The more you have yourself figured out, the less you need.

I haven’t always known EXACTLY what I want to do, but I’ve known it involved creativity, insight, and definitely wasn’t something common. In that regard, I’ve spent a significant amount of time in my life trying different things in order to get closer to what it is I’m both capable of and interested in.

This contrasts with someone like Jerry Seinfeld who says he always knew he wanted to be a comedian. That’s the only thing he ever wanted to do, and the only career he ever had. When you hear him talk about it in the documentary Comedian, in his book Is this Anything?, and on his show Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, he always mentioned he just wanted to do it. He enjoyed the laughs, and it made him happy. He didn’t think of getting rich, he had no idea what he could earn with it, but he always figured as long as he could afford his rent and some peanut butter, jelly, bread and milk he would be fine. That’s truly an incredible and freeing thought.

When you know what will satisfy you, you need only the minimum. When I reflect on the people I know who dream of being rich, it’s mostly because they don’t know what they want. They want flexibility. They want to change their mind and be able to buy the item or life of their choosing.

I suffered this when I was young. Many do. Obviously, younger = less likely to know what you want so it makes sense. The closer I move in understanding myself, the more I realize I need less than I ever imagined as a kid. I see the path and it’s not hard to follow it because of money. It’s hard to follow it because it takes dedication, perseverance, creativity, insight, and connection. The overlap of all of that is small. Hitting it day in and day out is hard.

If you are in a situation where you feel you need more money. A LOT MORE MONEY. The kind where you can’t figure out a way to make it in the short-term by say getting a second job, or selling some stuff you own, then perhaps the alternative is to get specific about what you need to do what you want. This applies to careers, company projects, business launches, or any endeavor really.