If someone asked you what your currency is, chances are you might say the currency of your country which in my case is euro.
What if the question was – what are your currencies for life?
My answer to this would be MONEY, HEALTH, TIME & ENERGY
I haven’t earned money since I left work in October 2021 and while I know I need money to function in the world, not focusing on money as the only currency of my life has opened up a whole new world.
This whole new world allows me to focus on the other currencies of my life which are HEALTH, TIME & ENERGY.
We all need money but money has limitations.
Money can only buy material things. No matter how much money we have, money cannot buy the important things in life.
We spend a huge amount of our lives working which is trading our precious time for money.
This is something we all need to do but how much of our HEALTH, TIME & ENERGY do we want to trade for this money?
For 25 years I worked for various companies trading my time for money. Sometimes I traded way more HEALTH, TIME & ENERGY than I was being paid for.
I am grateful for what these jobs afforded me, what I learned, the skills I built and the friendships I made. However giving so much of my time and trading my time for money no longer suits me and the thoughts of spending 50+ hours working for someone else makes me incredibly anxious and on edge.
I am passionate about many things but I don’t want work to take up such a large portion of my life and time anymore.
The other areas of my life are so important that I want to dedicate sufficient time to them – Sense of Self, Health, Relationships, Finance, Experiences/Fun, Environment & Contribution – see my Wheel of Life below.
I also want to dedicate more time to the other 3 currencies of my life – HEALTH, TIME & ENERGY.
Going forward I will focus on how much of my HEALTH, TIME & ENERGY I am willing to trade for MONEY.
When evaluating my work I will be asking the following questions,
- How much HEALTH will this cost me?
- How much TIME will this cost me?
- How much ENERGY will this cost me?
As important as money may be, it’s worth noting that no matter how much money we have, money cannot buy the other currencies of HEALTH, TIME & ENERGY.
- MONEY CANNOT BUY HEALTH
Money can allow us the freedom to learn more about health, to learn how to optimise our health and give us time to improve our health but it cannot buy any element of our health for us.
Money can buy better healthcare but not better HEALTH.
HEALTH IS NOT FOR SALE!
- MONEY CANNOT BUY TIME
Money can allow us to have more time freedom (which is very important) but we cannot buy more time in our day and certainly not any more time in our lifetime.
When time is spent, it’s gone – no amount of money can buy it back.
TIME IS NOT FOR SALE
- MONEY CANNOT BUY ENERGY
Money cannot optimise or give us more energy.
We don’t have infinite energy in our day, our energy levels will fluctuate depending on how we live our lives.
We may get a temporary buzz of energy from buying material things and consuming high energy stuff but this is short-lived energy spikes.
ENERGY IS NOT FOR SALE.
How important is the CURRENCY OF MONEY to you?
How much HEALTH, TIME & ENERGY do you trade for this money?
Are you happy with the balance?
If you are looking for some excellent books on finance I highly recommend the following,
How To Be Good With Money by Eoin McGee
This is a super book that would financially benefit everyone if it was taught in school. Eoin is all about getting the financial basics right then building on them to work towards and achieve financial freedom. Eoin explains all elements of personal finance in an easy to understand, no jargon way which makes this book such an enjoyable read.
Eoin is a super guy to follow on Instagram and he does a Q&A every week which is really helpful. Eoin also runs his own financial consultancy Prosperous, where you can take advantage of those who know best in the financial world to improve your finances.
Money – Master the Game by Tony Robbins
This book goes into finance in great depth. Finance is not my favourite subject and so I skipped a few chapters as I didn’t enjoy or understand them. Listening to this on audible made this easy to do. As well as chapters I didn’t understand there were chapters that I loved and listened to over and over again.
Chapter 8 is one of the chapters I loved. It is all about financial freedom and it is worth buying this book for this chapter alone. Tony walks through the simple steps of financial freedom and explains really well how it’s not as difficult to achieve as you may think.
This is an excellent book for those who want to dive a bit deeper into finance and financial freedom.
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
Think and Grow Rich is a literary masterpiece first published in 1937. It’s as much a book about success and manifestation as it is about money. Napoleon Hill’s storytelling is unique and captivating and his 13 step formula for success is easy to understand – implementation takes a bit more work!
This is the type of book that you can read over and over again as you go deeper and deeper into the wisdom shared by Napoleon Hill.
A must read for anyone serious about financial freedom!
I truly believe that having a growth mindset is the first step to reaching financial goals.
While this book isn’t solely about finance it does go a long way to explaining the necessity of a growth mindset in terms of financial success. This book teaches the difference and the inevitable consequences of having a growth mindset or a fixed mindset in all elements of life including business, parenting, school and relationships.
An absolute brilliant book that I highly recommend no matter what your interests are.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Rober T. Kiyosaki
I found many similarities between this book and Mindset in terms of the importance of a growth and abundance mindset when it comes to finance.
This is a very easy read as the lessons it teaches are told through a brilliant story. The financial teachings are easy to understand and jargon free which is how I like to learn about finance.
A super read no matter what your level of personal financial knowledge is.
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Thanks for reading,
Siobhain
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