You are rich. I am happy for you. Wait, what does it mean? Are you rich because you have a lot of money? Are you rich because you have had an abundance of experiences, connections in the world or places where you have been? Are you rich because your family and friends enrich you?
As you see being rich can mean many things. It has become a diluted word. For me it used to mean to have a lot of money and not worry about money. In parts it still does. Since, I introduced the rich day into my life I gave „rich“ a new spin.
What is a rich day?
A rich day is when you create a balance of sleep, productivity and leisure in one day. In 24 hours you sleep 8 hours, work 8 hours and have spare time for 8 hours. Utopian? Yes, and an ideal you want to aim for as close as possible, or choose your own ideal that suits you best.
For example: I need 7 hours of sleep, I am ok with 8 hours of productivity, so I have 9 hours of leisure. This would be my ideal day.
In January 2017 I was not close to my ideal rich day. I worked 9-11 hours (for money) Monday to Friday, slept up to 7 hours Monday-Saturday and had leisure of accordingly 6-8 hours (Monday-Friday). Sunday is my only non-explict rich day because I usually don’t work on a Sunday (apart from a little work routine).
Although I like alternative working models I found for myself (over the course of many months) that a distinction of 5 regular rich days and 2 alternative rich days per week is very compatible to me.
I like to have 5 days (Monday-Friday) of pushing through with up to 11 hours of productivity (working for money) since I like the challenge of reaching an economic goal every weekday. I have 3 different jobs whose hourly rates differ. So, depending on what jobs I am doing, I need to work more or less amount of hours per day to hit the daily goal. I like all three jobs so I am ok working for less money per hour because the reward and enriching part is for example the social interaction. A conversation can beat money.
What is wealth?
You cannot hear the word „rich“ anymore. It has been overstretched a lot in the media and by marketers. „Marketers ruin everything“, and presss and media are their best allies.
I understand your dislike for „being rich“, „do you want to be rich?“ and all the superficial crap you are hearing still too often, me included. So, here comes wealth. I am a fan of words. I like words. Wealth has not been overused, in my opinion. It still feels fresh, even new (at least to my horizon). So, what is wealth then?
Wealth means an abundance of something. You can use it as a synonme for rich although I feel the word has more charme and sounds more sophisticated. For „rich“ everyone has a precise image for it in their head immediately, the marketers and media did their job there already. But when I hear „wealth“ I have no clear image, no mental concept for it. It is rather abstract. Maybe for you as well. So, I prefer to talk about „being wealthy“ when I mean „being rich“, but I still refer to the „rich day“ to revaluate the concept of „rich“ on an etymological level.
What is success
In the realm of words which have received a negative connotation „success“ is another one. Success is „when you made it“. Nobody explains you what that means but you are supposed to thrive for something to „make it“.
As being rich it is word you just hear too much although it should be used with caution and a certain intimacy. Success is personal and individual. Your success is not comparable to another person’s success because there is no objective bar to reach where it says „Now you made, you just gained success!“
If you hit your precise goal in the amount of time you defined before, you were successful. You are not successful when you are chasing after someone else’s success. Then you will just be following (and „obeying“) instead of being in the lead taking responsibility for what is you are aiming for.
Success is also not a attached to money. If you brought peace to the world, ended all the wars (war is the most stupid and unnecessary thing in the world), you were successful.
What is prosperity?
When I think of something that prosper I’m having flowers in mind who grow because you continuously nourish them. Prosperity has the connotation of organic growth, of a person, business or nature thriving like a plant is growning because it is longing for sun (absurdly willing to come closer to its warming rays).
Putting it all together
Whether you define yourself wealthy, rich or successful living a prosperous life, it does only matter to you. You live a life with the standard you define as worth living. You define it for yourself. Do not let the media or other people define it for you.
You are the role model for yourself. There is no blueprint for your life when you are the leading example. Be the leading example.
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This was episode 19 of the #weekendpunchline 👊. Every Saturday and Sunday.
Also published on Medium.