What now?

OK, you've begun cutting the static out of your work environment, and you're finding it easier to become more effective and time efficient at work. Now you're probably asking yourself, what do I do next?

Well, if you're chained to your desk from 9 to 5 due to personnel policies but you have an agreeable boss or supervisor, you might consider ways to bend those rules, such as:

1. First, document the time wasters and inefficiencies of being in your office at work (i.e. people dropping by, phone calls, e-mail, etc.)



2. Try using family issues to telecommute from home instead of taking vacation or sick days.



3. Once you've had the opportunity to telecommute, make yourself even more productive and efficient through your home based office and don't forget to document this efficiency!



4. Show proof to your direct supervisor and see if he's willing to bend the rules even a little bit more. See if you can get away with one day of telecommuting a week, etc. on a trial basis. Again, increase your effectiveness even more and document.



5. From this point forward, continuing testing the boundaries, trial runs, greater effectiveness, and document the results. See if this can lead you to a more flexible work environment.

All of this is only going to work if you fly a desk and have a true information-style job with no "real time" need to physically be present in your work office space. All of us probably have to be present at key times in our jobs. Focus on being present at those important times and become even more productive when your out of the office. The truth will then speak for itself.

Cut the static

In my previous post, I mentioned that we need to "cut the static" in order to be more effective in our businesses and jobs, but what exactly is "static."

Static in your workplace can be anything that distracts you from being able to focus specifically on the task at hand. Common distractions and time wasters include:

1. e-mail
2. phone calls
3. co-workers
4. long lunch breaks/errand running
5. internet surfing

All of these things are good to some degree, if they are done on purpose to increase your effectiveness. Unfortunately, though, we end up using these things as a "fidget" or distraction to fill up our 9-5 workday.

If we cut these distractions and focus on 2-3 daily tasks that will increase our effectiveness, we will begin to notice 2 things:

1. We become better, more effective employees or business owners.
2. We don't really need to be in the office from 9-5 in order to be effective. This is an outdated work model in today's world.

Smart vs. Hard

In the old economy, hard working individuals were valued for their work ethic and rewarded.

In the new economy (knowledge/information age), hard work may or may not be rewarded, but effectiveness will every time.

It's time to start working smarter by working more effectively. It's time to live life and at the same time be effective in our workplaces and business. Cut the static, and concentrate on what makes you more productive and effective.

Definitions: New Rich

I think Tim Ferriss has the best definition of the New Rich (NR) in his book 4HWW, so here's how Tim defines it:

"The New Rich (NR) are those who abandon the deferred-life plan and create luxury lifestyles in the present using the currency of the New Rich: time and mobility. This is an art and a science we will refer to as Lifestyle Design (LD)."

The desired outcome of the New Rich is the freedom that the millionaire lifestyle allows without having to have the million dollars in the bank, first. There are methods to leverage time and money in order to accomplish this freedom now instead of waiting until your in your 60s.

4HWW - Tim Ferriss book promotion

Check out this YouTube video with Tim Ferriss promoting his book, The 4-Hour Workweek.

The New Currency

According to author Tim Ferriss of The 4-Hour Workweek, the currency of the New Rich (NR) is time and mobility.

If you stop and think about it, the old saying is true, "Time is Money." With the technological advances of today - computers and the Internet, all of us can probably figure out a way to leverage our time and money simultaneously. If we can set-up cash-flow business systems that make us money while we sleep, travel, nurture our children, and play, we now have the best of both worlds. Our time and money work for us, not against us.

Mobility is the American Dream. The opportunity to travel, move from one location to another, visit family, and follow our dreams, while still generating cash flow, presents endless opportunities to many of us.

We live in an incredible time in history, and these areas of time, mobility, and money will only improve as time moves forward.

Definitions: Old Rich

When I use the term "old rich" (OR), I'm not necessarily talking about the Carnegie or Vanderbuilt families from the early 20th century. The "old rich" term as I'm using it is more about mindset and lifestyle, rather than inherited family money. The OR have sound financial principles that they have followed religiously for years that have gotten them to the position of millionaires.

The mindset and lifestyle that have made people wealthy in the past includes the following , but not limited to these characteristics:

1. They avoid debt; no debt
2. They live on less than they make
3. They are generous givers; tithers
4. They pay themselves first and save
5. They live on a monthly budget/plan
6. They are goal setters - short and long term
7. They are hard workers, and put in many hours as CEO's, business owners, or professionals (i.e. doctors, attorneys, etc.)
8. When making large purchases, they always ask "how much," not "how much a month."
9. They make cash purchases, looking for bargains
10. They drive used, quality, paid-for vehicles
11. They typically purchase homes in older, well established neighborhoods

There are many other characteristics I could list, but these gives you a general idea.

Sources: Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Revisited, Thomas J. Stanley's The Millionaire Next Door, and David Bach's Automatic Millionaire.

Preface - What I'm bringing to the financial conversation? (part 2)

I continue in this post with additional background information on myself.

Around the same time that I was trying to get a business going with a personal debt load of $25,000 (not including a mortgage), I met a man named Dave Ramsey that forever changed my thinking on debt. My family and I got gazelle intense, had garage sales, sold our house, moved into a rental, got extra jobs, and started paying off our debt as quickly as possible. We were debt free by June 15, 2007.

The only problem with the gazelle intense focus for me was that I believe I was focusing too much time and energy with our outgoing cash flow and not spending enough time on our incoming cash flow.

Before reading 4-Hour Workweek, I've always had the mindset/struggle of trading time for money. In both my career and service business, I've been trading too much time for too few dollars, and with the energy crunch/slowing economy that we're currently under, I'm wearing myself out just treading water financially. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired! It's time to start trading ideas for dollars! I'm done with the stress that time work has on me and my family.

So, this blog is about one man's journey to reconcile the time-honored financial principles of financial experts such as Dave Ramsey, and yet enjoy the journey of lifestyle design as proposed by Tim Ferriss. I'm excited to see what's going to happen in the next several months.

Preface - What I'm bringing to the financial conversation? (part 1)

In this opening post, I'll be sharing a little on who I am and what my unique take will be on the current financial conversations in the blogosphere. OK, here I go:

My name is Larry Jones. I am currently employed as a church musician. I lead a church orchestra as well as write and arrange music for this group. I have been employed full-time in church music ministry for almost 12 years.

Five years ago, I started an internet-based service business, helping church music ministries across the country with music writing and arranging needs. This has been somewhat of a good part-time business to generate additional income for my family. As I have worked on this business over the last five years, I have read a number of books in order to grow as a business owner; books on blogging, podcasting, marketing, web design. You name it, and I probably have read it.

For many years now, I've also had an interest in wealth creation and money management. I've read the great standard money/financial books by authors such as Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad, Poor Dad), Dave Ramsey (Financial Peace/Total Money Makeover), David Bach (Automatic Millionaire), and Thomas Stanley (The Millionaire Next Door).

I recently read a book, though, that has radically changed my thinking on wealth creation and lifestyle design - the new bestseller by Timothy Ferriss, The 4-Hour Workweek.

I'll continue these thoughts in my next post.