We all have to have some limits beyond which we will not cross, some boundaries.
I've been told loud and clear that one I need to set is on my bedtime.
I haven't been getting enough sleep, 2 times last week my day job called me really late at night to ask me to come in very early. I pulled a really late night at camp when I was reading and enjoying the solitude...and then the day job called me at midnight, to ask me to come in at 5 instead of 7.
Another night without sleep, and it was too much.
Things didn't taste right and I felt like I was at the mercy of my body and everyone else, I felt like my coworkers feel most days.
So, who should you be saying No to?
For me, it's really anyone, and anything that will prevent me from getting enough sleep, but I will also not be allowing managers access to my sleeping time in the future, I will be better about silencing my phone,and better about setting my Opportunity Clock each night.
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Set Sail to Better Futures
When a ship leaves port, it knows where it's going. It has a plan to get there. The ship only ever tries to go to one place at a time, and then it will leave and go on to the next place.
Earl Nightingale http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Nightingale likes to use this analogy for direction in life. You can only ever do one thing at once, so focus on it, do it right and move on to the next thing.
They more we worry in our lives, the more stress, the harder it becomes to see our vision, to see the end destination of the work we do each day. I've been there myself. But when you know WHY you're going to work each day, you know WHY you're eating the chicken and green beans instead of the brownie a la mode, you stay motivated, you inspire your creative mind. You see the opportunities you would have missed and you flourish as a result.
Just set some goals. Makes them good goals, real goals. Make them goals you can envision. Makes them realistic enough that you can truly believe them. If they're not high enough goals you'll meet them early, and then set new goals. Nothing wrong with that. Just make sure the goals are low enough that you KNOW you can hit that goal. Maybe race your optimistic timeline for completing that goal.
Please set SMART Goals: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteria
Earl Nightingale http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Nightingale likes to use this analogy for direction in life. You can only ever do one thing at once, so focus on it, do it right and move on to the next thing.
They more we worry in our lives, the more stress, the harder it becomes to see our vision, to see the end destination of the work we do each day. I've been there myself. But when you know WHY you're going to work each day, you know WHY you're eating the chicken and green beans instead of the brownie a la mode, you stay motivated, you inspire your creative mind. You see the opportunities you would have missed and you flourish as a result.
Just set some goals. Makes them good goals, real goals. Make them goals you can envision. Makes them realistic enough that you can truly believe them. If they're not high enough goals you'll meet them early, and then set new goals. Nothing wrong with that. Just make sure the goals are low enough that you KNOW you can hit that goal. Maybe race your optimistic timeline for completing that goal.
Please set SMART Goals: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteria
| S | Specific | Significant, stretching, simple |
| M | Measurable | Motivational, manageable, meaningful |
| A | Attainable | Appropriate, achievable, agreed, assignable, actionable, adjustable, ambitious, aligned, aspirational, acceptable, action-focused |
| R | Relevant | Result-based, results-oriented, resourced, resonant, realistic |
| T | Time-bound | Time-oriented, time framed, timed, time-based, timeboxed, time-specific, timetabled, time limited, trackable, tangible |
| E | Evaluate | Ethical, excitable, enjoyable, engaging, ecological |
| R | Reevaluate | Rewarded, reassess, revisit, recordable, rewarding, reaching |
When you have a vision, you have a direction in which to aim. You're automatically more focused on any efforts you put forth, thus radically magnifying the effectiveness of everything that you do.
Set goals, have a vision, change your life, and change the world!
Will A. Carpenter
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Monday, June 10, 2013
Of Integrity and Faith
Definition of INTEGRITY
1
: firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values : incorruptibility
faith
noun \ˈfāth\
1
a : allegiance to duty or a person : loyalty
b (1) : fidelity to one's promises (2) : sincerity of intentions
I was not treated with integrity with my dealing with a prospective job hire, so I am no longer offering my services.
In that same time, I have found a more suitable application of my skills. I have faith in this business relationship.
