Abundance

This is a photo of my son enjoying an ice tea next to a glacier in Switzerland.

One of the concepts that has helped me tremendously in enjoying my life is the idea of abundance. Rather than waiting for money to do the things you want, you find a way to get what you want.

I know that I have had the habit of relying on money. When I wanted something and didn’t have the money to buy it, I would say, “Oh well, I guess I can’t have it.” Instead, I have learned that when the money isn’t what I want it to be, I look for other options.

You’ll never have enough money if you insist that money is the only way to get things. No matter how much money you have, you’ll never have enough. Even the richest people in the world can’t buy everything that they want. There are companies that they can’t have. There are things like the national debt that they can’t even pay off. They can’t feed all of the world’s people. You will notice, if you look carefully, that part of what makes them rich is finding an alternative way.

Find Another Way

When you are in a situation in which you want something and don’t have the money, you have options. That is what abundance is: being aware of those options. Rather than saying “I can’t,” ask “What can I do?” In some cases, waiting may be the best course of action. Maybe now is not the time. In others, it might be that you do it yourself. It might be that there is a more creative way.

Gordon Ramsey

When Gordon Ramsey first opened his restaurant, he could not afford the ingredients that he wanted. However, he insisted upon being the best. He was always very competitive. Instead, he did things like learn how to cook cheaper cuts of meat, such as oxtail. He had to really learn how to cook, to not only cook oxtail, but to have it be so good that people preferred it. He would beg for even scraps of truffles from his vendor.

Gordan has actually decided not to give money to children in his inheritance, because he wants to show them not to depend upon money to find success and happiness. He wants his children to learn to take care of themselves.

Steve Wozniak (Apple)

One of the things that made Apple successful was that they could not afford the components to build computers, and Steve Wozniak, the co-founder, researched what other chips and components were available so that he could build the computers with fewer parts. This is part of what has made Apple, even internally, have a clean and organized approach.

“All the best things that I did at Apple came from (a) not having money and (b) not having done it before, ever.” — Steve Wozniak, Apple Co-Founder

There Are Other Ways To Be Happy

While finding another way is one approach, another is to see how else you can find happiness. Sometimes we can be narrow-minded in how we can enjoy ourselves and stubbornly insist that we need some particular thing to be happy. But what other things can you do or buy that will make you happy? There are always other positive things that you can do that you would enjoy. What are they?