Success has been achieved!  A mountain has been scaled and a once inconceivable objective is now marked done and DONE!

Debt is largely accepted as normal and we’re so easily swept into that mentality.  Often we’re so numbed to debt as normal that thoughts of getting out of it don’t surface until it’s too late. 

Getting out of debt then becomes an impossible task.  It is overwhelming.  It is climbing a mountain, losing weight, and running a marathon at once.  Who can possibly do it?

Well… I know for a fact that YOU can do it.  And how can I make a declaration so bold?  Well, because the old adage rings true, if I can do it, so can you!

That’s right – sorry if I’m being a little circular in my presentation today – We have just in the last 3 days paid off the very last of our household’s non-mortgage debt! 

…Baby Step 2, CHECK!

Such an accomplishment deserves a story, so here’s mine.

In so many ways, I am the picture of average.  I went to college and signed up for a couple easy to get credit cards and I was off.  A super cool stereo was my first really big and really unnecessary purchase.

After grad school I had more than a couple grand on cards and a fresh student loan.  When my classmates were walking the stage, I was financing a motorcycle.  Soon thereafter, I had to furnish a new apartment – college digs simply wouldn’t do in the ‘real world’ and so by the day I showed up for work on the very first day of my career… I was roughly $35,000 in the red.  How could that be?  I was fresh out of school and my starting salary was only $34K.

Only my spending didn’t stop.  More furnishings, and more clothes, and more and more and more.  My debt balance soared to nearly $50k – I foolishly bought a new car when my trusty truck with 140k miles was totaled – before it struck me hard and fast.  I was not going to out earn my spending, especially when every raise was accompanied by a new lifestyle enhancement. 

Something had to be done…

That thought quickly passed with my next raise – a pretty good one actually – and I rethought my thesis.  Perhaps I could earn my way out…. But alas, that proved fool hardy for even as my salary increased the weight of my debt continued to crush.

Budgeting was a big help.  I was able to stem the flood of new debt and I stopped bouncing checks at the end of what felt like every month, but freedom was a lifetime away.

So in proper fashion, I bought a house got married and bought a larger house – keeping (and feeding monthly) the first house as a rental.  I was able to make small strides but I felt ridiculously paralyzed and materially aggravated with my situation.  I was failing.  At least that represents how I felt.

Then a completely incidental, totally disposable conversation in passing planted a seed that triggered a series of events that started to turn the tide.  Most will find this silly but those that know me well will say “bingo”.  A co-worker started talking about her husband’s iPod – something I was wholly against until she started speaking magic words…. Her husband downloads radio programs that he would normally miss while at work and listens to them on his drive to work…. Radio programs you say?  Like maybe even sports radio programs?!?! 

Hook baited, dropped, bit, and set.  Apple reeled me in that night as I went straight to Best Buy and put an iPod Nano on my Amex.  How ironic.

One thing led to another and I was quickly obsessed with finding more abbreviated radio programs to download and that’s when I stumbled onto Dave Ramsey and reluctantly added him to my mix.  Several days went by before I listened to the first show.  I was so sure that he’d convict my approach to finances and I didn’t want to hear it.  That is until one night, in a crappy hotel room in Louisville, KY having run out of sports talk shows, I decided to give it a go.  From the start I was relaxed by his manner and humor and damn there are some crazy broke folks out there.  I listened to several shows over the next couple days entertained, but convinced his message was not for me.  Until one day it dawned on me that his message was directed right at me.

I get that it’s hokey and clichéd but it’s the truest of stories.  I was hooked and within a couple months I sold the rental house and plucked some funds from savings and recalibrated my budget and designed a debt snowball tool and was a fanatic. 

A job transition and period of unemployment halted my progress for a spell.  We suspended the elimination process long enough to replace a failing car but once we got back on track, we were full tilt and here we are.

For years as I lugged around, card hopped, and debt consolidated my way in circles a single thought persisted.  Though I had literally paid it off tens of times over, I continued to view my credit card balances as representing that very first stereo purchase.  Every time I would think of my mountain of debt, I’d think of the purchase that really started it all.

So just this week as I signed the check cutting the debt cord do I feel like I FINALLY own that darn stereo.

