What Do You Want?

For most people the question of "What do I want" seems easy to answer. The truth however is that if people knew the "true" costs of their wants they may not want them. The realization that even the things that bring us joy have costs will help us determine if the joy is worth the cost. If it's not then it's called a burden, and who really wants one of those? Most people only have this ah-ha moment after the fact, but if you condition yourself to weigh both the tangible and intangible costs you'll enjoy the fruits of your labor regardless of the size of your garden.

One of the first ah-ha moments you'll have to have is that although some things are priceless, they are not without their costs. I say this because in order to find out what you truly value in life you have to monetize everything. This puts the comparison on an apples-to-apples basis. For example, let's say you have a car payment that's 250 dollars a month. You also make 25 dollars an hour and can work 10 hours. Now to complicate the situation as reality usually does let's imagine you have kids who play baseball 10 hours a month at the same time you would be working. Consequently, watching your kids baseball games also cost you 250 dollars a month. Now here's the question you should be asking yourself. Is watching your kids play baseball making you desire driving that car, or is working to pay for that car making you sorry you're missing the game? I hope for you and your families sake it's the latter, but the dollar cost is the same. You also need to understand that the car will be a heap of trash in 10 years, and your kids will pay dividends for decades. One could make an effective argument that the actual "true" cost of the car is higher.

Now how about hating that 9 to 6 corporate job? You don't like your boss, or making someone else rich? Then start your own business and be your own boss. I hope you hate the 401k match and the cheap employer provided health benefits you're leaving behind too. While you may not have recognized the value they had when someone else paid for them you sure will know the cost when you foot the bill. It will take a lot more hours of work to make up for the unsubsidized benefits you'll have to buy. Whether you want to realize it or not making your own schedule and calling your own shots not only has value, but also costs.

Unfortunately we don't associate things that bring us joy like watching our kids play sports with their respective costs. Nor do we give value to things that don't necessarily bring us joy like our health insurance until we don't have it. What this does is bring an uncontrollable feeling of want and discontentment to our lives. It also causes us to prioritize poorly which ultimately costs us more. We all want to be Tiger Woods the golf champion, and Tiger Woods the billionaire. What most of us don't want is to be the Tiger Woods that gave up his childhood to be a future golf pro, or Tiger Woods the recent paparazzi magnet. The phrase "I wish I was Tiger Woods" usually leaves out the sacrifices he made to be the Tiger Woods we want to be.

If you read my last blog as well as this one you can clearly see where I am going. Financial success and happiness has just as much to do with understanding the intangibles and subtleties as it does bringing home a fat paycheck. What I want is for you to survey you life and work to rid yourself of what keeps you from the things that bring you joy. If you're happy to do the work then it's obviously worth the cost.