72: Consumerism

Leverage Podcast

Intro:

On this episode, we discuss the effects of our culture being completely co-opted by corporate interests, materialism, and consumerism. It affects your happiness and dating life in surprising ways.

Show Notes:
[00:20] I want to talk about Consumerism, why it s a such a huge problem and why it s the reason a lot of people are unhappy in the West; meaning America, Western Europe, and countries that are leading the way in capitalism.
[00:50] All of us sitting here in the US, and places like London and Paris. We think we are so happy, we are in the city and there is all of this stuff happening.
[01:05] Take a step back and see it what it for it is.
[01:15] To live in New York City, and enjoy your life, you have to be making at least $150,000 per year, and that s if you are single dude.
[01:30] Your rent is minimum $3,000, and just to get into a place you are looking at $15,000 in cash just to get into a place, before furniture.
[02:10] That means you are talking $20,000 just to get a place in New York.
[02:30] If you follow the American dream, you go to college, and you get a good job after college but most people rack up a lot of debt.
[03:00] What is happening is that you go to school, you are in debt, you get a place to live that you pay a huge amount for. Then the cost of living in these big cities is insane.
[03:40] If you are going out with friends and having a social life in these big cities, you are dropping $100 a night.
[03:50] If you are only going out 2 nights a week, you are going to spend at least $800 a month. But if you are only going out one night a week in these cities, your life sucks, so it s more like you are spending $500 a week, $2000 per month, on being social and networking.
[04:15] Our monthly budget is now at $3000 for rent, another $2000 for social activities and eating out. Then there is all the incidentals and bills, taxis and Ubers. You are spending $7,000 or $8,000 a month just to live in New York City.
[04:55] You have to be making well over 6 figures to have a comfortable, fun life there.
[05:00] To make that money, you are going to be working 80-100 hour weeks, and then your life sucks anyway, and you don t have a social life.
[05:20] Now we are told we should buy things that make us happy, then we go out and buy flat screen TV, etc.
[05:40] We are fed by the media that that the things that we have make us happy.
[06:00] Do these things really make you happy? I don t think that they do, they give you a short term rush.
[06:38] You remember connections, that s what you remember in life, you remember experience that you felt something.
[07:00] You end up buying all this stuff, and you become a slave to this stuff. We are a slave to this system of consumerism.
[07:48] As long as we are focused on buying more shit, we are not focused on solving the worlds problems or challenging the status quo. We are just focused on buying more things and at the end of the day, no one is happy, they are just addicted to this rat race.
[09:35] I m here to tell you guys to say fuck the system, it is not going to make you happy and find a way to find your passion and do things that excite you.
[10:15] What will happen is that you will gain a sense of expertise in this area that you are excited about because you will put time, attention and focus in. Then you will quickly become an expert in one of those areas. It doesn t matter what area you are an expert in, if you become an expert, you can monetize that and you don t have to keep trading time for dollars.
[11:05] All the tax setups are setup by rich people. If you want to learn about this, study corporate finance and learn how companies are taxes.
[12:00] You can leverage your resources and hack the sharing economy to lower your expenses with things like Airbnb and Turo.
[12:21] Every person that I help get out of that world is extremely thankful and they will never go back.
[13:00] If you are just working for the money, you are just a hamster on a a wheel looking for more dopamine, a chemical rush when you purchase something.
[13:53] Money buys freedom, it doesn t buy happiness. It is an access to happiness but it can t buy it.
[15:15] If you live in Thailand or you live in Ukraine, the cost of living isn t $6000 – $8000 a month, it is $800 to $1500 per month.
[15:32] You could live a very nice lifestyle in these cities.
[16:20] What are you getting by living in LA? Is your social life really that much better?
[17:10] More money doesn t give you access.
[18:35] You can do the same amount of work on a beach in Thailand as you can do at an office looking at Central Park.
[20:20] The feminist culture in the West is out of control. As a man, you are not allowed to express your sexuality or you could end up as a sex offender or fired.
[21:15] Is it worth living in New York, Boston, San Francisco, paying $17 a drink to go to shitty club and spending a gazillion dollars on rent and on taxis. Are you there because you have a better quality of life or are you there because everyone else thinks it is good? They are all zombies that have bought into consumerism.
[22:20] The consumerism stuff is out of control, everyone is focused on the wrong thing.
[23:05] Just because you have been doing things one way for 30 or 40 years, doesn t mean it is too late to change.
[24:30] It s really not that hard to unplug and to try it. You can always go back to your job if it doesn t work out.
[26:48] Instead of thinking how do I get a full time job that is remote, why don t you think how do I create my own full time job that is remote?
[28:40] Follow your excitement and don t get so caught up in this rat race. The US wants to keep you stuck in the rat race.
[29:40] If you ever think that someone else is going to have your best interests at hand, they re not. They re best interest is for you to make them rich.
[30:30] Finding your passion can be your passion.
[31:15] Sometimes you just need to unplug and question everything, and that will lead to an answer.
[31:46] Having an amazing life leads to having amazing women in your life.
[33:20] When you add a zero to your income, you are no longer stressed about money.
[34:55] Those are the things that will get you later in life are the regrets. My job is to make sure you are uncomfortable all the time.
[36:45] 10% of Australia is traveling, 10% of an entire continent isn t there because they are traveling. They are not so bought into the consumerist lifestyle over there. They are not taught to work 100 hours per week to buy these fancy cars.
[37:50] You don t need money to travel, you gotta be a little bit crafty about it.

Significant quotes:

We are fed by the media that that the things that we have make us happy. It is a status symbol. [05:40]

Money buys freedom. It doesn t buy happiness. [13:53]

You remember connections, that s what you remember in life, you remember experience that you felt something. – 06:38

We re in an era now where the strange and unique is accepted and interesting. 44:45

The post 72: Consumerism appeared first on Inner Confidence.