What is essential to function?

In the pursuit of what we want it is essential to strip away those things that no longer serve us whilst ensuring that we have what we need to function and to serve our changing needs over time. Even the artic fox which has the minimum amount of processions possible and yet it sheds what it has got twice a years changing from their summer fur to winter whites and back again every season, not for reasons of vanity but survival. Humans have more stuff, our strong opposable thumbs opened up the material world for us and we have been hoarding ever since for the sensible reason it was hard to make things for a long time and it is only recently that the cost has dropped to the point that we have been able to have a surplus, and once we had an excess we have had no natural reason to stop accumulating things at a frightening pace, but there comes a point where all these things become a burden and we need to start asking what is essential to our function and purpose.

It is an incredible feat of human innovation that has given us an excess of property, the factory system, standardisation, material science, computerisation and time management are just some of the reasons for this change. In a stark example the cost of lighting a room beyond a fire, once took a peasant's yearly wage to buy a candle compared with less than ten minutes work for an average wage to buy a lightbulb now, and the latest minimalists do not even include the light bulb in their room on their list of forty things I own and yet without it they would not be able to see at night to write their lists. We have a lot of stuff because of this gift of efficiency, we do not need to rely on the candle maker down the road, we can buy from any producer in the world, there are rarely local shortages as we are so interlinked, the only thing you need is money and the world becomes your stockpile and that is wonderful, but does it serve your wants.

That is a personal call, though most people do not realise they are making it, they buy until they run out of room and then rent a storage unit to keep it safe and expand their space just in case they ever need the things again. There is no denying that it makes some people feel safe, despite the wealth we are surrounded with, it is perfectly possible to spend all your money, and things can be used or sold in times of money famine, however this material wealth means that our things are no longer assets, they do not just depreciate but can actually cost you money to remove from your life, as anyone who has had to get rid of a fridge finds out (and yes, I am still bitter about it!). However it is hard to feel like our things are liabilities, things always meant wealth and still do, apple products, fast cars and yachts, diamonds ring all cost money and yet they all lose their added value as soon as you buy them, the point is not for them to hold value, they are displays of spending ability not wealth anymore.

You can no longer tell someone’s wealth from the things they own, even houses are liabilities if you do not rent them out, in the long run they increase in value only by inflation but that is ignoring the running costs they incur each year. Everything can be rented and paid for monthly, what you see is only an illusion created by a high income stream, take that away and the house of cards comes tumbling down, the only real wealth is hidden in stocks, gold and rental property, even money is inflated away, you can not tell how wealth someone is from the clothes, watches, bars they drink at, food they eat, all of those things can be paid for by a credit card. Which means that you can not display your wealth with things and all the things you have are easily replaced, what is the point of hoarding anything except as a sign of worry and stress.

It is even worse really as owning things has become a source of reverse snobbery, they become an anchor, forcing you to stay in one place with your things, freedom is the price you pay for all your things, the freedom to move, explore and travel. Having a backpack and nothing else is becoming the ultimate status symbol, that freedom and miniaturisation is expensive, “Airbnb”ing your way around the world, a different place every week, with your super powerful laptop, digital camera, satellite phone and credit card that buys in every service you can imagine, that is not cheap, and yet they portray themselves as carefree vagabonds going from coffee shops to bar and moaning about the developing world's lack of fast internet connection. Which is the kicker, this freedom is built on the back of tremendous wealth, our societies wealth that is invested in our infrastructure, the internet is expensive it cost a significant faction of our wealth and it has huge returns in terms of wealth creation, but it the superrich that benefit the most from this public wealth, the internet is useful for the poor, but essential to the rich.

With every new essential service, the advantage to the rich becomes more baked into our society, freedom of travel and capital, means that they are free to avoid tax, freedom of information means the rich can capitalise on it, freedom of money means the rich can buy anything rather than developing relationships. This is not meant to be anti the rich, I want everyone to be rich and the only way I know how is by helping people to think like the rich, they do not hoard stuff, they do not have what is not essential to their lives, they build assets that generate an excess of income to finance their lifestyles and of course buy more assets. They ride on the snowball effect, a return of three percent does not mean a lot to someone with a thousand pounds, it is less than two pounds a month income, but on a million pounds that is thirty thousand a year, an average wage, ten million and you are earning the average yearly wage every month. It is the dirty secret of compounding interest that it only benefits you once you have something worth compounding.

First you have to get ahead, and buying stuff is not building future value, you do that by spending less than you earn and investing the rest, you speed that process up by taking risks with your investment by putting your money into your earning potential (getting a degree), business, property that can be improved, cypto currency (if you understand it, I don't). However you have to value that future income or there is no motivation to do so, if your focus is on hedonism that is where your money will go, if you want safety stuff can give you a safety blanket, if you have not thought about it, money will just leak away. You have to prioritise something to make it happen, it has to be in the front of your mind and relationships are just more important to us, we spend according to the habits of our friends and family, it can take real bravery to step out from that group think. If everyone you know is in a yacht club, you will spend the money to be there too, it becomes an essential.

Almost the whole of society operates in this way, and there is nothing wrong with playing the game, just be sure what game you are playing and why, in particular what function it serves in your life. If you end game is to be a professor, play the social politics game of promotion within the university sector but accept that it is going to get in the way of innovation, research and original thought, you can not be a radical, you have to be just a little bit different, a small evolution, no great leaps for you, you have to stay in your box. There is always a price to be paid, it is up to you to become aware of what that price is, and whether you are getting what is essential to you.

That is why things are so important, they are the easy practice for deciding what is essential to you, they are right in your face, you are paying a price for having too much stuff, and equally you are poorer for not having everything you need, not having the right tools for the job means you can not perform to the highest standards. The battle is to know what you want, what is important and essential to you, and then pursue it ruthlessly, once you have conquered your stuff, move on to your time, how you are spending the one truly fixed asset in your life, and money only buys what money can buy. Your character, knowledge, experience they come at a cost paid for by time, you can not master every skill, only those which are essential to what you want and need, so be sure what is essential to you so that you can achieve your potential and function at your highest level.