What Do You Want From Life?
The tragedy for millions of people is that they never decide
what they want from life and make plans for it. Life will
provide whatever we demand. Most of us don't demand what we
want but simply settle for what our job supplies. Too many
jobs are dead-end with little room for advancement. Many don't know what they want to do, so they drift through
life with the hope that success will overtake them. Some
still have no idea for their life's profession after they
have graduated from college. Sometimes you try something and
get lucky. Your talent and temperament fit the job and you
do well. Countless others hate their job and never advance
to a satisfying one. Decide what you want from life and what it will take to get
it. College can be used to explore areas you are interested
in. Investigate the requirements of the position you want.
Set short and long term goals to do what it takes to achieve
it. Stick to your plans no matter what happens. Those that
set goals and follow them usually succeed. If you have no goals, you tend to drift through life being
the victim of circumstances instead of controlling them.
Not having a goal is like driving on the highway when you
don't know where you are going. You had better find out.
You might be going in the wrong direction. If you aim for nothing, you are sure to hit it. Ten % of life is having things happen to you that you have
no control over. Ninety % of life is how you react to the
other ten %. You can't control the ten % but you can control
the ninety %. You can't control what happens, but you can
soften the blow of unfortunate times by saving money for emergencies. Millions fall into the credit trap. Credit is a great thing
when used wisely, but it will ruin your chances for a decent
life if not controlled. Anyone familiar with simple arithmetic should know that you can't pay out more than you take in, yet most families are thousands of dollars in debt. Pay it off as soon as possible. If you pay the minium amount on a large debt
it will take most of your life to pay it off, if you ever
finish. You can't afford the extra interest. Most of us have to buy homes and automobiles on credit.
It is best to use as little for other things as possible.
Leave your credit cards at home when you go shopping so that
you will have to think about it for a while before using them. Getting enough ahead to make some sound investments is a tremendous help. Compound interest adds up fast and having
it work for instead of against you makes a big difference.
After you have invested regularly for a few years, the
interest you receive makes it unnecessary to live from
paycheck to paycheck. You can subtract your IRA investment
from your taxable income. You pay no tax on it until you
take it out. Roth or other plans may work even better for
you. It is recommended that you save at least ten % of the money
you make. Keep some in the bank and invest the rest. Set
aside a certain amount to invest each month. If the market is
up you will buy fewer shares. If it is down you can buy more. If you have a knowledge of investments and are willing to keep
up with how they are doing, you might do well deciding what to invest in yourself. If not, it would be wise to rely on a professional. Choose wisely because some brokers are more
interested in their profit than yours, and will load you down with a lot of activity with the resulting commissions you will have to pay. Look for someone you can trust who has your best interest at heart. If you don't have a plan for your life, you have no purpose. There is no sense of urgency and you are more inclined to
splurge on pleasure and creature comforts. When you have a
goal and a budget you already know what to spend your time
and money on. You can be content in tough times because you
know that you are doing the best you can with the present circumstances. You know that difficult times will only be temporary and that success is hidden behind the rough
spots. Having short time goals permits you to break down the task
into bite size steps and are more likely to stick to your
plans. If you just have a long time goal, you will be more
easily discouraged because what you have to do seems out of reach. It is important to know what you desire from life, so that
you won't waste your time doing things that do not contribute
to what you want to accomplish. -- You have permission to publish this article if the byline at
the bottom. Please notify me when you do at lynn_b2@yahoo.com. Total words 880. Lynn Bradley is also the author of the paperback book,
"Climbing the Heavenly Stairs." To read more about it click
on the following link. http://www.thelynnbradleybook.com
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