Mental Wealth: What You Had as a Kid That You Need Back Now

Your mental wealth started with being curious about the world around you, just like when you were a little child asking “why” about everything.

As you are older now, having mental wealth means you have a clear purpose that gives your life meaning.  You keep learning and growing daily, and make time to think and rest your mind. It’s about staying true to who you are instead of just copying what everyone else does.

When you build mental wealth, you create a rich, interesting life filled with learning, growing, and following your dreams.

Mental Wealth is built on a foundation of curiosity, leading to fulfilment, growth, and purpose.

While innate in childhood, curiosity declines in adulthood due to the demands of life. But reconnecting with your childlike curiosity through “mental time travel” can provide perspective and evaluate your current state of Mental Wealth.

Why is it important to build Mental Wealth?

Living a life of Mental Wealth is an important fight against the forces of “stasis” and “normalcy” that encourage settling and blending in.

Most people are stuck in one place, doing the same boring things every day without trying anything new or different. And they want everyone to act the same way and not stand out. Choosing to build your Mental Wealth means fighting against this by always learning and being creative.

Maintaining your distinctiveness is key to realising full potential and living a “texture-rich existence.”

Your goal is to become a better version of yourself instead of just going along with what everyone else is doing. It’s about choosing to grow and explore new possibilities rather than staying in the same safe but boring routine.

Mental Wealth is ultimately defined as living according to your purpose. It’s believing in your capacity for growth and creating space for reflection and recharge.

Three Key Pillars of Mental Wealth

The First Key Pillar is Purpose.

Have a clear vision that creates meaning and aligns decisions. This involves defining a unique identity and contributing to something larger than yourself, whether through work or other activities.

The Second Key Pillar is Growth

Your Mental Wealth is highly dependent on a continuous hunger for progress and change.

Believe in your dynamic potential for development in intelligence, ability, and character. Growth is the pursuit of improvement in a world often seeking ease.

The last Key Pillar is Space.

Space is the intentional creation of stillness and solitude for thinking, resetting, and recharging. This allows for listening to your inner voice and gaining new insights. Space is “rocket fuel for the mind.”

How to Build Mental Wealth

To build Mental Wealth, here is a guide to ten high-leverage systems:

Quick Mental Wealth Hacks You Wish You Knew at Twenty-Two:

• Prioritize solitude.
• Write everything down.
• Reread impactful books annually.
• Take yourself out for solitary meals.
• Focus on substance over presentation.
• Focus deeply on one creative project at a time.
• Dedicate thirty minutes daily to improve a skill for thirty days
• Practice daily gratitude (list three things you are grateful for and say one aloud)

The Power of Ikigai (Pillar: Purpose):

This Japanese concept helps define your purpose by finding the intersection of three areas:

• What you love (activities that create joy).
• What you are good at (activities that feel effortless).
• What the world needs (activities relevant to your current context – self, family, community, or the world).

List activities for each area to begin exploring your unique ikigai. Because purpose is personal and doesn’t need to be professionally tied or outwardly impressive.

The Pursuit Map (Pillar: Purpose)

The Pursuit Map uses a two-by-two matrix to help align how time is spent with what brings energy and utilizes skills efficiently.

The matrix has “competency level” (low to high) on the x-axis and “energy” (draining to creating) on the y-axis.

1. Zone of Genius: High competency and energy-creating. This is the ideal area for most time investment.
2. Zone of Hobby: Low competency but energy-creating. This is where new pursuits often start and can evolve into the Zone of Genius.
3. Zone of Danger: High competency but energy-draining. This is risky as positive feedback might encourage spending more time here despite the energy drain.

Your goal is to maximise time in the Zone of Genius, spend remaining time in the Zone of Hobby, and minimise time in the Zone of Danger. Then communicate this map with teams or managers, or for solo practitioners, being honest about activities and outsourcing those in the Zone of Danger.

Following your energy is key to a more purposeful and fulfilling life.

The Feynman Technique (Pillar: Growth)

This learning model promotes deep understanding by leveraging teaching and simplicity through four steps:

1. Set the stage: Write down everything known about a topic.
2. Teach: Explain the topic to someone with no prior knowledge, using simple language and avoiding jargon (or pretend to teach a child).
3. Assess and study: Reflect on the teaching performance, identify gaps, and revisit source material.
4. Organize, convey, and review: Structure the simplified understanding into a narrative, share it, refine, and review.

Feynman technique is effective because it forces distillation and clear explanation, revealing areas where understanding is lacking. It’s a method used by successful thinkers and entrepreneurs.

The Spaced-Repetition Method (Pillar: Growth):

Spaced repetition uses cognitive science to improve information retention by revisiting new information at increasing intervals.

For example, do your repetitions starting one hour after initial consumption and progressively increasing the time between reviews to transfer information from short-term to long-term memory.

The Socratic Method (Pillars: Growth and Space):

This is a method of critical thinking through structured questioning to expose assumptions and vet logic.

The process involves:

1. Starting with open-ended questions to identify the core problem.
2. Proposing current ideas or hypotheses.
3. Probing these ideas with progressive questions to challenge assumptions (“Why do you think this?”, “How do you know it’s true?”, “How would you know if you were wrong?”).
4. Evaluating evidence and considering potential alternatives (“What alternative viewpoints exist?”, “Why might they be superior?”).
5. Zooming out to reflect on the initial thinking and any systemic errors discovered.

The method is recommended for high-stakes decisions to think differently and identify the most advantageous path.

The Think Day (Pillars: Growth and Space):

Dedicate one day each month to step away from daily demands and focus solely on reading, learning, journaling, and thinking.

Key elements of the think day include secluding yourself (mentally or physically), setting an out-of-office, shutting off devices, and using tools like a journal, books, a secluded location, and thinking prompts (e.g., “If I repeated my current typical day for one hundred days, would my life be better or worse?”).

The benefits are restoring energy, noticing missed things, being more deliberate, focusing on high-leverage opportunities, and moving “slow to move fast.”

The Power Walk (Pillar: Space)

Walking is a simple and free tool for creating space.

Incorporate short walks between tasks or meetings. Use longer, passive, tech-free walks (thirty to sixty minutes) where the mind is free to wander.

Bringing a notebook to capture ideas during longer walks is recommended because walking with your thoughts is an “ultra-powerful space-creating tool.”

The Personal Power-Down Ritual (Pillar: Space)

This is a fixed sequence of actions to mentally and physically end the professional day and create space for personal life. It includes three elements:

1. Complete final tasks: A quick check of emails, messages, and open projects.
2. Prepare for tomorrow: Identify focus priorities and do prep work.
3. Initiate power-down: Create a mental trigger or phrase to signify the end of the work day. Implementing a power-down ritual helps build clear boundaries between work and personal life.

The 1-1-1 Journaling Method (Pillar: Space)

This simple journaling practice aims to create space and improve mental health by writing down three points each evening:

1. One win from the day (for appreciating progress).
2. One point of tension, anxiety, or stress (to get it out of the mind and onto paper).
3. One point of gratitude (to reflect on important things).

Its simplicity makes it an easy way to start a journaling habit.

What It Truly Means to Build Mental Wealth

Mental wealth helps you become the best version of yourself by keeping your mind strong and healthy.

When you know your purpose, keep learning new things, and give yourself space to think, you make better choices and live a more meaningful life. This pursuit is a necessary and rewarding “fight” for your distinctiveness and fulfilment.

Mental wealth is one of the keys that unlock your highest self and helps you and me live a life that feels exciting and full of possibilities.

Use it wisely.

I hope this helps you as much as I enjoyed doing this review.

Godspeed and Cheers.

Zamai.

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