Hope for your financial life and beyond

A Trick to Stay Motivated

September 27, 2013 by 18 Comments

Hidden Nugget Series #11 – “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”  Galatians 6:9

stay motivatedTwo weeks from today several significant milestones will take place in the Luke1428 household. On Friday, Oct. 11th, I’ll be flying to Maryland to compete in the Baltimore Marathon over the weekend. That event will bring to an end my arduous 5-month training schedule that has seen its share of nagging injuries, post-run ice packs and more diet restrictions than I care to think about. (Can I please just have a soda?!)

That same day Mrs. Luke1428 will turn in her final grad school assignment in what has been a three-year vocational transition from teaching high school math to becoming a full-fledged CPA at a private accounting firm. We’ve already celebrated the completion of her CPA requirements and this last class wraps up her quest to secure an MBA as well. I’ve written extensively in my monthly updates how mentally and emotionally challenging this has been for the entire family. I really can’t believe we’ve made it to the end of our long, dark tunnel.

Anything of value worth seeking brings some kind of hardship. Invariably the intense pursuit makes it incredibly difficult to keep moving forward day in and day out. The end looms so far in the distance. Weariness sets in. Discouragement soon follows. And then the questions begin.

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Filed Under: Goals, Hidden Nuggets Series, Inspiration, Running Tagged With: , , , , ,

Be Fearless

September 18, 2013 by 25 Comments

“The Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do to me?” Psalm 118:6

I’m honored today to be a guest contributor at a new blog dedicated to the courage it requires to face personal financial struggles. Todd and John from FearlessMen.com have branched out with a new site called FearlessDollar. I’m there today with several other bloggers providing some insights and helping them jump start their new project.

When we choose to get radical with our personal finances fear becomes our greatest challenger. It binds us up and locks us down. We become completely immobilized as the multitude of fears line up at our front door.

dark tunnel

Are you ready to confront your fears?

Fear of the unknown.

Fear of change.

Fear of a new money management process.

Fear of ridicule from others who think we are crazy.

Fear of the future.

Fear our past will repeat itself.

Fear of our ability to complete the mission.

Because fear represents the greatest challenge, it needs to become our greatest opportunity. Confronting and overcoming our fears moves us emotionally and spiritually forward in ways we could not possibly dream about.

Please click here to head on over the FearlessDollar.com to give Todd and John a shout out on their new venture.

And be fearless today. It’s time to confront what’s in the dark tunnel.

What was the greatest fear you faced upon decided to tackle your personal finance issues?

Image at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Next Post: The Boy vs. the Blog: Exercises in Giving

Prior Post: How to Get Out of Debt

Filed Under: Vices Tagged With: , ,

Shock Treatment to Break Your Financial Procrastination

September 11, 2013 by 19 Comments

Shock coilsCollege breeds procrastinators.

At no time of my life did I put more things off until the last minute than my first few months in college. Every hour something new would entice me to put the books aside and enjoy the other, more exciting things college had to offer.

The pickup hoops game at the gym.

The late night pizza runs.

The cute girl one dorm over.

Time and time again this would happen, especially early on in my college life. As a result of my attention to anything unrelated to studies, I would often find myself starting papers at 11:00 pm that were due the next afternoon. Talk about putting your back up against a wall. It was an all night scramble of writing, filled with Mountain Dew and Ho-Hos.

“Fairly quickly” is the answer to the question “How long did it take you to develop a more disciplined attitude?” Had to…my freshman GPA (and ultimately my graduation) was depending on it. I realized there was no way I could maintain those negative patterns of time management and succeed at that level of education.

Procrastination creeps into all areas of our life. We put off dealing with relationship issues, work assignments, our spiritual health and even kid problems. Perhaps in no area does it rear its ugly head more so than in the world of personal finance. What is it about money that keeps us from confronting our difficulty with managing it?

Are you a personal finance procrastinator? Ever said any of these things:

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Filed Under: Investing, Vices Tagged With: , , ,

My Fantasy Football Obsession: Finding Life Balance

September 6, 2013 by 8 Comments

fantasy football obsession

Hidden Nuggets Series #8

The NFL season kicked off last night with the Denver Broncos playing host to the Baltimore Ravens. The long, tedious summer of Major League Baseball is coming to a close and there is no better remedy than good old-fashioned football. Let’s be honest, MLB doesn’t hold a candle to the NFL (or college football for that matter) in popularity.

It also doesn’t compare in fantasyland.

I started playing fantasy football in 2006 in an 8-team league with some of my friends. I won our leagues’ inaugural championship going 12-2. Since then, I’ve lost in the championship game two other times and have only incurred one losing season. My overall record stands at a healthy 60-36.

If you have never played there is something you need to understand…fantasy football COMPLETELY changes how you watch an NFL game. If you are not careful you may develop a fantasy football obsession.

