J. Paul Getty’s Three-Part Formula for a Good Life

The richest man in the world — at one point literally — didn’t hoard a secret formula for building wealth. But he did keep one for living well, and it’s disarmingly simple.

“Eat one-half as much, drink one-fourth as much, laugh twice as much.”

— J. Paul Getty, As I See It

Getty attributes this advice to someone who gave it to him “long ago,” and it clearly stuck. He shares it in As I See It while dismantling one of the many myths that trailed him throughout his life — that he was perpetually sour-faced, incapable of laughter. The oil magnate, who was so frequently misquoted and mischaracterized by the press that he became “much inured and, in some respects, cynical” about media portrayals, pushed back on this image. “I love to laugh — and I do, whenever I find something funny or have a reason to laugh (very often, it’s at myself and some of the things I do),” he wrote. But he admitted that years of dealing with journalists and photographers had made him cautious, even “frozen-faced” in public settings. The warmth was real — it just wasn’t performative.

What makes this formula remarkable is what it reveals about Getty’s private priorities. Here was a man who controlled a petroleum empire spanning dozens of countries, yet the advice he chose to pass along to readers had nothing to do with deal-making, leverage, or market timing. It was about restraint and joy — consuming less, enjoying more. The structure of the formula itself is telling: two acts of subtraction (eating, drinking) balanced by one act of multiplication (laughing). Getty understood that the good life isn’t built by accumulation alone. It requires the discipline to pull back on excess and the wisdom to invest in what actually compounds your well-being.

There’s also a quiet self-awareness in Getty’s confession that he laughed most easily “at myself and some of the things I do.” The man the press painted as a cold-blooded tycoon practiced something psychologists now call self-distancing — the ability to observe your own behavior with amusement rather than judgment. It’s a trait that keeps ego in check and decision-making clear. When you can laugh at your own missteps, you’re far more likely to learn from them than repeat them.

The Memo

• Practice subtraction before addition. Getty’s formula starts with doing less of two things before doing more of one. In business and life, cutting what drains you often matters more than piling on what doesn’t.

• Laugh at yourself before the world does it for you. Self-deprecation isn’t weakness — it’s a form of intellectual honesty that keeps you adaptable and grounded.

• Guard your image, but don’t become it. Getty was cautious in public and warm in private. Know the difference between protecting yourself and losing yourself behind the mask.