by Stacy Francis, CFP®, CDFA
I spent last night with yet another inspirational book, and figured I should share the concept. In The Passion Test: The Effortless Path to Discovering Your Destiny, Janet and Chris Attwood make living your dream as accessible as, say, credit line increases from American Express. And it works for money too!
It all starts with intention. In the first portion of the book, the authors urge you to identify all the things that are important to you; all the hopes and dreams you have for the future, and all the things you would like to do with your life. Make a list of your overall life goals, or your financial goals!
Once you have all these settled, the next step is to rank them. Take the first thing you wrote down, and compare it to the second one. Which one is more important? Keep at these comparisons until you have found the one thing that matters the most to you. Then, go to work on identifying number two. Once you have found your five greatest passions, scribble them on little cards, and keep these cards everywhere. Ideally, you should look at them several times per day.
After that, it is all about what the authors refer to as intention, attention, and “no tension.” If you start to prioritize – really prioritize — these goals, things will start to happen. One of the authors’ firmest beliefs is that those things you focus on grow stronger in your life.
But as life is ever-changing, they recommend that you reevaluate your goals every six months or so, to take into consideration changes in priorities and circumstances. Another reason I love the idea of revisiting your goals is that you can see how much progress you have made. And what could possibly be more inspiring that that? So are you living your passion?
