The Daily Meaning
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Investing in Memories: Reader Edition
I often talk about the idea of investing in memories. I cover it in my speaking, podcast, and in this blog (including HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE). Investing our resources in memories, I believe, is one of the keys to living with meaning. Our stuff ends up in a landfill, but our memories last a lifetime.
Creating Margin for Impact
I talk a lot about the idea of creating margin in our finances. We do this to provide peace, flexibility, and contentment. However, there’s a piece missing from the typical narrative of margin. All these positive consequences of creating margin are about me, me, and me.
Wanna Be Like Mike
When I was a kid, I remember watching and re-watching an epic Gatorade commercial featuring Michael Jordan. Here’, I’ll jog your memory:
Slow Down or Get Burned
We recently made a bad decision in one of my businesses. It’s not a life-threatening mistake, but it was serious enough to cause some heartburn and consequences. We haven’t made many bad decisions in the past, but this one was a doozie. In the moment I kind of knew there would be regrets, for one specific reason. We rushed to make a decision and did so under pressure.
"They Only Care About Money"
I thoroughly enjoyed watching the AFC and NFC title games yesterday, especially the AFC game. The way the Chiefs won was as equally euphoric as the Bengals loss was crushing. Sometimes I get so overwhelmed by these moments that I can’t sleep when lay my head on the pillow. Last night was no different. I had so many thoughts running through my head.
There is No Impact Without Failure
During yesterday’s keynote address at a high school FBLA conference, I stressed the importance of failing. We live in a culture that tells us to avoid failure. Even parents protect their children from failing these days. Not only do I dislike this mindset, but I actually think we should pursue failure. In my talk, I shared two primary reasons why failure is important on our journey:
Delayed Gratification
Later today, I’ll be delivering the keynote address at a Future Business Leaders of America conference. It will be comprised of 150-300 high school students interested in pursuing business careers. I’ll be talking about three myths I believed when I was younger, and why overcoming them can be transformational for their journey.
The Problem With More
We have a “more” problem in our culture. In nearly every facet of our lives, it becomes about having, getting, making, and doing more, more, and more. The problem with more is that every time we get more, more is still, well, more.
Even Robots Know My Weaknesses
There’s nothing quite like the pain of having to listen to your own voice or watch yourself on video. Every word, motion, tone, and nuance gets put under a microscope. And not just any microscope, but an unfair, distorted, and brutally critical microscope. Can we all just admit it sucks to watch and listen to ourselves?
Confronting Fear Head-On
I’m scheduled to deliver two talks this week. One is at a high school youth group and the other is a keynote address at a high school leadership conference. I couldn’t be more excited about these opportunities. They also kick off a series of speaking engagements I have lined up for the spring.
Nothing is Thrown Away
Nearly four years ago, I stepped away from my 15-year career in commercial real estate. It was an awesome career, and to be honest, I miss it some days. Everyone assumes I walked away from it disillusioned and angry, but I didn’t. There is probably an alternate reality where I happily spend another 10-15 years in that role.
Giving What You Have: PTO Edition
In multiple posts, I’ve mentioned the words of my wise friend, Gary Hoag. “Give what you have, not what you don’t.” This simple saying has changed my perspective on life, as it has for countless others. When the topic of generosity comes up, people are quick to highlight all the things they don’t have. But everyone has something to give. We just have to each recognize what we’re blessed with and decide to share it with others.
The Joneses Don’t Know They Are The Joneses
Most of us know the saying, “keeping up with the Joneses.” It’s become the motto of modern-day American materialism, referring to the never-ending pursuit to keep up with the spending lifestyles of our neighbors, friends, and colleagues. The house we live in, the car we drive, the school our kids go to, where we go on vacation, the clubs we belong to……the list goes on and on. This phenomenon is a significant contributor to people’s decisions. We all like to say and pretend it doesn’t impact us, but I’ve spent enough time with clients to know we’re being naive if we think that way.
"Excellence is Always Its Own Reward"
For the last few years, I’ve been in a book club of sorts with a handful of close friends. We all serve together on the board of directors of an international organization. While we may be geographically scattered around the world, technology allows us to come together to accomplish good work, encourage one another, and build meaningful relationships. This group has sincerely been one of the great joys of my adult life.
No Thank You to No Spend Months
In the personal finance space, it’s popular to practice “no spend months.” The idea is simple. Pick a month, don’t spend anything other than needs that month, save some the cash, and just like that, you’ve magically made your financial life better. Some of the biggest money “experts" advocate for this type of thing, but I couldn’t disagree with it more.
Busyness and Happiness: Round 2
One of my favorite parts about writing this daily blog is the slew of messages I wake up to each morning from readers. Some thank me for the content, others disagree with my points, and many provide their own perspective. A few days ago, I wrote about the connection between busyness and happiness. My new friend, Randy, shared some thoughts about the topic via e-mail. While technology can be used to isolate people and do harm, it also has the power to bring people together like at no other time in history. I met Randy through this blog and I’ve learned so much from him through our many e-mail interactions. Randy, I’m grateful for you!
Self-Inflicted Wounds
It’s a practice as predictable as it is sad. We humans are really good at creating self-inflicted wounds in our financial lives. I’ll use an example
Busyness and Happiness
As I was scrolling Facebook yesterday, I stumbled upon the words of my wise friend, Erin. “Don't confuse being BUSY with being HAPPY, and being HAPPY with being BUSY.” I think about this topic often, Not only do I agree with Erin, but I would argue there’s a inverse correlation. Based on my personal experience, and watching others, our happiness seems to be hindered as we get busier and busier. I feel like my life is one big endeavor to de-busy myself on the heels of busying myself. I never feel more meaning when I’m busier. Rather, when I’m busier, I feel more stress, pressure, fatigue, and overwhelmingness. I do a terrible job managing busyness during the work week, and a fantastic job managing it on the weekends. It feels like a life of extremes and contradictions.
We Can't Just Skip to the Good Part
A while back, I was talking to my Meaning Over Money business partner, Cole Netten. We were talking about the podcast and how much traction we’ve gained with it. In that chat, I made a comment about how, in some ways, I wish we would have just started our business with the podcast instead of some of the other less-successful endeavors. I quickly realized how naive this comment was. Truth is, the podcast couldn’t have existed had we not been through all the other things.
Spending YOUR Values
As a culture, we’ve collectively decided what’s a “responsible” thing to do with money, and what’s foolish.
Spending money on something you don’t need = foolish
Buying a house = responsible
Spending money on rent = foolish
$30,000/year on college = responsible
$300 at a nice restaurant = foolish
Buying a new car and financing it = responsible
Buying a big-screen TV and video game system = foolish