This is your life and you get to choose how you spend your time.
I enjoy relaxing with my family, cooking a great meal, bike riding and planning an adventure trip. For the last 10 years, I have chosen to work a tech exec career which included good pay, 20% travel, night calls, daily back to back meetings, 2 hours of commute and constant multi-tasking. Sufficit to say, the life I wanted to live and life I was living were not one in the same.
I was making a conscious decision to trade time for money because I wanted a secure financial future for my family and a chance to retire young enough to enjoy it. My "why" was strong enough to keep me aggressive in taking on new responsibilities, larger teams, and a busier life.
When I dug deeper into my "why" to get to my core values, I found that both my family and I valued time together more than the quality of the trip, restaurant or gifts.
At a point in time, we decided to put pen to paper to define our goals, work with a financial planner to define our family needs, and get clarity on our path. We were surprised to learn that the work we put into our first home, now a rental property, as well as our primary home, with a recent premium remodel, made up most of our net worth. Despite the long hours, promotions, and hundreds of customers served, it was our two real estate investments that moved us closer to our goals of financial freedom than saving, stocks or more work hours.
It was in that moment that the why and the how became crisp and clear: "I work for my family, myself and my community" and I value : Joy, Connection, Curiosity, Integrity and Adventure. With my why and values clearly defined I had what I needed to take the next step.