And so that’s probably more narrative that I had intended – could you tell I got a little caught up?  But I’m excited about the path I’ve carved and the future I’ve now enabled.  I do think there are a few “how to” nuggets buried in the story to assist your cause.  But more than absolutely anything, I hope you take away the knowledge and understanding that YOU can do it too.  Because I have now done this – and I know how I once thought about this target – I’m certain you can too.

Build both your budget and resolve and get to it.  Meanwhile I’m going downstairs to blast some Zeppelin on MY stereo!

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Welcome back to our study on the Views of Money.  After resetting the contextual baseline, we’ll jump into Part 2 Net Worth, Balanced Perspectives and Opportunity Cost

Money is important.  It is the lifeblood of our society.  It is our economy.  In the context of our modern culture it is a requirement for our day to day living.  If you doubt this notion, imagine yourself penniless for the next 30 days.

Money also is dynamic.  It is huge in the context of government spending programs or corporate initiatives.  Equally so, it is small measured against our next meal or gas tank top-off.  Money is even tiny as it collects nightly in our change cup.

A former teacher oft shared a story of 3 blind men describing an elephant.  The man at the trunk reported an animal significantly different from those reporting from the side and tail of the animal.  All reported a piece of the truth but not a whole truth. 

Money operates in our lives in a very similar manner.  Many of our views on money are technically correct, but lacking a grasp of the greater whole.

Across this two part series I want to reconcile several views to ensure that we keep each in proper balance.  If we skew too hard in one direction we’re likely to end up with a distorted picture of reality. 

The key to our money, as with many things in our lives, is proper balance.

Today we will examine:

View 4 – The Long View – Net Worth Planning

View 5 – Mosaic View – Balanced Perspectives

View 6 – The Lost View – Opportunity Costs

Please visit Part 1: Objective Setting and Simple and Advanced Cash Flow if you missed that entry.

View 4 – The Long View – Net Worth Planning

Once the art of the Mid View (Annual Planning) is mastered, it is not difficult to begin expanding the annual view into 5, 10, or even 20 year horizons – think new(er) car, new house, college savings, and retirement.

With your mind now wrapped around larger and life altering objectives, you are less likely to direct your unallocated cash flow towards acquiring a new monthly payment, first because your mind resists such shortsighted thinking and second because there are no unallocated dollars.  The planning and aspirations are too focused to allow otherwise.

As with previous views, you may still feel constrained by your income.  But the constraints are positive rather than negative.  Instead of feeling constrained against being able to lavish yourself with new gadgets and trinkets, you are much more likely to feel constrained against making large debt payments or maximizing your IRA and 401k contributions.  The beauty is that as you are able to overpower those constraints you are propelling yourself forward rather than further tethering yourself to fixed station.

Net worth is the scoreboard for your long term financial success.

View 5 – Mosaic View – Balanced Perspectives

There is a certain evolution of thought as you progress from view to view but there are important lessons to carry and retain as you progress.  In many ways it is like using the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division fundamentals you learn in grade school to master the principles of geometry, algebra, and even chemistry and finance you engage later in your education.

Another example may be a highly successful business that monitors its stock price (think net worth) by reporting and managing its cash flow statements, balance sheets, individual store sales amongst a bevy of additional reports and performance matrices.

The key message here is that we need to be nimble and versatile across these views.  At times, we may need to gauge a purchase or investment across multiple perspectives. 

Borrowing from a personal example, I am currently in the process of refinancing our home.  While I am lowering my interest rate I am also shortening the term on my loan from 30 to 15 years.  This move has implications across all views.  My monthly payment will actually go up a bit which impacts Views 1-3, but the condensed time horizon will play a significant role in advancing view 4.

View 6 – The Lost View – Opportunity Costs

If View 1 is our starting point and most immature (in terms of thought development) view, then the mastery of Views 5 and 6 are our most evolved judgment criteria for driving our financial activities towards a successful outcome.

Opportunity Cost is a compelling and engaging concept but sometimes hard to fully grasp.  The idea is that, unless you are a member of Congress, you can only spend a dollar once.  However, when you hold that dollar, you have many potential opportunities for its deployment.  Opportunity Costs suggest that the cost of an item is the sum of its actual dollar cost AND the cost of the lost opportunity had that dollar been spent elsewhere.

For illustrative purposes, here’s an extreme example.  Let’s say that in the early 80’s a spent a couple dollars to buy a hotdog rather than an aggressive option for Microsoft stock.  You could argue that I had consumed a million dollar hot dog. 

