“In the long run, we’re all dead.”
This quote by John Maynard Keynes was his response to a proposed solution for getting the U.S out of The Great Depression. He was responding to politicians and economist recommending that the government should be hands off and let the economy and the markets correct themselves. Keynes was for government intervention to correct the economy, which is what President Roosevelt ended up utilizing. Seemed to work out by the looks of things.
So What Does This Have To Do With Lifestyle Design?
Here’s my claim: John Maynard Keynes was the first lifestyle designer.
Keynes might not have been talking about lifestyle design when he spoke those words, but what he said is exactly what lifestyle design is preaching.
Lifestyle design is one of those phrases or words that can have a different meaning based on who you talk to. But my understanding of the phrase is this: design your life so that you can do what you want to do, go where you want to go and generally live the life that you want. By this definition Keynes’ quote makes a lot of sense for lifestyle designers. Specifically, I want to talk about this quote in terms of paradigm of retirement in America. Sure things may “work out” the way you want in the end when you retire, but what are you sacrificing for that retirement?
To me the phrase, “in the long run we’re dead” implies that waiting for the future is great, but focusing on improving the present is what’s really important. In America retirement is treated like the ultimate goal. One can then finally do what they wanted to do while they were working for the past 40ish years. But this paradigm ignores the wisdom of Keynes completely. Sure delayed gratification is great in terms of not using credit cards for big purchases and essentially living within your means. But when you set up (design) your life so that you are waiting for retirement, this is where I have a problem.
Like many of you I’m sure, my introduction to lifestyle design was Tim Ferriss’ book “The 4-Hour Work Week.” One of his main concepts and something he really pushed for was the concept of “mini retirements.” Basically not waiting until you retire in your 60’s to stop working and enjoy your life. He instead recommends to take extended parts of time off throughout a life time. Not waiting for the pay-off at the end of your working life.
This is what “in the long run we’re all dead” means. The goal should be to experience everything we can now, while we are still alive.
Nobody knows what tomorrow holds. If you are always living for tomorrow you will find that you have not lived at all. The “long run” will never end and you will be in a perpetual cycle of waiting for your life to start. This was my attitude throughout much of college. I’d say, “once I get this quarter done I’ll start going out more and make more friends, I’ll join clubs, I’ll talk to my professors.”
My problem and the problem that many people have is putting everything on tomorrow and ignoring what you can do today, what you can do right this second to live the way you want to, without constraints.
Are You a Lifestyle Designer?
Regardless if you give yourself the title, we should all aim for the lessons of lifestyle design. I do not see the point of working a job you hate eight hours a day, then go home to do what you really want to do. This situation is fine in the short-term if you just graduated, have kids or just haven’t developed the skills and experience to find a career you are passionate about. But you shouldn’t be settling for that life. This is not a sustainable lifestyle, one that you will be fulfilled by. To me sustainability is the key to life. Whether its sustaining your health, relationships, career, or happiness, making sure that these things are built for the long term is what really matters. So if you are stuck in a situation you hate, but are just doing so to maintain your current lifestyle, well then maybe it’s time to look at your life and start cutting the fat. The world is filled with examples of people that have looked at their lives, noticed that they don’t need so much stuff, chucked it all and start living for the things that matter to them.
The current American paradigm is that we go to college, get a corporate job, buy a house/condo, raise a family and retire with a nice pension. But what this situation ignores is that our economy is changing and corporations are no longer safety nets; most people cannot afford a house and their consumption-based lifestyle (what do you think caused the recession?); and college is not an automatic ticket to financial well-being. All of these reasons are why re-thinking the way we live is crucial. Re-think what you’ve been taught; Re-think your skills; Re-think your relationships. What is getting in the way of you living for today? What’s you excuse? It’s okay to have excuses but don’t wait for the long run, start now to figuring out what makes you happy and go after it.
Improve the present is a great mantra to live by.
I really like what you’ve said on this post Cameron. I totally agree with you. Every point is what I am trying to get across to people. I think we need to take this movement to another level, because I still see people that are blind and can’t see the changes that are happening. I think the more we communicate and spread the word, the world will start to see how it is possible to do what you’re passionate about and still live well.
