Life Planning (More Than Tax Planning)

"If you focus on results, you will never get change. If you focus on change, you will get results." - Jack Dixon

Most real estate investors are seeking more from their investments than just another door.

Here's an exercise worth doing, especially now that we're here in tax time.

Get a piece of paper and make a list of all the things you want to do during your lifetime -- no matter how crazy or undoable some of those things might seem. If you want to go on an African safari and become a famous gorilla researcher, then write it down. If you want to sip coffee at a Left Bank café in Paris, then by all means, put it on your list.

Include all the seemingly mundane things you want to do, too. Do you want to spend more time with your children, your spouse, or your parents? Write it down. Don't hold back. Be as wild and daring as you want to be. Let yourself dream big.

Once you have finished the above exercise (and not necessarily in the same sitting) take another piece of paper and ask yourself, "If I had a million dollars in the bank that was exclusively for me -- and I had no responsibilities and knew I would not need the money in the future -- how would I choose to spend a perfect day?"

Maybe you want to write a novel, talk to a friend, or own a ranch and raise goats, or how about becoming a goat yoga instructor? It’s a thing! Whatever it is, write out your perfect sort of day. These are not necessarily the big event things you want to experience, but your idea of your perfect day of living. Again, don't hold back.

People are often surprised at how powerful these two exercises are.

How do they help you?

They help you articulate your ACTUAL big dreams. They help you see clearly where your priorities reside. And they help you see how far away you are from, or how close are you to, your dreams and your more ideal daily existence.

And once you know that, then you can lay out a plan that lets you use your precious time for what you really want in life.

This can be great fun, if you let it be so. Shut off your cynicism, take fifteen minutes ...

Oh, and making a plan for getting there can be fun.

However we get there ... it will be taxed.

BE THE ROAR not the echo®

Warmly,

Janet Behm