blowing the lead

One of the things I think about a lot is what would have happened to current me if old me had different information. For example, if old me started investing $50 bucks a month in an IRA rain or shine from 20-35 then just forgot about it til 55. That small habit would give 55 year old me $266,000 dollars in retirement.

Crazy.

I think when we feel we aren’t doing well, or our plan is bad, or we get bored, we start looking everywhere but to the task at hand.

We look for windfalls, wild imaginative ways in which the burden of our goals could be lessened. We look in the past and wish we had known better or different. We assume that if we had gotten ahead back then, or received a windfall now, we would be better off.

In my own heart i play this game, but I know this is a lie I tell myself.

You have to have character to manage success. We blame our problem on the resource and not on the container. You don’t necessarily need more water, you need a better cup.

Sometimes I think about unhappy people I know. I think about what they say they want. What they say will be the end of their problems. Money, the attention of someone, some reaction from the world, some debt they feel owed, some level of success or acclaim.

Those things generally speaking would never make them feel complete. Because even if they got it, they don’t have the cup to keep it safe in.

It takes longevity to be happy. It takes real character to get lucky and make it work for you. I think about the cliche but very true experience of lotto winners who are broke within a number of years. They were given more than they could manage and it broke them.

My hope for myself and for you is that you have the good fortune to get lucky, but the stabilizing muscles to not let it become a curse.

Also, I have two shows next weekend, Friday in Park Circle, and Saturday downtown, get them tix and show ya boi some love