Five Types of Wealth: Time, Social, Mental, Physical & Financial

The traditional view of wealth often centers solely on money, but a more holistic perspective, as presented in Sel Bloom's "The Five Types of Wealth," argues that a truly rich life encompasses much more. This book, a comprehensive guide to designing a dream life, emphasizes that while money plays a role, true wealth is defined by other crucial aspects. This perspective is reinforced by insights from older individuals (80-90 years old) who, when asked what they would tell their younger selves, consistently prioritize time, purpose, people, and health over financial gain. Yet, many people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s remain singularly focused on money.

The five types of wealth discussed in the book are: 1. Time Wealth 2. Social Wealth 3. Mental Wealth 4. Physical Wealth 5. Financial Wealth

For each type, the article will explore its meaning and offer actionable principles from the book.

1. Time Wealth

Time wealth is the understanding that time is your most precious asset. This concept is often overlooked until it's too late. The "Memento Mori" calendar, which visually represents an average 80-year lifespan in weekly boxes, serves as a stark reminder that life is short, time is always moving forward, and therefore, intentionality in how we spend our time is crucial.

The "Paradox of Time" highlights that while we subconsciously recognize time's immense value, we often consciously disregard it through low-value activities. Seneca, in "On the Shortness of Life," noted that we don't have a short life, but we make it short and are wasteful of it.

Pillars of Time Wealth

Sel Bloom outlines three pillars for developing time wealth: 1. Awareness: Recognizing the finite nature of time and how you currently spend it. 2. Attention: The ability to direct focus towards what truly matters and ignore distractions. 3. Control: Gaining genuine control over how you spend your time. Many people fixate on control, citing external factors like jobs or family, but awareness and attention are foundational steps that everyone can improve.

Assessing Time Wealth

The book provides five questions to assess your time wealth, scored from 0 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree): 1. I have a deep awareness of the finite, impermanent nature of my time and its importance as my most precious asset. 2. I have a clear understanding of the two to three most important priorities in my personal and professional lives. 3. I am able to consistently direct attention and focus to the important priorities I have identified. 4. I rarely feel too busy or scattered to spend time on the most important priorities. 5. I am in control of my calendar and priorities.

The purpose of this self-assessment is to identify your current standing and set goals for improvement. An "anti-goal" can also be defined, outlining what to avoid while pursuing increased time wealth.

Actionable Principle: Four Types of Professional Time

Sel Bloom categorizes professional time into four types: 1. Management Time: Meetings, calls, presentations, emails, team management. This often consumes the majority of professional time. 2. Creation Time: Writing, coding, building, preparing. This is where new progress is made, and thriving individuals and organizations prioritize it. 3. Consumption Time: Reading, listening, studying. This is where new ideas are planted. 4. Ideation Time: Brainstorming, journaling, walking, self-reflecting. This is where new ideas are cultivated and grown, often neglected due to a lack of stillness and thought.

A practical tip is to color-code your calendar based on these types of time to gain a baseline understanding. From there, strategies include: * Batching management time: Consolidate management tasks to create larger blocks for other activities. * Increasing creation time: Actively schedule blocks for creation, often best done first thing in the morning. * Creating space for consumption and ideation: Intentionally carve out time for learning and creative thinking.

Tools like Reclaim.ai can assist in scheduling time intentionally, offering features for habits, tasks (which automatically time-block based on priority and deadline), and flexible buffer times. It also includes time tracking to enhance awareness of how time is spent.

2. Social Wealth

Social wealth refers to the quality and depth of your relationships. Data from the American Time Use Survey reveals interesting trends in how people spend time with others as they age: * Family (parents and siblings): Peaks in childhood, declines sharply after age 20. * Children: Peaks in their early years, declines sharply thereafter. * Friends: Peaks at age 18, then declines to a low baseline. * Partner: Trends upward until death. * Co-workers: Steady during prime working years (20-60), then declines sharply. * Alone time: Steadily increases throughout life.

Key lessons derived from these trends include: * Cherish finite family time. * Be present during precious children's time. * Prioritize real friends as friend time is limited. * Never settle in partner choice, as it significantly impacts happiness. * Find meaningful work and co-workers who energize you. * Learn to cherish and find joy in abundant alone time.

Actionable Principle: The Relationship Map

This exercise involves three steps: 1. List core relationships: Identify 10-25 key people in your life. 2. Assess relationships: For each, determine if it's supportive, ambivalent, or demeaning, and if interaction is frequent or infrequent. * Supportive: Mutual understanding, care, love, respect, comfort. * Demeaning: Absence of supportive qualities, undermines self-worth. * Ambivalent: Inconsistent, elements of both supportive and demeaning. 3. Map relationships: Plot them based on supportiveness/demeaning nature and frequency of interaction.

