Learning to earn and learning to live well are two different skills. Plenty of people master the first one and completely ignore the second.
“Some people have learned to earn well, but they haven’t learned to live well” — Jim Rohn.
I quote “The Treasury of Quotes” a lot because I consider it a foundational and endlessly useful book.
The first time I read it, it struck me as very simple, almost primitive. But once I started growing, every new reading opened it up to me a little deeper.
It describes a situation where a person starts earning a lot but doesn’t really change their “poor habits.”
I run into this myself sometimes when I consult people. Many keep skimping on themselves and simply pile up money, even though their income stopped being small a long time ago.
Learning to earn is one thing. Making money flow evenly and wisely into the different areas of your life is another.
Sometimes a person earning several thousand dollars a month considers buying flowers for his wife — about 500 UAH, something that will make her happy for ten days — a foolish purchase.
And some people save on themselves and refuse to get a check-up and run $100 worth of tests twice a year, even though it directly affects their quality of life and their capacity to work.
A plain vitamin D deficiency (as my family doctor puts it) can significantly affect cognitive function. Sometimes what a person has isn’t apathy or a pre-depressive state — it’s a lack of vitamin D.
I’ve also seen cases where someone earns over 100,000 UAH a month but won’t buy a second set of bed linens or decent soft toilet paper.
And there are plenty of examples like this.
That’s why I believe that as your income grows, it makes sense to direct some small part of it toward feeling better and living in a more pleasant atmosphere and microclimate.
You have to learn to live well the same way you learn a new language, master a profession, or build a business.
Have you ever met people who keep their “poor habits” even after their earnings went up?