{"id":619,"date":"2015-02-27T03:53:29","date_gmt":"2015-02-27T03:53:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/?p=619"},"modified":"2015-02-27T03:53:29","modified_gmt":"2015-02-27T03:53:29","slug":"the-high-price-of-free-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/?p=619","title":{"rendered":"The High Price of Free – Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s no good, it\u2019s no good!\u201d says the buyer\u2014 then goes off and boasts about the purchase.”
\n-Proverbs 20:14 (NIV)<\/em><\/p>\n

I remember a business book published some years ago whose title\u00a0was “Free, Perfect, and Now<\/a>.” \u00a0The author’s thesis was that customers’ demands had never been higher, and that those who wished to attract and keep those customers needed to be prepared for this new level of expectation.<\/p>\n

\"Bertucci<\/a>

There’s no such thing as free time.<\/p><\/div>\n

I suppose it’s a sign of our comparative prosperity that we can\u00a0expect — and receive on demand — products of such quality and at such a low price. \u00a0At the same time, though, I think that the allure of free is hurting us as a people.<\/p>\n

Investment equals\u00a0engagement<\/strong>
\nIn the various opportunities I’ve had to lead, I have noticed that men tend to pay more attention and to generate better results when they have skin in the game. \u00a0I’m not a participant in any fantasy sports leagues, but my friends who are report that the degree of engagement and enjoyment of participants tracks with the entry fees required. \u00a0This isn’t surprising, since we confer value\u00a0– genuine value – in those things we’re willing to pay for.<\/p>\n

I saw a bit of this dynamic playing out way back in high school. \u00a0Some guys I knew worked weekends, nights and summers \u00a0and saved to buy their first cars. \u00a0These guys took great pride in — and great care of — those cars. \u00a0Then there were the guys who received cars as gifts from their parents or grandparents. \u00a0It wasn’t true in every case, but far more of those cars ended up wrapped around trees than the ones that were earned the hard way. \u00a0Could it be that the drivers who worked for their cars were more careful drivers?<\/p>\n

Time and money
\n<\/strong>What is money, after all? \u00a0<\/strong>A convenient common denominator for labor. \u00a0So when we spend money it is a representation of\u00a0all those hours and all that toil. \u00a0When we get for free what others have worked for, it erodes the foundation of value and satisfaction. \u00a0It also weakens our ability to delay gratification and to persevere.<\/p>\n

Ben Stein<\/a> once wrote that lawyers and\u00a0exterminators do very similar work, but under drastically different conditions and for significantly different wages. \u00a0This is, as Stein points out, a function of supply and demand. \u00a0The costs of a legal education are higher than the costs of an exterminator’s training and certification. \u00a0As a result, there are fewer lawyers than exterminators, so lawyers make more money.<\/p>\n

You get what you pay for<\/strong>
\nIf you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that my purpose in writing it is to encourage and motivate you toward Thriving, Authentic Masculinity. \u00a0That takes in a lot of territory, and it will take time to get there. You can put what we talk about here into practice by making it a point to invest in this process. \u00a0 \u00a0Obviously, work is a necessary first step. \u00a0Earn your own money and then begin to upgrade — your skills, your manners, your mind, your health, your wardrobe, your character. \u00a0You already know excellence is rare, so become excellent and you become more valuable. \u00a0It can be done!<\/p>\n

We value things more highly when we’ve expended the labor for them. \u00a0When your reputation is based on fluff, or on family connections instead of genuine accomplishment, it’s easy to feel like an impostor. \u00a0By contrast, when you’ve put in the time and done the hard work, you’re less vulnerable to that kind of self-doubt.<\/p>\n

In Part II, we’ll talk about specific ways the allure of free is threatening our well-being.<\/p>\n

So how about you?<\/strong> \u00a0Where are you willing to invest — your time, your money, yourself — to make a lasting impact? \u00a0Add your comments below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s no good, it\u2019s no good!\u201d says the buyer\u2014 then goes off and boasts about the purchase.” -Proverbs 20:14 (NIV) I remember a business book published some years ago whose title\u00a0was “Free, Perfect, and Now.” \u00a0The author’s thesis was that customers’ demands had never been higher, and that those who wished to attract and keep […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[113,115,11,112,114,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ben-stein","category-engagement","category-excellence","category-money","category-time","category-work-ethic"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=619"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":738,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619\/revisions\/738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}