Directed attention truly is the key to saving everyone. Put a little sunshine on the ones you love today. Save the world.
Saturday, June 8, 2013
A Little Bit of Financial Hope (For those with less than HUGE incomes)
So I did a quick Google search to find some financial calculators which lead me to, believe it or not, financialcalculators.com
I played with several, and this one can really show you the power of compound interest. Let's talk about savings.
Once I am debt free my immediate goal is to contribute to a fully funded emergency savings fund, and then proceed to retirement and investments. As I was just playing around with some numbers I decided to use my current income, and I used 15% of my income as it would grow in mutual funds over the next 30 years.
Income 26,000.
15% of income: 3,900
I said that I had a starting balance of 1000 (that's what I'll open the FIRST mutual fund with when I get to that step)
What does the math say I'll have after 30 years of saving 15% of my (current) income?
"Based on your savings schedule, you will accumulate $511,532 over the next 30 years."
Half a million dollars. Great! And that's not even until I'm 65...that's until I'm...well I would say 58, but I'm not debt free yet. Let's say that's until I'm 61 years old.
REMEMBER: That is saving 15% of my 26k salary! I certainly don't plan to only make 26 for the rest of my life! In fact I just picked up a second job, so I will make more starting THIS YEAR...but 15% on 26 leaves me a half a million dollars (well more than that) to retire off of.
Here's the better news: I can invest 3000 a year (unmarried) into a Roth IRA. Meaning that at retirement I pull it out TAX FREE. Why? Because you pay taxes on the income you receive before funding the Roth IRA, so it grows tax free. 3000 per person per year, 6000 per married couple. (with incomes under 200k annually I believe)
If I put 3000 a year into my Roth IRA between now and 65? "
I played with several, and this one can really show you the power of compound interest. Let's talk about savings.
Once I am debt free my immediate goal is to contribute to a fully funded emergency savings fund, and then proceed to retirement and investments. As I was just playing around with some numbers I decided to use my current income, and I used 15% of my income as it would grow in mutual funds over the next 30 years.
Income 26,000.
15% of income: 3,900
I said that I had a starting balance of 1000 (that's what I'll open the FIRST mutual fund with when I get to that step)
What does the math say I'll have after 30 years of saving 15% of my (current) income?
"Based on your savings schedule, you will accumulate $511,532 over the next 30 years."
Half a million dollars. Great! And that's not even until I'm 65...that's until I'm...well I would say 58, but I'm not debt free yet. Let's say that's until I'm 61 years old.
REMEMBER: That is saving 15% of my 26k salary! I certainly don't plan to only make 26 for the rest of my life! In fact I just picked up a second job, so I will make more starting THIS YEAR...but 15% on 26 leaves me a half a million dollars (well more than that) to retire off of.
Here's the better news: I can invest 3000 a year (unmarried) into a Roth IRA. Meaning that at retirement I pull it out TAX FREE. Why? Because you pay taxes on the income you receive before funding the Roth IRA, so it grows tax free. 3000 per person per year, 6000 per married couple. (with incomes under 200k annually I believe)
If I put 3000 a year into my Roth IRA between now and 65? "
"At retirement your IRA balance could be worth $1,235,562."
I'm no financial adviser, but that looks suspiciously like I'm not only a millionaire at retirement age, but I also can live rather comfortably off the interest of that nest egg, you know $98,844.96 annually.
What's the point of this? The point is that EVERYONE with an income under 200k annually has the opportunity to save 3k annually in a Roth IRA, and if you do, you too can retire a millionaire.
So why doesn't everyone do this? Because they would have to have control of their income, and their output. They would have to stop spending every penny they have and then borrow thousands more. That's why. Because while it's a VERY SIMPLE THING to do it's very HARD to actually do.
But it shouldn't be. It's only hard because we don't commit to a budget. Because we don't know what our money is doing or where it's going. But it is going, it's flowing right through our hands.
