Welcome to Wise & Wealthy: A weekly newsletter full of proven ideas to become smarter and wealthier. I send this every Monday.

#145 – October 7, 2024

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The first desire

Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States, once said:

”‘Tis easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it.”

This is a timeless truth about human nature and how we constantly pursue our first desire.

The key to avoiding the first desire is to understand that there is no pleasure without non-pleasure.

If you only have pleasure, it becomes your default state. But if you have some discomfort, some non-pleasure, it helps you appreciate the times of pleasure.

For example, I’ve talked about how I once moved to Spain to see if I wanted to live there.

Compared to the weather in the Netherlands, where I’m from, Spain looks much better. But I prefer the conveniences in the Netherlands. I realized I took those for granted until I missed them in Spain.

The same concept can be applied to our consumerist culture.

We are constantly bombarded with ads that tell us what we need or should want. It’s an endless cycle of wanting more and always chasing the next shiny new thing.

I talk about this more in my latest article.

↳ Don’t Give In To That First Desire

One interesting thing

There is a quote commonly misattributed to Mark Twain (the true source, according to the NY Times, is a variation of a line written by the satirist Jonathan Swift):

“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.”

That’s why get-rich-quick schemes and “secret” investment advice travel fast.

Here’s a secret about making money: There are no secrets. If there are, people wouldn’t be sharing them..

Thanks for reading! I hope you found this edition of Wise & Wealthy useful.

All the best,

Darius

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