That may be a fun example, but it is not realistic because the ballooning value of Microsoft was unknowable at the time.

To really work the concept, you have to consider your actual and viable options.

Consider a more realistic example whereby you decide to spend a $1000 bonus check on some cool new electronics gadgetry. 

Instead, you may have directed those dollars against a high interest credit card, placed it in a mutual fund, or applied it against your outstanding mortgage balance.  Each of these options has an interest component that makes the comparison math easy.  For example, a 10% interest rate on the card suggests that you’ll accrue $100 interest waiting until next year’s bonus.  Similarly, the investment and mortgage prepays could be calculated but it is easy enough to grasp that the $1000 bonus has an exaggerated value when considered against three likely alternative deployment opportunities.

Putting it all together

Consider now another example.  You positioned yourself in a job or career better aligned with your values and income targets and are now receiving your first annual raise and bonus.  What do you do?

• View 1 is addressed with the job selection and income
• View 2 understands our cash flow has increased and immediately looks for deployment options
• View 3 recognizes our annual budget has increased and provides a ‘capture’ point for the new inflow
• View 4 envisions how these new dollars can best drive the future you envision for your family
• View 5 finds harmony amongst the varying perspectives
• View 6 makes the best and most informed decision

 Without the full view we’re much more likely to make an impulse decision which often is a suboptimal decision.  Meanwhile, chasing an input through the full range of perspectives does not ensure absolutely that we’ll each make the same or even the best decision.  We each have our own visions and dreams, and our own personal contexts.

And that in the end is part of the beauty and mystery of that dynamic lifeblood we call Money.

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This article was featured on the Fiscal Geek’s roundup.

Money is important.  It is the lifeblood of our society.  It is our economy.  In the context of our modern culture it is a requirement for our day to day living.  If you doubt this notion, imagine yourself penniless for the next 30 days.

Money also is dynamic.  It is huge in the context of government spending programs or corporate initiatives.  Equally so, it is small measured against our next meal or gas tank top-off.  Money is even tiny as it collects nightly in our change cup.

A former teacher oft shared a story of 3 blind men describing an elephant.  The man at the trunk reported an animal significantly different from those reporting from the side and tail of the animal.  All reported a piece of the truth but not a whole truth. 

Money operates in our lives in a very similar manner.  Many of our views on money are technically correct, but lacking a grasp of the greater whole.

Last week I wrote about viewing our spending on a day over day basis and last year I penned an entry on viewing our incomes as annual rather than hourly inflow.  Both stances are valid and accurate and true and both articles garnered interesting responses.  While no one outright disagreed with my position in those articles, many shared an alternative visual.

Across this two part series I want to reconcile several views to ensure that we keep each in proper balance.  If we skew too hard in one direction we’re likely to end up with a distorted picture of reality. 

The key to our money, as with many things in our lives, is proper balance.

Today we will examine:

View 1 – Income and Outflow:  Objective Setting

View 2 – The Short View – Simple Cash Flow

View 3 – The Mid View – Advanced Cash Flow and Budgeting

View 1 – Income and Outflow:  Objective Setting

The starting point is obvious but important.  Money is like water.  It flows into our lives as income and out as spending or expenses.  An important first lesson is that we can control the rate of each flow.  The type of job we have, the hours we work, or even a second job; all drive the income equation.  How we spend that money is the outflow. 

The question we need to consider is how we want to engage this flow.  Do we want to forever swim in the steady but potentially uneven flow of money or do we want to dam the waters and build for ourselves a reservoir as fortification against future uncertainties.

The answer here is pretty obvious but our decision point should then project itself throughout our other vantage points.  That is where the idea of reconciling these views comes in handy.  Are our actions congruent with our objectives?

View 2 – The Short View – Simple Cash Flow

The Short View of Money is often the earliest lesson we learn and in that way is the easiest and least mature.  That is not to say that it lacks value, but that this should not our landing spot – though, unfortunately, it is for many.

Our earliest jobs in high school and college are simple time exchanges for money.  I trade one hour of attendance for a set number of dollars.

If, as we progress into higher payer jobs and even careers, we maintain only this simplistic point of view, then we often see our monthly income as a to-do list rather than a resource.

