Self Worth in Every Day Life

Well, tomorrow if Friday and what a week it's been. Month end in the mortgage business can be a real treat (I hope you can sense the thick sarcasm that I'm laying on here).

What is it about our jobs and our role in our jobs that gives us confidence and self worth? Is it the accomplishment that we feel when we complete a task or the notice that we receive from our management/co-workers? Or is it the fact that we feel important in our purpose in our job place and feel like we're really needed?

I believe it's all of the above. Along with realizing our true talents, we get to validate ourselves in some form or another and that makes us feel like we're important. It's critical to feel that importance in our lives to feel like we're worth our weight. Self worth is important to mental health and especially to confidence. We need to feel accepted and like we're the perfect person for the task at hand. We need all these things to carry ourselves with personal conviction and understanding of our self worth.

The other side of self worth is in our God given talents. We all are blessed with talents that may or may not be on the surface of our personalities. Some of us may have developed these talents and others will find them at the opportune time in their life when the moment realizes itself. We all have them and it's all just a matter of developing these talents to realize our true potential. Whether it's public speaking, art, writing, accounting, law, finance, riding a bike, swimming, or just talking with people; we all have within us a natural inclination to excel.

Try new things if you don't know what yours are. Get out of your comfort zone. Really venture in to the unknown with your personality. I talked about this in a previous post here and discussed the possibilities of opening up new opportunities by challenging yourself.

At some point in time, we all question our self worth to some degree. It's important that you find your voice and your channel so that you can show the world what you have to offer. Not that we need to prove ourselves, but to keep us in the right mental place where we feel good about who we are and what we contribute to humanity.

Have a great Friday!

Cheers.

The Life of a Lottery Winner

So, I'm sure we all have thought of that age old question at some point or another: "What if I won the lottery?" I am fascinated with the psychology that goes along with people and their money and naturally that dichotomy is far from black and white when it comes to lottery winners. Some feel that is makes their life easier and gives them everything they dream of, while others feel that it imposes an unnecessary burden that they never would wish upon their worst enemies.

I find some of these stories inspiring and quite positive for the human spirit. For example, I came across this story recently when doing some reading about lottery winners (I get on weird kicks with my reading, I will admit). This man, Solomon Jackson Jr., won the jackpot in the Powerball game and won $260 million. He basically said that he had retired early and has a blessed life, so his life won't change much, if at all. He goes on to say that someones life will be blessed from his winnings. That's commendable and hopefully it works out well for him.

Do you think that it would make your life easier? Would you just create new problems for yourself? Ideally, I think we would all like to think that we would invest wisely and live off the interest for the rest of our lives, but emotions get involved and guilt becomes a factor in how people use their money as well.

The not so glamorous side to winning the lottery is when humans get greedy and take advantage of winners and their financial windfall. This article illustrates that point very well. A successful construction company owner, Jack Whittaker won $314.9 million only to have his granddaughter (the apple of his eye) become hooked on drugs, spending frivolously until she got herself killed and others around her killed as well.

Money can do strange things to us and cause an emotional strain on us as humans. It can come from the stress of making ends meet or the pain of not being able to feed your family. When a large financial windfall comes and the "high" from spending that money comes in to play, all bets are off and emotions really take over. There are interesting stories abound about people who have had it all and then lost it all in short periods of time. I think we as humans will continue to be fascinated by the winners themselves, the situations that drive them to "spend it all," and also by the winners that manage to have the dream life as well.

What would you do if you won? One can fantasize right? I would travel the world and make sure my family was taken care of. Here's to wishing in one hand and ....well you know the rest. :-)

Redefining Your Career

Happy weekend everyone.

In the uncertain economy and even more uncertain job market it's important to define yourself and make yourself stand out in your career. We all have our individual talents and unique characteristics that make us who we are and help us define our roles in the work place. It's important to not get stagnant and let your career go on autopilot once we get a good job. I'm guilty of this at many times in my current position as a mortgage banker and have found myself in places that I didn't want to be in as a result. Like a place of boredom or a lack of challenge in my workplace. It's up to me to make myself better and we all have to take that initiative sometimes to develop as a person.

