The Joys of Simplicity

Good morning, Successful People!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I know that I certainly am.

Do you own your possessions . . . or do they own you?

Do you control your circumstances . . . or do they control you?

Those are questions I've recently been thinking about as I work with several elderly people to help them do some estate planning. Each person yearns for a simpler life. They want the ability to drop most of their daily cares in terms of taking care of their property and financial affairs . . . but they would have to do something with all the assets they've accumulated. They find that thought overwhelming in its magnitude and psychological impact.

People do fall in love with their possessions.

I was struck by that fact again this week when I read that Donald Trump was again bringing his gambling casinos out of bankruptcy. I've lost count of how many times those same properties have been through bankruptcy while he has been the owner. It can't be a pleasant process for Mr. Trump. During those same years, owners of casinos in other parts of the country have been minting money. What's wrong with Mr. Trump? Did he make a mistake? Is he compounding that mistake by staying invested? I don't know, but it does seem like more than money must be involved.

A number of years ago I remember a time when Mr. Trump was about to lose ownership of these same casinos. I read an article that suggested that Mr. Trump's father went into one of the casinos and bought a large dollar value of chips . . . and walked back out again. This was a way of trying to rescue ownership in the casinos. I'm sure his father was glad to help. But would you want your father to have to do something like that to help you? I wouldn't. That made me feel like there might be times when I live more freely than Mr. Trump does. It's a sobering thought.

"But he's a billionaire," you point out. "He's on television all the time." "He can do whatever he wants." But is he really free? Could he just drop his businesses tomorrow and become a yoga instructor? I think not. He'll be drawn back into trying to make a buck on those failing casinos . . . again and again.

What can you eliminate that would give you a more beautiful life?

I would trade a lot of possessions to have more time to be with those I love and to do the things I adore doing in perfect tranquility. In recent years I've been keeping track of how much time various possessions take. If the time involved is more than it seems to be worth, I get rid of the possession. Every time I let go of a time-wasting possession, life seems more beautiful. And it is.

I often recommend to my graduate students that they keep track of how they spend all of their time for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week over 14 days. If you do that, notice what possession might be directly or indirectly be causing the problem.

Here's an example. Some experts wrote an article that I read that said that we still travel at the same speed as the horse and buggy days. I couldn't figure out what they meant. The article clarified the point by adding the time that's needed to buy and maintain a car, as well as the time to do the various chores a car requires, to the elapsed time spent traveling. If you do that, the average person is traveling at about 5 miles an hour for all the hours devoted to that car.

If you can find a car that doesn't cost so much and doesn't require as much maintenance, you can cut that time involved substantially . . . and move ahead faster than a horse-and-buggy. Where else are you operating at horse-and-buggy speed?

Another benefit of getting rid of things that complicate your life, annoy you and waste your time is that whatever cash you gain can be employed to do new things to live better than a billionaire on five dollars extra a day. Get on with it!

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell