It is that time of year when everyone is filing a tax return. Many of us are waiting to get that big return and the marketing behind so many tax prep services is “Get the Maximum Return.” We talk as if this is a big bonus we get each year. How many of you believe you need this return each year and count on it?
When I came up with the idea for this week, I wanted to go from a million dollars down to seeing what it really takes to make a significant change in your life. When I thought about this concept, I remembered back to how many years I lived where getting the big return was something I expected and needed; in fact, I was in the mindset of paying extra out of each paycheck so I would get a bigger return.
Right now, many of us have programmed ourselves to think we need this return each year to survive. I’m not going to go into the idea of investing, or how much you could make with that money each year if you put it in a savings account or money market account so you could earn some interest on it instead of giving it to Uncle Sam early. Chances are you don’t need me to tell you that.
But I do want to get back to the idea of planning in life. What if you could start today and plan your life out over the next two years? Would that big tax return still make a difference in your world? Imagine a life where you have cleaned out the money drains, gotten rid of the useless spending, and started to plan out some of your life. Where could you take your life in planning then?
I started to work towards this concept 18 years ago when I heard a speaker talk about learning to live on half your income, and invest the other half. This works with more than just money. Imagine your life if you could take away the stress of time, if you planned your day so you had time left over for those things you just can’t plan for.
Currently, I am not all the way to where we want to be when it comes to living on far less then we want to money-wise. That could be because I wanted that fancy new Harley last year. But we are still on a plan to get our lives on the right financial track.
One thing I am focusing on personally is what are we teaching our kids as we indulge in a system like getting the maximum tax return (yes, we were there, too, this year); are we teaching them the same bad habits we are trying to get out of?
Improving the “time” part of my life is working better for me. Now I mostly have the time I need to prepare my blogs and other writings; to plan out upcoming workshops; to continue my networking activities; and, for each event I speak at, to ride my motorcycle if possible, saving flying as a secondary choice.
If you have not yet scheduled yourself for one of our workshops this year, please do it. Planning will be a big part of the process of taking you from where you are now to living that RockStar dream. We talk all the time about learning from those things we screw up in life because that is where the success comes from. Learning to plan is part of that.
In life, Gwynne and I are, by the American standards half way to retirement. But in reality we are behind on what we really want to do. We are changing the planning part of our life; we have made the screw ups, the mistakes and now it’s time to learn from them. We may not be to the point of yesterday’s blog where $10,000 wouldn’t make a difference to us but I will say that we are now at the point that we aren’t desperately in need of the $1000 bonus right now. Yes we take it, but we are getting past the point we need it.
We all will always need to make improvements in our lives. That is why we talk about investing in time, money, learning. These things will make our lives better; we will always have room to grow in life. I hope that this week you are working towards the idea that you do not need that tax return each year because you are planning your life NOT to need it. I hope your life has gotten to the point you are not desperate for another $1000 to make a difference.
If you need to clean out clutter in life or start a plan of action to get you from where you are to where you want to go, check out our workshop page and sign up for our mailing list to see when a workshop is coming to your town. See you tomorrow for another number.
I’m Tim Gillette, the Rocker Life Coach. It’s time to live your dream, to love what you do and those you share life with. Invest in your future to become less dependent on small things and begin to live the RockStar dream in your world.
