When Tim Ferris wrote the 4-Hour Workweek, I was skeptical. I eventually read the book to see what everyone was talking about. It wasn’t bad.
When you read Tim’s book, you have to move beyond all the marketing hype of the 4-hour workweek. In my opinion, the book isn’t about working four hours. What Tim really gets at is identifying what you have to change today, what processes and systems you need to set in place now, so that you can live the life you dream of now, or in the near future, rather than hoping for it to happen after you retire.
It’s not about getting rich. Not everyone wants to be rich. It’s about living intentionally and making choices about life rather than letting life make choices for you.
Sometime the beginning of this year, I realized that I was allowing family to ‘just happen.’ I had a great relationship with my wife and kids, but I knew it could be more. While we had fun, we could have more. I had a picture of the family life I wanted, but I hadn’t taken the time to figure out what it would take to get there. I was letting life make decisions about my family rather than making decisions about my family life. I didn’t want to do that anymore.
Christi and I made some choices about two years ago that definitely made life better for the whole family. I would say they are at the top of the list for anyone who wants to design the family lifestyle they’ve always wanted.
Get Out of Debt
We stopped using credit cards – cold turkey. As long as credit was an option, we weren’t ever going to get out of debt. Debt creates stress, plain and simple.
Save Up an Emergency Fund
As you know, Christi and I got into the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace program. Dave tells couples to save an emergency fund so that when things go wrong you don’t have to rely on credit cards to bail you out. An emergency fund is critical to staying off credit cards.
Set Up a Cash-Only Budget
Balance your budget! If you aren’t bringing it in, in cash, don’t spend it! It will take some time to work it out. You’ll have to make cuts to your lifestyle at first, but the freedom you will have after you get off credit is worth it.
You cannot have the freedom you need to design the lifestyle your family deserves if you are enslaved to debt. Period. You may have to make drastic cuts now, but future freedom is worth the discomfort. The more you sacrifice now, the faster you’ll be free to make the choices that are the best for your family.
Tomorrow I’ll outline a couple more elements in the process of family design and becoming the family you want to be.
