Tag Archives: Alchemy

Nirvana 2.0: Happiness is Equal to Consumption Divided by Desire

If you have ever taken Economics 101, you’ll know that happiness is equal to consumption divided by desire.

Even otherwise, most of us understand this equation intuitively and, therefore, equate buying things with buying (the promise of) happiness.

However, I have been asking myself for a while if consumption itself follows the ‘bigger is better’ rule, if an increase in consumption results in an increase in happiness (tweet).

If you have ever maxed out your credit card buying the most recently fashionable clothes, gadgets, accessories or (insert your addiction here) you didn’t need, you’ll also know that consumption rarely satisfies desire.

Alchemy 2.0: The Art of Making Money by Not Spending Money

So, if the absence of money or an overdose of ideology are not the reasons I have gone off consumption, what exactly is it?

The reason — friends, readers, fellow marketers — is alchemy, or alchemy 2.0, the art of making money by not spending money.

For centuries, alchemists across the world have toiled in vain to transform lead into gold. I tip my imaginary hat to the audacity of these pseudo-scientists, because what I’m trying to do is something similar, except that it is even more audacious. I’m not trying to convert lead into gold, I’m not even trying to convert nothing into gold, I’m trying to convert less than nothing into gold.