It’s All Investment

Just finished reading Your Money or Your Life. Good, but so pointlessly long.

It gets you thinking though. People try to be smart about investment. They know they have these assets which should work for them— stuff that they’ve done once (like work) becomes money, which can become something that gives back forever. There’s also this well-known phenomenon of depreciating vs appreciating assets, which you’re probably familiar with but should read about if you aren’t.

The question is: Why don’t we view everything we do (specifically online) as investment? If we did that, we would know to buy low and sell high– starting on something when it’s cheap and easy, and when profitability is high. We’d know to invest in stuff that will increase in value over time, instead of stuff that is flash-in-the-pan hype.

But we don’t.

It’s interesting because we know these basics about investment, and try to follow them. But on the web, we know so much more– we read about it all day, follow all the newest stuff– but we end up looking like the blind leading the blind. It’s crazy.

Focus on one decision when you’re working on a new idea, or starting up on something old: Will this increase, or decrease, in value over time? If it will increase, do it; it’ll make your life easier in the long run. If you think it will decrease, don’t; it’ll be pointless, wasted energy, and you’ll be taking part in hype instead of doing good work.