Rent – Check; Food – Check; Utilities – Check… and down the line until we discover that there’s a full $500 left at the end of our income.  To this mentality, that starts to sound like a new car and payments on a flat screen TV, still with a few dollars left over for a minimum payments against a credit card or two.

This view and approach leaves us perpetually stuck in neutral, which probably does not reconcile well against your goal from View 1.

A popular personal finance book, Your Money or Your Life adds a level of sophistication to the Short View.  The thesis of the book largely agrees with the idea of viewing our income as an hourly exchange but only as a perspective rather than a way of life.  If we acknowledge that our lives are finite, then each hour we engage in an activity is an hour forever gone.  In this context then we should consider both our income objectives – think early retirement on the beach or unencumbered time with loved ones – and our spending patterns – think 6 hours a week to hump a stinking car note.

View 3 – The Mid View – Advanced Cash Flow and Budgeting

In combat, the simplest rule of thumb is to control the high ground.  While I can envision fighting ‘downhill’ as easier, the objective is to have an advantaged point of view.

In this view we shift our money thinking from hourly wage, weekly paycheck, and even monthly checkbook balancing to annual planning.

While annual planning certainly requires a working knowledge of monthly incomes and expenses, it also anticipates events over a longer time horizon. 

Anticipating an annual car repair is not itself unreasonable, but too many people forget that Christmas comes every December and thereby create a deficit that is otherwise fully predictable.

The key then to the Mid View is to plan your income and expenses (monthly, irregular, and unknown), for the entire year.

A straightforward method for this is to craft monthly budget templates for the entire year while being sure to incorporate a monthly (1/12^th) allocation for Known Annual expenses (insurances, HOA dues, Holidays/Birthdays, etc), and an allocation into savings for buffer against future unknown expenses (car repair, hot water heater replacement, other).

Dave Ramsey’s popular book The Total Money Makeover is a perfect discussion in the How-To and Why-To elevate into this line of sight.

Getting to this point is a significant accomplishment for many and in that way it can easily become a plateau.  That can be ok, but advanced prosperity requires still more advanced thinking.

Come back next week for Part Two in the series where we’ll review:

View 4 – The Long View – Net Worth Planning

View 5 – Mosaic View – Balanced Perspectives

View 6 – The Lost View – Opportunity Costs

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This article was featured in The Wisdom Journal’s roundup.

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A read an article the other day from a pretty well respected icon in the blogging game.  Leo Babauta over at Zen Habits has about 160,000 readers – an insane number when you’ve been doing this long enough to know what that really means.

His article was about changing habits and the easiest way we too often derail our efforts to change and improve.

The idea was as simple as it gets.  So simple in fact, that it should not require an article at all, much less a follow-up article espousing his thesis.

Yet it was at once genius and worthy of widespread proclamation.

His culprit as the worst antagonist against our habit forming ideals?  In his wise words, “Not doing the habit”.

And there it is, like a 2×4 in the forehead.  Well of course it’s the biggest obstacle, but… wait for it…. BUT YEAH, it really is my single barrier.

I wish I was able to get up earlier in the morning, but sleeping in until 10 every morning is what I do.

I wish I could drop 20lbs but this restaurant has the best cheeseburgers and fries.

 I want to get out of debt this year but I don’t know where all my money goes.

I want my children to behave better but I can’t bring myself to discipline them.

I wish had gotten that promotion but I begin packing my bags to leave everyday at 4:30.

Tell me when to stop.

This is our life and this is our time.  There are no ‘do-overs’, there is no ‘next time’.  If we want something, we must bend our will in its direction.  We must take action against that objective.  “Tomorrow” will never come, we must start today.

That speaks to the genius behind Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign.  Forget all else and just do that which you aspire to.

One of my favorite quotes I pulled from a Fortune magazine years ago, “a year from now you’ll wish you had started today”.  Human nature being what it is, perhaps truer words have never been spoken.

So consider this your wake up call.  Look in the mirror and decide what you’d like to change, what habits you’d like to establish and then get about the business of getting it done.

Thanks Leo, I needed the kick in the pants.

Photo By: amycaek

This article was feature in The Wisdom Journal’s roundup.

A couple weeks ago I was talking with a friend who was leaving her job.  It was a good job with a good employer but it was time to move on.  I spoke with her as she was navigating the decision making process and then again on her last day. 

