Don't Drink Water on a Plane

Right now I’m sitting on a plane on my way to Los Angeles. I’ve gotten a lot of reading done, so I think for the first couple weeks of the New Year I’ve kept up on my reading resolution. Although while I was reading through the pages of Fortune magazine I had an entire glass of water spill right on my crotch. This was slightly embarrassing, but was relatively easy to deal with. Thank God I wore dark jeans! Within an hour or two they were all dry and no one could tell the difference.

I did read a blog about figuring out what is really important to you. This really hit a nerve with me because one of my life goals is to be worth a million dollars by the time I’m 30 years old. I started thinking about why I wanted to be worth a million dollars, and the only thing that really hit me is that if I’m work a million, I’d be able to say “I’m a millionaire”. And to me, that’s a pretty crappy reason. So I decided to work on a list of reasons why I want to be worth a million dollars:

-I’d be able to financially provide for my wife, and probably kids (by that time)

-I’d be able to give back more to the community, and set up scholarships at my old high school

-I’d have the ability to make investments that I might not otherwise be able to make.

-If I lost my job, I’d be able to live for a while without really having to worry about money.

These are the only reasons I could come up with. But when I really look at these reasons, there are other ways that I could accomplish these. To provide for my family I could focus on decreasing the monthly expenses that I incur. This could include searching for a lower cost cell plan, and paying off my loans. Another way I could do this is to make sure that whenever I get a raise or a bonus I put that away, instead of increasing my lifestyle. The point is, that I shouldn’t be focused so much on the amount of money I want to be worth, but rather, the amount of money that I’m spending. If I spend less on the “necessities”, then I’ll be able to afford more of the “luxuries”. This is a pretty big attitude change for me, so it was a big accomplishment! And I’m sure Megan will appreciate my change of mind, even though if I wanted to be a millionaire, she’d support me in that too.

This morning I woke up and went to the gym and had an amazing work out! It ended up being about 2 hours long, but I felt great afterwards. I got in most of my weight lifts that I wanted to do, then joined in on the spinning class. I love having a group of people to work out with, and a leader pushing you to push yourself past the limits you thought you had. It turns out that most of the limits you think you have, are artificial limits that you impose on yourself. I think one of the reasons that I’ve been so successful in life is that I think I can do anything. I don’t mean to seem cocky, although Megan says I am sometimes, but if I want something, I go out and get it. I don’t wait around. So far, my timing has worked out alright!

On the financial resolution, not much has been done, I’ve really watched my spending and tried to keep it minimal. But the other night we went to the Swarm game and I spent about $20 on beer. But sometimes you just have to have fun, life can’t be serious all the time!

Now to my focus resolution. The last few days I have sort of relaxed, and it’s been really rejuvenating. I’ve come to realize that my current job is not going to take over my life. I work with some people that are so frazzled with their jobs that I’m sure the rest of their lives are in absolute chaos. I won’t allow that to happen to me. I love my job, but it isn’t my life. But lately, I’ve been focusing on having my job mean more than just a paycheck. I have the abilities and means to make a real difference in this world and the way things are normally done. I can’t write much of what I do in a public arena, but the work I’m doing now is becoming very meaningful to me because I can personally relate to it. Sometimes it really ticks me off when I’m in meetings and all they’re talking about is the unit cost and how much we can sell the product for etc… I just want to stand up and yell at them and remind them that not only can our product make the company money, but it could change lives and the paradigms that exist in the world today. (I do realize that for a business to exist it needs to make money, but sometimes I think that it is too much of a focus). So back to focus, I’m going to try to really focus on this new product and make sure that it does end up in the marketplace and that it does make a difference in people’s lives.

I’ve read quite a few magazines over the last couple days, in fact I’m almost all caught up with the magazines that I get mailed! So that’s been good and relaxing, and sometimes, very enlightening!

The house has been incredible. No longer do I need to come home and look at the piles on the dining room table and mumble to myself that I need to take care of them. Everything has been taken care of! It’s really relaxing to me to know that things are in their places and that I can find anything if I need it. I think my next project will be to put all of the important articles that I have ripped out of magazines on this blog. That’ll be quite the job….!

I get back on Thursday and I can’t wait to sleep next to my fiancée and feel her calming touch again. Whenever I go without her for long stretches of time I feel like I’m off kilter, and I need her back!