Creating vs. consuming: two ways to spend your lifetime

Dear friend,

Together with my girlfriend, I went to Mallorca in the summer for seven days.

It was wonderful weather. We had a clean, spacious apartment in Alcúdia. Shops, gym, beach, pool – everything was easily accessible. And via a quick car ride, we could go on great hiking routes.

This year’s vacation was different, though. I’ve become a founder. Taking days off felt like leaving a newborn child of mine at home.

I tried my best to be present. But every day for a few hours, my thoughts revolved around my startup.

This is natural behavior considering the analogy of a newborn child.

Luckily: Children become adults; startups become grown-ups. And the intensity with which a “parent” thinks about its “creation” diminishes.

Nevertheless, things will never be the same.

## **Creating vs. consuming**

During the vacation and lying in the sun, I reflected for hours:

Am I happy? Hell yeah!

But:

I work so much. For most of my lifetime, I was working – *creating.*

How can I be so happy?

Most people dislike working, right? They would rather receive their salary without work in exchange and use the time to *consume*: watch Netflix, meet friends for brunch, go to parties, etc.

I wouldn’t prefer that. I worked on my startup for half a year without a single penny gaining from it.

Why?

I concluded: There are two ways of spending time: *creating* and *consuming*.

And I LOVE *creating.* There is nothing in life that brings me more joy than *creating*.

Ideally, I *create* together with like-minded people.

Creating: elaborating a concept and convincing people of it; writing a blog post to help people make better decisions; sowing tomato seeds and watering them; teaching a toddler how to pronounce a word correctly; cooking dinner for your parents; etc.

Consuming: going out with friends; eating in a restaurant; watching a soccer game; flying to Mallorca for vacation; playing card games with your siblings; etc.

There are different people.

And it’s totally fine being someone who enjoys *creating* more than *consuming*.

Or what do you think about how to spend our lifetime?