Maybe It's Time To Rethink Your Options

Reflexive options (the ones we come up with by reflex) are different from deliberated options and inspired options.

Inspired options are often the best options.

Rethink your options when it comes to career choices and moves

Don’t make the mistake of reflexively thinking you need ‘more money’ or a ‘promotion’. Many more factors are involved in a satisfying career move – a good commute, flexible working hours, a sane work schedule, a supportive manager, autonomy, exciting work, an opportunity to make a contribution, an opportunity to grow, an environment in which you feel valued – all these are worth more than 'more money' or a 'promotion'.

Also, if you’ve been doing one thing for a long time, and you are not getting results from trying to continue in that line of work, you should think about doing something new.

Don’t get stuck in the mindset of “I have done it for aeons - it is the only thing I can do”.

Don’t get stuck in “unproductive”.

The default option is clearly not working for you.

An open mind is the best asset.

If you are frustrated and stuck career wise, use it to become unstuck and unfrustrated.

Rethink your options when it comes to managing your money

Do you think you have to quickly accumulate money, or get left behind? Wipe the notion from your mind.

As Jason Kelly says in his book ‘Financially Stupid People are Everywhere’, you can make the most money by paying off your high interest credit cards and your high-interest debt. 

Depending on what interest you are paying, you can make 15% - 30%. 

Compare that with the average stock market return of 7% per year. 

The choice is clear.  

Why be financially stupid and chase stock market and other 'lower investing returns’ when, as Kelly says, you can put so much more in your pocket, just by avoiding or paying off high interest debt.

He recommends saving to pay for things rather than resorting to the default option of debt.

Getting into the habit of saving (he recommends 20% of your take home pay) will help you steer clear of making ‘high-priced purchases with high-priced debt' that takes years and forever to pay off.

Regards investing, rethink your need to “make a fast buck”. 

The sooner you realize trying to “make a fast buck,” comes with taking on unnecessary and stupid risk;  the sooner you understand not losing money is more important than making money (to quote Warren Buffett), the sooner you will adopt a sane investing philosophy with sane time horizons for the money you do invest.

Rethink your options when it comes to your health

Don’t make the mistake of passively accepting your current health state, and thinking your only option is to see your doctor regularly, and take all the medicines you are prescribed.

Find out what diet and lifestyle modifications you can adopt to improve your health.

Find out how people with the very same condition as you, have dramatically halted or reversed their condition.

Click on my post The Element of Focus.  In it, you will read some of the things I am doing (and you can do if you are in the same boat) to reverse a very common problem among those of Asian Indian and Chinese descent, Middle Easterns, and increasingly, a larger and larger population of Americans.

Rethink your options about dealing with other people

Threats, ultimatums, whining and complaining, lecturing, telling people what you think of them, writing people off, being indifferent, being combative, or taking revenge, are reflexive options, and they all have one thing in common – they are unproductive.

None of them will help you succeed in your relationships, or getting people to do what you want them to do.

Become more reflective and observant in situations that upset you and don’t go your way.

Awareness and quiet reflection are the best tools to deal with interpersonal relations.

If all else fails, become spiritual.

No man or woman is an island. As soon as you become spiritual, you will feel a strong connection with people, and your "me vs them" or "us vs them" feelings will go away.

As always, thanks for sharing my Journey to Wisdom, Meaning and a Better Life,  and have a great day and week….M ……a Pearl Seeker like you.  Thanks to Ajay for his compliments on my last post and thanks to the rest of you for your likes, pins, shares, tweets and votes…..much appreciated.

Before I end this post, Happy Birthday to all those with March b’days.  Hope you birth something new and wonderful in your life before your birthday month runs out.

Prior posts related to helping you choose wisely and well…

Yoga for Investors – my personal investing philosophy, one that lets me sleep at night.

How Many Times a Day Do You Visit Ireland? – in which I tell you about what did more for my relationships than anything else. 

The Element of Becoming More Focused in Your Goals and Its Hope for Experiencing Powerful Results – where I let you in on how to approach a challenging medical condition.

The Making of a Menthalete – inspiration to help you become mentally stronger.

Connected Minds - in which you will learn about the many benefits of introducing a spiritual practice into your routine.