Where I'm Pointed
Apr. 29th, 2009 01:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
errantemberIt's amazing how much of reality is determined by whether and where one is pointed.
Budgeting is a very good case-in-point. Except for < $400/week from unemployment, I haven't had any income since December, and yet I'm not really that worried. Why? Because I have an increasing accurate budget that tells me that I can still survive for nearly a year on my existing money. This makes it possible for me to Take Steps to, instead of going back to the old full-time corporate grind, gain greater control of my time and destiny by becoming a successful independent contractor. And it doesn't just nail down events in a single, linear future, as useful as that is. It becomes a lens through which multiple prospective futures can be quantified, explored, and evaluated.
For instance, if I rent my master suite, it adds three months to that number. All I do to see this is add it into a box and hit [ENTER]. This is much more effective than my previous "waiting for it to happen at random" technique. It also actually *causes* direct changes in reality. I've been hovering at about 10-12 months left for several months now. How is this possible? Watching my spending means that I'm automatically spending less without even really trying to. The lower that number goes, the longer and in more detail I can explore my navel lint. And as many readers have discovered while sucking on my conveniently-located Navel Gazing Pacifier, that lint is pretty fascinating.
Another example is my car situation. Right now, I still have my 23 MPG Honda CR-V. However, the budget reflects a future scenario where I've traded it for a Geo Metro. To the casual (or causal) observer, this inaccuracy might be alarming. However, the fact that it is to me also is precisely the point. *Because* it makes me a little bit nervous that the reality of the spreadsheet is different from the real world, (or for Manifestation Theory fans, I'm living the reality of having already made the switch) I'm motivated to correct the discrepancy. I could fix it by changing the value in the budget, but then I'd just have an accurate budget. By leaving the "error" in place, I have a budget that close *enough* to reality for planning purposes, but I *also* have a little motivational turbine to *create* that reality by selling the CR-V and buying the Metro. The result? A fully accurate budget *and* 50 MPG!
It's like magic.
Other fabulousity stemming from this numerimancy are the numbers for how many hours I'd have to work per week at two different billing rates to stay in the black. And *those* numbers, ladies and gentlemen, are *quite* low. And *all* of that is in my current situation of paying all of my housing expenses myself without any income from rent or shared utilities, so as I get people into the co-op, it will get even *better*.
Still think budgeting isn't worth the time?
Because I don't know my asshole from hole in the ground when it comes to contracting, I'm taking Trish Lambert's Elance course. This 8 week course by a 5-year veteran of Elance, an online service for matching contractors and companies, guarantees that you'll make three times the course cost in the first three months after it's over or she'll continue working with you until you do. Disbelievers in Manifestation Theory should note that I received an unexpected overpayment check from my home insurance company for $11 short of the total course cost *after* I was considering the class, but *before* I found out how much it cost. :)
The course is the perfect springboard for my transition. It helps me learn to become a contractor in a a structured environment where Elance handles a lot of the work for me. It helps me become an Elance ninja, which will not only assist me to branch out into multiple fields, but is a salable skill in and of itself that I can use to help others succeed. It will also help me make the transition from software testing and tech support into web programming, embedded development, and training.
The final goal of all this is to be able to earn money 6-9 months of the year, including retirement, etc., and take the rest of the year off to travel and see my network of friends and lovers throughout the world. Most of the work will be 100% remote, so I'll be able to work from anywhere with bandwidth. And if I do sell out and go back to cube farming for a contract or two, it will because the work is *so* cool and/or so *obscenely* profitable that it's worth the sacrifice.
There's a lot of work ahead of me, but I'm really happy about where all this is going, especially because most of it doesn't happen at my Mom's house when she's immobile, cranky, and completely without underwear.
Budgeting is a very good case-in-point. Except for < $400/week from unemployment, I haven't had any income since December, and yet I'm not really that worried. Why? Because I have an increasing accurate budget that tells me that I can still survive for nearly a year on my existing money. This makes it possible for me to Take Steps to, instead of going back to the old full-time corporate grind, gain greater control of my time and destiny by becoming a successful independent contractor. And it doesn't just nail down events in a single, linear future, as useful as that is. It becomes a lens through which multiple prospective futures can be quantified, explored, and evaluated.
For instance, if I rent my master suite, it adds three months to that number. All I do to see this is add it into a box and hit [ENTER]. This is much more effective than my previous "waiting for it to happen at random" technique. It also actually *causes* direct changes in reality. I've been hovering at about 10-12 months left for several months now. How is this possible? Watching my spending means that I'm automatically spending less without even really trying to. The lower that number goes, the longer and in more detail I can explore my navel lint. And as many readers have discovered while sucking on my conveniently-located Navel Gazing Pacifier, that lint is pretty fascinating.
Another example is my car situation. Right now, I still have my 23 MPG Honda CR-V. However, the budget reflects a future scenario where I've traded it for a Geo Metro. To the casual (or causal) observer, this inaccuracy might be alarming. However, the fact that it is to me also is precisely the point. *Because* it makes me a little bit nervous that the reality of the spreadsheet is different from the real world, (or for Manifestation Theory fans, I'm living the reality of having already made the switch) I'm motivated to correct the discrepancy. I could fix it by changing the value in the budget, but then I'd just have an accurate budget. By leaving the "error" in place, I have a budget that close *enough* to reality for planning purposes, but I *also* have a little motivational turbine to *create* that reality by selling the CR-V and buying the Metro. The result? A fully accurate budget *and* 50 MPG!
It's like magic.
Other fabulousity stemming from this numerimancy are the numbers for how many hours I'd have to work per week at two different billing rates to stay in the black. And *those* numbers, ladies and gentlemen, are *quite* low. And *all* of that is in my current situation of paying all of my housing expenses myself without any income from rent or shared utilities, so as I get people into the co-op, it will get even *better*.
Still think budgeting isn't worth the time?
Because I don't know my asshole from hole in the ground when it comes to contracting, I'm taking Trish Lambert's Elance course. This 8 week course by a 5-year veteran of Elance, an online service for matching contractors and companies, guarantees that you'll make three times the course cost in the first three months after it's over or she'll continue working with you until you do. Disbelievers in Manifestation Theory should note that I received an unexpected overpayment check from my home insurance company for $11 short of the total course cost *after* I was considering the class, but *before* I found out how much it cost. :)
The course is the perfect springboard for my transition. It helps me learn to become a contractor in a a structured environment where Elance handles a lot of the work for me. It helps me become an Elance ninja, which will not only assist me to branch out into multiple fields, but is a salable skill in and of itself that I can use to help others succeed. It will also help me make the transition from software testing and tech support into web programming, embedded development, and training.
The final goal of all this is to be able to earn money 6-9 months of the year, including retirement, etc., and take the rest of the year off to travel and see my network of friends and lovers throughout the world. Most of the work will be 100% remote, so I'll be able to work from anywhere with bandwidth. And if I do sell out and go back to cube farming for a contract or two, it will because the work is *so* cool and/or so *obscenely* profitable that it's worth the sacrifice.
There's a lot of work ahead of me, but I'm really happy about where all this is going, especially because most of it doesn't happen at my Mom's house when she's immobile, cranky, and completely without underwear.
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Date: 2009-04-29 05:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-29 05:42 pm (UTC)