As I wrote in a recent column, 2009 was the year of The Big Rethink. With our household finances whittled away by the recession and our collective consumeristic, over-debting behavior called into question, Americans reexamined everything we formerly held dear, from how we spend our time, to how we spend our money, including whether homeownership is even inherently desirable or good. {Hint: it is, but we need to rethink our approach.}
It’s as though we spent the year collectively asking the question: What Matters Now?
As we Americans are wont to do, we are all emerging from the year with our own individual responses to this question. Some have decided to chuck it all, live austerely on as little possible, and enjoy the free things in life. Others of us have decided that money and the things and experiences it funds are important enough for us to start new businesses, take control of our real estate decision-making, heal our wounded relationship with money and commit to incorporating prosperity practices into our lives on an ongoing basis.
Wherever you came out on this spectrum – whether at either of these ends or at any point in between, your thoughts and your spirit will get a lovely inspirational power-tweak from the collection of declarations of “What Matters Now” that marketing sage Seth Godin has put together with his luminary friends, including such brilliant women thought leaders as Martha Beck, Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love) and Arianna Huffington, the visionary behind the Huffington Post.
This thing is packed with darn near a year’s worth of bite-sized morsels that are both pithy and profound.
Read and re-read it as you envision and plan your 2010 and begin to execute your vision for the year. (I’m already on my third reading!) If you have real estate and prosperity aims high on your priority list, comment and let me know which of these values particularly resonates with your personal Vision of Home, i.e., your vision for how you plan to use your real estate decisions to consciously, intentionally design your life.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I read this document too and loved it. The beginning of a new year is a great excuse to rethink a lot of your own outlook on life as well as tangible goals.
Tara~thank you for directly me to the ‘What Matters Now’ document. I can’t wait to read it as I am certainly in a reflection mode as we begin this new year, although I may keep the same vision and goals as 2009 as they still feel very relevant. My personal re-evaluating over the last year has come more from being a new parent at the age of 39 (I am now 41) and how I was going to alter my business model so I could dramatically reduce my hours of work but still stay connected with the career that I had built over 9 years and still provide my service. Thank god this has gone smoothly with being able to offer telecourses and coaching over the phone to a national clientele. lastly, after pondering our families dream home as parents of an infant, we chose to sign a 4 year lease in a pink victorian home with buddhas in front and offices above the garage for my husband and I to work out of and still parent closely and in our ideal location in Boulder, CO, instead of purchase a home outside of Boulder. Maybe at the end of our 4 year lease, we will be ready to explore home ownership for the first time….:) Excited to stay connected with your new site and wish you all the best!