Now that I’m not in classes to go along with work, it’s time to really buckle down and work on not only our finances, but myself. I’m starting a list based on a phrase Brad Barrett from Choose FI frequently advocates, “I’m the type of person that…” These are going to be guidelines to live by starting in 2021, think of them like the Zombieland rules, where every time something happens in the movie of my life where they apply, I will say them out loud and continue on with my day. I also plan to recite them all at least once per day to help them sink in, and I have them in a list on my Evernote mobile app to go back to whenever needed.
There are several categories I intend to explore with this blog, not just personal finance. I’m going to chronicle my fitness/health journey. My experiences as a parent, my adventures in time management, career development, and anything else that comes up that is a credit or debit of a system of value. Energy and calories available for consumption reset each day, and then we add to or debit from those value banks. I view trust and good will as banks with my children, each one having their own, and certain actions and words credit or debit from those banks with each child on an individual level. The same goes for my wife, for that matter. I should be making an 8 hour deposit of restful sleep in that bank each night, and I can credit it with more, or debit it with less or interruptions, which of course will then affect my energy level and several other value banks throughout the day. At midnight the daily time bank resets, and we are all debiting from it at all times, the question is what activities did you choose to make those debits for? Were they in line with your values? Exploring these value banks and my credits and debits of them will be focus of this blog going forward, and I intend to have new thoughts for you on one of these topics, including frequently on personal finance, each week.
This is the list so far that I plan to start in 2021:
Personal Finance –
I’m the type of person that tracks every penny and knows where each one is working for us.
I’m the type of person that invests in things I find value in, and cuts waste.
I’m the type of person that hates consumer debt, will use it as rarely as possible, and will pay it off as quickly as I can.
I’m the type of person that works toward reaching FI by 55 years old.
Career –
I’m the type of person that invests in career advancement and looks to move up in pay/position about every 2 years.
I’m the type of person that does the best job I can do with the time and tools provided, and takes pride in my work.
Health/Fitness/Sleep –
I’m the type of person that stops caffeine consumption at 3pm.
I’m the type of person that heads to bed by 10pm each weeknight to facilitate 7-8 hours of quality sleep each night.
I’m the type of person that does not take their phone to the bedroom at night to promote healthy sleep.
I’m the type of person that eats only single portions of any one food item at one time.
I’m the type of person that exercises for at least 20 minutes at least 3 days per week.
I’m the type of person that sets my weekly exercise schedule each Saturday and adds it to my Google Calendar.
I’m the type of person that takes at least a 5 minute break to get up and walk around each hour.
I’m the type of person that sets my lunch up the night before so that I’m not stuck eating fast food, or bad food for me in a hurry.
I’m the type of person that eats to live, not lives to eat.
I’m the type of person that doesn’t eat after 8pm.
Personal Development –
I’m the type of person that does the right thing even when no one is watching.
I’m the type of person that gets up at 5am to work out, write, and work on side hustles before the rest of the house wakes up.
I’m the type of person that sets their clothes for the next day out the night before to cut down on morning decisions.
I’m the type of person that plans one thing to get done each day the evening before, adds it to my calendar, and executes on it.
I’m the type of person that aims to do 1% better in areas of life such as finance and fitness each day.
I’m the type of person that reads at least 10 pages of a book each day.
Parenting –
I’m the type of parent that loves and treats their children equally.
I’m the type of parent that diffuses a situation instead of escalating it.
I’m the type of parent that walks away and takes time to calm down before acting impulsively.
I’m the type of parent that takes and shows interest in my children’s interests.
Marriage –
I’m the type of husband that makes time for quality time with my wife.
I’m the type of husband that will creatively remind my wife that I love them and how much they mean to me, regularly.
I’m the type of husband that helps with household chores wherever I can.
I’m the type of husband that has a conversation with my wife before making any medium to major decisions for our family.
I’m the type of husband that sets monthly money/goal dates with my wife so that we stay on the same page.
I’m much better at some of these already than others, but these are things I want to emphasize in 2021 and improve upon. They’re things that keeping on the forefront of my mind should help me progress in these areas, and fill those value banks, or draw them down in ways that bring value and happiness to my life, and my family. Some of these things have been neglected more than they should have over the last few years while working full time and going back to school. It’s time to improve in ways other than higher education.
What are you doing in 2021 to improve on your current situation? Shoot me an email or say hello in the comments!
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