If someone told you they could grant you instant wealth would you be interested?

Someone can.

That someone stared back at you in the mirror this morning.

There are two ways to become wealthy.

One way is to make more money, the other is to want less.

It is up to you… you can decide to be wealthy right this instant… just decide to want less.

You might suggest that “The heart wants what the heart wants” and that it is not within our control to want something other. Whether that is true or not, I would suggest that the more important point is “You can not want what you do not know.” Bare with me, and I’ll try to show the relevance.

Consider for just a moment that there may be things you would want more than anything else if only you knew about them. Could it be that with deeper contemplation you might discover something you did not initially know, and once this thing is known you come to realize your previous “wants” fade from your desires?

I would suggest this new thing, this new piece of information might be the knowledge of the true “Carrying Costs” of your “want.”

In the financial world, the term “Carrying Costs” refers to the costs of holding inventory and includes maintenance, specifically in regard to perishable items, storage costs, or other ancillary costs incurred as a result of owning or holding something.

Let’s take a silly example… Getting a pony sounds wonderful at first, but with a little thought you quickly realizes you don’t just need the money for the purchase of the pony, you also need money to buy and maintain a barn, pay for a veterinarian, pay to have shoes put on the pony, buy food, and invest your time grooming and training the pony. Once you think through the “Carrying Costs” of owning a pony you may find this thing you thought you wanted starts to fade from your desires.

If you are lucky enough to want something with very low Carrying Costs you should still appreciate that even then, you will still be faced with the Carrying Costs of fear.

Once you have this thing you have desired, you then run the risk of becoming obsessed or worried that you will lose it or damage it. Now instead of fully enjoying what you thought you wanted, your joy and peace of mind is stolen by worry of losing it, and your time (and other non-renewable resources) begins to be consumed trying to create a circumstance where you are guaranteed to have this prized possession forever.

Considering the true and FULL Carrying Costs of what we think we want is rarely done. If we considered such realities we might want far fewer things than we currently do.

It might also be argued that “wanting” is a good thing… that “wanting” motivates people to greatness. Fair enough, but in fairness no one is suggesting the path forward is a lobotomy or giving away all you own and eating grass on a small mountain somewhere. The suggestion is simply that we be more thoughtful about what it is we really, truly want. Be more thoughtful about the full carrying costs of what we allow ourselves to acquire.

Fancy things and expensive vacations are wonderful but such things might best be left as “happy ancillaries” to our real WANTS, rather than ends unto themselves. If these “things” come to us great, if they leave us great, if they never arrive great.

The point is NOT to be without things. The suggestion is NOT to be mindless and wantless.

The suggestion is rather to become more mind-FULL and Want LESS.