 Leaving a job – a real career-type job – is not as easy as it sounds.  I know from experience.  But I was happy (and a little relieved) at her response – “I feel so happy and free”, was her proclamation and in that moment so was I.

I had worked for that same employer for over 13 years, a lifetime ago it now seems.  On my last day I met a friend for lunch.  I had completed the ‘administrative check-out’ process (code for returning laptops and signing disclosure agreements, and other HR related activities) in the morning and by mid day I was free.

I arrived at our destination early and sat outside.  It was unseasonably warm for a January 12^th (circa 2009).  I laughed out loud when it struck me.  I was now unemployed.  I was absolutely free and un-tethered and it was an amazing feeling.

Sure I could have been terrified and I understand where under other circumstances I would be.  But I had taken care of my business and had a decent buyout which afforded me a comfortable runway. 

In that moment, I felt about as free as I ever have as an adult.

So when my friend made her proclamation of freedom, it resonated well with me.  More than a hopeful thought or wish, it awoke an echo from within.

Now, I have my feet planted firmly in reality and I do enjoy my current job and expect to be happy along this path for some time to come, but I’m also capable of carrying a dream. 

And more than just about anything else, my dream is to experience that feeling of freedom again.  Not when I’m a 75 year old retiree and free to do whatever is left that I’m capable of doing, but while I’m still young enough to know that I’m not yet finished, while I’m still capable of starting now what I’ve been placed here to do.

The last time I had that feeling, I knew I had a limited window to exercise it and soon thereafter this site was birthed.  BANG or whimper is still being decided I suppose.  But while this site has not afforded me an endless runway, it has elevated my line of sight and allowed me to expand my vision and dream for a new reality. 

The next time I feel that sense of freedom, I want it to be without constraint and I’m increasingly led to believe that the budgeting and personal accountability and goal setting and introspection I espouse in this forum are somehow both the path to and message of that dream.  Perhaps my membership will soar and publishers will knock down my door with huge book advances or perhaps I’ll continue modestly crafting content and eliminating debt until I can transition into another career… to become say, a high school teacher with a homemade curriculum and permission to coach a little football on the side.

Who really knows what lies around the next bend, but I know a dream for freedom has stirred within me and I look forward to figuring out how to unleash it.

If this message resonates with you, I ask that you consider sharing this article (and site) with someone.  Who knows, YOU might be the tipping point in helping unleash the growth potential of this site, which in turn could help me set my dream free!

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If you happen to follow my rare personal commentaries on Facebook you’ll notice that the title for today’s article matches with the headline I broadcasted Saturday morning.  I’m being repetitive because I’m twice as convinced in the truthfulness of the statement.

For starters, who is David Allen?  Well, I suppose many titles would fit, but I’d define him as a personal productivity guru.  His first book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity was released in 2001 and remains a best seller and fuels worldwide demand for his workshops and personal coaching/consulting.  In short, he has established an industry around a simple and profound approach to getting things done – or GTD in the vernacular.

Allen’s concepts while easy to understand are profound in their implementation and application.  By no means am I an expert.  Barely a novice is where I’d start my self assessment.  However, as I listen more and more to his ideas and even start to deploy them in my day-to-day… wow, I’m impressed.

I’m only scratching the surface here, but Allen’s thesis is to clear the mind.  He often says that the mind is a great place to have an idea but a horrible place to store that idea.  He elaborates by suggesting that a task on the mind will consume more thought and mental energy than it deserves.  Rather, those thoughts and ideas and action items should all be captured and processed.

Items determined to require more than 3-5 discreet actions should be logged as projects and each project should reflect a ‘next action’ required to advance the effort.

Actions should then be organized into what he calls ‘contexts’ which speak to when and where they should be completed.  It becomes and activity matrix really, which ‘next steps’ can be performed while making phone calls or online or while out running errands? 

Lists and folders and note pads and pens are the tools that make this system work… and work it does.

For the last several years I’ve deployed parts of his approach without being aware of his larger premise.  For years, every January, I’ve labeled a file folder as “Year XXXX Tax Documents”.  Throughout the year when I collect a document that might influence my taxes – receipts, W-2s, charitable contribution statements – I simply file it away. 

Without realizing it, I had created a context and was filing appropriately.

