In my book, ONO, Options, Not Obligations, I talk about controlling your consumption to create wealth. My basic premise is that it’s not about how much you make, it’s about how much you invest entrepreneurially. The largest mistake I see people make is in their consumption of what I call “wants,” things that they want, as opposed to things that they need.

As an example, let’s take a family boat. Seems simple, but what people fail to consider is that they have lots of alternatives to achieve the same result. What we “want” is a boat to take the kids out and have some summer fun. Now, boats like this range from $7,000 to $70,000. In fact, if you’re planning on using that boat three or four times a summer like most people who own them, you could even rent one and spend even less and not be locked into a depreciating hunk of fiberglass that clogs up the driveway.

There are many ways to skin the same cat, and the less money you spend on a boat or any other “want,” the more you can invest. The more you invest, the more you can afford the time to do the delicious things in life. People fail to see that the more they spend on their wants, the longer they have to work to earn the money to buy those wants. They also give up the most important commodity they have, and that commodity is time.

This is an example of thinking out of the box in terms of consumption, and people with ONO apply this thinking style to the purchase of their wants. ONO thinkers make peace with their decisions to curtail consumptive spending because they can see the big picture.

The picture I’m speaking of is the one where a Dad is saying another goodbye to sad children as he leaves to go a business trip to pay for the things in the driveway. ONO-wise people will not sacrifice precious time with their children for shiny new toys. They choose “less shiny” toys that will achieve the same results, and they earn an added bonus because they are able afford the time to spend playing with their toys and, more importantly, their kids.