I love what I do for a living and I'll bet you do, too. But do all the dimensions of
your life get the time they deserve? Are you having enough fun? Do you feel fulfilled
and satisfied? Do you have a secret wish list of things you "someday" want to
do or become?
No matter how much you love what you do for a living, if you want to lead a balanced life, you must make a lot of money - and take a lot of time off - to experience more of what life offers. I believe an important aspect of leading a fulfilled life is to want for nothing financially without being a slave to making money.
Consider all the incredible things you might do if you only had the time and the money. Break free of those rigid inhibitions about what you "should" do or what you "can't" do. Let go of work ethic that makes you feel guilty when you take time off. Your life away from work is the payoff for becoming not merely good but a brilliant professional in your field.
It is my belief that the world was created for us to enjoy. You can be a caring, helping human being and have an incredible amount of fun, too. So take you time reading this story and begin dreaming. If you had the next five years off with all expences paid, and you could do anything but work, what would you do?
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to attend every major sporting event in the world in a single year? The super bowl, the world series, all four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the Majors in golf, the Indy 500, the NBA championships, the final four, the Stanley Cup, the Olympics, the Hawaii Ironman, the Boston Marathon, World Cup skiing, World Cup Soccer, World Cup Cricket, the Tour de France, the Pipeline Masters surfing contest, the America's Cup or Whitbread races and all the other events you care about? Wow, what a year!
Maybe you'd rather participate. You can play the most famous golf courses in the world: Sawgrass, Inverness, Pebble Beach, the Old Course at St Andrews, Augusta National, Baltusrol, Pinehurst National, Shinnecock Hills, Oakmont Country Club, Muirfield Village Golf Club, the Princeville course in Kauai and Oak Hill Country Club.
How good could your golf or tennis game become with the right amount of playing time and coaching? You can ski the most spectacular slopes in the world every winter and ski New Zealand in August if you want to. Or perhaps you want to create your own "endless summer" of surfing. Maybe you want to attend a fantasy sports camp.
Would you like to fish the best rivers, lakes or oceans at the perfect times of the year? The fly-fishing for cutthroats, rainbows and brownies in Montana defies description, and the Marlin fishing off the coast of Cabo, San Lucas is some of the best in the world.
Maybe you're starting to think, What about earning a living? Of course you need money. But why take the whole year to earn it? Who says you can only take two weeks, four weeks or six weeks vacation?
Financial healh. Physical health. Spiritual health. Relationship health. Mental health. These are the components of the truly balanced life, and to create optimum health in all these areas, you need to give them time and attention. This is what your time off is for.
How great could your marriage be? It is possible to truly understand your kids and have them want to be around you. How close would you like to be to your parents, your brothers and sisters, your best friends? It's nice to have the choice to home-school your children or send them elsewhere for a better education.
What would life be like if someone else ran all the errands, cleaned the house, did the laundry, mowed the lawn, washed the car, bought the groceries and cleaned out the garage? Not because you're lazy but because your time is better spent with the people you care about, doing more important things together. Ben Franklin said "A life of leisure and a life of laziness are not the same thing".
I'll bet there is an instrument you have always wanted to learn to play or play better - the piano, the drums, the guitar, the saxophone. If not now, when?
What charity do you want to donate more time or money to? No doubt, there is a church or synagogue that would benefit from more of your involvement.
Do you want to white-water rafting, rock climbing, bungee jumping, skydiving, surfing, kayaking, scuba diving, extreme skiing or snowboarding? You might do these things already, but maybe not nearly often enough.
How physically fit could you become? Could you run a 10k or marathon, cycle a century or finish a triathlon? How about the Ironman? With the right weight training you could be buffed out. Or maybe you are ready just to start walking around the block, losing a few kilos or climbing a flight of stairs without breathing hard.
Do you want to fly a plane, a helicopter, a hang glider or an ultra light?
Where do you want to go? What do you want to do? Who do you want to become?
Here's how Charles Kuralt described the inspiration for his book, Charles Kuralt's America:
I planned a trip. I had spent nearly all my life travelling in the United States, but there was one more fanciful journey I had always wanted to make. Now I had the chance, and the prospect thrilled me: I would visit my favourite American places at just the right time of year - the Florida Keys before it got to hot, the Minnesota canoe country before it got too cold, Charleston in azalea season, Montana in fishing season, Vermont when the oaks and maples turn crimson and gold. I would go to New Orleans and Alaska and the Blue Ridge Mountains and old New Mexico and the coast of Maine. I would go alone and without a plan and without a budget - I'd saved enough to live on for a while - and I wouldn't do anything that felt very much like work. I had never been any good at doing nothing; I thought I would try to learn.
I would drift with the current of life. I'd be footloose and a little irresponsible, and I'd have a perfect year in America.
I wonder how many people who wait until they are retired to really start living feel, as Charles Kuralt does about sailing, "too old or too rusty." But they couldn't do it sooner because they were "too busy sacrificing themselves for the children." What better gift could you give your children than to demonstrate what it's like to really live? Do we want our kids growing up today to think children are a burden to be sacrificed for? It's one thing if you really have to sacrifice. But do you really?
Do you want to see the Taj Mahal, the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, a bullfight, the Egyptian or Mayan pyramids, the Nile, the rainforest, the Panama Canal, Glacier Bay, the South Pole, the Great Wall, and the Great Barrier Reef? How would you like to drive cattle in Wyoming? (yee ha!) You could spend a month in the Caribbean or the South Pacific, or go on an African Safari, or trek over the Himalayas or watch whales migrate.
How come you only speak one language? Maybe it's time to earn that black belt you have always wanted in the martial arts.
I've heard those race-car schools are a blast. What would you study that nothing to do with making money?
What about community service or running for political office? Take a foreign exchange student. Volunteer to work with the disabled or the terminally ill.
At this writing, you can fly around the world on the Concorde for about $95,000 per couple. It takes 30 days and it's first class everything.
What would it be like to watch those crazy guys surf 30-foot waves in Waimea Bay on the North Shore of Oahu, or to catch the tulips blooming in Holland or to see the swallows return to Capistrano? Promises postpones have a way of getting broken. Planes never made have a way of never being carried out.
Maybe you want to learn to program your VCR, or surf the internet or get good enough to beat your kids or grandkids at video games. Perhaps you'd just like time off at home to do nothing, watch ole movies or finish off those incomplete projects.
Do you want to check into a nice spa to be "fluffed and buffed" or to hang out by the resort pool whole they bring you bottomless Mai Tai's
You could become a consummate chef or a wine connoisseur.
How long would it take to visit all the wineries in the world?
How many books are on your shelves?
These ideas should jump-start your thinking. Maybe you work the whole year because you don't have enough reasons to become skilled enough to produce your results in much less time. With all there is to do in this world and all we are capable of being, it's remarkable that some people are unsure what to do when they're not working. How's your wish list coming along so far?
Source: Bill Bachrach "Values Based Financial Planning"