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Filed Under: Hidden Nuggets Series, Random Fun Tagged With: , ,

How to Choose a Career: 6 Tips For Making the Right Choice

September 4, 2013 by 37 Comments

how to choose a career“So what’s going to be your major when you go to college?” The question annoyed and frustrated me as an 18-yr. old high school senior. I had no idea how to choose a career at that age. Nothing had ever seemed to jump out at me.

So, when asked, I’d sheepishly throw out a few ideas.  Then say I was just going to take the required core classes my freshman year of college to get those out of the way. Everyone seemed to think that was a good idea.

College did indeed open up a new world of vocational options for me – careers that I had never considered before. My first two quarters were spent getting adjusted to school and meeting new friends. Still nothing overly intrigued me. Business management? Optometry? Finance? Ministry? What direction should I go?

Then, to satisfy a general ed requirement, I took Intro to Psychology in the spring quarter.

I was hooked.

Learning about the intricacies of the human mind fascinated me – how it functions and how we interact with other people. “Plus, I’m a good listener,” I thought. “That should come in handy in that field, right?” So by fall quarter of my sophomore year I was a full-fledged Psych major with a dual emphasis in counseling and child and family studies.

Just to be clear in case you missed that – I made that decision based on one class and the fact that I was a good listener.

But was it the right decision?

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Filed Under: Career, College, Work Tagged With: , ,

Labor Day Edition – Celebrate Yourself (Plus An August Goals Update)

September 2, 2013 by 16 Comments

Labor DayI’ve never quite understood Labor Day as a child. All I really cared about was that we received a day off from school. But what were we supposed to do on that day – more labor? Why do we need a day specifically telling us to work? What are we doing the other 364 days of the year? Resting?

The U.S. Department of Labor states that Labor Day “is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers.” The first Labor Days were marked by parades, speeches by prominent leaders and community festivals to entertain workers and their families. Many of those activities have disappeared as the holiday has evolved over the years.

In fact, I can’t remember ever having been to a large scale Labor Day activity. Maybe a small family event at some point. Most of my Labor Days have been spent doing work around the house (which I will be doing today – final summer trim on the bushes and a pressure washing of the front porch).

So as you enjoy the holiday, don’t forget to pay tribute “to the creator of so much of the nation’s strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.”

In other words – celebrate yourself today.

Quote source: U.S. Dept. of Labor

August Goals Update:

 

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Filed Under: Goals, Work Tagged With: , , ,

Burn the Obstacles: Getting Rid of the Junk That Holds You Back

August 18, 2013 by 9 Comments

Hidden Nuggets Series #6  – “Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.” – Acts 19:18-20

What’s standing in the way of you and an awesome life?

fireA few pounds?

A damaging relationship?

A pessimistic attitude?

An addiction?

A spiritual connection?

Sometimes it’s tough to see what’s holding us back. In general, we don’t have a great track record of diagnosing our own personal issues. Others are much more skilled at pointing out areas of our life that could use some improvement.

Even when we are able to pinpoint the issue, it’s not always easy to alter our course. We offer excuses, rationalize actions and justify our way out of change. We’d rather keep hurting our chances at an excellent life than face the harsh realities of what are our faults.

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Filed Under: Hidden Nuggets Series, Vices Tagged With: , ,

10 Reasons People Don’t Tweet Your Post

August 15, 2013 by 42 Comments

(Disclaimer: This is the longest post I’ve ever written at Luke1428 – over 2700 words including this disclaimer. It’s been in my mind for awhile and a recent article at my blog prompted its posting. Let me dispel any notion at the start that I am upset at someone for not tweeting my posts. I love the community that is growing here and the readers I’ve encountered. You have added so much to this site that I am grateful  for the interactions and any Twitter love I receive from you. This post was born out of my first year blogging experience and is mostly designed to help up and coming bloggers understand the psychology of Twitter users and to not become frustrated when it seems no one notices or shares their work. With that said, I hope you enjoy this article and if you don’t have time to read my epic now, bookmark it for later consumption. Thanks!)

twitter-bird-white-on-blueWhen I first started blogging over a year ago, the question that serves as this post’s title gnawed at my brain every time I would put a new article on my site. Compared to where Luke1428 is now, I was getting pretty much no traffic in those early days. As I heard my blogger friend Shannon from The Heavy Purse say once on her site, “Only the crickets were reading.” Now that’s funny! But a few months in, I could see from the site statistics that people were viewing my posts. And more specifically people I knew that had Twitter accounts were leaving remarks in the post comment section.

So why wasn’t I getting any Twitter love? I mean, the Twitter share tab is right there at the end of the post. If you cared enough to read (and especially if you left a comment) why not tweet it out to all your followers? Seems like the courteous thing to do, right? Needless to say, I was very confused as a newbie blogger.

