Creating a Whole Life
In Step 3 you translated money into the hours of life energy it cost you to get it. This helped you define the real value of money for you.
Knowing the real, tangible impact (in hours) of a dollar in your life helps to make the question “Is it worth it to me?” a little easier to answer. Every time you spend money, think of how much of your time you’re handing over. This helps you use your life energy in ways that are truly satisfying. But good decisions involve more than just the equation “money = life energy.” There are three questions you can use to bring a holistic clarity – true integrity – to decisions about your life energy.
Step 4 Is the Heart of the FI Program
In this step you will link your expenditures to the bigger picture of who you want to be and what you want to do in your life as a whole. Don’t worry if you don’t know right now what that looks like. Simply by asking yourself these three questions each month, as you review your monthly tabulation, you will naturally start to:
Let’s take a closer look at the three questions.
Knowing the real, tangible impact (in hours) of a dollar in your life helps to make the question “Is it worth it to me?” a little easier to answer. Every time you spend money, think of how much of your time you’re handing over. This helps you use your life energy in ways that are truly satisfying. But good decisions involve more than just the equation “money = life energy.” There are three questions you can use to bring a holistic clarity – true integrity – to decisions about your life energy.
Step 4 Is the Heart of the FI Program
In this step you will link your expenditures to the bigger picture of who you want to be and what you want to do in your life as a whole. Don’t worry if you don’t know right now what that looks like. Simply by asking yourself these three questions each month, as you review your monthly tabulation, you will naturally start to:
- Develop a clearer picture of what brings you true joy and satisfaction – your “fulfillment”
- Know what feels right to you – your “values”
- Develop a picture of what you want your life to look like in the future – your life goals or purpose
- Know what it’s like to be in charge of your life – this is the foundation of “financial independence”
Let’s take a closer look at the three questions.