What is your passion? What gets you out of bed in the morning? I know it’s not your job, otherwise you wouldn’t have made it this far. Write down five things that you are passionate about. Are they things? Are they people? Are they events? What is it? You will need to write this down. You can write down moments, hobbies, travel experiences, whatever it is, write it down. You will revisit this over and over again in the coming months and years.
Let’s do another example, just in case you’re struggling and really because I love examples.
The five passions of Jamie Jones:
- Playing board games with her kids;
- Eating quality meals with her husband;
- Trying new hiking trails;
- Coffee with friends;
- Cooking new food.
That’s it. Those are her passions. Simple. Easy. Not much money is needed for her passions, if any. What were yours? Did they cost a lot? Most likely they were focused more on moments or memories than they were on money or materials. These are now your focus. They are your why. These tiny moments and memories. Tuck them away for when things get boring or stressful. When you want to buy those new clothes or you envy someone’s new car, remember these moments.
Why are we remembering these moments? Because paying off your debt and getting to a place of financial independence allows you to have more of these moments. More time to play the board games. You can’t stay up late playing board games in the summer if you have a 45 minute commute to a job that starts at 8 am. But you can go to coffee with friends on a random Tuesday at 10 am if you have financial freedom.
In the coming months and even years, things can get boring. The path to financial independence can be dull and mundane and oftentimes really frustrating. These are the moments you remember your why. You focus on your why. Maybe even experience some of your why. Take a vacation day to just see what it would be like to have a day to wake up and do what you choose. Don’t schedule a vacation, or pack it full with errands. Just be there. Rejuvenate yourself and remember the reason you have started on these steps.
