Self Help

Leisure is one of those luxuries that are best in small portions. When it’s all there is to life, it’s as boring as being locked in jail. Leisure presents a terrible quandary for people with money. Either they don’t have enough of it because they’re always working, or they don’t work at all and are drowning in it.

All of us, to some extent, create fairy tales about how good life must be for wealthy people, because we get vicarious pleasure from it, and because we think we might someday strike it rich. One of the tales we tell ourselves is that wealth and leisure are a comfortable, complementary pair. Science shows that that’s usually not true.

The vast majority of millionaires in America are self-made, and one of the primary ways they gain their wealth is by sacrificing their leisure and freedom. I’ve met hundreds of these people, and they almost all work extremely hard - probably even harder than you do. Next time you walk through the first-class cabin on an airplane, check out how many of the passengers have their faces buried in paperwork or laptops. Is that your idea of leisure? Most of these people don’t feel free; they feel frazzled.

All too often, people become financially successful by just following money - engaging in high paying jobs they don’t really like. They may look free, but they feel like prisoners. When happy people choose their jobs, they don’t follow money - they follow their passions. When they do this, they tend not to worry too much about money, even if they’re relatively poor, because they know they won’t have to suffer to make more of it.

Ironically, people who follow their hearts often end up with plenty of money, because they usually become highly proficient at their work and they enjoy working long hours. Loving your job is the ultimate freedom. It means, in effect, that you never have to work—you just play hard and collect your check. You can’t beat that for leisure.

Some people, though, are rich without having to work. They inherit money, marry someone who’s rich, win the lottery, or make their fortune early in life. It looks as if they’ve got it made. But science clearly shows that these people have happiness levels that are only very slightly higher than average. Usually, having a lot of money and no obligations feels good for only a short time. Boredom soon sets in, along with a feeling of worthlessness. Too much leisure is oppressive, a void that’s impossible to fill.