Investments Over Time

In sense...

Everything we do has an echo or repercussion in the future. In a sense it’s an investment. 

As much as the things we do, the things we don’t do also send an echo wave forward. In a sense it’s like deciding not to invest. 

Compounding interest. 

Think about the way you walk. Each step is an investment the reverberates through your body. Over time, if something is off with the way you walk or even the way you look out into the world, you might see knee, hip, back or shoulder problems develop. 

Habits are another way of compounding interest. Running daily. Coffee every morning. Happy hour every day at 5pm.  A certain lunch spot. Every habit is like a daily investment. We are putting our energy into them and the results are compounded by both repetition and time.  Changing course or undoing habits also takes repetition and time. 

Considering every action an investment is obviously an oversimplification of a complex human existence. However, the exercise of looking at how we move through life through this lens is still valuable. 

Habit Mandala

A great way to check in on your investments is to be your own accountant.  The pivotal part here is to be honest, as we are all great at lying to ourselves. 

To make a habit mandala put yourself at the center of a clock. Go through the hours of the day and take account of the things that you do each and every day. Then write a note for how you feel before, during and after each event. Avoid judgement statements and look at this like a scientist. 

Once, you made your clock mandala. On the outer edges make one for the week. What habits repeat not every day but at least once a week. 

Then the fun part. Math. 

Whatever you do every day multiply that times 366 to get an idea of what that will be like in your coming leap year. 

Whatever you do weekly multiply that times 52 to see what 2020 might look like. 

Now we can analyze cost / benefit related to our emotions or feelings related to each habit. 

Let’s say you buy coffee every day and it costs an average of $3.00. That’s $1,098 dollars. About the cost of a flight to Hawaii. If you get a croissant or muffin every time at six bucks every morning… that costs two tickets to paradise. 

This isn’t just about money though, it’s about putting yourself in the middle of your actions, how your body feels, and emotions and seeing how they add up over time. 

Do I rest enough? How much commuting do I do? Why do I get cranky at the same time each day? 

The above is backward looking at data. Suppose you want to make a change in the future.  Plan the work and work the plan. Put the behaviors that you want to try out on a calendar to replace the ones that you want to reduce from your accounting.  Start simply and go slow.