A Jet Ski Will Not Make You Happy

On November 20, 2015, I bought a Jet Ski. For months, even years my family and I had wanted a Jet Ski to use on our annual holiday. We spent forever lusting over pictures and videos online of every type of model and eventually picked the 2016 Sea-Doo GTR.

Fast forward six months, there is now a $21,000 Jet Ski sitting under our front car port with around 22 hours of use on it. It will stay there for another couple of months whilst the Winter passes. That’s almost $1,000 per hour of use. I’m currently imagining the things you could do with that kind of money. Let me be clear, I do not regret buying it at all.

Bumble Bee (yes it has a name) has helped reinforced an invaluable life lesson for me. Material items won’t make you happy. This is something I’ve been dedicating more thought to in my day to day life. Of course, it isn’t true for everyone but for the majority of people, it is.

As Mark Cuban (@mcuban) said in his recent interview on CreativeLive.

“The more bills it comes with, the less you want it. Live life like a student.”

For me, this is an incredibly powerful statement. Live life like a student. I have spent and believe I will spend my whole life living like a student. Why? Because living like a student means focusing on what matters. A student is always seeking more knowledge about the world they live in. Will a Jet Ski help them do this? Maybe, but most likely not.

Owning a Jet Ski has provided me with some great experiences with both family and friends. That is what matters to me. Seeing the smiles and fear on people’s faces as I squeeze the acceleration trigger is priceless and something I’ll never forget. Could these memories be created my other means? Of course.

I used to have an Excel document titled ‘Items to Buy’. This was comprised of a long list of material items that I thought I needed and that I thought, once I had those…. I’d be complete or something? No.

Recently, I deleted the document. Not once, have I thought about creating another or trying to recover the old one. Instead, I’ve been trying to focus my time on things that really matter to me. For me, it’s being around those I love and creating things (like this blog). That’s all I really need and that’s what makes me happy.

So the next time you think you need something, much like I thought I needed a Jet Ski. Think about, will this really change my life? In my case it did. It allowed me to realise that I don’t need a Jet Ski. I just need to the things I love and do them often.

I’ve recently started a blog (mrdbourke.com). As of this post it’s still a work in progress. I will be updating it constantly, so check it out.