Living on a Shoestring Budget: Vision

One of the best ways I have found to keep myself from spending too much is to develop a vision for my life. Where am I going and what am I doing? It is said that people without a vision perish. I know how depressed I can become when I feel like my life is going nowhere. Stirring up a vision brings hope and a challenge to overcome.

How does that help when living on a shoestring budget? People without vision spend their lives looking all different directions and spending money in areas of all those different directions. Vision oriented people do not waste time or money on things that do not help them achieve their goal.

By waste, I do not mean spending money on things that matter. Buying food or maybe the occasional flowers for your girlfriend are things that matter. Buying tons of video games or novels when your dream is to become an architect or accountant is frivolous and unproductive. It is important to buy things that help you achieve your goal instead of things that become a distraction.

Once you have a vision for your life, another thing you can do is find people around you who share the same vision. Not only will they help you keep focused, but they may also have resources you can borrow so that you do not have to spend money on them. My mentor is often loaning me books to read that help educate me in the area I want to move into.

For those who have a hard time creating a vision, here are some helpful suggestions. First of all, pay attention to those things that make you cry. Is it the homeless children? Is it the lack of stewardship we have shown the earth? Is it the beauty of the night sky? Whatever makes you cry is something that stirs deep within you for a reason. Check into different jobs that are a part of that passion and see what it takes to get one of those jobs.

Second, pay attention to those things that give you a great sense of accomplishment apart from what anyone else is thinking. I feel really good when I write something I think is great. It does not matter what anyone else thinks about it. For that reason, I am looking at different writing options.

Third, what are you really good at? Often times those things we are really good at play some part in whatever job would really make you happy. People tell me I am good at counseling. That does not mean I am to become a professional counselor, but it could mean that counseling will play some role in my life.

Then, once your vision is created, you can get to work on weeding out those things from your shopping list that do not really matter in helping you accomplish your goal.