What's Your Magic Number?
What’s your number?
Is it the amount in your investment accounts that would allow you to retire comfortably?
Is it the amount of cash in savings that would eliminate your day-to-day worries?
Or is it the (pardon my french) ‘FU’ amount of money that would let you escape a well-paying job you loathe?
What’s the magic amount of money that would make everything “right” in your world?
Here’s a thought. Rather than continuing your attempt to figure it out, perhaps it’s time we call it what it really is…
The lie we all tell ourselves.
Still not buying my theory? Ok, let’s dive a bit deeper.
Do you remember what your previous number was? You know, the one you worked hard towards achieving only then to quickly replace it with your current number?
That’s pretty much how this cycle works unless we break it.
We convince ourselves we’ll be happy, content, worry-free – insert your own platitude of choice here – once we hit our magic number. And yet, the moment we achieve it, we replace it with a bigger and “better” number.
The real magic comes after you realize and accept that there is no magical number.
Let’s start by appreciating that our ability – or lack thereof – to enjoy the journey between our numbers is what really matters. We already have all that we really need right now and no amount of money will change the fact that life is hard and happiness is something we experience but not a permanent state of being.
The way I see it, we have two choices.
We can continue to fight tooth and nail against this reality hoping the next number does the trick. Or we can let go of the weight of what’s next and focus on enjoying the journey that is life instead.
Life will throw us curve balls along the way but armed with our own flexible framework, we have a system in place for dealing with them. Life is no longer a zero sum game of success or failure when we embrace a method and adopt a mindset that allows us to live intentionally no matter what life brings our way. And thankfully, this approach will provide us with more comfort and confidence than any random number can ever provide.
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