"Only Spend Money On Things That Will Make You Money"

My uncle told me that right after I graduated high school. To me at that time, it sounded crazy. What about hobbies? Snowboarding gear? Road trips and casino runs? But it stayed with me all these years because there is a lot of truth in those words. Now I have blown so much money over the years that it hurts every time I think about it. My most recent burden is a 40ft Trawler that is wasting away at a harbor (please, if you want to buy it call me). I feel it was the audacity of this statement that made it stick, and time that made me see the value in it.

currently I am investing into my Voice-over career and trimming away at unnecessary expenses. There is so much stuff in my house and I'm trying to Ebay and donate this stuff like crazy but I'm hardly making a dent. All these pointless things I own puts stresses on me. It takes up a part of my daily thoughts and creativity. I have basically a brand new electric bike I never use, That could have bought me a great animation demo. How about the ungodly amount of unreliable cars I have bought and lost because they were "cool". The "What Ifs" can go on forever but I'm slowly learning to police myself (mainly because I'm broke).

My uncle really wasn't saying I couldn't go travel or enjoy a fancy meal. He was telling me to invest the bulk of my money back into myself; in my career. Even your hobby could be feeding your career by giving you a way to reset your focus. I don't think I understood at the time because I was trained that jobs and fun are two sperate entities. That I couldn't make money doing something I loved. At 35 and restarting my career, only now do I feel that way of thinking was BS. My uncle was really telling me to do what I love and invest my time and money in that, so it could in turn support me. Although if he said it like that, I probably would have forgot about it completely.