Welcome to Day 27 of the 60-day financial fitness challenge!
Today’s task: Believe that others around you are doing the best that they can, and strive to forgive (and follow up on any homework assigned from your financial coach)
Feeling very inspired by the audiobook I listened to from start to finish yesterday while driving. It was cool because it was an audio recording in front of a live audience instead of a traditional recording of the written word. So effective. (See bottom resources for the title of the book!)
Anyways, Brené Brown talks about spirituality as a through line characteristic among people who are the most resilient. And she defines spirituality as feeling a sense of connectedness that’s rooted in belonging and love. I practically jumped for joy when I heard this because I felt like what I was about to get into was an entire book that provides empirical evidence for the work that I do with Mezclada. It’s not just this notion that I have felt to be true – that we need to have a belief in something bigger than ourselves to navigate hard times – there’s actually studies that show this to be a thing!
There were two themes in particular I wanted to highlight and share from the book, even though there are probably several more points that I would like to share.
- Trust that others around you are doing the best that they can
- Allowing yourself to forgive and grieve are important practices of resilience
The first point was interesting to me because as Brené interviewed subjects for her research, what she found was that when she asked others if they believed that people are just doing the best that they can, there were two types of responses: A) The people who were quick to respond and said that they believed people were definitely not doing the best that they can with their given resources, and B) Those who were slower to respond and were almost apologetic or teary eyed as they said ‘yes, people probably are just doing the best that they can with what they have’.
What’s interesting is that she found the people who had greater issues with perfectionism and control were those that believed people were not doing the best that they could. I can’t remember what the other side of the coin was on what it told about that person. Perhaps a greater ability to go with the flow? Or a greater sense of empathy?
Either way, it would be a good exercise to journal a bit on this. How would this change your view of those you experience most conflicts with if you knew they were just doing the best that they could? Would your daily interactions with them change?
This leads to our second point about the importance of forgiveness and allowing yourself to feel grief. Forgiveness is a theme that comes up in meditations, including Mindvalley’s 6-phase meditation. A big part of this comes from how our emotions manifest themselves in our bodies. Resentment can create all kinds of issues. When we hold grudges against others for their behavior, we block energy from flowing in the way that it should. I know this from first-hand experience and working to heal my relationships with my family members.
The other piece is grief. In American culture, we don’t do such a great job of allowing people the time they really need to grieve. When someone dies, folks take a few days off of work, and then they’re back into the daily grind of life. But there’s so much more to it. And there’s not really an ending point to grief. Brown talks about how forgiveness is associated with death. Sometimes death isn’t so much something that was alive that is no longer breathing, but more of an idea, or even someone’s concept of their own identity. I know that after my first growing season, when things didn’t go so well, I felt like I was losing part of myself, and my own identity, and I grieved quite a bit, realizing that in order to make this whole farming thing work, I’d need to ask for help and not go alone.
Lastly, it’s worth sharing that Brené Brown didn’t start out her work studying vulnerability and shame. Her focus when she started her research was in studying leadership. And then she found something very different beneath the surface of leaders.
I feel the same way about the work I do in land access for farmers. While most people might think it’s a matter of actually having the money, I believe it’s way more about personal perseverance and resilience in the face of adversity, the ability to believe in oneself, and achieve their goals. But no one wants to talk about that. They’re quick to point to the programs and the loan officers not doing their job and the challenge of finding land that’s available (and to some degree, all of those things are true), but I want to know how many land seekers are willing to take full responsibility for their future?
Let’s move on to the more concrete actions I took today related to my finances. As I mentioned in a previous post, I met with a financial coach to get things a bit more organized and create some more accountability for myself. Well, now is the follow-through. I’m starting with task one on my list and will see how far I get: Spend intentional time rewriting your goals for where you are right now and where you want to be. Make them specific.
One thing I will say is that after doing some writing/reflecting about my intentions for 2023, the theme word I came up with for myself is ‘creativity’. So I’m going to be thinking a bit about this as I go through this process.
Short-term goals:
- Complete this 60-day challenge (end of Feb. 2023)
- Complete my certification for DBE (end of Jan 2023)
- Complete my enrollment in sam.gov to be eligible for federal grants (end of Jan 2023)
- Secure speakers for Aligned Farm Design March launch by Feb. 2023
- Complete impact assessment for B Corps (end of March 2023)
Long-term goals:
- Build subscriber list to 300 (within 6 months)
- Secure sponsors for podcast (with 12 months)
- Generate 3K/mo. In passive income by October 2023
- Move to Costa Rica (within 12 months)
- Generate 10K/mo. In take-home pay (within 12 months)
After the decisions I made earlier this week, my intuition says that everything I need to focus on my energies on now is anything that will help me create geographic and financial freedom.
I also notice that there’s a bit of a disconnect between the short-term and long-term goals. So here’s take 2:
Long-term goals:
- Generate 3K/mo. In passive income by October 2023
- Build audience to 2000 subscribers by December 2023
- Secure sponsors for podcast to help pay for production costs (time, editing, etc.) by December 2023
- Generate 10K/mo. In take-home pay by December 2023
If I had to narrow down this list, I would say that my biggest focus needs to be in generating passive income.
Long term:
- Generate 3K/mo. In passive income by October 2023
Let’s build out some short-term goals for this puppy:
Short-term:
- Publish 10 new digital assets/mo. Through an online platform (whether my own or someone else’s)
- Upload 50 images/mo. To Adobe Stock
- Publish 1-3 articles a month to another platform as a guest writer/contributor
- Sell 10 slots of 1:1 or group coaching by March 2023
Here’s the cool part – I want to ensure that all of this work gets me closer to where I want to be long-term – in the dirt, in Costa Rica, working with incredibly talented individuals that inspire me everyday. So I’m going to play a bit here and lean into what I’ve learned about manifestation – tap into the FEELING what you want.
Where am I?
- In a tropical paradise
- Waking up to the sound of birds
- Close to moving water/the ocean
Who am I working for/with?
- Farmers
- People connected to the land
- People that have a budget to pay me well/what I’m worth
- Down-to-earth co-workers that are exceptional at what they do and push me to improve my standards
- People that understand the importance of intuition and spirit
What kinds of foods am I filling my body with every day?
- Fresh fruits and veggies
- Lots of rice and beans
- Fish and chicken
- Aguas naturales
What does my work schedule look like?
- I get to be out with people for the majority of the time, not in an office setting
- I’m moving around, getting to work with plants
- Each day is different.
- I get to travel to different locations/countries for work, all expenses paid
How do I want achieving these short-term goals to make me feel?
- Vibrant
- Alive
- Inspired
- Creative
- Meaningful/purposeful
- Free/Open
- Light
- Giggly – life is better with laughter!
That’s all for now!
Today’s resources to keep you inspired:
- Rising Strong as a Spiritual Practice – Brené Brown
