The Simple Mental Model That Changed My Financial Life
改变我理财生活的简单心智模式

Focus on the big-money decisions
关注重大决策

When it comes to spending money, I’ve made so many mistakes. When I think about the amount of money I’ve wasted in the past, I feel bad in my stomach.
说到花钱，我犯了很多错误。一想到过去浪费了那么多钱，我就觉得心里难受。

I didn’t have the best mental model for my financial life back then.
那时，我对自己的财务生活还没有最好的心理模式。

As someone who practices Stoicism and Mindfulness, I don’t get attached to those feelings. But still, it does hurt a little bit.
作为一个奉行斯多葛主义和正念的人，我并不执着于这些感受。但还是会有点痛。

For instance, I think I bought a new winter jacket almost every year until four or five years ago when I finally decided to spend a grand on a high-quality jacket.
例如，我想我几乎每年都会买一件新的冬季夹克，直到四五年前，我终于决定花一千美元买一件高品质的夹克。

I spent probably twice as much in the ten prior years. But now that I have a great (and warm) winter parka, I don’t even think about getting a new one. So I’m not spending any more money. I’m also not spending time and energy on finding new jackets.
前十年，我花的钱可能是现在的两倍。但现在我有了一件很棒（也很暖和）的冬季外套，我甚至都没想过要买一件新的。所以我不会再花钱了。我也不会把时间和精力花在寻找新外套上。

I call this way of looking at the world, or mental model, “Save time and money by spending well.”
我把这种看待世界的方式，或者说心智模式，称为 "省时省钱，精打细算"。

In most languages, there’s a saying that captures that philosophy. In The Netherlands, we say, “Buying cheap is expensive.” But this is not only true for buying things.
在大多数语言中，都有一句谚语体现了这一理念。在荷兰，我们说 "便宜没好货"。但这句话不仅适用于买东西。

In this article, I will share 3 personal examples of my life where I applied this mental model and how it changed my life financially.
在本文中，我将与大家分享我在生活中应用这种思维模式的 3 个实例，以及它是如何在财务上改变我的生活的。

Writing books
写作书籍

When I wrote my first book in 2015, I didn’t do a great job with the presentation and positioning.
2015年我写第一本书时，在表述和定位方面做得并不好。

I called the book Massive Life Success, and I created a silly cover on Canva in 30 minutes. Here it is:
我给这本书取名为《成功的人生》，并在 30 分钟内在 Canva 上制作了一个傻乎乎的封面。就是这样：

It doesn’t even look a little bit like my current books. I didn’t have a logo nor did I have a style. The overall feel of the book was amateurish.
它甚至看起来一点也不像我现在的书。我没有标志，也没有风格。书的整体感觉很业余。

A few weeks after I published it, I started feeling bad about the book. I liked the content and advice, but it just didn’t look professional. So I took a lot of time and energy to study the book business.
出版几周后，我开始对这本书感到不满意。我喜欢书中的内容和建议，但它看起来并不专业。于是，我花了很多时间和精力研究图书业务。

I also worked on creating a style for all my designs. Call it a brand identity. And within a year, I republished the book as, Win Your Inner Battles.
我还致力于为我的所有设计创造一种风格。称之为品牌识别。不到一年，我就重新出版了这本书，书名是《赢得内心的战斗》。

It came with a new title, cover, and description. I even re-arranged the chapters, which made the reading experience easier.
它有了新的书名、封面和描述。我甚至重新编排了章节，使阅读体验更加轻松。

Now, seven years later, the book is still selling hundreds of copies a month. I learned an important lesson from that experience.
如今，七年过去了，这本书每月仍能卖出数百本。我从那次经历中学到了重要的一课。

When you’re working on a project, it’s tempting to rush it and finish it as fast as you can. You can just “ship it” and move on to the next one.
当你在做一个项目时，很容易急于求成，以最快的速度完成它。你可以直接 "发货"，然后继续下一个项目。

Don’t be one of those people who turns everything into a rush job. Take your time. Invest time and energy in your projects. Do a GREAT job. Do the job as best as you can.
不要做那种把所有事情都变成匆忙工作的人。慢慢来。在项目中投入时间和精力。做一份出色的工作。尽你所能完成工作。

The first time, I didn’t spend enough time and money on my book. So I got a book that wasn’t great. Then, I spent serious time and money on creating the best book I could.
第一次，我没有在书上花足够的时间和金钱。所以我得到了一本并不出色的书。后来，我花了大量的时间和金钱去创作一本最好的书。

And that book is still earning money today.
这本书至今仍在赚钱。

Traveling
旅行

I can’t stand traveling. I honestly get so annoyed when I’m in airports, on planes, on trains, or standing in line anywhere.
我无法忍受旅行。老实说，在机场、飞机上、火车上，或者在任何地方排队时，我都会感到非常烦躁。

But at the same time, I do like to go on vacation or visit nice places in the world.
但与此同时，我也喜欢度假或去世界上的好地方旅游。

And I do it in a very distinct (and weird) way. I have a bunch of made up rules around traveling. For example, I avoid airports at all costs during the summer holiday. I just don’t want to be anywhere close to an airport during holidays. Not worth it.
我的旅行方式非常独特（也很奇怪）。我有很多关于旅行的规则。例如，暑假期间我会不惜一切代价避开机场。我就是不想在假期期间靠近机场。不值得

