@liz: mini goals – I love ‘em. As long as I do a little bit every day to advance something (business or personal) on my project list, I’m golden!

@Ben: Get paid for flirting? and you like to dance? Consider training as a dance instructor. The Ballroom business is booming. That’s what I’m doing! Check out DVIDA at dancevision.com.

live, love, and learn, people!

I would amend that to “a round of applause for what the US could be”.

We as individuals may be saving more than we spend, but federal politicians are spending WAY more than they are taking from us in taxes – which would be bad enough in and of itself.

Note that I’m not targeting democrats or republicans – I’m targeting BOTH!

How do we stop this profligacy???

Keep up the good work.

Also JD, thanks for the comments about political posts. I appreciate your viewpoint and respect you for it.

As my mindset is still stuck in money-as-all-important mode, what do you recommend as ways to discover things more important than money, but that also pay money?

Currently my favorite things include:
-social occasions with friends and family
-flirting
-dancing
-solitary physical exercise (hiking, walking, surfing)

I’m hoping you’ll tell me how to get paid for flirting, but I’m also open to book recommendations or blog posts.

As to the three principles, I agree that they apply to any situation. Keep in mind that Working on something that matters more than money and taking the long view can imply learning all you can from your job, taking on extra tasks that give you new knowledge or skills, or just build your work ethic. The fact that you worked hard at your job, for example, and always give your best effort may be why you can succeed at writing from home now.

To my thinking, creating more value than you capture is the hard one, because with that mentality, you will continue to grow the value you capture, so you’ll have to work hard to stay ahead of it.

Provided you work for a boss that recognizes your value, that is!

Sorry to hear of your friend J.D. With a name like Sparky, he had to be a good man.

1. Work on something that matters to you more than money. I think the box factory was your family’s business so maybe helping your family mattered more than the money you earned. Even if you took the job primarily for a paycheck, the effort you put in provided benefits not just to you (the cash) but also to your family (they had someone they knew they could trust).

2. Create more value than you capture. Again, when you worked hard and succeeded, your paycheck might not have changed but you created value for your family with your efforts, which might be measured in actual cash accruing to the company, goodwill to the company or goodwill within the family.

3. Take the long view. I think anyone can do this at any job. Do your job with a view to how it will impact your own future and the future for the company or society. Do a good job in order to get a good recommendation and get a promotion or a better job. Do a good job because it’s always more satisfying to do something well rather than to the minimum required. Do a good job because that’s what you’ve agreed to do every time you sign your paycheck and your well done job makes the company better. If you’re satisfied and the company thrives, both of you are more likely to help others and society benefits.

J.D., I’m so sorry for your loss. I wish you well during this tough time.

A purple nation, united!! I am so proud of us today. A round of applause for the United States!

The beauty of Obama’s inauguration speech, which he delivered seconds ago as I write this, is that he called for integrity, confidence to grow out of that integrity, and cohesiveness to come from Americans working together. It’s long, long past time for us to quit taking pot shots at each other and come together for the sake of our nation and our children.

I’m sorry this historic moment must be darkened for you, J.D., by the loss of your friend.

I am sorry about your friend, J.D. Sounds like he had a lot to teach.

Keep up the excellent work. Oh yeah — I just signed up for an on-line Book Proposal class with a trusted source/organization and will be working on my Clothes Horse concept.

Politics show up in so many places that they don’t need to that I am super grateful for the things that remain neutral.

Good job!

“We say that the hour of death cannot be forecast, but when we say this we imagine that hour as placed in an obscure and distant future. It never occurs to us that it has any connection with the day already begun or that death could arrive this same afternoon, this afternoon which is so certain and which has every hour filled in advance.” ~ Marcel Proust

I hear what you’re saying, and I wouldn’t want to see you start launching into political polemics on GRS… but unfortunately politics have a huge impact on personal finances (taxes, retirement savings laws, and on and on). The divisiveness is there for a reason – politicians have drastically different ideas about how we should be able to handle our own money.

So I understand completely where you’re coming from in regards to the blog – no sense in going there – but it’s a huge part of what’s going to happen with our money in the future. We will all need to contribute to whichever side we think is right.

Good for you, and THANK YOU for taking that stand. I feel exactly the same way, and have been sickened by the political venom spewed by partisans of both sides over the last few years. I’m glad to know I’m not alone.

Keep up the great work, J.D., and my condolences on the loss of your friend Sparky.

My sentiments exactly. Thank you.

So for instance right now I have a bunch of stuff to do in my apartment, and its the last thing I want to think about when I come home from work… but what I do is to come home, do one thing for 1/2 hr (which usually ends up being 1 hr) and then pat myself on the back for a job well done. I’ve been taking my finances and my paid work the same way, and its been working out quite well.. it removes the burden of the overall goal, and allows me to get instant gratification for a small portion of that goal, while still keeping my behavior consistent.

Very sorry to hear about your friend. It sounds as though he knew how to live his life to the fullest, and that is very inspirational.