How do we do it? Reading books on topics that relate to our weaknesses is one way. For instance, I'm not so good at cold calling and making unexpected visits to business partners and potential clients. I find that cold calling isn't really my strong suit, so I try to read books about it and listen to other people that are good at it. Don't get me wrong, I'm good with people and can talk with just about anyone, but when it comes to getting down to the point of the call, I sometimes trip over words. We all do at some point, but we get better the more we do it. Which leads me to my next point.

Just do the things that you're afraid of and make you nervous. Breaking through that barrier of fear opens up new worlds of opportunities that wouldn't have otherwise shown themselves. One example of this in my life is performing music. I used to be afraid of getting up on stage and singing/playing guitar when I was much younger. Now, after doing it for two decades and playing out regularly, it's become a sort of second nature. Don't think I don't get butterflies in my stomach still though. It's still a rush to have a crowd of people watching you and you're every move.

So, in challenging yourself, personal growth comes as a pleasant result, which in turn gives you new talents to bring to your career, thus redefining your place in that given career. Give it try and see what opens up. Could be a raise, or a promotion, or even a better job offer. You never know until you try.

Simply Live

As I approach the big 30 mark in my life, I am constantly contemplating how I want to spend the years of my formative adulthood (ha!). I keep debating how I'm going to pay for traveling around the world, how I'm going to fund my pension, my 401k, my IRA, etc., etc. and sometimes lose track of today. I'm sure we all do that because it's easy to do when you get responsibilities and a career. But it's almost important to just live.

I'm reminded of that every time I talk to Evelyn about this stuff (she is the yang to my yin) and try to be the planner of life. She reminds me that it's about l-i-v-i-n and there's no better time than now. I have my own moments as well where I'm in touch with the moment, but she's good at reminding me when I get out of touch. What a great thing right?

So, since I'm 9 (almost 8) days away from turning 30 (I know it's just a number and I truly feel that way, really) I resolve to hold myself accountable for simply living. Not worrying about the tedious minutia in my life, keep things in perspective, and living for the important stuff: life, love, and happiness. I think that's a fair goal and instead of a New Year's Resolution, I'm making it a 30-40 decade resolution. I figure if I can get that figured out and live that way for 10 years, by then it will be a habit and I'll just keep it going until my formative elder years (yeah I like the word formative). Here's to living and living well!

Remind yourself why you are happy and healthy, but most importantly, keep in perspective all the things in your life.

Cheers!

Housing Tax Credit: Keep or Throw Out

Most if not all of you know that my day job is in the mortgage business, so I keep a good "pulse" on what's going on in the real estate world and especially with real estate legislation.

For the past year, we've had the $8000 tax credit for new home buyers and I've definitely had a spike in new home buyers in that time. This has been great for business and also great for these new homeowners as well. I don't really look forward to my generation paying for the tax burden that will be a result of this $8000 tax credit for all new home buyers, but if it spurs the housing market back to where it needs to be, then it needs to happen, period. My only wish is that I could take advantage of the credit, but alas, it's not to be as my first home was purchased more than 5 years ago. I don't regret that one bit as I've learned a lot and gained equity in the meantime. I've also purchase other homes in the meantime and learned from them as well. Wouldn't trade it all for any other way.

So, what am I getting at? Capital Hill is talking of extending the $8000 tax credit to new home buyers until June of 2010 and I am in support of this, to be honest. This article explains that the Obama administration wants to see more data about what the tax costs will be for us tax payers before signing off on it. Some members of Capital Hill feel that the tax credit has had some very positive effects on the housing market and buying stopping it on November 30th, 2009 could undo a lot of the positives that have come from the initiative.