Allen takes my simple illustration and blows it out times ten.  Everywhere is a context and everything is a project with a discreet next step.  The ubiquitous ‘To-Do’ list then is no longer filled with procrastination begging landmines like “eat the elephant” but contains clearly defined actionable next steps like “take bite” and “chew”.

So why then did I FB “David Allen=Genius” on Saturday and why am I trumpeting it again today? 

The answer – to me – is clear.

On Friday I cleared my schedule and spent several hours identifying all of my projects and open actions.  I pulled from my To-Do list, from actions starred in my notebooks, from phone messages, from actions listed on my white board, and from too many previously ignored emails.

While I didn’t do anything, I organized next steps and pictures of completion for each of 20+ individual projects.  After nearly two months of 60 hour work weeks, I left the office early and with a clear mind.  As a measure of success, Friday night I didn’t bolt up in bed with heartburn AND an urgent thought of an undone work item… and another… and another… and another.  Rather, I slept through the night and the next morning actually remembered parts of my dreams for the first time in too long.

I had no less work to do – probably even more – but I had a true literal handle on the work required.  On Monday morning I was able to pick up any project folder and immediately take action towards its resolution.

To make matters better – do you ever hear that expression – I did the same thing Sunday afternoon for my personal/home projects, about 40 individual efforts.  It represents a ton of activity and finding time to execute against all of them will remain a challenge, but I have more clarity as to my outcomes than I’ve had in a while.  Rather than a mind cluttered by so many concurrent games on pong, I have a mind that is now clear and freed from having to remember such that it can creatively engage.

I like this feeling and have scheduled time with myself to re-establish this baseline each week – called the weekly review by Allen if you’re wondering.  This will keep me honest with my activity and organized against my objectives and mentally free to wander and ponder.

Admittedly I’ve only unpacked the small boxes relative to David Allen’s larger inventory of concepts and principles.  While I hope to engage elements of this approach again in the future as I learn and benefit from them, I don’t want your learning curve to rely on me.  Please visit his site for more information, free newsletters, free podcasts, and free downloadable worksheets and articles.

If you’re interested in any of his books, here are links to help streamline your review and purchase decisions.

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life

Making It All Work: Winning at the Game of Work and the Business of Life

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Being homeless is by no stretch a tragedy and while it is not a cause I actively combat, it never fails to illicit a reaction in my mind if not my heart. 

In Canterbury, England the youthfulness of the homeless population is shocking, the true stench of the homeless population surrounding Philadelphia’s City Hall will turn your stomach, and the aggressive and entitled nature of the panhandlers in New York City will boil your blood.

Be it anger or despair or sorrow or even gratitude in my own good fortune, my responses have always been rooted in the misfortune – self inflicted or not – of others.  Never has it been, on its own merit, a positive response.  That is, until I encountered perhaps the smartest homeless man in the world while visiting Key West a few years ago.

Key West?  No further explanation is required, this guy is ahead of the game.  Face, if I had no home or societal tether, a urine soaked park bench in Philly’s City Center would not be my first choice.  Nor would a back alley or crowded sidewalk in the NYC.  Without steady shelter, a warmer climate just makes sense.  It’s what birds do, there is a natural model.

However, the genius behind this homeless man’s plan is in his day to day approach.  He has staked out a popular tourist and photo-op location and in a very friendly and engaging manner offers to take the picture every couple or family wants to capture on their camera – them standing next to the attraction.  Enough curious ‘patrons’ will ask questions that enable him to humbly share that he’s homeless which creates an undercurrent of conversation and voila, the tips come rolling in.

Counting my 2 bucks, he probably raked in 8 or 10 dollars in the 20 minutes we were there.

Now I’m not naïve enough to think that is could not be a scam.  Enough investigative news teams have followed panhandlers from their corner to nice cars and homes and too many of New York’s wheel chaired elderly change beggers have simply been ‘checked out’ of hospitals and institutions by lazy relatives trying to turn a quick buck.  So even if this dude isn’t exactly living under a pier he is effectively exchanging a valued service for the tips he collects – a lesson from which many workers relying on our tips could learn.

And so my point – do I have one today – is that we should each have a plan.  Mindlessly wandering through our days without a plan propelling us towards a positive and improved outcome is polite society’s equivalent of a well pissed park bench.  Meanwhile, working with a goal, an objective, a plan to win is rewarding and much admired, whether you’re the director of your department or the best paid amateur photographer in Key West.

