TL;DR:
Big decisions often come with tradeoffs. Your job is to weigh whether the tradeoffs are worth it or not.
Last week, I mentioned I’m reading The Midnight Library. Still reading it in fact. Last week, inspired by that book, I talked in the essay about ways to reframe our regret over lost time. Today, I want to chat about the big decisions we face in life:
Buy the house
Start your own company
Quit your job
Take the new job
How to care for an ailing parent
Have children
And the list goes on and on. Right now, the one top of mind for me is buying a house. My best friend Gayle moved to Indianapolis to take a new job earlier this year. We’ve long talked about moving back in together in retirement since neither of us got married. We decided as we looked at houses for her that the best choice was a house for us. So, we’re going to move into a new home in late July/early August.
The house is great. And, as with all homes that are new to you, there are things we want to change. Chief amongst those in this house is about 2000 square feet of flooring on the main level. Clearly, the easiest time to do that flooring is right now when the house is completely empty. But, the added cost and wait time to move - and feeling a bit rushed into making a decision on the flooring choice - has us both feeling tense and anxious.
The most interesting thing about this choice is we have a flooring we love. It’s the flooring in my current house. We know what it looks like. We know how it wears. My contractor even knows how to work with it. And, while there are slightly lower cost options available, it will likely be the one we go with because this is a decision we’re going to live with for 10+ years (probably closer to 20+ years).
As a financial coach, I’ve written before about good vs. bad debt. We’re lucky in that we don’t have to go into debt to make this decision. However, even if we did, this is a place where we’re in a position to make a good debt decision and do the right thing. And, the return on investment here is huge. A home we love and feel comfortable in that we can then layer all of our things into and love even more.
Some Things You Might Find Interesting
What I published this week: My publishing streak came to an end this week. Between house stuff and work stuff it was just a little two much for me this week. Here is what I did publish this week:
In the Creative Work Hour (CWH) community that you’ll find me hanging out in any day that I can (at 10 a.m. eastern), Meg Niman has shared the concept of a “LinkedIn Power Hour”. She sets aside one hour to work deliberately in LinkedIn. I love these kinds of ideas for using social media to our own advantage rather than letting it drive our actions and intentions.
Also in the CWH Community, Gretchen Shepherd shared this quote this week and it has been in the center of my focus all week: “The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” – Michael Altshuler
It’s almost time for the Quarterly Review - and with it my brand new community and course site will launch officially! Get in on the fun of the launch by purchasing the Quarterly Review now for 50% off either the all access pass (get all of the remaining activities throughout the year) or just the workshop. Click the link to automatically apply the coupon or use SUMMER2023 at checkout. Being a member before the launch will guarantee you get access to all the new full benefits for at least a year to come as one of my early subscribers and supporters!
As Gayle and I get into full prep mode for our coming Northern European vacation, I’ll be sharing more of my favorite travel tips and hacks. Here are two more:
We’re going to be using the CityMaps app as well as Google maps (downloaded for offline use) as a part of our preparation for each city. CityMaps has a limit of two cities for its free version so we’ll each download two to our phones to keep things free. Since we plan to explore each city together, this works well for us.
We are both lovers of an audio guide. You can download audio guides of many cities around the world for very low cost (free to about $10). We also found one yesterday for the Nobel Prize Museum that we can download now so as not to have to do that once we arrive. So, check your destinations before you go to see if they have audio guides or maps or tours available that you need to plan for.
We started watching The Recruit on Netflix this weekend. It’s both funny and adventurous.
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