Totally agree and feel the gravitational pull to open other people’s eyes to this kind of thinking.
I sometimes think we are in a bubble and talking to only people that have an untemplated mind set. I hope this not the case and people that are new to this thinking are joining in.
I’m surprised that you caveat “This situation is fine in the short-term if you just graduated, have kids or just haven’t developed the skills and experience to find a career you are passionate about. But you shouldn’t be settling for that life.” Why would settling for an unfulfilled life be fine for parents? Could you have meant something else?
People – with and without children – have different levels of financial and other responsibilities. Unless you are independently wealthy or have some source of income, I think you need to have an eye on cash flow while you’re working out what to do with your life.
Having children is also not what I consider a short term situation. If I had children, I wouldn’t skip over asking myself the questions you bring up in your article. What kind of example do you set for your kids by accepting a situation that doesn’t fulfill you? How would they grow up to view their careers? How would the viewing your kids as a burden that prevents you from loving your life impact your parenting?
Well put sir. I like how you touched on “re-thinking”. Unfortunately, many are scared to, or let an employer or a “system” do their thinking for them. It’s refreshing to see many like yourself spreading this message, people need to get over their fear and information helps.
You should write a book called “Re-Think and Live Rich” (a play on Think and Grow Rich).
Cheers.
The Re-thinking really seemed to connect with people.
Iteration is won of my important thinks we can do. The path is not a straight one.
Let you know if I ever take you up on writing the book. Thanks for the idea 🙂
Good post, Cameron.
Consumption isn’t the reason for the recession: inflation is.
And, though I was once all for it, laissez-faire is as sound as letting a five year old plan their own menu. I’m not advocating the Big Brother system, but if everyone is going to remain ignorant about money and economics, then socialism is inevitable. Or, as Thomas Jefferson said, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”
The free market is a great idea. But it’s just not practical. People are greedy and make really bad decision. The incentives are not always aligned to benefit society in the system.
And I agree the ignorance about economics and money is a huge problem. I’m working on making an Econ 101 post over at my personal blog. Education fixes a lot of problem, through empowering people with information.
Good rebuttal, but the free market is a great idea because people are greedy 🙂
The impracticality of the free market surfaces because people don’t think, aren’t taught the ins-and-outs, and, therefore, cannot take care of themselves in such a free-for-all market.
Actually, the free market is geared toward benefiting society, because to get what I desire, I have to give you what you desire – or make it myself.
I would say that greed is somewhat of a virtue in the free market, but ignorance will leave you impoverished by the authorities: inflation is a man-made phenomenon, and it destroys any chance at an equal-opportunity, productive free-market.
Yes the free market does work because of greed. Or as economists would say, “the invisible hand”. Greed is good…To an extent though. Harnessing the free market so inflation is small should be the goal, not bring down big companies.
Your sense is straight. Limited liability corporations aren’t the problem; government fiat currency is something to investigate: it, not the free market, is the source of inflation. And inflation steals from everyone’s piggybank, unless your pocked is lined with government money. So your point is made when written, “Harnessing the government printing press so inflation is small ought to be the goal, not bring down big companies.”
But, to tie it into the theme of your article, how do you cut the fat (current debt and deferred dreams) when all your savings is sucked up by inflation and taxes?
I think there’s an argument for a lot of the economy’s problems happening because there was NOT a free market. For example, the US housing bubble was inflated in part by excessively low interest rates. How did they get that low and stay there too long? That was due to the Federal Reserve setting rates, not the market.
Exactly. Ignorance is not (always) bliss.
@Dontrell: I mean cut the fat in the sense of cutting your possession and assessing what is really needed. Getting rid of the need for stuff to bring you happiness will require less money. That’s all.
