Avoid Letting Routine Take Over Your Life

You’re in a job you’re happy with. Life is percolating along in a satisfactory way. There’s not much to worry about. You’re not currently working towards any huge goals. Routine and ease of days is great – and if that’s what you’re after, fantastic you’ve arrived.

If however, all that routine suddenly makes you realize you’re stagnating then it’s time to take action!

Invigorate yourself with new goals

When we are striving toward a specific goal or accomplishment, we keep ourselves sharp with plans and deadlines and new ideas. Whether we mean to or not, we learn new things in the process. If you don’t currently have a goal then create one!

Avoid falling into the background of your life

Have you actually reached the pinnacle of where you wanted to be career-wise or have you just reached a plateau? Becoming comfortable often makes our original intentions for our lives fall into the background.

If this has happened to you, check back in with your younger self and remind yourself of your big plans. What did you want to be doing at 30? At 45? At 60? Are you on track? What do you need to do to get yourself back on track?

What ignites the passion in your heart?

Sometimes we can be perfectly happy with where our career has taken us, but we’re still not entirely thrilled with the direction of our lives. Time for another check-in. Rather than professional, this one is more personal. Is there something in life that holds great significance for you? Something you’d like to contribute to or participate in or learn about?

If it’s a change you’d like to see in the world then figure out what you can do to be part of it. Look into volunteer opportunities. Join groups trying to make a difference.

Did you used to want to learn to play the guitar? Or did you once have a dream to walk the Camino?

By checking in with yourself regularly you will remind yourself of all the reasons you are grateful to be alive. Along with the things you can do create the life you’re grateful to be living!

When Budgeting Needs to Be a Priority

You know you make enough to have a little something extra at the end of every month, but somehow or other that extra money evaporates away into – who knows what!

Some people are organized and disciplined enough to create and stuck to a budget using no more than pen and paper or a spread sheet on their computer. Others of us need a little more help. That’s where budgeting apps come in. We’ve sourced a few for you to check out:

Mint

Mint is the go-to app for anyone new to budgeting. The app brings all of a user’s bills and accounts together, including loans, credit accounts, bank accounts and creates budgets tailored to the user.

Mint features reminders for upcoming bills and warnings when funds are low.  It also provides access to unlimited free credit scores – along with tips to improve it. By classifying the budget into categories like “Shopping” and “Entertainment” users can determine if it’s possible to save by cutting back in specific areas of their lives. 

YNAP

According the website of YNAP or You Need a Budget, the app will help teach you how to manage your money and get ahead. Their motto is, “Give every dollar a job.” The app is all about prioritizing the allotment of funds, then creating a plan to meet those priorities and following the plan. It’s especially great for helping people reach specific financial goals.

PocketGuard

The idea behind PocketGuard is to help you track your spending by linking credit cards, bank accounts, investments and loans in one place to see the big picture. By updating and categorizing your transactions as they happen, the app enables you to understand where your money is going and discover opportunities to save. PocketGaurd helps you build a personalized budget based on your income, bills and goals.

Albert

Once you’ve connected all your financial accounts to the app, Albert builds a unique budget based on your income, spending habits and goals and automates your finances. It notifies you when you are overpaying and helps you cut costs.

Users can text The Albert Genius anytime. (A team of human financial experts) The geniuses alert you to savings you’re missing, identify bills you’re overpaying, help you pay down debt faster and custom-tailor a financial plan for you. The app analyzes your income and spending every day and sets aside small amounts of money you can save safely.

Wally

Comparing income to expenses, Wally helps users understand where their money goes and set and achieve goals by keeping track of daily details. To do that Wally gives users a 360 view of their money, what goes in, what goes out what has been saved. The app is free and available for both iPhone and android users.

Goodbudget

For people who want to try envelope budgeting without a paper envelope, Goodbudget is the answer. Each month users earmark their money for specific purposes and distribute it into virtual envelopes like groceries, accommodation, utilities etc.

Throughout the month they transfer money from the envelope to its designated purpose. It helps the user see exactly where their money is going every month. The app can be shared with partners across different platforms so it’s great for couples who want to pool resources toward designated expenses.

“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” Ayn Rand

There Will Be Closed Doors in Your Life But Many Others Are Open

In your quest to accomplish things you will hit upon many closed doors. Hitting such a door, you might be inclined to hang your head in despair and go home. If only you’d kept your head high you might have noticed other doors in the vicinity that were not locked. With a little effort those doors could certainly be opened.

Opening a closed door

Six years ago, I heard a call out for ideas for radio shows from our local radio station. I had an idea! It was a scripted radio drama. I started by writing the first two scripts of the six-episode show. I wrote the proposal and waited. Finally, the radio station got back to me. Good proposal they said, but we are no longer producing radio dramas.

I was crestfallen. By then I had fallen in love with the show and the idea of sharing it with the world at large. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how much the show had come to mean to me. Then I realized just because the radio station said no that didn’t mean no for the show.

The world wants to help those who want to help themselves

I began auditioning and hiring actors. In the meantime, I started a fundraising campaign and raised enough to record it. I had never produced an audio drama before, but I found people who could help me with different aspects of the project. They became as invested in the show and excited about getting it out there as I was. Six months later I had a show on iTunes.

Find Another Way

The good people at the radio station who were no longer producing audio dramas said no to me. Many other people said yes. When faced with rejection or negative responses you can take it as a dead stop or you can find another way.

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” Winston Churchill

The Fine Balance of Life

As life passes from day to day, we get caught up in the business of creating a life for ourselves. Earning enough to live comfortably and take care of the ones we love. And from in the middle of all that striving sometimes it’s easy to forget what actually means the very most in our lives.

Once we’ve taken care of the essentials, for most of us the most important thing in our lives isn’t the car we drive or the square footage of the house we live in or the designer labels yelling out from our clothing. It’s the other people we share our lives with.

When you think about it, what made the greatest impacts on your life? The things you got or the things you did? Most people would answer, experiences. Times we shared with others.

Who are the people who stand out most in your memory? We’d be willing to bet it’s the ones who helped you in some way, along the way. Which means the people you impacted most were most likely the ones you helped.

The Balance Between Give and Take

Life is a fine balance between give and take. On the take side, are people who have helped us. Given us letters of recommendation. Introduced us to others who could benefit us. Paid for a year of our tuition. As we go through life, we balance that against the give side. All the people we in our turn, have helped.

The people who helped us and the ones we were able to help are the ones who make the house of our lives a home. We don’t give and take because we are keeping score or out of obligation. We do it out of a true desire to help. Because it makes us feel good. Because we can.