The First Question
When you ask "Does this benefit me?" and the only answer that comes to mind is financial, you've already compromised your foundation. You're measuring value with the wrong gauge.
Benefit is a multi-currency system. Money is the least interesting currency. The real value is in: Energy. Focus. Peace. Skill. Relationship depth. Autonomy.
Your Benefit Matrix is the personal accounting system that tracks all currencies. Most people have a broken calculator that only adds dollars while subtracting everything else.
The Six Currencies of Benefit
Energy Capital
Your daily capacity for focused work, creative output, and meaningful engagement. What fills your tank vs what drains it. The difference between waking refreshed and waking exhausted.
Attention Reserves
Your ability to sustain deep focus on what matters. The quality of your concentration. Watching others for 3 hours trades attention reserves for entertainment - a terrible exchange rate.
Emotional Peace
The absence of anxiety, resentment, and manufactured urgency. The quiet mind that can think clearly. Most modern consumption trades peace for temporary stimulation.
Skill Equity
Competencies that compound over time. Watching others work builds zero skill equity. Doing the work yourself builds some. Studying the craft builds more. Creating something original teaches most.
Relationship Depth
Connections that nourish rather than drain. Bonds built on mutual growth rather than shared consumption. Talking about superficial things vs discussing life philosophy.
Autonomy Stock
Your freedom from external manipulation. Every hour spent consuming what others produce is an hour not spent producing your own reality. Being a spectator is renting attention to someone else's achievement.
Building Your Personal Matrix
The matrix is simple: For any activity, assign scores (-3 to +3) for each currency.
Watching Others Work
- Energy: -2 (drains, passive)
- Focus: -3 (scattered, reactive)
- Peace: -1 (emotional volatility)
- Skill: 0 (no transferable skills)
- Relationships: +1 (shared spectator experience)
- Autonomy: -3 (watching others achieve)
- Total: -8
Creating Your Own Work (2 hours)
- Energy: -1 (requires effort)
- Focus: +3 (deep focus practice)
- Peace: +2 (flow state, clarity)
- Skill: +3 (skills improve)
- Relationships: 0 (solitary)
- Autonomy: +3 (creating your own reality)
- Total: +10
The Calculation
The numbers don't lie. Most entertainment has a negative benefit score. Most creation has a positive one. Yet we're conditioned to seek the former and avoid the latter. Your matrix makes this visible.
The Daily Practice
Morning Matrix Setup
List your planned activities. Score each against the six currencies. Notice patterns: which activities consistently score negative? Which consistently positive?
Real-Time Assessment
When an impulse hits ("Check scores," "Watch highlights," "Scroll social media"), pause. Run the matrix. What's the real score? The answer will often kill the impulse.
Weekly Audit
Review your week. Calculate your net benefit score. Which activities were benefit-positive? Which were extraction mechanisms? Adjust accordingly.
The First Insight
You'll discover that most socially acceptable activities - watching sports, binge-watching shows, scrolling feeds, drinking alcohol - have deeply negative benefit scores. They extract more than they give.
You'll also discover that most rewarding activities - deep work, skill practice, meaningful conversation, creation - have strongly positive scores. They build your capital in multiple currencies simultaneously.