Browse Tag: life

Appreciate what you have – In pursuit of Happiness

Wealthsamurai – In Pursuit of Happiness in the Journey called LIFE

“Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.”

 

appreciate what you have


Appreciate What You Have
– I have chosen this topic to re-iterate the philosophy of WealthSamurai that is to achieve happiness through wealth creation and proper financial planning. Today’s post is a guest post by a dear friend SG.

When railway was invented, and routes were getting laid down in Britain, an officer working on field saw a native man carrying faggots on his head. Officer stopped him and asked where are you going. “To sell faggots in the far away village market”, replied the man. Officer asked, tell me your weekly routine. “Monday and Tuesday I chop the trees, carry the faggots to market on Wednesday, sell them on Thursday, return back on Friday, sharpen the tools on Saturday and rest on Sunday. Officer proudly told the man, once the railway starts running on this route, it will take you to market in an hour and back in an hour, so it will save you 2 days. Officer thought the man would be rejoiced instead he looked worried. What’s the matter asked the officer. Man replied in worried tone, “You disturbed my whole routine, now what do I do on those 2 days?”

The world has been changing rapidly since last century. Science and technology has contributed significantly in every field of our life. Just try and compare the daily routine you would have if born 50 years back. Along with loads of convenience and comfort it has brought to us, it also increased the speed of living drastically. Science has penetrated into your daily routine so much so that the routine tasks which would have taken whole day 50 years back are now possible only in 1/10 of its time.

For example:

  • Washing\Cleaning – Washing machine, dishwasher, vacuum cleaner
  • Cooking – Food processor, pressure cooker, microwave oven
  • Travelling – Automobiles, railway, airplanes, rockets

So the same predicament has happened to us.

What do we do with the time that we are saving?

There could have been lot of apt answers but unfortunately the answer we chose was,

  • Work more
  • Earn more
  • Enjoy life more and more

We worked more, we earned more but somehow the latter part was not to happen. We are not happier than our previous generations even though we earn more and have much more comfort and convenience. What went wrong? Only few people come across this question in their LIFE, rest of them do not even have the liberty to think in this mad mad race. People who spend some time with themselves and introspect are soon struck with reality. They know they are not happy at the moment although this might be exactly what they had planned for.

People don’t really know what they want from or in LIFE. They don’t have clear goals. They try to squeeze LIFE as much as they can and then adjust their goals accordingly. A man, who had a goal of buying a car one day, soon readjusts it to buy big sedan as soon as he owns his first car. A man, who dreamed of having his own apartment in city someday, suddenly starts dreaming of a luxurious 4 bedroom suite as soon as he moves into his cozy 1 Bedroom apartment. This is a vicious cycle.

If your goals and priorities keep changing frequently it tells three things about you:

  • You did not know your goals
  • You did not know your priorities
  • You can never be happy in LIFE

Some people may say not necessarily, goals and priorities can change and I would agree with that. But there is always a cost to pay. So what do you put at stake? You put at stake that very thing for which you have been working hard till date – A happy and satisfied LIFE.

Your wants keep turning into needs and you keep running like a race horse to meet them. This cycle is hard to break unless you are ready to swallow some bitter pills.

What is the smallest thing that you appreciated recently? Mind you, the smallest
Do you own that thing?

Answers to first question will differ a lot, however, answer to latter is same – NO.

We never appreciate what we have. We only appreciate the things which we do not have. Ask yourself, how much time you spend in appreciation and gratitude towards what you have – Very less.

Most of our time is spent in appreciating what others have and disparaging our achievements. Stop comparing things. Comparison is what is hurting you all along and it can really kill you. You can never have everything in the world. And even if you do one day, you will soon start craving for moon and stars.

However let’s not confuse contentment as complacency? One should definitely not be complacent. But you have to learn to be happy in the present moment, learn to appreciate the moment as it is. So start appreciating what you have now…

  • Appreciate your favorite ball-pen which you have purchased few years back
  • Appreciate your house you owned just now
  • Appreciate your friends, husband\wife, son, daughter
  • Appreciate your neighbors, colleagues, boss, office boy, lift-man, milkman
  • Appreciate the weather soothing or scorching
  • Appreciate the piece of sky visible from your window
  • Appreciate the flower in the vase blooming or withered
  • Appreciate chirping birds, barking dogs, yelling kids
  • Appreciate the rising and setting sun
  • Appreciate the beautiful wallpaper on your laptop

 

And finally, stand in front of mirror; appreciate yourself for the gratitude you are expressing towards everything in this world which is part of your LIFE. Take pride in things and keep feeling it. If you can do this, you will notice that something around you is changing. Every day when you wake up, you will be a happier, content and a better person than yesterday.

 

 

Needs Versus Wants

Today I am posting about a very important topic. It is must for us to draw a line between needs & wants. Today’s post is guest post – Courtesy my dear friend Sundeep

We have heard and some of you might have read a lot on wants and needs. And still most of us keep struggling with how to distinguish between them. Before we go there let’s understand these two words:

Need :- Without meeting these, your survival can be in a jeopardy
Want :- Some desires lurking in once survival is taken care of

 

Needs Vs Wants

 

Definitions look simple and understood by everyone. However when people have to apply it in their life many people classify things in wrong category and mostly this mistake is one way. Most of the people tend to count wants in the need category. There is hardly any vice versa case. Why should it be this way?

