Insights

At the same time, the world’s poorest aren’t investing their money in experiences or delegating their least favourite tasks to others. So what’s their secret and how do we replicate it? Why is it that many people with little material or financial wealth are happy?

The answer lies in the clear distinction and separation of your self worth from your net worth. The happiest people don’t need money to be happy or fulfilled; financial and material wealth doesn’t define them. They are already multi-billionaires in the first six areas of their Exceptional Life Blueprint.

Let’s take Joanna, a delightful Ikarian elder I have met on my travels. Joanna fills her days with activities that provide her with purpose – checking in on neighbours and family, picking grapes from the vine, making cheese, cooking and so on. She tends the garden, sweeps the patio and walks down dozens of jagged steps to run errands in the village (movement), where she spends time with family and friends (social). She eats the traditional food and has ceremony around meal times (nutrition), remains connected to her husband, Giannis, and extended family, and remains curious and open to learning (growth). 

Financial wealth, whilst it could possibly make life easier for Joanna, does not guarantee her any more fulfilment than she already has. 

For traditional communities in developing nations, too much material wealth is quite deleterious. A television is introduced to the village and the community moves less. Children and adults alike become less social, become more disconnected from each other and embrace less of their environment and culture. It was only the material wealth (or the donation of material wealth) that caused this slippery slope. The same could be said for smartphones and even automobiles in some countries or cultures where that type of travel is not common.

In Ikaria, there is very little cultural focus on material wealth. You won’t find a brand-new Mercedes or BMW anywhere on the island of 7,500 people. Not one. On my first trip to Ikaria I was told of an American who had decided to retire on the island and buy herself a new BMW as a gift. Within four weeks of acquiring the car she sold it back to the Athens car dealer, fully realising that not only was she the only one on the island with a brand new BMW, the car didn’t give her anywhere near the fulfilment that she thought it would.

You’re wealthier than you think you are

Just having the means to buy Your Exceptional Life puts you in the top 4% of the global rich list, and if you can also speak, read and write, you truly are beyond gifted to live the life you lead. You are not one of the more than three billion people living on less than US$5.50 per day. Take a moment to visualise what three billion people really looks like – to give you an idea it’s 30,000 Melbourne Cricket Grounds filled to capacity. Then consider what US$5.50 per day really looks like and how fortunate you are.

You are likely not one of the 500 million Indians who live without electricity and fresh water. You are likely not in the middle of a genocide in your country. It is highly likely that the biggest financial problems you face each year are how to finance a family holiday or pay the mortgage, improve from five to six figures, or six to seven and beyond. You probably have what we like to call ‘first world problems’.

Almost half the planet lives off three figures per year. Never, ever forget the gift of a meal, the gift of a good night’s sleep, and the gift of a smile from a loved one. It is a privilege to be alive in the world we live in. Not only do we have the opportunity to live our exceptional life, we have, as Seth Godin emphasises in his book Tribes, an obligation to do so, given the opportunities we have. You are obliged to use your position as one of the fortunate ones to help humanity live their exceptional life. That can be in the way you raise your own children, help your colleagues, engage with your community or give to charity. This is not a purely financial obligation; it’s in your intent and awareness that true wealth really shines. And sadly that’s where so many people get it wrong.

Marcus Pearce is a longevity and life design strategist and the author of Your Exceptional Life. You can take his free Exceptional Life Quiz here. He also hosts the podcast 100 Not Out: Mastering The Art of Ageing Well, and is about to take a small group of people to the European Blue Zones of Ikaria and Sardinia.