How to change your life!

I’m reviewing the final draft (actually, the pre-publication draft) of my new book.

But, I’m not happy with the current intro: it talks about the Roadmap To Riches, but that’s not really what this book is about. My next one, certainly, but not this one.

I just added an epilogue based on this post (almost word for word), and I want to do something similar for the introduction.

You see, I feel that while the subject of personal finance – a.k.a. money – is supposed to be entirely rational …

… it’s actually totally the opposite.

I believe that all discussions of money are entirely rooted in emotion, then our point of view is justified rationally.

The reason for this is that our lives and our money have become so intertwined that it’s hard … nay, impossible … to separate one from the other.

Don’t believe me?

Well, do you think you’re totally rational on the subject of money? Do you think that your life comes first, and money is only a tool?

Then let’s test that, right here, right now: you have 24 hours in an ‘average working day’, how do you spend it?

If you are anything like the average US worker, you spend an ‘average work day’ (that’s around 2/3 of the average year) sleeping, eating, and maintaining your house and your family.

You spend the bulk of what’s left (8.7 hours: the largest chunk of your day) earning money. Leaving a sliver of ‘life’ for you.

Now, think about how much of that tiny slice of life you then spend thinking, worrying, arguing, balancing and maintaining your money?

And, you’ll do this through the entire 40+ years of your working life 🙁

I rest my case.

So, the angle that I want to take with my book’s intro is this:

If you were to script your life, would you choose:

– Study hard so that you can get a great job, and

– Work hard at the job – eking out the occasional high point (landing a big account, making the boss happy, bringing a new product to market, etc.) – just to earn money, and

– Spend what you have to just to support your family, saving the bulk of what’s left over just so you can retire at 60+ to do … what?

OR, would you script for yourself something like:

– Travel the world, and

– Live large on the world’s stage, and

– Give back to others,

… and, so on?

The restriction on the latter probably being money and time (and, if you had the money, you could create the time, right?).

My point?

Doesn’t it seem as though we live our lives according to money’s script …

… rather than putting money in it’s proper place, which is simply as a tool to support our Life’s Script?

What do you think? Am I on the right track?

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14 thoughts on “How to change your life!

  1. Nice post and yes I think you are on the right track here, money is definatly an emotional subject, that is why it is so hard to offer advice to someone floundering financially. Most marraiges that fail do so as a result of fighting about money as well so yeah a highly emotional subject. Our emotions also can be used to propel us forward or hold us back financially depending how we use our emotions when managing money. If we can seperate our emotions and look at the facts when it comes to money as a tool for our life script we are way ahead of the game!

    I am really enjoying your site and look forward to catching up on past posts!

  2. I love it… definitely the right track.

    BTW, just my personal opinion, but some of your posts tend to not dive deep enough into a topic, leaving more questions than answers. I assume this is at least partially a function of this being a blog, as I haven’t really seen that issue with 7m7y, but I just wanted to make sure you’re having your publisher review for that.

  3. @ Rainbow – Thanks Rainbow. You are right, we are ruled by our emotions … but, most of us don’t like to admit it 😉

    @ Chris – Indeed, the book will be a step-by-step guide (you’ve covered this ground already in the first Module of my eCourse).

  4. Definitely on the right track and a long way down the path 🙂

    Put it this way, if the subject of personal finance and money was entirely objective and rational then, behavioural finance would not be an academic discipline, Daniel Kahneman would not have won a noble prize, the tech bubble would never have happened and, above all, the world would be a much more boring place.

    Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

    Cheers
    traineeinvestor

  5. YEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSS your on the right track, and thus, we all need to amek the needed changes,to get back on the right track 🙂

  6. In my opinion you are exactly on the right track.

    We don’t need more books simply on how to make money. But what seems to be lacking is insight into how the process of making money, our life purpose, and what we do once we’ve made that money, should all be integrated and aligned – and at the core of that integration must be a strong theme of “what are the things that make you happy / excite you / ignite your passion.”

    And that’s not rational. It might have an element of rationality, but the starting point – which is what excites people – is hardly rational.

  7. @ Steve – Thanks … with or without spelling errors 🙂

    @ Ashton – Great overview; this is pretty much your turf i.e. what you write about?

  8. Yes, this is what I write about, simply because I spent about ten years trying to make money and being miserable, then the next few years trying not to make money and being miserable, and then I discovered that you can be happy, and then try to make money, and remain happy in the process.

    But much more importantly. How do you get your picture to come up with the comments? I see Chris and Steve got it right. Either traineeinvestor also doesn’t know how, or isn’t interested 🙂

  9. @ Ashton – I think there’s a way to register for the site & choose an avatar?

  10. I certainly think you’re on the right track. I think our society has been sold, and bought into the 40 year plan only to retire and then start living. I think we’re starting to get back to an entrepreneurial model where people will earn their living providing services and solving problems for others, hopefully while doing something they’re passionate about, and don’t consider work.

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