Money is not a limiting factor. So what is? Time and energy.

Some people say that instead of buying fancy things, the rich will purchase things that save them time...like house cleaners and cooks and services. Well, I agree with that, but it is because time is the limiting factor for them. Money is not a limiting factor.

For me, I could do my own dishes and wash my own clothes, and use that time to listen to podcasts, videos, trainings, and then that money to give myself a low monthly cash burn rate and then deploy it on a business. My limits are knowledge, execution, and mostly execution. I have some limits on time as well, but I waste a lot of time (television, writing :p)

Time and energy, I think, are the two things that are universal limiting factors.

If you're missing one or the other, things can be quite inefficient. Other real resources include social capital (which I'm defining as the ability to make a call), money (to some extent). These are only valuable as resources to execute on things. Execution is the only thing. There is knowledge, of course, which I would call real-world experience, and you need that as well, but you could also get that using social capital and money.

Things related to real wealth

Time
Energy
Social Capital
Money
Real-world knowledge
Vision is what organizes these things
Then there is also a plan, like a systematized business plan which allows you to provide value and then take a portion of that from it.

So I should work on growing these things.
Time - I have a job that gives me time to pursue things outside of work. If I had a more time-intensive job, I would be organizing around my job. My job functions to allow me to have a source of income that is adequate and stable. It also allows me a platform to do good and affords some social capital (working on large projects is social capital and I think working for public good is good).

Energy - Same thing with the job, without a job that allows me to have energy, I could not pursue other things. Other things are important in life. A sweet career without a sweet life is not a great spot to be in, eventually, we dig ourselves out of that one.

Social capital - I have that. The main things I can use are Stanford and working for State Government. Then there are all the activites - boxing, biking, running, fitness. As well as having a good life.

Money - I have not run into this as an issue. Maintain a low burn rate. Think about this situation: if you have a set up that is really good, then money can come. I know people with excess capital who would like to put their money into a good situation. There are plenty of them. From money point of view, the issue is access to those situations and recognition that the situation is actually good. ("This can return 18% in a year" "Can it really? With what risk? How ethical/legal?"). Assuming access, recognition, and match, everyone can be happy.

Real-world knowledge - This is different, but not exclusive of a degree. I think this is where some people say a degree is helpful, and some people say it is just a piece of paper, and some say it is just access to a network. I guess all of those things are true, but w.r.t. execution the most important kind of knowledge is relevant and actionable. Just in time is a nice feature as well. The hard part is the volume and noise, some of it will have these qualities. My tendency is to collect lots of knowledge on lots of things, mainly because I find it interesting. In my brain, I'm building a garage of tools, that I use on things.

Vision - This piece is where you get people on board and lined up. Having people on a team and, importantly, in a situation that is mutually beneficial. If people do not see the buy in, you get half hearted efforts and half hearted efforts threaten to lead to half pregnant outcomes. The project should have buy in, the adequate resources to support it, market fit, execution, or have such a massive externality (learning opportunity, reputation, positioning) that people are willing to pay.

Hope - Goes with vision, but vision should include hope. Hope is so important, that I think it deserves its own category.

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