Why Smart People Make Expensive Mistakes
Why we keep choosing repair over prevention
Welcome back to Purposeful Entrepreneurship. If you're new here, I help successful but unfulfilled executives transition to purpose-driven entrepreneurship without sacrificing financial security. Today we're looking at a spending paradox that reveals everything about our relationship with growth.
I've been puzzling over something for months now.
Why is it that most people don't pay for personal growth? Why does everyone seem focused only on making money, as if that's the only growth that matters? And what is it about what money buys that makes us so addicted to pursuing it?
These questions have been with me for decades, but they've become more urgent as I watch “successful” people repeatedly make the same costly choices.
Then Ted Carr's research landed on my desk, and suddenly it all made sense.
The Four Places We Spend Big Money
According to Carr's findings, people are willing to pay significant money for four specific things:
Beauty and cosmetic procedures - Botox, cosmetic surgery, anti-aging treatments, dental procedures (Invisalign is the rage, apparently)
Chronic pain management - Doctors, specialists, treatments for ongoing pain
Marital relationship repair - Marriage counseling, therapy, divorce proceedings
“Education” on making more money - Courses, coaching, seminars on wealth building
Look at that list. Really look at it.
Every single category is about fixing something that went wrong. These aren't investments in growth: they're payments for repair.
The Pattern We're Missing
That chronic pain didn't appear overnight. It is your body's way of saying "pay attention to me" after years of being ignored.
That marriage crisis didn't happen suddenly. It is the result of putting everything else before the relationship that matters most.
Those cosmetic procedures? You're fighting aging that stress and unconscious living accelerated.
And those money-making courses? You're trying to solve an internal problem with external solutions.
Meanwhile, relationships and health take a backseat because they can't be optimized like a portfolio.
Why We Avoid Real Growth
Here's what I have observed after working with hundreds of executives and some ambitious women and men.
Real growth requires looking inward. And most (outwardly) successful people will do anything to avoid that.
External fixes are easier. They're visible. They give you something to show for your investment.
Inner work? It's invisible, slow, and offers no bragging rights at the country club.
We'll pay $15,000 for cosmetic surgery but balk at $1,500 for consciousness work.
We'll spend $25,000 on marriage therapy but won't invest $2,000 in learning how to build a conscious relationship.
We'll pay thousands for pain management but won't spend hundreds to understand what our stress patterns are doing to our bodies, or otherwise, pay for personal training to keep you accountable and healthy.
The Money Addiction
What is it about what money buys that makes us so addicted?
Money promises to solve every problem except the one that created all the other problems: our relationship with ourselves.
We think money will buy us:
Security (no amount eliminates existential anxiety)
Status (external validation never fills internal emptiness)
Freedom (we become prisoners of the pursuit)
Control (we lose control of what actually matters)
The irony is that the more money we make without doing the inner work, the more problems we create that money can't solve.
What Prevention Actually Looks Like
I have learned this the hard way: through six near-death experiences, through ‘untimely’ personal losses, through building and losing and rebuilding again.
Consciousness work isn't therapy. It is not meditation retreats or spiritual bypassing. It's the practical work of understanding your patterns, your triggers, your unconscious habits that create expensive problems.
It is learning to respond instead of react. It is understanding what drives your decisions before those decisions drive you into crisis. It is recognizing stress signals before they become chronic conditions. It is tending relationships before they require emergency intervention.
The Real Cost
Here's what the repair industry won't tell you: most of what you're paying to fix could have been prevented.
Not all of it. Life happens. Bodies age. Relationships face challenges.
But the majority of expensive problems “successful” people face are symptoms of unconscious living.
Your Move
You have a choice. Keep funding the repair industry, or invest in the awareness that makes most repairs unnecessary.
I am not suggesting you can prevent every problem. I am suggesting you can prevent most of the expensive ones.
The question isn't whether you can afford consciousness work.
The question is whether you can afford to keep living unconsciously.
What resonates with you from today's piece? I read every comment and often share the most insightful responses in future articles.
If this helped you see something differently, consider sharing it with someone who might need this perspective.
Ready to stop funding the repair economy? Schedule a Clarity Call.
Until next week, Raju
P.S. The most expensive education is always the one you get by ignoring the early lessons. What lesson is your life trying to teach you right now?
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