Jonathan Nation

Adventure of Money

March 18, 2011 by jon

 

I am currently reading three separate books, all audiobooks; part of my Reading Intentions 2011 plan.

  • The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
  • Thou Shall Prosper
  • Stop Acting Rich And Start Living Like a Real Millionaire

A couple times a thought so strong came to me that I had to tweet, or post on facebook.

If you automatically think of wealth/money as evil, you will either do evil or be poor.

Not directly related to any one book, Thou Shall Prosper addresses a very similar topics but this also came to be due to the discourse and media coverage recently, including Wisconsin, Tennessee, and a few other locations. Wealth Envy is very powerful and a strong issue, but another one is the silly idea that to have wealth you must have done something “wrong”.

Granted, one could do something illegal (fraud or theft) or oppressive to acquire some money, even in great sums, but that discredits the way almost all wealth is generated in the USA, if not the world.

When you work, when you provide value and in trade receive something you value; you have not done anything evil, you have done good. Now, there are only two fundamental steps to amassing wealth:
1. earn money
2. don’t spend all of it

Ideally once you have the money, you invest – or allow someone to use the money at a price – the money, thus doing more good. You have enabled other people to pursue their goals.

At the same time, if you believe wealth or money is evil … you will have to either reject it, or embrace evil.

I want to thank my parents (and theirs) for emphasizing travel, camps & life experiences and provided me with much of each while growing up.

This was more directly caused by Stop Acting Rich And Start Living Like a Real Millionaire.

Within the first chapter, Thomas Stanley talked about what the millionaires he has surveyed over the years said they spent their money on, especially in regard to their children. The book really breaks the millionaires into two ends of a continuum, basically how glamorous they seem.

The children of millionaires who become millionaires had a common element in their childhood:

 

an emphasis on travel & life experiences;  not stuff

Thinking back on my childhood, we were not a glamorous family at all. I have four siblings, all younger then I, and for most of my life the income was my father’s government engineer salary, a little above the median family income. In addition to that, we did not live extravagantly. As far as I know my family always budgeted & used an envelope system to keep tabs on spending.

One thing that was pretty constant, either due to my parents or my Grandmother, is that we traveled. Not to far off exotic places, but around the Southeast USA.

I’m pretty sure I’ve been to most of the Tennessee State Parks. I have seen lots of old log cabins, so much so I can say — they pretty much all look the same inside.

Growing up, I also went to a Sailing Camp, Boy Scout Camp, Vacation Bible Schools, lots of National Parks, and major cities. The times I went to the National Order of the Arrow Conference (NOAC) for a week at a major college university was great. Family camping trips to a different state each spring break for years allowed us to see sites, learn about cultures, and meet new people.

It had a major impact on who I am. Not I am very grateful and thankful.

At the time there were points of wealth envy, not understanding why I did not have the cool stuff, but at this point … a point where no matter what it is, given enough time I could buy most items, I have other priorities.

I hope I do as good a job with my children.

Now off to plan the next adventure.

Filed Under: featured, mine, text Tagged With: giving, good evil, money, trade, travel, value, wealth

outside our box

January 15, 2009 by jon

Giving frees us from the familiar territory of our own needs by opening our mind to the unexplained worlds occupied by the needs of others.

~ Barbara Bush

Filed Under: quotation Tagged With: barbra bush, barbrabush, bush, giving, mind, needs, quotation, territory, worlds

Giving Thanks

November 6, 2008 by jon

Rule #1: When the world goes flat, and you are feeling flattened, reach for a shovel and dig inside yourself. Don’t try to build walls.

~ Thomas L. Friedman, The World is Flat
Sitting on some clifs above the Stones River

Sitting on some cliffs above the Stones River

There are many different ways to approach a challenge, issue, problem, or opportunity, but one of the common ones is taught in life guarding:

  1. Survey the scene – you need to grasp what is going on, the status quo, and what resources are available.
  2. Check the individuals – the general question is “Are you OK?” – gathering more information on more specific parts of a scene that you cannot get from a distance.
  3. Call for help – contact 9-1-1 or Emergency responders, or the appropriate professionals who are better equipped to help long term.
  4. Preform additional evaluation & take action

Going into the Thanksgiving holiday, third weekend in November in my part of the world, I try to do a similar approach as if I was an outsider approaching the scene of my current life. It is vitally important that on a regular basis I take time to reflect on a deeper level then I normally do. It is necessary for me to review my days, weeks and months soon after they happen, but mostly to keep account of what happened, this period of time is different. It’s to force me into looking at longer periods of time, comparing to the goals I had set, and seeing not the individual threads in the rug of my life, but the big picture the best I can.

The goal: To reflect on this past year, find the good parts [the wins], and be thankful for it all.

First I take time to look at the past year and the major changes that occurred over the last 12 to 16 months. Then I look closer at the seven areas I view my life. By the time I celebrate Thanksgiving I should have a good list of accomplishments, treasures, moments, and praises both for me and for others. After Thanksgiving I typically go to work on steps 3 and 4 with goal setting, education planning, and targeted networking, but this writing is focused on just the first two: Surveying the Scene & Checking the Individual parts of a life.

Over the next 20 days or so, the plan is to write about what I am focusing on, maybe not at the exact time, but on a regular basis releasing a new item or area. To get started, the seven areas of life are:

  • physical – taking care of your body is important
  • mental – your mind determines much of your abilities and how far you will go
  • spiritual – deep inside you, you know there is something you don’t observe in the physical
  • production – career, jobs, it all comes down to providing or producing value to someone else
  • personal finances – inflows and outflows of money, dealing with giving, spending, and saving
  • family – the closest people around you, no matter if they are biologically related or not
  • social & community – the broader group of people you interact with on a regular basis

Filed Under: Giving Thanks, life, text Tagged With: community, family, giving, mental, personal finance, physical, production, reflection, social, social & community, spiritual, thanks, thanksgiving

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I am always looking to me more leaders, linchpins, and problem solvers. We need more people to take on a business owner mindset, to seek out pains and problems then find ways to provide value to others.

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~Jonathan Nation

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