Last Tuesday, I wrote a post entitled “Freedom: It’s Why Budgets Rock!” that generated a lot of buzz on my site and at the various social networks. I responded to 15 comments, received 7 Shares and 9 Likes on Facebook and had an astounding 29 Tweets (only three of which were generated by me). So 26 other people felt that article deserved to be shared on Twitter, making it the most tweeted post I’ve ever had.

(I know those statistics are chicken feed for some of you but I was pumped!)

(Shameless plug update: Since I wrote this, another post “Is the Effort to Get Rich Worth It?” has received 37 tweets. Go figure.)

What made these posts stand out more than others? Believe me, I’m still trying to digest that because whatever it was, I need to do more of that. I have my theories and will share some ideas about tweeting shortly.

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Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: ,

Is the Effort to Get Rich Worth It? (Proverbs 23:4-5)

August 11, 2013 by 33 Comments

Hidden Nuggets Series #5 – “Do not overwork to be rich; Because of your own understanding, cease! Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away like an eagle toward heaven.”   Proverbs 23:4-5

What’s the most hours you have ever worked in a week?

hard work to get richOne college summer, I regularly put in 80-hour workweeks shuttling between two jobs. I arrived at the construction site each morning at 7:00 and clawed my way through a grueling 9-hr. day until 4 pm.

In the next hour, I would grab a quick bite to eat, while driving to my night job as a lifeguard. From hammer to whistle, the norm that summer was 13-hr. weekdays. And, to top it off, I added more lifeguard time on the weekends.

The Effort to Get Rich

Was the effort that summer worth it? In retrospect, probably. I learned a lot about work ethic, time management and discipline. Plus, I needed the money for my car payment, work and school clothes and textbooks for my courses in the fall. And it was for only three months.

But there was a great personal cost for all my efforts:

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Filed Under: Hidden Nuggets Series, Work Tagged With: , ,

Adjusting to Change

August 8, 2013 by 19 Comments

“Air ball…Air ball…Air ball!” I hadn’t heard that in a long time. I would have to do some adjusting to change the way I was playing.

adjusting to changeThe mocking chant rang from the guys lips on the sidelines who were waiting to get their turn in the pickup game. I turned and acknowledged the humorous jeering, nervously chuckling over what had just happened. “Did I just shoot an air ball?” Perplexed, I strolled back down the court to pick up my man on defense.

Granted, it had been awhile since I had laced up the sneakers and touched a basketball. Two years to be exact, since the last time I led a practice as varsity boy’s coach. My commitment to take up the reins at home for Mrs. Luke1428 as she pursued a new career had put an abrupt halt to my 10-year coaching run.

Several possessions later I found the ball in my hands again, wide open just beyond the three point arc. I launched the shot again, as any great shooter would do. Short again. What’s going on here? I felt like I couldn’t even get the ball to the basket.

I knew my shooting motion was sound. You don’t forget a motion that has been hardwired into your synapses since middle school and led you to average 30 points a game your senior year at a small town private high school. Thousands of shots through the years produced a perfect motion. Knees bent…elbow tucked…release…follow through. Yet something was missing. My mind continued to process.

It took me another half-dozen misses to understand the sad reality of my struggles. When the thought occurred to me, everything made perfect sense.  Resigned to my plight, I signaled for a sub to come in the game for me and walked off the court towards the bleachers muttering to myself,

“I can’t jump anymore.”

Adjusting to Change Diagnosis

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Filed Under: Lifestyle, Random Fun Tagged With: ,

Bang On the Drum All Day: Find Your Passion

August 1, 2013 by 10 Comments

I’m not a drummer but this song makes me want to be:

Todd Rundgren wrote “Bang the Drum All Day” in 1983 and since then it has become the quintessential anti-work anthem played every Friday night as the factory whistle blows. Or Wednesday night. Or when the Green Bay Packers score a touchdown. Or whenever you feel like not going to work. Just cue this song in your iTunes library and dream how it would feel to have the reality of the lyrics become true in your own life.

I can see how this song gets a bad rap in some circles (especially the boss circles – note verse three). It seems to raise negative perceptions about a task (work) that is fundamental to our ability to make a profit and survive. I believe God endowed humans with a work ethic. It’s embedded deep in our nature to labor and exert ourselves to cultivate a reward. Why should we hate doing something that creates value in our lives and provides so many benefits – both personal and financial – as going to work? Isn’t work beneficial?

Absolutely it is. No doubt.

So is the pursuit of a passion.

The Power of Passion

I find these lyrics from the song teach me some pretty cool things about passion, about finding something you really enjoy doing:

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Filed Under: Inspiration, Work Tagged With: , ,