This mapping reveals: * Green Zone: Supportive and frequent relationships to cultivate. * Red Zone: Demeaning and frequent relationships to either improve or reduce frequency. * Danger Zone: Ambivalent relationships, which can be more damaging to mental health due to inconsistency. * Opportunity Zone: Supportive but infrequent relationships, where efforts can be made to increase contact.

A quiz to assess social wealth is available at wealthquiz.com.

3. Mental Wealth

Mental wealth involves cultivating a healthy and resilient mind. The fifth question for assessing mental wealth is particularly highlighted: "I have regular rituals that allow me to create space to think, reset, wrestle with questions, and recharge." This emphasizes the importance of creating mental space, which is often neglected in the pursuit of productivity.

Actionable Principles: Think Day and 1-1-1-1 Journaling

1. Think Day: Inspired by Bill Gates' "Think Weeks," a "Think Day" involves dedicating one day a month to stepping back from daily demands, secluding oneself mentally or physically, and disconnecting from devices. The goal is to read, learn, journal, and think creatively about the bigger picture. Eight useful thinking prompts for a Think Day:

   • If I repeated my current typical day for 100 days, would my life be better or worse?
   • If people observed my actions for a week, what would they say my priorities are?
   • If I were the main character in a movie of my life, what would the audience be screaming at me to do right now?
   • Am I hunting antelopes (big, important problems) or field mice (small, urgent problems)?
   • How can I do less but better?
   • What are my strongest beliefs? What would it take for me to change my mind on them?
   • What are a few things I know now that I wish I'd known 5 years ago?
   • What actions did I engage in 5 years ago that I cringe at today? What actions am I engaged in today that I might cringe at in 5 years?

2. 1-1-1-1 Journaling Method: A simple starting point for journaling, especially for those who find it daunting. At the end of each day, write down:

   • One win: Something you felt good about.
   • One point of tension or anxiety: Something weighing on your mind.
   • One point of gratitude: Something you were grateful for. This takes 3-5 minutes and can bring a sense of calm and positivity.

4. Physical Wealth

Physical wealth pertains to your health and well-being. The author noted this was his lowest score when he first took the wealth quiz, prompting him to prioritize physical health.

Actionable Principle: The Dimmer Switch Mentality

The "dimmer switch" concept suggests that all areas of wealth exist on a spectrum, not as an on/off switch. The flawed belief is that pursuing one type of wealth (e.g., financial) requires completely turning off others (e.g., health, relationships). Instead, even small actions can contribute positively.

The mantra "anything above zero compounds positively" is crucial. For physical wealth, doing 15 minutes at the gym is better than nothing, and cooking one meal at home is better than ordering takeout for all three. Physical health, if neglected, compounds negatively. Therefore, even small, consistent efforts (e.g., a 10-minute run, a 15-minute gym session) can combat the natural entropy of health, especially as one ages.

5. Financial Wealth

Financial wealth is about having "enough" and defining what that means for you. The first question for assessing financial wealth is: "What is your definition of enough?"

Actionable Principles: Defining "Enough" and Overcoming the Arrival Fallacy

The story of Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut at a billionaire's party illustrates this: Heller, despite earning less, felt he had "enough," a concept the billionaire might never grasp.

The Parable of the Mexican Fisherman further explores this. An investment banker advises a fisherman to scale his small, content operation into a large enterprise, only to conclude that the ultimate goal would be to retire to a quiet town, sleep late, fish a little, and enjoy life with family and friends – precisely what the fisherman was already doing. The popular interpretation is that the banker is wrong and the fisherman is right. However, Bloom's interpretation is that it's about identifying what success and purpose look like to you and building a life that meets that definition. Both the fisherman and the banker could be happy with their choices if they align with their personal definition of "enough."

The Swedish word "lagom" means "just the right amount," and defining your "lagom life" helps overcome the arrival fallacy. This fallacy describes the phenomenon where people believe achieving a certain goal will bring lasting fulfillment, only to find a momentary dopamine rush followed by a reset of desires and the feeling of "is that it?"

Actionable Exercise: "What Does My Enough Life Look Like?"

The most powerful exercise is to journal on the prompt: "What does my enough life look like?" This involves creating a clear visual in your mind of your ideal life – what you have, where you are, who you're with, what you're doing, how you feel, and what you're working on. For the author, this exercise often reveals that he is already living his "enough life," and continued work is often driven by enjoyment and fulfillment rather than solely by the pursuit of more money.