“You can have anything you want, but you can’t have everything you want.”
From a Get Rich Slowly post discussing the idea that sacrificing, saving, and carefully deciding when to go without up isn’t merely an exercise in self-denial. Instead, the idea is to cut back on silly impulse buys and other expenses that give you little satisfaction precisely because doing so will help you reach bigger goals. By scaling back or going without, you’ll have the wherewithal to buy the stuff that you really do want—the stuff that actually does bring about genuine, long-lasting happiness.
So we’re not talking about self-denial so much as the concept of delayed gratification—with the emphasis on gratification. If you approach what you want in a thoughtful, strategic way, anything is possible, and when you reach your goal, it’ll be way more gratifying than the short-lived thrill of any impulse buy.
