Strive to make more, not to just possess more:
What if we didn’t long for more? We would lose our spirit and soul!
I want it all! – Dr. Dre
I think naturally, we humans always desire more. More food, more resources, more money, more space, more land, more possessions, more power.
I think if is evident that naturally, the human DNA is wired to want more. I don’t think consumerism necessarily suckers us into wanting more; consumerism merely placates our desire for more.
Is it bad to want more?
Morally speaking, we have always been told that to want more is evil. With Christian morality, we are taught that greed is evil. We are told by Jesus that it is almost impossible for rich men to enter heaven.
Thus, modern society is very contradictory:
It tells us that making more money and buying more stuff is good; yet it tells us that greed is bad.
It is all subjective.
I don’t think it is "evil" or "bad" to want more. To want more is human.
What I am trying to encourage is:
Don’t get suckered into desiring stuff that won’t actually benefit or profit you.
For example, a lot of material possessions we desire (cars, homes, jewelry, fashion) are nice, but they’re pretty insignificant. You can get all this fancy stuff, but eventually you will get bored of it.
My idea is this:
Rather than desiring to acquire more stuff, let us desire to become more, to create more, and to become stronger!
Productivity is good
To produce a lot is good. To produce a lot of blog posts, produce a lot of videos, produce a lot of photos, to produce a lot of coffee beans.
We are happy with our fields when they yield us a lot of olives and grapes. We are happy with our trees when they yield us a lot of avocados and apples.
To produce much is good.
But don’t get suckered into thinking that answering emails promptly or being on top of your todo list is "productive". To be good with logistics is a skill, but it isn’t "productive". True productivity is creating things of value, and sharing or selling it with others.
The tip is this:
Determine what activity you do which yields the most value (your archimedes lever). Then focus on that!
For example my #1 skill is blogging. Thus I try to devote all of my waking hours towards blogging; whether writing, making videos, researching, or coming up with new ideas.
And it is my desire to CREATE MORE. To MAKE MORE.
So I think this desire for "more" is good when we desire to create more, not to just consume more.
Producerism
Generally speaking most people consume 90% of the time and only produce 10% of the time. What if we reversed that; we only consumed 10% of the day, and focused on producing and making things 90% of the day?
More is good
I generally think with material things, owning fewer things is better. Why? Less stess, less management, less maintenance, less "paralysis over analysis" when choosing what to use.
Yet, let us strive to become more. To make more ideas, to make new information, and to share it as widely as you can.
More is good! ERIC