I saw an excellent post over at Done by Forty last week, talking about Kanye West’s song on money and habits (“Can’t Tell Me Nothing”), and now – eight days later – I still can’t get it out of my head. Mainly because it’s such a damn catchy song, but also because I feel like it’s exactly the mantra swirling around in my own thoughts right now :)
You’ll have to check out the article in full as he does some deep thinking and digging for meaning (so pretty much the opposite of what I do when reviewing songs ;)), but my main takeaway from it is that we’re always trying to do BETTER. No matter what stage we’re in. With both money, and with life. And, currently, I’m in the “it’s not flowing in like it used to anymore” camp.
As I alluded to earlier in the month though, I’ve now gotten used to this and I’m presently working towards chasing life more than I am money. But it’s still a constant balancing act. Sometimes I kill it, and others it kills me! But we have to keep trucking on and doing the very best we can or else really bad stuff happens ;) Like, going into debt or getting lazy! As that quote goes:
“If you don’t make a change today, how can you expect a different tomorrow?”
Answer: You can’t. OK, well you CAN, but you’ll be waiting a long long time for it to magically show up ;)
All that to say that we’re continually striving to be better. No matter what our current position in life. And the second you reach that next level (and hopefully hit pause to celebrate!), you’ll be on to working towards getting that next stack of money/time/life goals “right” too.
So keep on pushing! And know that everyone around you wants to be better off too – they just don’t always do something about it. You’re different though. You’re here on this blog chasing excellence, so keep going strong :)
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Shout out again to Done By Forty for letting me rip off inspiring this post. Go over and check out what he makes of Kanye!
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I’m not familiar with the song, but I love the quote on this page. It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes, which is “Be the change you’d like to see in the world.”
That’s a good one too – I like that :)
Thanks, I needed this. Had to use a big chunk of the emergency fund, and it felt like going backwards. Hopefully this month works out better.
Hey, that’s what emergency funds are used for! Sucks to dip into them but imagine your finances w/out it!
It’s kinda crazy how quickly we go from finally achieving a goal to looking for the next challenge. I typically devote an evening or a moment to celebration (depending on the achievement) before moving on.
ps. I hope all is well with baby$!
Yup! Baby $ doing great – just keeping us up all hours of the night making life pretty hazy right now, haha… Will be posting about him (and pics) as soon as I gather my whits about me ;)
So true! If we aren’t striving to better ourselves every day, then we are just going through the motions in life. Life is short. Who wants to waste a day, a week, a month or a year just coasting by?
Try new things and experience other cultures. If you fail at something, don’t get bent out of shape over it. Use it to learn something new about yourself and you’ll grow in the process!
Preach on, brotha!
I blogged all this week about chasing life over money, at the end of the day, it’s the best race you can run. It’s the life that makes all of the money mean something. And now, I will officially have this song in my head all day, thanks! Hope you, your wife and your little pennies are all doing well!
All pennies are well! Hope your nickel is good :)
I’m not familiar with the song myself, but absolutely love the sentiment. Striving is definitely important and I agree that hitting pause to celebrate is vital. I find that it helps you see where you’re wanting to go and appreciate the achievement for its role in that.
Hope all is well with Baby J & the fam!
Thanks John – we’re doing well :)
It is important to take moments to savour when we reach our goals because it takes a lot of effort to reach and maintain success; however you define success. Congrats on the addition to your family! Gotta respect Kanye. He may not be warm and fuzzy or even likable but sometimes he delivers the right message through his music.
Agreed :) He’s definitely smart whether people love or hate ’em.
I’m constantly running from goal to goal. It’s exhausting. This is a great reminder for me to just take a moment to celebrate.
Please do!
Someone told me before you jump to write your to do list at night, write down three things you accomplished that day. Progress is important and it should be celebrated.
I liked that idea :) I used to write down just 1 thing I was happy about that day before hitting bed, but then kept forgetting after a cple weeks, hehe… Great habit to get into though.
@Don-I agree completely. Some of my most epic failures have taught me lessons I’d never have learned. The deal is, I think, to take what I learn and build either from it, or on it. As I grow older I find I have a hell of a lot more courage than I ever thought I’d have so bring on the lessons. Not that I seek epic failure, I’ve just accepted that a good deep failure is sometimes just what I need to kick my butt into action.
Hope you, Mama $$, and the 2 itty-bitty money-citos are fine.
I’ll give the itty-bitty money-citos some besos from you :)
“…and hopefully hit pause to celebrate!” Funny how, of your entire post, this resonates most with folks (based on comments-to-date at least). We are so busy looking ahead that we don’t feel we can stop and give ourselves a nice pat on the back for where we are today. And, you hint at that fact when you say “hopefully.” ;) Thanks for the food for thought J.
That is interesting, huh? We’re always so go-go-go in this world, it’s hard to remember to stop here and there and soak it in :)
So true. This is an excellent blog with excellent readers. Continued perseverance to financial freedom is not always an easy thing to come by. Remembering where we are, and how far we have come, is something to be proud of. Thanks Jay!
Nice to meet you, Eric. Going now to check out your blog :)
So true. Everything in life is trial and error. I don’t think I’ve ever had a budget look the same way twice from month to month, because I’m constantly reevaluating, trying to make more, cut back some, etc. I don’t think I’ll ever stop learning, and if I do it’s because I choked on a ham sandwich in bed and croaked. :)
Ack! I hope that doesn’t happen! (and also that it better be one damn tasty ham sandwich, haha….)
I’m not familiar with the song, but I’m a fan of Kanye West. In order to be financially independent we need to strive hard more and more, even if we fail sometimes.