Create a "zone of plenty" in your life
Yesterday I talked about my my Big Why motivation of helping people put their passion to work to make a difference that inspires them, in a way that lets them thrive.
Thriving is an important part of the equation, because it's what makes it all sustainable for the long-term. As I talk about in my thoughts about abundance, there is more to thriving than just the financial aspect, but for this post I want to focus on the money flow.
Ultimately, financial thriving is about having a zone of plenty between income and outflow that lets you incorporate the things that are important, meaningful, and fun into your life.
The dictionary definition of thrive is "to prosper or flourish; be successful." That's a great place to start, but when you take a closer look at how it actually plays out in your life, you'll see that thriving isn't only about having ever more, more, more. I've seen too many people making all kinds of money who struggle to keep up because their outflow keeps increasing along with their inflow. The income might increase, but the zone of plenty doesn't.
So if you look at thriving in terms of creating that zone of plenty, there are actually two parts to the equation:
- Maximizing the money inflow
- Minimizing the unimportant outflow
There are two important parts of this idea. First, maximizing the money inflow doesn't mean maximizing it at all costs. It means maximizing it within a sustainable, whole-life context. For example, if you're making choices that bring in great gobs of money, but your relationships or health are withering as a result, that's not a sustainable approach.
Second, notice the word "unimportant" in the outflow part of the equation. If you want to increase the zone of plenty, reducing the money going out the door has the exact same effect as increasing the money coming in the door.
But there's more to it than just turning into a penny-pinching Scrooge and refusing to spend on anything. Remember that part of my definition of thriving includes the ability to incorporate the things that are important, meaningful, and fun into your life.
Ultimately, it's about spending money on the right things. So the question to ask with each outflow is, "How much is this adding to my quality of life? How important is this?" Expand the zone of plenty by eliminating the spending that doesn't add to your life.
For example, if you go out to eat every day just because it's a convenient habit, but you don't really get that much out of it, that might be an unimportant expense that doesn't add anything to you life. On the other hand, if you're a complete foodie and your eyes roll back in your head with orgasmic delight with each bite of delicious food, that might actually be an important expense.
Take a look at your own life. How does your zone of plenty look? What could you do to expand it?
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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst TM
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