Despite the fact that there has never been so much wealth or so many wealthy people in the world, many of the world’s poor people still live in material and energy poverty. Could you and I cut back on our consumption (消耗) so as to make some space for others to increase theirs?

I am sure we could. But, unfortunately, everything about our economic systems is set up to make us believe and behave otherwise. The default (默认) mindset is that there is nothing wrong with wanting ever newer and more expensive things as long as we can afford them.

Look around you for a moment. No society anywhere before lived like this. Further, since our spending must necessarily be someone else’s income, we tell ourselves that we actually make the world a better place every time we buy another pair of shoes or trade in a car for the latest model. And that’s the tug (拉) of war that plays itself out cruelly in our lives, as one side of our age cries out “less”, and from the other side comes the answering cry “more”.

Of course, wanting to live a better life is deeply ingrained in human nature. Otherwise, we would never have generated the progress that has brought us to our present station.

But now we should think deeply about how and why we consume.

After all, even the earliest thinkers in the history of economic—including Adam Smith—thought, having more does not always translate into being happier. Evidence shows that many people in the developing world, despite being hard-up, report being just as happy as those in the materially rich societies of the West.

So what now? The answer, perhaps, is to try to be rich in the enjoyment of things, not in the accumulation (堆积) of them. A pair of good shoes, lightly creased (起皱) but also carefully polished (擦亮) once a month a meal cooked at home instead of a trip to McDonald’s—such as these lie our act of saving from the virus of compulsive (强迫性的) consumption.

Many people believe that a career change at 50 is almost impossible because no company wants to invest in someone with such limited working life left. However, fortunately I’ve achieved a career change unexpectedly.

For 15 years, I had the same job under various line managers. I enjoyed the work itself, but grew tired of the constant monitoring and fixed rules of the company. The inflexibility annoyed me and change seemed out of reach. With my 52nd birthday around the corner, I came to realize that I would have to make a career change.

Two months later, my wife spotted a job advertisement placed online and encouraged me to have a try. So I applied for it. Lacking experience in that particular role, I was pessimistic. However, I was surprised to be offered an online interview. Luckily, the interview went well, and they told me I would hear from them the next week if I passed the interview. So when three weeks passed with no word, you can imagine how frustrated I felt. I carried on looking for other chances, but my search was interrupted one afternoon when the company’s HR team phoned and invited me to come for a second interview. I was shocked, and at that moment I began to feel anxious. Then my wife suggested that I should try to show my true self in the interview. I got her point and tried to calm myself. I answered their questions as best I could, and eventually they offered me the job.

It’s proved that companies do invest in people over 50. I hope that anyone attempting a midlife career change can take the plunge. With the right attitude, you can achieve almost anything and get what you want if you have a try.

When I was nine years old, I loved to go fishing with my dad. But the only thing that wasn't very fun about it was that he could catch many fish while I couldn't catch anything. I usually got pretty upset and kept asking him why. He always answered, "Son, if you want to catch a fish, you have to think like a fish." I remember being even more upset then, because I'm not a fish! I didn't know how to think like a fish. Besides, I reasoned, how could what I think influence what a fish does?

As I got a little older I began to understand what my dad really meant. So, I read some books on fish. And I even joined the local fishing club and started attending the monthly meetings. I learned that a fish is a cold-blooded animal and therefore is very sensitive to water temperature. That is why fish prefer shallow waters to deep waters because the former is warmer. Besides, water is usually warmer in direct sunlight than in the shade. Yet, fish don't have any eyelids (眼皮) and the sun hurts their eyes. The more I understood fish, the more I became effective at finding and catching them.

When I grew up and entered the business world, I remember hearing my first boss say, "We all need to think like salespeople." But it didn't completely make sense. My dad never once said, "If you want to catch a fish you need to think like a fisherman." What he said was, "… you have to think like a fish." Years later, with great efforts to promote long-term services to people much older and richer than me, I gradually learned what we all need is to think more like customers. It is not an easy job. I will show you how in the following chapters.