You can make a very simple choice: Watch where your money is going. Set up a budget to prevent money from going where you don't want it to go, and divert a bit of that extra found money (you'll find a lot of it trust me) into a Roth IRA.
I know I know, you're going to say "But Will, I don't have 3k to put into retirement, and if I did I would put it on X" (X = mortgage, credit cards, student loans, car payments, plastic surgery etc) If that's the case, I would encourage you to look into setting up that budget and getting out of debt. You're losing even more money paying interest on everything than you would be making by investing it.
Debt is BAD. Debt is not a tool. Debt is paying the bank to borrow money you didn't have, and then paying them back a LOT MORE for that privilege.
Get out of debt. Invest in the simplest and best forms for your future and your retirement. I'll see you at retirement, I'll be the bald guy with the mile wide smile.
Where We Are, Where We're Heading
This blog is titled Where There's a Will There's a Way, the only fun in that would be if you were to not capitalize like a title, it would then become: Where there's a Will there's a way.
You see, my full first name is Will. Not William or Willie, not Wilbur or Billy. I'm Will, just Will. And not Wil either.
So where there's a Will there's a way, and it just so happens to be that no matter where I go, there's a Will right there with me.
I WILL achieve my goals, I will make positive progress towards my dreams, and in order to do so I need to put out the statistics I can measure right now, so that we can measure them again later and look at the progress.
Age: 28.6
Weight: 272lbs (down from all time measured high of 352)
Financial Status: $1000 emergency savings in the bank, 6 debts that I am currently snowballing totaling: $58,134. That consists of one (1k) credit card 1 (2k) dental bill (on 0% interest CareCredit card) 15k on my car, and the rest are STUDENT LOANS.
I currently work in a restaurant as a server, making roughly 26k per year.
I am also currently living back home with my parents, an arrangement that will soon be ending as they retire and move to Florida.
The vehicle I currently own is worth about 9k, leaving me about 6k underwater, also making my total net worth at the moment: -48 THOUSAND DOLLARS
Using the Wealth Accumulation figures from The Millionaire Next Door: Age * net income * 10% = how much wealth you "should" have, having less means you're not a great accumulator or wealth (or terrible like I have been up until recently) and having more means you're a PAW Prodigious accumulator of wealth.
28 * 26,000 * 10% = 72,800
Currently 120k below where I should be. We'll make that up over time, don't you worry.
Life Insurance: None
Health Insurance: None
Will and Testament: None
Retirement: None
This doesn't look great. But that doesn't matter. We all have to start exactly where we are, we must improve on the foundation that we have. From here I go forward, onto bigger, better, and healthier things.
Goals:
Weight: 200lbs
Finances: Debt Free, 10k in the bank
Work: Making 45k + annually, then 75k +
Home: Renting as inexpensively as possible for a few years while I dig myself out of debt and begin to save for a house. I would prefer to use the 100% down method, but once I have a significant portion of the savings I may look into foreclosures that fall well within my budget at that time (25% of income as mortgage payment on a 15 year mortgage with a MINIMUM of 20% down)
You see, my full first name is Will. Not William or Willie, not Wilbur or Billy. I'm Will, just Will. And not Wil either.
So where there's a Will there's a way, and it just so happens to be that no matter where I go, there's a Will right there with me.
I WILL achieve my goals, I will make positive progress towards my dreams, and in order to do so I need to put out the statistics I can measure right now, so that we can measure them again later and look at the progress.
Age: 28.6
Weight: 272lbs (down from all time measured high of 352)
Financial Status: $1000 emergency savings in the bank, 6 debts that I am currently snowballing totaling: $58,134. That consists of one (1k) credit card 1 (2k) dental bill (on 0% interest CareCredit card) 15k on my car, and the rest are STUDENT LOANS.
I currently work in a restaurant as a server, making roughly 26k per year.
I am also currently living back home with my parents, an arrangement that will soon be ending as they retire and move to Florida.
