The choices just keep on getting harder.
The goal I set to pay off my mortgage has just come back to bite me once more. I’m facing a decision – again – of following my heart vs going with the head. There’s a career advancement position just come up for offer, not far from where I am, and earning almost 10K more than I am right now. It would allow me to get my own car, which is something I’ve been wanting for a while, but I’ve been feeling a bit torn up about it.
I think what I’m looking at here is a test of whether my objective is the money or the means. It would be easy to follow what everyone’s telling me to do and go for the better paying job. With the job title, it could lead to even nicer opportunities, closer to home, down the track. BUT it’s still in the paid employment market. It’s the quick and easy path that looks like it gives me an immediate jump closer to where I want to go, but at the price of having to buy into the life-choice that I have been determined to move away from. Where I’m standing now, it almost seems impossible to raise that kind of money from the passive income streams I’m looking to set up, so it’s a serious temptation. On the flip side, though, I know that it can and has been done by others, and that all these hurdles only prove I’m moving closer to the finish line, even if it’s not in sight just yet.
I’m getting to the point now where each time I make these choices, more of my family and friends think I’m crazy. So far I’ve been able to choose my own direction and stand against their well-meaning advice. This time, having thought it through and decided I’m not going to sell out my dream for the illusion of progress, I know at least one person who just won’t understand, and whose friendship is at risk. I thought it would get easier to stand firm against the flow of convention as I got more practise in, but it’s starting to look like that may not be the case – the price may just keep escalating.
Living with the knowledge of having compromised, though, still seems the higher price to pay to me. Have any of you ever faced this dilemma – and how did it pan out?
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My friend Peter at seventyfivemillion.com has just written some good pieces on Me Inc., outlining a new approach to employment.
You might find some inspiration there as to how to strike a middle-ground while you get closer to where you want to be.