Bon Journal

The fulfillment curve

In the book, "Your Money or Your Life", the authors talk about the fulfillment curve. It's a bell-shaped curve that describes a person's accumulation of wealth.

What is wealth anyway?

Wealth is only relative. Most people complain that they don't have enough.

What is enough?

For a long time, I aspired to reach a point in my life where I would have a surplus of financial wealth so that I could "invest" in it. When that moment came, I had to learn about investment. And that moment came at the wrong time in the history of investments.

The accumulation of material possessions also follows the fulfillment curve. After a point, there is no need for more. In fact, more material things lower the quality of life.

During my declutter sale last year, I discovered that many of my friends and neighbours had also reached the peak of the fulfillment curve. They didn't want more. Instead, they wanted less.

Could it be the same for friends? A person has only so much attention and time to socialise, to be in the company of others. Does a fulfillment curve exist for the making of friendships and relationships?

In high school, I made a lot of friends. In college, only a handful. It's not the number of friends but the quality that counts.

After all, the group Chicago sang "Everybody needs a little time away, I heard her say, from each other ..." and perhaps that's why I'm trying to find a little bit of solitary peace away from the tempting invitation of my friends in London.

8 March 2004 Monday

Your money or your life - analyticalQ personal book review