Sharpening The Sawbucks
There are a million different metaphors for what money is … and some of them are based in metaphysics, e.g.: “Money is stored energy.” … others are more poetic, e.g.: “Money is a social lubricant.”
A powerful, pragmatic metaphor about money is:
“Money is a tool.”
In other words money is an instrument of facilitation of one sort or another, i.e.: when you have it you can get things done that you might otherwise have to work much harder to accomplish, or might not get done at all.
I like that metaphor about money for two reasons; a) it places money in the context of its use and not as an end in and of itself, and b) it places money alongside other tools I have available to me to get things done if or when I don’t have access to the money I’d like to have to use in the moment (I learned that there’s more than one way to build a treehouse).
Getting Familiar With Tools
My father is a carpenter by trade, and a master craftsman. Growing up I spent many hours working with my father on job sites doing all kinds of projects. Some of these projects were heavy constuction such as putting a roof on a building, others were finishing projects like installing custom moulding in a room, or building furniture.
In the case of heavy construction or finishing, or any project in between, my father relied on his tools to get the job done. I loved my father’s toolbox and all of the stuff in it …
Hammers, chisels, saws, rulers, squares, nail sets, hand drills, screw drivers, chalk lines, planes … all kinds of amazing tools.
My father accumulated these tools over many years, and some were virtually ancient … like his hand brace (bitstock) and the bits that went into it, others were almost brand new, e.g.: most of his electric tools.
There were two very important things I learned about tools from my father in those days.
The first thing was: having the right tool for the job make things easier and also often helps to make the outcome better.
For example in a pinch you could use a screwdriver to remove some wood from a door frame to set a hinge, but using a screw driver as a chisel never produced a result that was anywhere near what you could produce with a chisel, and the outcome was almost always unacceptable if your intention were to do fine work.
The second thing was: keeping your tools sharp, and in good condition, was essential if you wanted them to do the job they were intended for when you needed them.
There were a few other things I learned along the way as well, like always put your tools back when you finish using them so you know where they are the next time you need them, and … it’s better to put your tools back in the toolbox exactly where they were when you took them out, because the next time you go to look for them they will be right where you expect them (to be).
Refining The Process
I began to notice that at some point my father stopped taking his toolbox with him on all of his jobs. Instead he began changing his habits a bit. He would take only the tools he knew he was going to need, and he took less and less tools with him as he got older (and more skillful).
What was happening was that as he got older, wiser and more skillful he needed less tools to get the job done. In fact I’d say as he got older his work got better.
That was actually kind of amazing to me, because he had truly learned how to do more with less (unlike most politicians and governments it seems who do less with more as time goes by …).
My first career was in architecture. In my early twenties I was a founding partner in an interior architectural design firm with two friends. We specialized in doing very high-end interiors work, mostly in New York City, and in the wealthy suburbs surrounding it.
I was doing space planning and designing custom furniture, flooring, and window and wall treatments for some of the finest offices in the skyscrapers of New York City, and at the same time doing interior design in some of the most opulent homes in the area for our clients.
At times my father would work with me on projects doing the carpentry work for my clients. By this time he was semi-retired, but still working eagerly on the projects that interested him. We did some amazing things together, and I got to watch him create at the height of his craft.
This is when I most noticed that he had begun streamlining his toolset, taking a kind of minimalist approach to his work. Yet, it was also some of the best work I’d ever seen him produce. Our clients loved him and the outcomes he would create for them.
Refining My Vision
It’s years later, and my father is an older man and grandfather … still mobile and capable, but doing very little of that kind of work. However, whenever he’s asked he’s still up for taking on a project for the family, or in his own home.
Now my dad is most likely to travel with just a tool belt … a hammer, a chisel or two, a ruler and triangle square and maybe a screwdriver … maybe. Only if he really needs them will he take along one or two specialized tools, but more often than not it’s just his tool belt … not the heavy wooden toolbox I used to carry around on job sites as a kid working alongside him.
He learned the value of only depending on the tools he really needs, and no more. In the process of watching him refine his working approach I’ve learned something about paring down my needs and desires for “tools” as well.
I love having the tools I need to do a job … in my case a fast, reliable laptop connected to a fast, reliable Internet connection, and a few other specialized tools I break out when I need them too, like my video camera and wireless mic set.
I’m long past the days of wanting more than I need, or investing the time and energy to do what it would take to get more when I can do just as well with less.
In fact I find I’m doing more and better work with less these days … just like my “old man” taught me by example.
What I’ve found, and didn’t expect, is that my vision has become more precise and clear as I’ve learned to give up depending on having more than I need … to the point where I no longer want more than I need.
I think this is the essence of freedom … knowing you can get by well with what you have and no more … it’s a freedom I’ve come to appreciate and treasure.
I love having learned to walk a little more lightly upon the Earth, and in respecting her in this way I’ve come to respect myself a bit more as well. Long gone are the days where I chased “more” without knowing how much was “enough” …
My soul has come to rest in this new way of being, just like the simple carpenter I learned it from, without him ever knowing that he was teaching me one of the most valuable lessons of my life.
