When you think about what things actually cost, your mind is likely to think in terms of dollars and cents (or Euros and cents for my friends across the pond). But the dollar cost of things is only the beginning. . .
Goal Focused Living
I had a professor in law school who was one of those extremely focused people who are dedicated to reaching the highest level, the maximum efficiency of whatever it is they are working on. I remember Professor Greene saying that she had 5 major life goals, and that she only did things, or accepted obligations that furthered one of those life goals. If it did not fit within the framework of where she was headed, it was a firm “no”. She was a terrific lawyer, a top-notch teacher, and an Olympic caliber sprinter in addition to whatever the other two things were (it’s been 30 years, and my memory is not what it once was). I remember thinking that I could never limit myself like that, never live my life a slave to the same 5 things. But I was wrong in my judgement of the limitations of her system of living. They weren’t limitations at all. If fact, she was probably freer than I’ve ever been.
Life as Currency
By only doing things that advanced her life’s agenda, Professor Greene was efficiently engaging in what she, on some level, must have understood to be a fundamental truth in the Universe. She may not of seen it like that, but the truth is, none-the-less undeniable. That truth, as elegantly framed by Henry David Thoreau is that:
The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it
Think about that for a moment. If you chop a cord of wood to heat your house, then the cost of heating your house with that wood is the time, the part of your life, dedicated to cutting the wood.
The Price of the Hypothetical Latte’
If you buy a latte’ (the universal example of waste in the FIRE community it seems), then the actual cost of the latte’ is the time, the amount of your life, it took to earn the money necessary to buy the latte’. It’s not the $5, it is more than that. If you earn $10/hr and you pay 15% in taxes, and 7.5% in FICA, then you actually only “earn” $7.75/hr. That puts the cost of your coffee at about 40 minutes of your life (rounded up). But even that is not exactly right. Do you need clothes for work? Do you eat lunch out? Do you commute? Need tools, or need a drink to forget the boredom of your labors? All of those things cost you money, and time and so, life. All of that is factored into the cost of your visit to Starbucks.
Quick Sidebar – If you’ve not read it, my post from last year on Time, Money and Health is related and relevant to this discussion.
The Bank of Life (literally)
Think of your life-like a savings account. Each time you choose to do something, the amount of time you spend on that thing is deducted from your account. Every choice, whether it is to go to the office, to hike in the woods, to play ball with your daughter, or take a nap, each one comes with a cost that is deducted from the balance of life you have left to spend.
How much life will you withdraw to buy that latte’?
The rub here is that none of us know what the balance in the account is. We don’t know if we have a week, month, year or 50 years of life left in the bank. All we can know is what the cost, in life, is for any choice we make.
I would imagine that a fairly large number of us have read Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez’s book Your Money or Your Life. If you haven’t, you should. While not everything discussed in the book is something you will apply to your life, they discuss in great detail, the concept of exchanging your life’s time, for the necessities and comforts (and extravagances) of life. There are exercises in the book to help you focus your attention on what it is costing you to be the current version of you. And then to help you tailor how you are spending your life energy in order to maximize your satisfaction with the life you are leading and/or want to lead. I promise, if you put the effort into this exercise (and are willing to pay for it with your life energy – that’s the whole point, right?), it will lead you to introspection that will be both uncomfortable, and life enhancing.
Bringing it back around to where I started, although she may not have been thinking of it in this way, Professor Greene spent her life energy only on the things that brought her happiness, only on the things she had identified as the most important to her. Imagine if we could flip a switch in our lives and, starting right now, disregard all of the crap in this world that does not enhance our existence, that does not move us closer to being who we want to be. I might still buy the latte’, but I would also recognize it’s true cost to me.
Until Next Time, FIRE On! – Oldster
p.s. I am, more or less, back in the saddle (figuratively speaking – my days of subjecting horses to my whim and fancy are behind me – for which horsedom is, I’m sure, grateful). We have moved into our new house and are firmly set upon the task of learning how to manage our acreage. I’ll post more on this in the future, but suffice it to say for now that we went from a .10 acre lot, to 3.5 mostly cleared acres. There’s stuff to learn.
-O
Oldster- I love the point of view of your blog. It’s good to find another FIRE blog with a perspective from someone in my generation (X).
It took me a long time, but in my mid 40s, I came around to Professor Green’s approach to life.
It wasn’t just that I began to understand the true costs in terms of life spent for things. I realized that I didn’t have the mental capacity (capacity not ability) to live a life that had too many options.
I find life is much better with fewer options.
Keep writing…you’ve got at least one new reader.
Thanks for the kind words, Steve. I too was a relatively late comer to the understanding of the kind of focus Professor Greene embodied. I see the younger folks in this community and wonder what they’ll be capable of doing if they can continue to follow the FIRE path.
Again, thanks for commenting, and welcome!
Oldster