The answer lies in human nature. Gimme more! is slogan of human life. Being a social animal(don’t get offended I am just reminding we are animals at all), we have learnt to follow social rules, behavior, etiquette’s. In the journey we eventually started following each other’s desires, ambitions, materialistic goals. No animal kills\eat once it is full stomach i.e. once survival is taken care of. Man is the only animal who has so many problems to take care of once survival is taken care of. Life style, social status, peer pressure, relationships, bank balance, real estate,….

Note: Wants and needs are not necessarily limited to monetary things. There are other needs like emotional, psychological, spiritual etc. however those are out of scope of this discussion.

Let’s understand wants and needs in detail

Q: What are the basic needs of life?
Ans: Food\water, clothes and shelter.

Let’s say we have 3 families. Family A which earns 5,000 Rs\month. Family B earns about 50,000 Rs\month and C where it is 5,00,000 Rs\month. Do you think basic needs of life changes for any of these families?

No they don’t. There can be 10 other things listed as auxiliary needs depending on which earning class a person belongs to. However the basic needs don’t change.

What changes is the affordability factor which opens up choices for meeting their needs. Family A buys grains from government rationing store. Family B buys it from wholesale grain store and maybe C buys it from malls or super market. But all they are ensuring is to have wheat flour, rice, sugar etc. available at home. Although the expenses will be different they are still going towards needs.

Now suppose family A thinks that they should have some sweet dish occasionally for dinner. Howsoever small wish it appears, it still falls under wants. The same sweet dish at the the end of meal could be frequent for family B & daily for family C. But for them it doesn’t fall under wants, because they can afford it without altering or disturbing financial priorities. Similarly, there can be some wishes and demands for family B and C which will fall under wants.

This small example can help you apply the need vs. want test on bigger things. For this, you have to be truly conscious about your actions, to be able to judge the difference. Sometimes the line seems so subtle and mind plays games on you in judging a want as a need.

Note that, occasionally going for a wanted thing is no crime and actually sometimes it is required to boost and energize family, show your love and appreciation. One must only be conscious about the decision.

 

Here are few more examples of wants as a thinking exercise for you. Note that the list will change significantly based family income group. Here I am considering middle and well to do class.

  1. You are hungry and decide to go for pizza house instead of healthy rice-plate
  2. You keep changing your mobile, motorbike frequently
  3. You only shop from branded stores and often shop extra clothes
  4. You just had a full stomach dinner, still walking past an ice-cream parlor you give into your temptation
  5. You own two flats and can be easily convinced that you need to buy another one since you have sufficient balance and/or recently got increment in office
  6. You like to change your house interior once in 5 years
  7. Sizes of your fridge, car, wardrobes, TV sets, ornaments(and even body) grow bigger and bigger
  8. You have a masters degree and it feels gratifying to go for a distant learning MBA, although it is not at all relevant to your job profile
  9. Your mutual fund is providing decent returns but you would like to switch to one with even more returns
  10. Your child is doing good in studies, you want him\her to do better and register him\her at another famous coaching class
  11. Your child is good at swimming, but you would like him\her to be good at dance and also play a musical instrument because many friend’s children do that.
  12. You go for weekly shopping at a mall and return with at least twice the number of items you had on your list and when you cross-check items with your list, you haven’t covered even the half of it.
  13. .
  14. .
  15. List can go on…

From all above examples you can see that, mistaking wants for needs is going to take toll on your budget and eventually you.

Once you know that you must choose consciously, and you keep practicing it, it is not that difficult. In case of doubt, ask three simple questions to yourself:

  1. Are you doing something just because you can afford to do it?
  2. Do you think you may ever regret doing it?
  3. Can you do without doing it?

Now let’s take first example in the list and try to apply these questions. For better fitment I will put an outside student studying in city in the role-play here.

You are hungry and decide to go for pizza house instead of healthy rice-plate option

Q: Are you doing something just because you can afford to do it?
Ans: Yes. It is start of the month and I have just received monthly pocket money from home.

Q: Do you think you may ever regret doing it?
Ans: Yes. At the end of month if I run out of money received from home, I may regret this overspending.
Q: Can you do without doing it?
Ans: Yes. I can certainly have the rice plate and satiate my hunger.

All Yes means definitely you are falling for a want disguised as need. Revisit your decision. If all answers are No you can go ahead without any doubt. Even if occasionally you decide to go with your wants, make sure that a want remains on wants list. Don’t let your mind trick you into slowly converting a want into a need.

I would like to emphasize one thing at this point. One shouldn’t think that having to make this decision every time is sign of miserliness or deprivation,  because it is not. Rather this practice may help you refraining from making some silly or inappropriate decisions which may hurt you over a long period of time.

Respect your needs and be smart with your wants, that’s it. You will surely be in control of your financial conditions and also be a happier family. It’s a winwin for sure.