Yes, JMK was correct. in the long run we are all dead. Lifestyle design – or any kind of design – is all about choices. We can choose to write our own script about the kind of life we want to live, or we can have someone write it for us. Through the decades too many people have bought into the pre-written script of finish school, buy a house, work for forty plus years to pay for it, and then retire without much thought only to realize that a one-size fits all script doesn’t really fit at all. Many of my coaching clients are people who want some help with script writing. In the meantime, the institutions that you cite as changing (corporations, the housing industry, colleges, consumerism, and retirement systems) continue to promote the existing paradigm because their survival depends on it.
So your advice to re-think everything and question assumptions is spot on. In addition, I would encourage everyone to think of those lifestyle design choices as not necessarily “either/or” choices, but rather “both/and” ones.
Re-thinking is the key to pretty much everything, because things change all the time. The world is not static, and not template is going to stay true for ever.
This was quite an eye-opener and very inspirational! I look forward to the other opinions that you have! @ financialsamurai …. I never thought about that…. but you are sooo right!!
Thanks Monique. Good to hear I made a positive impact with the post…cause that the whole point 🙂
Hi Cameron, I agree with your point about “cutting the fat.” I have been working to get rid of this extra stuff I don’t want and don’t need.
I also agree that people aren’t as safe as they think they are. A degree doesn’t guarantee a job, having a job today doesn’t mean you will have it next year or even next month. Americans are promised Social Security but will it be there in 30 years? I doubt it. Re-thinking is key as you said.
It’s scary for me to think that all my income comes from a job. People should treat their career like investments: DIVERSIFY!
I just erased a really long response…
Shortened:
I don’t think any of us really have a clue.
Shane Mac
You’re right Shane, no body really knows what’s right for them. Which is one it’s so important to try lots of shit and see what path is right for you.
You’ve seemed to figure it out, I’d say.
I have just figured out that I will always find something else, try something new and strive to do my best with whatever it is that makes me happy. Accept the unknown, embrace your ignorance and try to learn more everyday…
That’s what I figured out.
-Shane Mac
A couple of weeks ago my wife and I had an interesting conversation about how people who continue to work and do things that don’t fit their goals or is not really what they want to do are “lying to themselves”. I think that is true in a lot of cases and then there are some who truly don’t know what they want or how to achieve it. They’ve been following this “template” for all these years only to find out that it’s broken. This post rings true to the pulse of what is going on in society and the shift in mindset that people need to cultivate in order to design their lives how they see fit. Everyday here at work I hear people complaining about their job and always hoping to win the Mega-Ball not realizing that they have the power to change their circumstance even if on a micro level. I’ve finally been able to shift my mind-set and shift my circumstances. Instead of playing the lottery, I’m creating my own. Thanks for the great post.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment Greg.
This is what I’m trying to avoid: being that person in the office the talks to the interns about how much they’d rather go back and be in college. I hate that attitude.
Being an economist is actually one of the best jobs in the world. You don’t have to be right or wrong. You just need an opinion and you’ll ALWAYS be gainfully employed.
Sadly, you are right. Heck, you don’t even have to be right to make money as an economist.
It is true that economists get off too easy when they fuck up. But, I’d just remember that their job is incredible difficult. Many decisions they make about the economy are based off of tons of data. Interpreting that data is a huge task for anyone.
I think a common misconception of lifestyle design is to “throw caution into the wind.” I’ve met a lot of people who want to jump on the lifestyle design bandwagon and end up making really stupid decisions, like a married man with kids quitting his job, giving up his family’s health insurance, thinking that his debt will take care of itself… and not having a plan. He just quits because he wants to change his life. Bad idea.
This is why I like the last paragraph of your post about RE-THINKING. If you’re not in a great situation, think about how to get out of it. If you’re not happy with your job, think about how to find a new one or go in business for yourself. If you’re not happy with school, figure out how to change that.
To re-iterate what you said, immediately start taking the steps to change… and remember, it may take you two weeks, 2 months, or even 2 years. But you’ll get there. Just don’t be stupid about it.
Very good point Chris.
I know that I’m not a huge risk taker myself. So I’m going to be working for someone else for awhile. Gaining experience, confidence and the skills to go out on my own. This might mean building a side project on the week end 10 hrs a week.
Untemplating can be however slow or fast you want it to be. Just try and go slow.