Arrival Fallacy
Wealth Beyond Money: Happiness Is Not External; Beyond Wealth & Money: Hacking the American Mind; Money: My Financial Freedom Library for All Subscribers Value $500 No Expiration Date
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Every time I release an update I share one wealth beyond money idea, something I found inspiring beyond wealth and money, for paid subscribers an easy and unconventional way to earn some money with my analysis of the opportunity if you take action, and one question for you to consider.
Life Update
I returned from Playa del Carmen last month where I was attending Nomadbase.
It's a community of digital nomads, expats, and location independent entrepreneurs that gets together a few times of year to share business ideas and topics of interest for nomads making money on the road. It was great to hang with friends and make new connections with others seeking a lifestyle of freedom and adventure.
Other than investing in my relationships and communities, I have been busy having conversations with established business owners looking to grow, scale, or exit their business in the next 1-3 years.
My investing background has been mostly in real estate as a landlord and most recently as a private lender. I have also tried my hand at different investments classes like: art, crypto, forex, options, single-family and multi-family real estate, stocks, tax liens, and as a limited partner in online businesses.
I am of the mindset that the only way to see what works is to risk a little time and money and see what results you get. If you cover the downside risk you don't lose. You either win or learn something you didn't know before.
You might ask, if you are writing about wealth beyond money why focus on making money? The truth is I spent thousands of hours and dollars to uncover everything I can about money to find financial freedom.
Even though I no longer had to work because my investments supported my lifestyle I was still unfulfilled. Financial freedom bought me the luxury of time to begin the search for inner, unquantifiable wealth.
These days I allocate a few hours during the day to money making because it's a game I want to play to the best of my ability and master.
Ready for this edition? Vamooooooos!
One Wealth Beyond Money Idea
Arrival Fallacy
Have you promised yourself you will be happy when: you gradaute school, get married, quit your job, become a multi-millionaire, have a family, etc?
See a pattern?
The truth is you have succumb to arrival fallacy. It's the belief that your happiness and contentment are outside of you. You have become dependent on external circurmstances.
We are bombarded with messages to seek fulfillment via material or status markers. What we are really seeking relief from is a feeling we aren’t enough, valuable, or wanted.
In the end there are no exernal solutions to internal states and feelings.
Beyond Wealth and Money
Reading The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains by Dr. Robert Lustig.
While researching the toxic and addictive properties of sugar for his New York Times bestseller Fat Chance, Robert Lustig made an alarming discovery—our pursuit of happiness is being subverted by a culture of addiction and depression from which we may never recover.
Dopamine is the “reward” neurotransmitter that tells our brains we want more; yet every substance or behavior that releases dopamine in the extreme leads to addiction.
Serotonin is the “contentment” neurotransmitter that tells our brains we don’t need any more; yet its deficiency leads to depression. Ideally, both are in optimal supply.
Yet dopamine evolved to overwhelm serotonin—because our ancestors were more likely to survive if they were constantly motivated—with the result that constant desire can chemically destroy our ability to feel happiness, while sending us down the slippery slope to addiction.
In the last forty years, government legislation and subsidies have promoted ever-available temptation (sugar, drugs, social media, porn) combined with constant stress (work, home, money, Internet), with the end result of an unprecedented epidemic of addiction, anxiety, depression, and chronic disease. And with the advent of neuromarketing, corporate America has successfully imprisoned us in an endless loop of desire and consumption from which there is no obvious escape.
Lustig not only reveals the science that drives these states of mind, he points his finger directly at the corporations that helped create this mess, and the government actors who facilitated it, and he offers solutions we can all use in the pursuit of happiness, even in the face of overwhelming opposition.
Wealth is more like serotonin and less like dopamine.
Money (For Paid Subscribers) -Something For Everyone This Week
Nothing caught my attention this edition to share with you other than adding some Netflix to my portfolio with the recent drop in price (not to be taken as financial advice).
I would however like to offer all my readers access to my personal financial freedom library. Reply to this post and I will share the link to access some titles you may be familiar with and others that are hidden gems.
Value: $500+
Money Cost: $0
Time Cost: Varies by book
ROI: How valuable is a life changing idea for you? Tough to quantify.
One Question For You
Can I be happy today independent of circumstances?
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Until next time. Happy week ahead!