Over the last few years, wiretaps and people looking at your personal records have been in the news. Now, I don’t like the thought of someone sneaking around and looking at my personal information without my permission, but when I first started thinking of this scenario, one question popped into my mind: What would someone know about me by looking at my personal records? When you are building your life around your deeply held values, you are consciously making choices about where you will spend your time, earn and spend your money, and the relationships you are going to build and nurture. The starting point; however, is knowing what choices you have have been making to get to where you are today. As a beginning exercise, I want you to create a dossier on yourself. You are going to collect personal information about yourself that creates a composite picture of you. For this exercise, you need four key tools: your paycheck, your checkbook, your calendar, and your address book. Now on a sheet of paper, answer the following four questions:
- What does your paycheck say about your passions?
- What does your checkbook say about your priorities?
- What does your calendar say about where you spend your time?
- What does your address book say about the company you keep?
The answers to those four questions are important because you are going to use them to transition from the life that you have to the life that you want.
One of the largest chunks of time that a person spends in a typical week goes to creating an income. Having talked with dozens of people who have chosen to follow their passions into the workplace, I am confident that as you integrate your knowledge of yourself into your professional life, you will reap the abundance that comes from authentic living.
As far as your checkbook goes, Jesus said that where your treasure is, so shall be your heart. Look at where your money is being spent. Are you continuing to finance that purchase you couldn’t afford in the first place? Are you giving as much you would like? Do you have an emergency fund for a rainy day?
Where you have you been choosing to spend your time and effort tells much about where you are. If you are like most people, before they choose to do something about the values they hold dear, you are wasting countless hours on trivia, and things that don’t help you get to where you want to go. Highly successful people probably couldn’t tell who got off the island, who can dance, or who can duet.
Research suggests that your income will be within five percent of the average of your five closest friends. Interestingly, other research suggests that your weight follows a similar pattern. There is also a strong correlation between wealth creation and the strength of the relational bonds that a person has. Grandma probably told you to mind the company you keep, you really should listen, it could be one of the keys to an abundant life.
Now that you are conscious of the choices that you have been making, you are ready to use that knowledge to build the life you want. Ask yourself:
- How can I take my values, passion, and talents into the marketplace?
- How will I choice to give, save and spend the money I have earned?
- Where will I spend my time to build relationships and develop myself?
- How can I strengthen and add to my social network, so that I can add more to my family, my community, and the world?
No wonder so many people are scared of someone looking at their personal records, they know the story the records would tell. You are already writing the story of your life, you need not write it anonymously.