Also, no vacation package deals for me. You know, those package deals some airlines offer that include a plane ticket, shuttle, and hotel. I went to many of those when I was young, and I’ve had enough.
另外，我不喜欢度假套餐。你知道，有些航空公司提供的套餐优惠包括机票、班车和酒店。我年轻时参加过很多这样的活动，我已经受够了。

In short, I do everything I can to avoid busy periods and popular destinations. Paris in July? I’d rather eat a bowl of nuts and bolts. New York City during Christmas? No thank you, I’d like to stay sane.
总之，我会尽力避开繁忙时段和热门目的地。七月的巴黎？我宁愿吃一碗坚果和螺栓。圣诞节去纽约？不，谢谢，我想保持理智。

When I travel by plane, I book a seat right behind business class. And if I can get an upgrade upon check-in, I go for it. But I prefer to drive. I live in The Netherlands, and I even drove all the way to the south of Spain.
乘飞机旅行时，我会预订商务舱后面的座位。如果在办理登机手续时能升舱，我就会去争取。但我更喜欢开车。我住在荷兰，我甚至开车到过西班牙南部。

At least I don’t have to get in lines. And if I have to spend more money on travel? So what? At least I enjoy the entire experience from the moment I leave my house. To me, that’s when traveling starts.
至少我不用排队。如果我不得不花更多的钱旅行呢？那又怎样？至少从离开家的那一刻起，我就能享受整个旅行经历。对我来说，这才是旅行的开始。

Because I’m such a difficult person when it comes to traveling, I try not to travel a lot. I’d rather go on one great trip than a few “normal” ones.
说到旅行，我是个很难相处的人，所以我尽量不经常旅行。我宁愿去一次伟大的旅行，也不愿去几次 "普通 "的旅行。

Personal productivity
个人生产力

Most people in the productivity space are always interested in new apps, tools, and methods.
生产力领域的大多数人总是对新的应用程序、工具和方法感兴趣。

I’m not.
我没有。

I’ve done my research years ago. In fact, I started researching productivity when I was in university, and I spent years to find a good productivity system that worked for me.
我多年前就做过研究。事实上，我从上大学时就开始研究工作效率，花了好几年时间才找到一套适合自己的好的工作效率系统。

I spent time and money on books, courses, apps, tools. It was a huge investment, both time-wise and money-wise.
我花时间和金钱购买书籍、课程、应用程序和工具。无论是时间还是金钱，这都是一笔巨大的投资。

But now, I’m done. I no longer have to spend time and money on anything that’s related to productivity. I’m good. It was something I had to work on once, and now I simply stick to my strategy.
但现在，我不干了。我再也不用把时间和金钱花在任何与生产力有关的事情上了。我很好。这是我曾经必须努力的事情，现在我只需坚持我的策略。

I don’t look at new apps or systems. The things I use work fine. Why change a winning team?
我不关注新的应用程序或系统。我用的东西都很好。为什么要改变一个胜利的团队呢？

This is a good example of “Save time and money by spending well.”
这就是 "省时省钱，精打细算 "的典范。

When you spend well, you usually only have to spend once. So many people don’t take their productivity seriously. They don’t research it enough. They don’t take courses.
花得好，通常只需花一次。很多人不重视自己的生产力。他们研究不够。他们不参加培训班。

They read a few articles or a book and think that’s it. But productivity is a personal thing. You must find a system that works for you.
他们读了几篇文章或一本书，就认为仅此而已。但生产力是个人的事情。你必须找到适合自己的系统。

When you make a proper time investment, you only have to do it once. When you finally have a system that works for you, you can honestly rely on it for the rest of your life.
当你进行适当的时间投资时，你只需要做一次。当你终于有了一套适合自己的系统时，你就可以坦然地依靠它度过余生了。

Focus on the big-money decisions
关注重大决策

Look, life is short. It’s tempting to focus on quick ways you can save money.
听着，人生苦短。专注于快速省钱的方法很有诱惑力。

If you save on your groceries today, you will spend less. That’s a fact. But that’s not the key to changing your finances.
如果您今天在日用品上节省开支，您的花费就会减少。这是事实。但这并不是改变财务状况的关键。

The key is to adopt a way of life that helps you to get richer in the long term. Think about the big decisions you’re making.
关键是要采取一种有助于你长期致富的生活方式。想想你正在做出的重大决定。

Are they making you poorer in the long term? Or are you getting richer?
从长远来看，它们会让你变得更穷吗？还是让你变得更富有？

A very obvious example is leasing cars. You’re paying a huge premium today to drive that car. You could use that premium to do a million other good things.
一个非常明显的例子就是汽车租赁。今天，你要为驾驶这辆车支付巨额保险费。你可以用这笔钱做无数其他好事。

When you focus on these types of big decisions, you will make life easier for yourself. Think about your future self. You want to make sure you’re better off in a year than now.
当你专注于这类重大决定时，你会让自己的生活更轻松。想想未来的自己。你要确保一年后的自己比现在过得更好。