The Excitement Is Playing The Game
Derek Sivers has been a role model to me for I don’t know how long. His outlook on the world is very similar to mine and reading his recent blog post 232 sand dollars I realized just how much this is true.
His post is about collection unbroken sand dollars on the beach. As a kid, I remember looking for them myself only to realize shortly afterwards that they didn’t really bring value to me themselves. It was the search that was the excitement.
Why do I like business? Because trying to figure out what gets people to spend money is an incredibly challenging game. Most people only ever work for someone else. They do their portion of the business and that’s it. For me, it’s not about the money, it’s about figuring out how people tick. It’s fascinating.
Having lots of money isn’t exciting. In fact, if you read about it, most people say having more money brings more problems. The excitement is easy to misinterpret. What’s exciting about Christmas? Not knowing what you’re going to unwrap. Give it a few days, and you won’t be excited anymore.
The excitement comes from not knowing.
If you don’t understand something, it appears magical. Human nature makes you want to figure it out.
Next time you catch yourself wanting something material, take a moment to think if you really want it. Do you actually want it, or is it just fun to think about acquiring it?