The other day I came across this wonderful quote:
“Pursue experiences because no one wants to hear stories about all the money you made.” – Simon Sinek
It’s a good quote to remember when we set a goal. Too often we get caught up in what we have to do each day—the daily grind, the chores, the work, the activities, our schedule. We have to work to put food on the table and pay the bills. We have to run the kids to soccer so we appear to be a good mom. We have to give the dog a bath so the house will not stink. We have to be in long boring meetings and on conference calls and often do work we don’t enjoy to make a living. Sometimes we work harder than we need to so we can “get ahead” or put money away “for a rainy day.”
Are our lives frenzied because we don’t know how to say “No” to meaningless activities, or are we too busy pursuing the almighty dollar? Are we doing things we feel we have to do, or are we taking time to enjoy what we do?
I daresay we would all like to be rich—some of us might say that money doesn’t mean anything to us. In truth, for most of us it is not money we want. I doubt many of us want to be like Scrooge McDuck and have a vault of money in which to go swimming. But we want money so we can live; we want enough money that eventually we can have freedom to do what we want. But how much money is enough? How often do we think once we have $X we will be able to enjoy ourselves. Once we have the mortgage paid off becomes once we put the kids through college and then once we have $X in our retirement fund we can be free to do what we want.
We can’t spend our lives waiting. Yes, I know that $3,000 you spend to go to France for a week, if you let it sit in your retirement fund, might be $9,000 in twenty years when you retire, and maybe you will need that $9,000 in twenty years, but in twenty years, do you want to be telling people you have $9,000 or about your trip to France, how you saw the Mona Lisa, how you stood at the top of the Eiffel tower, how you visited a winery, indulged in incredible French pastries, toured a chateau, and sunbathed on the Riviera. “I have $9,000 in my retirement account” isn’t much of a story by comparison—it’s certainly not much of an experience.
I’m not saying not to save for your retirement, and yes, I know you will need far more than $9,000, but I’m also saying that you need to invest in yourself. Invest in your experiences, in experiences that educate you, bring you pleasure, knowledge, joy, and moments that money cannot buy. It’s only money—it comes and goes—but an experience once enjoyed can never be taken from you.
Irene
Watson, MA, is author of The Sitting Swing: Finding
Wisdom to Know the Difference, and co-editor
of The Story that Must Be
Told: True Tales of Transformation,
and Authors Access: 30 Success
Secrets for Authors and Publishers.
She is a workshop leader,
managing editor of Reader Views,
and president of a non-profit Higher Power Foundation.
Irene lives next to Barton Creek in Austin, TX, with her husband Robert.
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