Thanks dad.
Love,
Your son, Joseph.
Joseph Riggio, Ph.D.
Princeton, N.J.
t says
Hi,
What a great gift your father has given you and you to the readers. I appreciated that after reading the title you brought me on a journey with a good story. The art of doing more with less tools is so true or a worthwhile story for many of the domains of living a fulfilling life. I take it into and extroplate it onto my desire to have more tools of transformation. After reading this story I’m now both ready to use less tools or the more precise tools for what I already do and want to do. At the same time the mytho orientation is the most essential and versatile tool I have for living who I am and how I do what I do.
Thanks for a great story of money and beyond.
Best,
T
Joseph says
T,
You’re welcome.
Just note the title of the post again … it’s the ultimate tool.
J
Peter Wright says
Thank you for a wonderful story and a good reminder of how important it is to select and use as few tools as we really need.
I found out the hard way that the best but most dramatic way to learn this lesson is to have all your tools taken away by force, including all your assets, money and toys.
Starting again in my later (and perhaps wiser) years, I became much more selective in the tools I chose to exchange hard-earned money for and to accumulate.
Joseph says
Peter,
I agree with your comments about “the hard way” … best to be avoided if possible.
Of course I know your story a little bit, and what amazes me is how many people the world over believe that it cannot happen to them … yet it’s a story that has been played out and told a thousand, thousand times.
FWIW I believe the key is to assume it will happen (even if it never will or does), and then organize your life so that it will continue to work long after the event.
I know that’s not easy, but it is wise IMO. Also, the shift that accompanies such thinking is that you begin to shift your values (as you’ve indicated happened for you), and you begin to “accumulate” what cannot be taken.
Sam says
Just perfect. Thank you.
Joseph says
Prego …
Joseph
Bruce says
Joseph,
Thanks for the story telling tool that I have added to my tool kit, and continue to sharpen every time I read what you write.
Joseph says
Bruce,
My pleasure, of course.
It’s a powerful tool, and needs masterful care … enjoy the journey from craftsman to master while you’re on the way.
David says
Thanks Joseph. A great lesson passed on through a lovely story. Learning to do more with less, but making sure you keep the ‘less’ honed in tip-top condition.
Joseph says
David,
As Peter says above about the “hard way” … it was hard earned learning for me too.
Personally the learning has come in three acts so to speak:
ACT I: Learning how to become successful by the world’s terms, i.e.: make a lot of money and garner as much fame and recognition as possible. Do what you can to learn the rules and play inside them as often as suits you, and do what you must not to get caught if you play outside of the lines.
ACT II: Expect the system to reward you and play fair, especially the proclaimed “justice” system whilst you live under the “rule of law.” Find out that the “rule of law” is actually the “rule of money” … i.e.: those who have it rule those who don’t. (E.g.: 94% of all American elections are won by the candidate who spends the most money, typically the candidate who spends the most money raises the most money, the U.S. Supreme Court said that you can spend as much money promoting a candidate for public office as you like as long as you control the spending and not the candidate … P.A.C.s … and that a corporation can act like a living human being when it comes to spending money that gets the politician they want in office elected … lobbyists rule the input channels in the halls of political power, lobbyists are bought by those who have the most money to spend, politicians are obliged to “listen” to the concerns of those who can and do support them financially if they want/expect to get elected/re-elected … we live in a society run by the “rule of money.”) I trusted the system and paid dearly for it … virtually wiping out my family and me financially in the process (still recovering), and also paying a price in terms of reputation that got slandered in the process as well with ripples still coursing through the system far from center; i.e.: learning the hard way.
ACT III: Get over it. Come back to center as quickly as possible, focus on what is truly most important, express gratitude for the lessons that don’t kill you (see: Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm – “Thus Spoke Zarathurstra“), move on … practice simplicity and the value of vocation (see: “The Desiderata“).
Joseph
Freada says
Beautifully expressed…not much to be said, lest I tread on something sacred
Joseph says
Merci.
J
Stefania says
Great words, thank you so much! Essentiality is the Keys.
Joseph says
You’re most welcome. Thanks for the taking the time to comment.
Joseph
Sarah Lawrence Hinson says
Love this. Fascinated recently to learn about 5-element Chinese acupuncture, where the practitioner’s ultimate goal is to be able to balance a client’s energy completely with the placement of just one needle (taking into account the client’s energy, the season, planetary alignment and current pulses of the client).
Mastery is indeed practice, as well as being able to internalize and embody all that we are able to identify as mastery for us as an individual.
I love this story Joe thanks. My dad passed when I was 19…this story reminds me that he wanted to work with wood for a living. He ultimately became a production engineer for family reasons…yet he carved beautiful wall lamps for our house, animals holding up the lamps, a crocodile, a monkey, a dolphin and one other I can’t quite remember. As I child I would stare at the lamps and think them magical. And they were…
Joseph says
Sarah,
I love the concept of precision mastery … i.e.: on needle.
Very cool …
Joseph