Life Choices Simplified

Either PAY or GET PAID.  

It’s that simple!  

How much are we paying (i.e., investing versus wasting) for the privileges we enjoy and how much are we getting paid for the services we provide? 

The balance sheet at the end of the day simply needs to show a net gain, else we’re losing. 

But it’s important to note that the investment we put in demands a “contingency/efficiency/entropic surtax” and the income we realize is not all “discretionary”. 

There’s overhead to cover.

Taxes to be paid.

Retirement to prepare for.

Emergency funds to accrue.

Debts to be paid.

Credits to be accrued.

Recreational pursuits to be supported.

Hobbies to be underwritten.

Negotiability / Sustainability to be guaranteed.

 Social responsibility to be upheld.

The more positive the balance sheet, the better shape we’re in.  Period. 

Put more bluntly, the degree to which we’re not piling up both credits and actual earnings is the degree to which we’re putting ourselves at risk for “not making it”.  

In college and graduate school – for a slow-learner who needed an extra remedial reading course to navigate all the literature, history and social studies courses, it quickly became apparent that my main activity choices were study, work, and – when possible, sleep ... in that order.   

We can and do play the odds in taking all the latitude the universe will allow.  (And, the truth is, it will allow us whatever we dare to take – often with exorbitant penalties.) 

What are the chances we’ll “get caught”?  What are the chances we’ll eventually have to “pay to piper”?  [We can always apologize later, make excuses and provide any necessary explanations.  And, besides all else, aren’t we entitled to whatever we can “get away with”?] 

NOPE! 

The “Piper” WILL be paid … either in immediate slash/cash or I.O.U.s taken out of long-term prospects.  Worse, the artificial sense one gets from virtual success in “Beating the System” early in the going establishes a pattern of crowding the edges of solvency in all directions for the duration. 

You may be smarter than the average bear.  You may not have needed the remedial reading course.  You may have come into the game with a lot more “credits” on the board than most.  You may be “Special”.  And you may have certain “immunities”. 

But the bottom line on your balance sheet is the same as everyone else’s: 

Compared to where you “coulda been”, where are you now,

and where are you most likely to end up? 

Life is going to demand of us everything we’ve got, if we are to enjoy the fruits of everything we “deserve”. 

There’s no hiding from regret and remorse for potential winnings left on the table and no panacea for good water gone under the bridge.  The only solace one has at the end of the game is the knowledge that you gave it your very best shot. 

Points to Ponder

There is a hidden bottom line on the balance sheet that is not all dollars and cents.

Integrity is an even more important ledger element. 

Investments in education and personal and professional development

pay the biggest dividends, measured only indirectly in dollars and cents. 

And “creditable” entries from significant others validating YOU, Inc.

are like gold nuggets.

Getting “paid” in Blue Chip I.O.U.s and “bandwagon benefaction”

compounds our investments astronomically. 

Finishing thought:

Let’s stop shortchanging ourselves and start giving ourselves more than half a chance of making the balance sheet of life as good as it can get.  Crowd the edges of potential and possibility in the most positive ways conceivable – toughing it out through thick, thin, threats, threshings and theatricalities, and you will be amazed at the results.   Quartermaster