What Does Personal Finance Mean To You?
Finally! Another work week has just concluded for me and it is time to enjoy my short lived days off before another one commences.
This is the life that I am currently leading. I work the graveyard shift, 50 hours a week and tank through the weekends when most people are out doing whatever they do on saturday nights.
All of this has gotten me thinking about my life and why I am pursuing this path to financial freedom. However, finding the answers I seek proved to be quite challenging but these are the things that have crossed my mind:
Finding Purpose in Life
As a single guy who is stuck in a job where I put in 50 hours a week, I am finding it hard to see the purpose of this lifestyle.
My life has turned into a major routine of just going to work and coming home only to pass out and to wake up to the next cycle. I guess you can say that I am sort of a workaholic but it is definitely not by choice!
At the present moment, I have yet to find that purpose that I am looking for but I am actively seeking it. Is life just about going to work, collecting a paycheck and paying the bills? For some reason, I refuse to believe that. Purpose is definitely a complicated subject for me and I am in the process of deconstructing it.
A Determination to Self – Improvement
One of the initial reasons why I got interested in personal finance was because I didn’t want to trade my time to work for someone else. Instead, I wanted to escape the rat race and enjoy the freedom of doing whatever I want to.
I truly believe that self-improvement and personal finance work hand in hand. In order to be successful in my financial goals, I will need to work on becoming a better person. Not only will this give me a better perspective on life but it will help guide me through my finance journey.
In an effort to accomplish this, I am going through a few old school personal development material. Currently, I am re-examining The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey in attempt to learn some valuable principles that I can apply to my life.
Motivation to be Successful
In any case, that’s enough about me. What about you? What are your motivations to become successful?
Whether it is to provide a living for your family, to quit your day job or simply to live your dreams, having a good motivation is the key to success.
It is also a good idea to be reminded of these motivations whenever progress may seem to be stagnant.
My motivation is to be able to live off passive income and to travel the world. This dream of mine helps keep me on my toes especially when things start to get tough.
Does Lack of Progress Equate to Stagnancy?
Personally, I am the type of person who likes to see results fast. However, at the current stage of my life, I find that I am not progressing as fast as I should be. This prompts me to ponder if there is anything I can do to speed things up.
Right now, all I am doing is going to work to bring in active income to fund my investments. However, I feel that I am not improving my finance game at the moment and I have hit a rut. In attempt to change this, I have decided to start doing some further research in Warren Buffet’s methodology on how to valuate stocks.
Conclusion
This concludes my weekly rant about my life! 🙂
No but seriously, I hope you could at least find some value in any of this. Even if it’s just taking one point away, this post would have served its purpose.
So, what does personal finance mean to you? I would love to hear from you in the comments!
Hi Jeff
Wow you sounded so alike that I was reminded of the younger me a few years ago. I too was having a job that does not fulfil me but it was paying really decent pay so I stayed on until today and it sort of oay off. I am beginning slowly but surely finding a way out of doing something I really like. For example I am planning to write on a book in the next 1 or 2 years that would leave a memory and legacy one day. Things like that motivates me and cant wait to reach ff one day. Hope same goes for you too
Hi B, hopefully I will make the same progress as you did as well.
But yah, having an unfulfilled job places me in a really tough position. However, I will try to make the best out of it for now.
I look forward to reading your book!
Be Proactive
Begin With the End in Mind
Put First Things First
Think Win/Win
Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood
Synergize
Sharpen the Saw
(Might I recommend Habit 8; From Effectiveness to Greatness”
Looks like some potent personal finance techniques =] I would look forward to seeing a recommended book list of yours on Million Endeavour!
As per your post, progress not seen does not necessarily mean progress not had. The Harvest comes in the Autumn but the Seeding comes first in the Spring. Then we are promised a season of hot, long days in the Summer sun =]
While we’re on the old school train though, “Do what you love and you never work a day in your life”… Points to Ponder…
Thanks for the recommend, i’ll definitely look into it.
Some deep stuff right there! Thanks for sharing.
Hey Henry, thanks for checking my post out. I guess you don’t really relate cause you love your job. 🙂
It’s just another day in paradise.
Jeff,
It’s funny that you had an epiphany while working graveyard shift. I don’t work graveyard shift unless I’m forced to. While it’s noble to save lives in the middle of the night, but night time is for sleep. I would like to have the choice whether I want to work graveyard or not. Which also led me to seek for FI.
My motivation was to get out of poverty. We were living in the project. But I was the hope for my family, I was expected to get a doctoral degree to set the bar for my nieces and nephews to look up to.
Although I get premiums for working the nights, it doesn’t amount to much but I like the night shifts because its more quiet. However, i’m not that young anymore and it is messing with my health!
Your story is very inspiring Vivianne! If only more people were educated about personal finance.
Hi Jeff. I completely relate to your frustration about your progress not going quickly enough. I am also the kind of person who sets a goal and wants to see results right away. I like how you track your progress prominently on your site. Great strategy! I find that having several visual indicators that I’m making progress is really useful.
Thanks for the pointers Amanda! Sometimes i lose sleep because I don’t see results as quickly as expected. Oh well. Tis is life. 🙂
Very good article! Life is a continuous Learning..
Definitely Marc, without continuous learning, there would be no progress. 🙂