15th April - Paradise Again

A further facet of yesterday's podcast which I found to be rather spellbinding was Jimmy's view on money. He himself had worked as marketing assistant for Shell (the petrol company) after graduating from Cambridge University, but always knew that he wanted to pursue his own dream, of stand-up comedy. After taking a £5k redundancy package from Shell, he decided to finally pursue his dream in his late 20s, and readily admits that in his opening year, he made £0. 

At the time, he was living with parents, and used the £5k to live off for the year, only purchasing his essentials such as food etc, all whilst playing at numerous comedy clubs up and down the country in unpaid roles, as he attempted to forge ahead with his career. He then made the (hugely valid) point that at the age of 22 or 23, most of us - whilst fresh out of Uni - are offered a sum, to abandon our dreams, permanently. 

It might be £20k. Or £22k. Or if you're really lucky, £25k. But we're offered a yearly salary to help somebody else's company achieve the dreams of their CEO instead, and in exchange, we're left too busy, and too exhausted to then use the remaining hours in our own life to chase our own. He made the point that, at the age of 5 or 10, when you dream of being a comedian, or an interior designer, or whatever, would you have taken a bribe from somebody to permanently throw that ambition into the trash can? The answer, 99% of the time, would be a resounding 'No', so why settle for it now?

He also made reference to the London bankers who make more than £100k per year, and then proceed to buy a Rolex. Why are they making such a purchase? The simple reason is ego, and status. It's a superficial act of greed designed to show others that they're financially superior. Such a purchase isn't made for themselves, and their own happiness. Only to negatively impact others. He instead, argued, that money is like a magic lamp. It's all very well owning it, but you need to know what to wish for once you have it, and that it should only be spent on something which can make you truly happy inside, such as a memory, usually prompted by travel. A sentiment my regular readers will know, I endorse more enthusiastically than most. Elsewhere today, it's a sunny Friday afternoon and Swedish House Mafia have just released their first ever album. I've reviewed it here, so this weekend, let's all embrace the joyful nature of a little slice of Paradise...

... Again.