The vehicle I currently own is worth about 9k, leaving me about 6k underwater, also making my total net worth at the moment: -48 THOUSAND DOLLARS
Using the Wealth Accumulation figures from The Millionaire Next Door: Age * net income * 10% = how much wealth you "should" have, having less means you're not a great accumulator or wealth (or terrible like I have been up until recently) and having more means you're a PAW Prodigious accumulator of wealth.
28 * 26,000 * 10% = 72,800
Currently 120k below where I should be. We'll make that up over time, don't you worry.
Life Insurance: None
Health Insurance: None
Will and Testament: None
Retirement: None
This doesn't look great. But that doesn't matter. We all have to start exactly where we are, we must improve on the foundation that we have. From here I go forward, onto bigger, better, and healthier things.
Goals:
Weight: 200lbs
Finances: Debt Free, 10k in the bank
Work: Making 45k + annually, then 75k +
Home: Renting as inexpensively as possible for a few years while I dig myself out of debt and begin to save for a house. I would prefer to use the 100% down method, but once I have a significant portion of the savings I may look into foreclosures that fall well within my budget at that time (25% of income as mortgage payment on a 15 year mortgage with a MINIMUM of 20% down)
Introductions All Around
I am creating this blog as a place for me to write about, well anything.
Topics that I am interested in that you may find here include: Personal Finance, Health and Fitness, Ketogenic Diets, Motivation and the power of a Positive Mental Attitude, and of course the various fun activities in my life such as: Disc Golf, Board and Card games and maybe even the occasional video game if I find the time.
I will also try to keep up with reviews of the books I've read, in part so I can take the time to think and discuss what I've read, but also to allow others that might enjoy my writing to enjoy the writing of the professionals that inspire me.
Mini Book Review: Dave Ramsey - The Money Answer Book
The Money Answer Books is great for those that need a good start to personal finance, but are afraid of getting too deep too quickly. I would perhaps recommend the book Total Money Makeover instead, but this book is a fantastic reference guide to keep you motivated, with clear instructions, lots of motivational quotes, and a simple layout that doesn't leave information in huge chapters, allowing for very easy bite sized consumption.
Should you read this book? Maybe. Do I recommend this book? Maybe. What I really recommend is the Total Money Makeover, which is what this book is truly talking about, but if this small book is your toe in the water to that, then that would be a great thing.
I believe in living debt free, and am working aggressively towards the goal of becoming and staying debt free. Before Dave I had never heard the phrase "The borrower is slave to the lender" but that's exactly how I've felt since I first had to use a credit card as an emergency fund 10 years ago.
Topics that I am interested in that you may find here include: Personal Finance, Health and Fitness, Ketogenic Diets, Motivation and the power of a Positive Mental Attitude, and of course the various fun activities in my life such as: Disc Golf, Board and Card games and maybe even the occasional video game if I find the time.
I will also try to keep up with reviews of the books I've read, in part so I can take the time to think and discuss what I've read, but also to allow others that might enjoy my writing to enjoy the writing of the professionals that inspire me.
Mini Book Review: Dave Ramsey - The Money Answer Book
The Money Answer Books is great for those that need a good start to personal finance, but are afraid of getting too deep too quickly. I would perhaps recommend the book Total Money Makeover instead, but this book is a fantastic reference guide to keep you motivated, with clear instructions, lots of motivational quotes, and a simple layout that doesn't leave information in huge chapters, allowing for very easy bite sized consumption.
Should you read this book? Maybe. Do I recommend this book? Maybe. What I really recommend is the Total Money Makeover, which is what this book is truly talking about, but if this small book is your toe in the water to that, then that would be a great thing.
I believe in living debt free, and am working aggressively towards the goal of becoming and staying debt free. Before Dave I had never heard the phrase "The borrower is slave to the lender" but that's exactly how I've felt since I first had to use a credit card as an emergency fund 10 years ago.
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