The Secret Shortcut

I've been reading a book called The Energy of Money, by Maria Nemeth, PhD., lately, and yesterday I was working through one of her exercises which was supposed to illuminate my "life's intentions".



Ms. Nemeth instructed me to pretend I have a genie at my serivce. She said to write "all the things that you have always wanted to do or have in life. Write down whatever comes to mind. You have all the freedom in the world." (p. 81)

Okay, I did this:

1. Write a best selling novel.
2. Have a million dollars in the bank.
3. Travel the world....

Next, she said, "Look at each item. Ask yourself: Why do I want this? What desire will it satisfy? When you discover the underlying reason for your choice, write it down on a separate piece of paper. Put these answers in the form of 'to be....'"

I did this part, too:

1. To be respected.
2. To be financially secure.
3. To be adventurous....

As I made my way down the list, something happened. I noticed a pattern in my list of "underlying reasons" that went something like this:

To be respected.
To be helpful.
To be content.
To be content.
To be content.
To be healthy.
To be content.
To be content.
To be helpful.
To be adventurous.
To be adventurous.
To be content....

Hmmmmmm........

I'm thinking I don't have to wait for some genie to appear to grant me these wishes. Nor do I have to become a best-selling novelist or travel the world. I do need to find ways to be helpful, healthy, adventurous and content and I can probably do that in my own backyard or at least within a ten-mile radius from my house.

Heck, I'm doing it already!

And that part about being "financially secure"? I don't really need a million bucks for that. Having a million bucks didn't keep a lot of people financially secure in this last economic downturn. Financial security for me really means having property, having little to no debt, being healthy and willing to work.

Do you see the short-cut available to me? I can either take the long, circuitous route of waiting until I'm published and rich to be satisfied....or I can be satisfied today. Does that mean I'm giving up on my dreams? No - not at all. It just means that I'm already at the finish line in one sense. I don't have to achieve my "goals" in order to achieve success. Knowing that my success already lies in my hands, I can work backward from the finish line toward my goals, enjoying the whole process.

That's pretty sweet.