I can tell you this from my experience in mortgage banking: It is definitely impacting buyers' decision to purchase a home now or later. Many buyers are taking advantage of the tax credit as they see it as "free money," and they are right. It's essentially free money now (with a tax bill that will have to be made up for down the road of course from all tax payers) that helps Americans gain some extra tax refund money for improving their new home, paying off debt, saving, or spending to stimulate our still lagging economy.

Time will tell but we should know soon as our administration is saying that it should only take a few weeks to determine whether the future tax burden will be too significant or not.

Have a great week!

More Benefits of Not Having Cable TV

Happy Saturday to everyone. I hope you're enjoying it as much as I am.

I was reading an article about someone that just got new cable service recently and how they truly enjoy the DVR options that come with it, etc. They went on about how they can fast forward through the boring stuff and just watch what they want. The best part, the bill is only $17 a month for now (promotional deal, etc. for a limited time).

This got me thinking about our decision to give up our cable at home. I don't regret the decision one bit as a matter of fact. I reflected on what I've been doing with my time without cable TV. I've been playing more guitar, which I don't regret one bit. I've been learning a lot of new songs and getting a lot of new ideas as a result. I've begun writing songs again, which is something I haven't done for a while. I don't regret that one bit. I've also been reading a lot. Whether it's an online article, blog post, a book from the library, or an interesting magazine that I come across. I am learning all kinds of new bits of information for conversation pieces and just general useless knowledge. :-) I'm actually reading three books right now, which cover a gamut of topics from history (about Cahokia), psychology of happiness (Happier), and The Millionaire Next Door (a book about finance and average habits of people that are millionaires, almost done with this one). Mostly, I just enjoy thinking more and not zoning out in front of the TV feeling like a zombie.

I figured that we're saving a pretty good chunk of change as well per year by not having cable TV. To the tune of over $400 per year. That's money that we can use for vacations, road trips, and other various activities that we enjoy (Evelyn and I that is). A better use of the money to me, I think. Your mileage may vary and if you enjoy what cable TV brings you, more power to you and keep on keepin' on. One of my favorite blogs constantly talks about finding things that work for you in your life to simplify and not worrying about what others are doing. This applies to many aspects of life and it's important that we all take this approach.

Have a great weekend. Headed up north to go to a surprise birthday party tonight.

Cheers!

Without a Job...How 'Bout the Military?

Well, that hopefully got your attention.

With all the news about unemployment this and downsizing that, many people are turning to the military in this uncertain job market. What better way to secure your future than with the US government defense right? Well, some believe this to be true so much that they're staking their future on it. A Cnn Money article today said that the Department of Defense has "met or exceeded their recruitment goals for all branches of the armed services for fiscal year 2009," (http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/16/news/economy/military_jobs/index.htm?postversion=2009101612). The pros being a consistent pay check, no taxes paid if in a combat zone, and free health care benefits. Not a bad gig, except the sacrifice that you make in possibly fighting in the War in Iraq or Afghanistan. That comes with the territory though and is to be expected if you're signing up.

Just as with the Great Depression, government work and resources have pulled us through this recession, whether it be through bailing out the large banks, Wall Street, or subsidizing stimulus packages. These "fringe benefits" of being American come with a price tag of course, but why not take advantage of what we can. That seems to be the motto with the individuals signing up for military jobs. Why not take job security/certainty over struggle and financial strife. I personally am old enough that I think I would shy away from joining the military to ensure my job prospects, but I must admit that if you are well educated, you have good job options in the military that pay well and set you up nicely for the future, without putting you on the front lines of combat. I'm not going to get in to personal beliefs about the war and our defense spending, etc because that's not my purpose of this post, but suffice it to say that when opportunity is knocking, it's fair to open the door when it's needed. I'm happy for the people that can and do serve for us in our defense departments around the globe!

With that said, I hope you have a happy and restful weekend. I also hope your job prospects and career opportunities are on solid ground.

Cheers!