How to improve your own well-being

Welfare

Let's face it - we don't want money. We want to have a car, an apartment, we want to wear good clothes. And it just so happened that in order to acquire all these benefits, you need to have pieces of paper with cities and numbers. If we lived in an ancient society, then instead of money we would have to give a hundred loaves or 10 skins for one jeans.

In any case, it is important to understand that before spending money, you need to want something. Bills are just an affordable way to satisfy desires.

It turns out that along with our opportunities to earn, our attitude to money depends on what and in what quantity we want to buy. Unfortunately, not all people understand this.

As a child, the following dialogue from The Simpsons made me laugh:

- And how much will it cost?

- It's free!

- Sounds a little expensive.

Today, I understand that it perfectly illustrates the relationship between our needs and opportunities, that is, our well-being.

There are people who have this ratio is very unstable. At 20, they want a car, an apartment, and it would also be nice to have a plot for a cottage with a veranda. They constantly struggle with the thought of why they cannot get what they want for the salary of an office worker.

I'm not saying that it happens to everyone. But only by correlating your needs with the current real opportunities, you can learn to value your potential and choose the right directions for self-development.

How to come to this?

The easiest way is to set a deadline for achieving your desires so that they do not bother you at the moment. To do this, you need to understand which money is "necessary" for you, and which is "pleasant".

Make a list of three to four points:

Every month I have to buy groceries, pay rent, internet, and so on (and quite often this figure is not as high as it might seem).
Every three months (or six months) I need to update my clothes or shoes, enroll in English courses or continuing education programs.
Every two or three years I want to buy new household appliances, sports equipment or go on vacation abroad.

The time frame, like the needs, is up to you. The main thing is to understand that with such a simple technique you are killing two birds with one stone: you understand that you do not need to buy a new iPhone, and set a full-fledged goal towards which you can move gradually.

But if after a year or two you still don't have enough money to accomplish what you want, then what to do?

The answer is very simple - invest.

Investments

Money has to make money.

The question "What to spend money on?" we deliberately ask ourselves not as often as it seems. There are basic needs that need to be satisfied, there are social standards that remind you that you need to go to the sea once a year, and there is a desire to earn more, which is also impossible without certain monetary costs.

Now I'm not talking about hiring a hitman to eliminate your competitor, but about investing in your knowledge and skills, which are a source of income.

I am very inspired by the quote from Gary Becker, Nobel laureate in economics: "We have no income gap in America - there is a gap in the level of knowledge and skills."

No matter how much we want to get the cherished millions, let's be frank - many of us will lose them as quickly as we gained, because we will not be able to dispose of them wisely.

Over the past year, I have bought and read about 60 books on various aspects of self-development, each of which cost about 500 rubles. The total is 30,000 rubles, less than the tuition fee for one semester at the university. But during this time, my income has more than doubled.

I'm going to ask you to ask yourself just one question: What is the only skill you could spend money on developing now that will help you move your career forward? Answer it, and options will fall on you like apples in the fall.

Start small: buy a book once a month, go to courses every six months, attend professional conferences and forums once a year.

You can argue with me, but I am absolutely sure that in order to earn more, you need to know more.

One wise man said, "Markets are unstable, invest in yourself." Follow his advice and you will see how quickly juicy fruits of success and personal wealth grow from small seeds.

Good luck to you!