.