How Much Money Do You Invest In Ideas?

Does a Cheeseburger have more value than a book?

I spend money on Netflix, Spotify and Pandora every month. Around $30 a month. I spend that $30 pretty happily, so I can’t stream every song in existence and binge on Friends.

I have no regrets about it. This is stuff I like.

I want to go running while I listen to the Sex Pistols and come home to chill with Chandler, Monica, Ross, Rachel and Joey.

But Do You Know What?

As happy as I was to spend $360 a year on all of this endless entertainment, until recently, I was probably spending less than a 5th of that on books.

I wasn’t investing my money in ideas. I was investing my money in entertainment.

I’d go out and spend $10 on a meal. That $10 could have purchased a book that would have changed my life.

I’d go out and spend $25 on a movie ticket. That $25 could have purchased a book that would have reshaped the way I think.

I’d go out and spend $20 on a T-shirt. That $20 could have gone to support an author who was putting their ideas out in front of the world and touching people’s minds.

Books were so far down in my list of priorities. There was always something more important. There was always something more fun. More exciting.

Over the course of my life, I have probably spent more money on Cheeseburgers than I have on books.

That’s not a great state of affairs.

That’s why today I second guess every purchase I make — but I never second guess books. There’s no buyers’ regret with books.

I invest in them. To me, buying a book isn’t going shopping. It’s investing in an asset that has more value to my life than stocks, shares, property or futures. Every book has the potential to make me richer than those assets ever could — whether financially, spiritually or emotionally.

Ask yourself this. What has more value to you; a book? Or a cheeseburger?

How much money have you spent on books in the past year? Could you spend 10% more?

[This post by Jon Westenberg first appeared on Medium and has been reproduced with permission.]

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