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Today I have a new, old storyline.  Several media outlets I follow spent time with the topic back in September but I decided to wait.  Sure, the story may have had a short shelf life, or it could age like a fine wine – getting better and more interesting with the passage of time.

Fortunately it was the later, and now it is ready.  The proper weight and balance have been achieved and the current context now better serves the value of the message.

Today is Friday.  Two short days before the most amazing sporting spectacle we’ll ever witness, until next year at about this time.  The Super Bowl is all things to all people.  It is a social event across all strata and taste.  It is pop culture.  It is controversy and witness.  It is an advertiser’s dream and ad seller’s nirvana.  It is a party and it is an unofficial America holiday.

But sometimes lost amongst all the trappings is what the game really is… a championship game.  Football is no easy task.  For players and coaches alike, the effort and hours are grueling.  The routine is numbing, and the pressure is crushing.  Within this crucible some competitors burn bright while others burn up.  To earn the right to compete on this stage is an honor and most claim they would do anything for the opportunity.

Saints head coach Sean Payton may have meant that more than most as he allowed his actions to deliver the message.

Following a disappointing 2008 season, coach Payton knew exactly what his team needed, namely DEFENSE.  Under Payton, an offensive minded coach, the Saints assembled a talented collection of fire power and scored points in bunches.  However, when your opponents are able to do the same thing, a string of high scoring losses will still keep you home when the playoffs roll around.

So last off season Sean Payton set out to find his defensive equal to lead his stop squad and found his man in former head coach and long time defensive coordinator, Gregg Williams.  The trick would be to lure him to New Orleans, to make him an offer he could not refuse.

So – as the story goes – one afternoon while enjoying a beverage on his deck, Sean figures out how to sweeten the deal just enough to catch Gregg’s attention and sway his decision.  He decides to cut his own salary by $250,000 to fund a higher salary for Gregg.  Forget the size of Payton’s own contract, one fourth of one million dollars is never not an impressive total.  A total that only a few would take for granted.

And so in making such a sacrifice, Sean Payton stands at the cusp or greatness.  It its 40 plus year history, the Saints have never played in a Super Bowl.  Some may argue that a new level of greatness has already been achieved.  But while so many of us are ranking commercials, Sean Payton will be cashing in on his huge personal financial sacrifice, a sacrifice that promises to yield tremendous benefits.

Photo By: Ray Devlin

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The idea of social experiments is something I find interesting.  That we can engineer a setting and personal interactions to drive a particular result from others or even ourselves is compelling and a tool we should consider leveraging in our daily experiences.

I once read about a grad student studying psychology who decided to conduct her own social experiment on a tenant in an apartment unit she managed.  The renter was a small town handy man and her experiment was to see how he would react if she treated him cruelly.  After several months of this abuse, he bludgeoned her to death with a hammer.  Tragically, though no less ironic, she got exactly what she asked for even if not entirely what she wanted.

And that, I think, is what makes the idea of social experimentation so interesting.  You may be able to directionally ascertain the outcome but the specifics are impossible to predict.  In that you are dealing with real live people, the outcomes will vary and depending upon the nature of the testing, the results can be very real and impactful.

A few years ago during a particularly gloomy period in my career –a couple down months over the course of nearly a decade and a half is no exception – I concocted a sort of psychological experiment as it related to my job, or at least a job I would have welcomed in that moment.

At the time, I was travelling 4 days a week every week and had been doing so for many years.  I had spent too many nights alone in hotel rooms and cabs and airplanes.  During this particular stretch, there were too many mornings I simply wanted to stay in the hotel room rather than deal with another day of client interactions.

And thus was born my Twilight Zone-like scenario. 

Consider a job where your only responsibility is to show up.  You are in at 8am and out at 5pm.  Noon is lunch and there are scheduled 10 minute breaks at 10 and 3.  Your work site is a standard room in a nice but not opulent hotel.  It is a one year opportunity and pays twice your current income at bi-weekly intervals.  Your only responsibility is to show up.

You must show up every day and be present all day because one day the phone will ring and your lone responsibility is to answer it on the second ring.

The call may come 10 minutes into day one or just as your contract is about to expire.  The call could come in April or October.

