Contentment

It’s funny. Contentment can be such a hard thing to grasp. Even harder to live it.

“Why stay at $10k MRR building random projects? Why not push one project to $100k, or $1M?” they ask.

Then @marclou wrote a simple and nice reply:

After $10K/mo, money has virtually no impact on your happiness.

Worse, if your $50K/mo startup drops to $45K/mo, you’re sad.

So I optimize for happiness:

• 0 → 1
• perfect sleep
• 2 hrs gym per day
• a lot of time with wifey

That hits the spot.

It’s the law of diminishing returns on quality of life and satisfaction, after you hit a certain income level. For me, since I have to feed a family in one of the most expensive cities in the world, that threshold is $20k. But $10k is great in most other places. And actually… $10k might be pretty good for me too if I don’t have to sell 12-14h of my day to get there.

You can’t keep aiming higher, because it’s no end. When there’s no end, there’s no happiness, no contentment, no satisfaction. And what’s the point of having a business if it doesn’t improve your lifestyle and quality of life?

Remind me again when I hit $20k.