There are a lot of things in this world that have value. Your house has value. Your education has value. Your skill set has value. There is one thing that has arguably more value than anything else, and that is time.
Last Fall I read the wonderful/amazing/potentially-life-changing book The 4-Hour Workweekby author Timothy Ferriss. Most people know that time is an incredibly valuable commodity because everyone has a limited supply of it and no one can buy or gain more time. Most people agree with this truth. But how many people live their life in a way that is consistent with this truth? Not many.
In his book, Ferriss shares how he was able to put his income on autodrive and have “mini-retirements” where he worked very few hours, if at all. When I read his book and saw how he was able to do this, it was nothing new or mind-blowing. But it does take work, commitment, and more likely than not a few failures to truly create a business (or a muse, as Ferriss calls them) that takes the owner out of the equation and allows them to use their time doing things they enjoy.
One thing that I love about Ferriss is that he is big on goal-setting. Very early on in the book he talks about writing out your dreams, what you would need to make them a reality, and what is holding you back. Having dreams is easy. Thinking about how you can make them a reality is a little harder. Even harder is following through on those action plans.
When it comes to personal finance, I think of it as a means to an end. The end in this case are goals that I have for my life.
Important questions I often ask myself are:
- What are the things I want to do?
- What are some places I want to go?
- If I had more time and/or money, what would I do with it?
I truly believe understanding finance can help people accomplish their dreams. That is why I started this blog and why I plan on writing about finance for as long as I am able to.
I’m interested in hearing: What are some of your goals? How do you plan on making them a reality?
mattchesla says
I want to be able to golf most mornings before I start my workday, to me that means not starting work until about 10am – tough to imagine that happening any time soon only being 25 years old but that is one of my biggest goals.
DavidCarlson1 says
@mattchesla Awesome goal! Do you picture yourself owning a business that allows you to start “later” in the day (time is somewhat relative depending on the business we are talking about) or do you picture doing that while working as an employee?
DavidCarlson1 says
Awesome goal! Do you picture yourself owning a business that allows you to start “later” in the day (time is somewhat relative depending on the business we are talking about) or do you picture doing that while working as an employee?