Fail to answer the call and you forfeit the gig and must repay all the income you’ve collected to that point.

Chew on that for a moment, it sounds easy… or impossible, once you finish the thought.

Now it would be dime-store to parallel this to our daily lives in terms of just showing up being half battle and being ready to answer the bell when it rings.  That is too easy.

We talked earlier about engineering situations to influence others or even ourselves.  Surely that works for mindsets as well, right?

Think this through, if this were your job you certainly would attend each day and look for ways to perform.  But you’d likely also be wary of how you spent the money.  Twice your regular income is compelling because it invites extravagant spending.  But if you feared the risk of having to return it, you’d likely be more thoughtful in your short term save vs. spend decisions.

Admittedly the parallel is not 1:1 but this is social experiment and not linear math.  In the experiment we can easily recognize the significance of delaying the pleasure promised by the enhanced income.  Then why is it so tough to grasp this same concept in our normal daily lives?  Twice the income is a compelling metric because the average person wastes roughly half their take home pay in monthly debt obligations and other reckless spending habits, most of which might be eliminated within 12 months given appropriate discipline.

Now that starts to sound interesting if you’re piecing it together correctly.  In the experiment you might earn twice your current salary (half of which is likely already obligated to debt or poor habits), for a defined timeframe.  However, in the real life facsimile the same year of discipline can set free half your disposable income in perpetuity.

As an added bonus, consider the game again and a successful outcome.  If, when you picked up the line, the voice on the other end asked a single question whose answer might allow you to double yet again your payout.  Given days and weeks, even months and countless hours to fill, how would you honestly answer the question – “what have you accomplished in this time?”

Photo By: partylikeits1985

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About this time a year ago my wife and I talked about how good 2008 had been to our household.  It was a fun moment of connection, and reflection, and celebration, and optimism.  In a demonstration of faith we agreed that 2009 would be an even better year for us.  And so it has been.

Of course 2009, for our house, began with tremendous questions in the air.  Walking away from a long term employer in January amidst the prevailing economic climate and with no known landing spot will do that.

But the time between jobs was refreshing and motivating.  Within a month I launched this site and have been faithfully exploring and chronicling my thoughts and reactions for all of those patient enough to read along.  I believe this exercise is more for my benefit than yours and it has certainly opened doors of opportunity in my mind – more to come as we track my goals in 2010.

The time between jobs also helped me identify what I had enjoyed most about my previous employer.  I honestly thought I wanted my next job to take me in directions far from my previous experience.  That was the case until I really started walking through my resume and in preparing responses to mock interview questions.  It was then that I realized how I wanted to perfect my previous experience in my next career chapter.

Then – as if suddenly – the perfect opportunity presented itself.  The fit was instant and obvious like hand in glove with much less travel and in aggregate a more handsome benefit package.  I asked, God answered.  That’s not to say there are no challenges, that’s every day, but solution to challenge and growth through exposure is part of what I enjoyed and enjoy most.

And, that’s not to say one day my dreams and harnessed abilities won’t lead me to new pastures, but 2009 introduced me to a perfect career home for this season.

2009 brought us incrementally closer to financial security – debt repayment, Roth IRA Investments, and a dream realizing Real Estate Investment.  Perhaps not all were executed in absolute accordance to Ramsey’s plan but none were whimsical or ill-considered either.

2009 brought us upgrades to our previous car situations – his and hers.  New used cars that will serve us for years to come and with no monthly payments in tow.

2009 afforded another ride weekend with my father – moments in time, for me, that at once race forward and stand still as snap shots in my mind.

2009 marked the passage of time with my 20^th high school reunion. It was everything and nothing I would have expected and it was invaluable in the way it dusted off long ignored friendships.

2009 is a banner year for my college alma mater as our football program marched through a spectacular season and now stands on the threshold of greatness.

2009 yielded reconnections with family members and time well spent with dear friends crafting memories that will endure.

Yeah, 2009 certainly delivered on its promise and our household is better for it.

…A couple nights ago my wife and I talked about how good 2009 had been to our household.  It was a fun moment of connection, and reflection, and celebration, and optimism.  In a demonstration of faith we agreed that 2010 would be an even better year for us.  And so it shall be…

Photo By: Heidi & Matt

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This article was featured in the Personal Finance Carnival