Labor of love

In honor of Labor Day tomorrow, I have decided to title this blog entry "Labor of Love".  This expression basically means to do something without expectation of compensation or reward.  As we grow up, there are expectations placed upon us by society to act a certain way or to achieve a certain level of success.  Then, before we know it, we are "grown up" up and we have responsibilities, bills, and other adult problems.  The danger of this is that one day we can wake up and realize that we haven't done anything for ourselves to make ourselves happy.

I believe emotional wealth aka personal fulfillment is equally as important as monetary wealth.  For me, these two things go hand in hand.  I know that money doesn't buy happiness, but at the same time, I am a realist and I know that it does buy a lot.  I don't need to be a billionaire like Bill Gates to be happy, but I do need to be able to support my family and if I want to splurge once in a while on something- I have to know that when I do this, I'm not building debt or putting my family in a worse off financial position.  So, here are my 3 thoughts for balancing being fiscally responsible and finding personal fulfillment.

1) Create Goals- I remember sitting in my 8th grade "Life Skills" class writing goals down such as "Get straight A's" and "Go to college".  My goals now have obviously changed, but I have found that this exercise of writing down goals is still a good practice because it makes you put your thoughts on paper and it's not just floating around in your head.  Seth and I have an annual goal-writing session where we spend 15 minutes just writing down our following financial goals:
   - Short term goals: 1-5 years (i.e. Buy a new laptop, have (insert amount) in savings, pay off (insert amount) in school loans, etc.)
   - Long term goals: 5-10 years (i.e. Buy a home, fund (insert amount) of children's college fund, pay off school loans, etc.)
   - "Wish List" - These are the items we dream about such as a vacation that involves staying at a luxury hotel or buying a Range Rover
We then compare our lists and discuss the items to see if we are on the same page and what we need to do to reach those goals.  Some of these items are obviously more realistic than others, but at the same time, just writing it down allows us to dream and maybe work towards achieving those things if we choose to pursue them.  I know that a Range Rover and my beloved 10 year old Toyota Camry can accomplish the same thing which is get me from Point A to Point B; but sometimes it's fun to think about getting from Point A to Point B in style. =)  Whether or not we actually get a Range Rover one day doesn't matter- it's not really the point.  We're always told as kids to dream and to dream big since we can achieve anything we put our mind to.  It seems that we lose sight of that as we get older, but when we stop dreaming, we let ourselves forget that we can always better ourselves and become what we want to be.  We become victim to our own short-sightedness.

Another item to consider is when you actually write down your goals, are they SMART?  This is an acronym we used to use at E&Y and also discussed in business classes that stands for:
S- Specific
M- Measurable
A- Attainable
R- Relevant
T- Timely

For example- "Pay off school loans" isn't SMART- but if you write down "Pay off school loans by 2020" then we're making it more specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely." The Range Rover doesn't really fit into any of these and thus it's in our "Splurges" section.

2) Reassess goals - There is no point in writing down goals if you are not going to go back and reassess them and tweak them.  I recommend reassessing these goals quarterly as finances are volatile based upon the economy and your personal financial forecast.  Keep your goals in an easily accessible place for review and adjusting as needed. 

3) Do something you love -Once you have your goals in order, consider what you want out of life.  We all know life is short and our time here on earth is very limited.  Because this is the case, if you really hate your job or hate where you are in life, you need to change it.  Don't settle for something that doesn't make you happy.  You are the only one with the ability to change your own circumstances.  One of my favorite quotes that my friend, Kim, shared with me in high school that I have always hung onto is "If you don't like something, change it, and if you can't change it, change the way you think about it."  For example, let's say you hate your job- well, don't let your job define you.  You may spend 40+ hours there, but your job is not who you are.  Find something else outside of your job that makes you happy and pursue it because you enjoy it.  Pick up a new hobby or a new sport and do it for you!  Think about this: What are the things you do just because you love it and not because it's expected or because you should?  What makes you happy?  Every day is a new day to recreate yourself and become the person you want to be.  Find the thing that you want to pour your labor of love into!

So, I hope that this blog entry has given you some good tips and happy thoughts.  I will leave you with this quote from Anthony de Mello's book, The Way to Love, "I leave you free to think your thoughts, indulge your tastes, follow your inclinations, behave in ways that you decide are to your liking."

Happy Labor Day!