I want to pay more for rent.
I want to move to a much pricier condo.
I want better amenities and I’m willing to pay for it.
No, I’m not crazy. No, I’m not rich. It’s just that I’m seeing things in a new way now.
Currently, I pay a sizable rent compared to other Denver residents. Yet, what I pay is actually pretty cheap compared to rent in Los Angeles. (Even for the fucking Valley.)
When I got here, I figured: I’ll just live downtown for a little and enjoy the excitement. Once I do that for a little while, I’ll move to a quieter neighborhood and save on rent by paying for a place that’s just as good, but $300- 400 cheaper.
Recently, however, I realized something:
Why do I want to go down?
I wrote about growth before and about positioning myself to do bigger and better things.
I also recently interviewed mega-entrepreneur Neil Patel who wrote about lifestyle marketing. He explained how living in a multi-million dollar condo in Las Vegas opened up dozens of lucrative opportunities that wouldn’t have been possible without it.
So why wouldn’t I want to move up?
The only reason I would go lower in rent is if I couldn’t afford it. But what if I can? What happens if I make more money? By living in a condo where everyone else is running successful businesses, I can surround myself with the right minds, learn, and unlock better possibilities.
Heck, even though I’m paying steep rent (by Denver standards), you’d be surprised as to the people in my condo building. For example, with so many colleges nearby, there are plenty of party-hard college students shacking up in one- or two-bedroom condos.
But that starts to disappear when you’re paying over $2,500/mo for a one-bedroom.
And crazy enough, I feel like it’s not accepted in our culture to write about these things. People start criticizing you about greed and say stuff like, “Oh… must be nice.” There was a powerful parable in The Magic of Thinking Big:
Tell your friends you want to live in a multi-million-dollar mansion and they’ll probably laugh at you and tell you to stop dreaming or think smaller. But tell the owner of a multi-million-dollar mansion that same thing and they won’t laugh or doubt it — because they know it’s possible and they know to do it.
I’m not there yet by any means, but I feel like I’m on the right trajectory. Who knows?
The real question is: how do you want to think?
Bigger or smaller?
Love the article man! I definitely agree with you for the most part. They say being able to visualize and imagine where you want to be goes a long way towards you subconsciously working towards achieving that particular vision/imagination.
One example I love is of Jim Carrey who, before he became famous, used to drive to Hollywood to mentally imagine and pretend he was interacting with big directors and signing big films. This in turn as we know now turned into a reality for him.
At the same time, I have seen people living in a small place have a mindset of millionaires and millionaires living in a mansion have a mindset of average Joe’s. In my opinion, sooner or later your situation catches up to your mindset and the perception you have of yourself.
Thanks for commenting, Dhaval. 🙂 Great insights. I love the Jim Carrey example. I remember reading that when he was flat broke, he wrote a check to himself for $10,000,000 and dated it for the future. He was able to cash it in almost to the day.
To me, this is less of a “visualization” exercise — imagining having those things — and more of an exercise in thinking bigger, which is more about seeing the value in more. While people poo-poo spending more on a condo, they’ll stay oblivious to all the opportunities that could open up once you move. Plenty to discuss the next time we chat. 😉
I totally agree with your point of view, although as recently as two years ago, I probably would have been one of the naysayers.
Life is all about networking – finding the five people of which you will be the average. If you live in a nicer community, or belong to more exclusive clubs that you feel are a bit out of your reach, then you will meet the people you aspire to be.
I contemplated joining a jetpack membership club once, just to meet people who wouldn’t mind dropping a few hundred dollars a month to fly a water-powered jetpack (i.e. wealthy adventurous types). And I’ve thought – what if I bought a Tesla? Sure, it’s a cool car, and represents the future of transportation, but more than that, it would probably come with a great network of people. I’m sure there is a very tight-knit community of wealthy, successful Tesla owners who are extremely loyal to their cars.
Maybe I don’t feel quite ready for that, so I don’t own a Tesla and I never joined the jetpack club. But at least our thinking is on the right path.
Thanks for your comment, Mike. 🙂
I appreciate your honesty. I probably would’ve said the same thing because I didn’t realize that there really IS a game being played around us.
Well said. I’m definitely not there yet either, but to allow yourself to believe (1) it’s possible and (2) it’s okay to want that, you’ve taken the biggest step.