Idleness is the Devil’s Workshop: Cursed are the Idle, Blessed are the Busy

My business partner at Diaspora Ventures, Carlos and I were talking about our circles in Silicon Valley. One observation is that everyone here in general seems unhappy despite the immense wealth and opportunity. They run on their hamster wheel trying to escape their own personal demons. This is what happens to type A individuals in an environment full of other type A individuals. Think Wall Street but more passive aggressive and introverted. Keeping busy so you don’t have to face these internal issues, something i admit was my first 19 years here, 

Not having time to think is bad but the reverse is also very much bad too. 

Too much time for children or for adults is terrible for you. You go nuts overthinking everything as our minds want to keep busy. You literally go mental. You search for distractions.

Even worse, if you have money to go along with a lot of time. If you have time but no money, there is only so much you can do. You are limited. With a lot of money, that is a different story as these limits are gone. Money is an enabler, magnifier and enhancer. You can go down some deep dark paths. It becomes very easy to take anything or everything to excess. Excess becomes toxic. 

Think on how many 2nd or 3rd generation rich kids have ended up living useless or meandering empty lives. Grossly unhappy. 

This is probably what led Warren Buffet to say: “I want to give my kids enough so that they could feel that they could do anything, but not so much that they could do nothing.”

This is why you have to have a great mission in life. This is why you need to have values of adding value and making an impact in your life. It is why you need to teach and embed this in your kids. This is also why you have to love the game you play and the process of playing. It’s healthy and keeps you out of trouble. This is also why you need to be busy but at the same time NOT too busy you don’t think clearly and run into a wall or burnout. 

As the brilliant folks at BowTiedBull wrote:

“In the end, long-term readers of this side of the internet know that retirement is a dream sold to the masses. No one successful enjoys doing nothing all day (billionaires continue to work/do something well past retirement age). Instead, we should focus on a point at which *you* don’t have to work on anything you dislike! You’re still going to work doing something.”

(Source: https://bowtiedbull.substack.com/p/lifestyle-inflation-and-retirement)

I’ll finish with a quote from Benjamin Franklin:

"If you want something done, ask a busy person."