We are about to embark on an extraordinary journey to building a mountain of wealth from which never-ending streams of passive income will flow and on our way we will find happiness at the end of a rainbow. But before we set sail, let’s address one of the most fundamental questions that has deprived even the smartest human beings of their sleep for centuries:

What was first, the chicken or the egg?

Let’s deep-dive into an analogy in order to reveal the enlightening answer and wisdom within:

Here you go: One chicken! You’re welcome.

Imagine you give a 100 people one chicken each:
90 people will kill and feast on their juicy chicken immediately.
9 people will keep the chicken – and eat the eggs on a daily basis.
1 person will find a rooster for that very lucky last chicken, doesn’t consume the eggs and wait for the chicks to hatch. This person will soon grow an army of chicken which will lay more eggs than he could ever manage to eat.

In an eggshell: This is the essence of building wealth.

Be that one person.

Be patient.

Get yourself financially Marshmallow-tested and avoid the instant gratification trap!

Trust me: You will get endlessly rewarded for not eating your chicken first. See yourself what life could be like:

Enough chatting about chicken. Feeding chicken costs money.

We seem to have forgotten the egg and have failed to provide a satisfying answer to our very first question: The chicken or egg dilemma.

Back in the fourth century B.C., Aristotle initially described the chicken or egg dilemma. After decades of hard thinking he eventually concluded that this reality must be an infinite sequence with no true origin nor ending. Four centuries later, Plutarch specifically highlighted this question as bearing on a “great and weighty problem – whether the world had a beginning”. And in the fifth century AD, Macrobius wrote that while the question seemed trivial, it “should be regarded as one of importance”.

Wait no more, here’s my take on who came first:

Imagine a chicken and an egg lying in bed together. The chicken leans lazily against the headboard smoking a cigarette with a deeply satisfied smile on its face. The egg, looking a bit ticked off, grabs the sheet, rolls over, and says… Well, I guess we finally answered “THAT question!”

In an [another] eggshell, the essence about building wealth is this:
In our world, we can either put human capital or financial capital to work. Think of your own efforts – time and skills – as the human capital and your assets – such as capital, real estate or business – as the financial capital. In order to start building wealth, use and improve your human capital to incubate, raise and protect a “chicken-army” of your own. Take care of your chicken. Understand their needs. Learn how to raise them. No omelettes for now – wait for eggs to be laid, let some chicks hatch and repeat. Watch your farm and egg production grow. Repeat.

Groom your chicken!

Escape your consumer mindset, start adding value by creating and producing! What are you currently building? Leave your comments below or on Twitter and Facebook!

Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.

Remember: The chicken came first.

Stay awesome and don’t eat your chicken!
Financial Imagineer