1/29/2014–What have I learned in the past four months?
In September I was considering leaving work and applying for MBA programs. I wasn’t passionate about much of the main job duty, and predicted a struggle in the future finding time for things that I enjoy doing. So I applied to Purdue’s MBA program. I looked into IU and Butler but Butler was too undeveloped and lacked structure. IU was less attractive than Purdue in every way except rankings. The student body was much more internationally focused, curriculum was a little more excluding of my focus (HR), tuition was significantly higher, and it is farther from Indianapolis, where I would want to be a lot of the time. Purdue’s staff was genuinely interested in having me attend, which was not the case at IU. I was accepted and have enrolled for August.
Once I found out I got into school, I began planning my exit from my job. Money would be an issue, as it always is for people who like food and shelter, but I had already calculated my expenses in this scenario. My last car payment was in January (thanks Dad, for making me buy, not lease!) and I would save by moving in with family. A decent restaurant serving job would easily cover my expenses. In my experience, financial stress arises when I have focused on maximizing revenue instead of minimizing expenses.
Two reasons for this; first, when you focus on making money you spend more without realizing it. As you lose track of spending, you always need to make more and more to sustain your lifestyle. The other reason focusing on making money = stress is that when you closely examine what truly makes you happy (going out, sports, music) you can easily determine how much $ you would spend if you got to do all those things. This leads to one of three conclusions. Either you are making just enough to do things that make you happy, you’re not making enough and need to make more/find cheaper ways to have fun, or you are making more than you need to do those things. In each case, you know exactly how much revenue (a.k.a. stress) you should seek. The third conclusion is where I ended up when I considered what I was making at the restaurant. I don’t have very expensive needs/wants and I was working as though I did. I don’t “play hard” but I “work hard”. So quitting was about taking time away from work and applying it to cheap activities like music, soccer, and cooking. I didn’t need the money for these. One might suggest I keep the job and save all the extra $. I definitely believe in saving, but I’m not close to purchasing a house, and I refuse to let time go by not doing things I enjoy. I could just as easily meet a future business partner playing soccer or music as reap the financial benefit by saving money from a restaurant manager salary. It’s not enough to justify missing out on hobbies. We’ll see if I think differently when faced with a mortgage.
My last day of work was New Year’s Eve. I’ve had four weeks now to evaluate my decision, which isn’t long enough to know for sure if I made the right call. However, I’ve never been happier. I’ve never played more soccer nor music than this month. I’ve worked out more and have eaten healthier than ever. Seen my family and friends more than ever. I’m going for an MBA in August. Financially, my expenses are what I thought they would be, and I have a job serving. I would never have been able to do this had I not figured out my expenses and gone from there. I’ve experienced stress, surely. Eustress, however, is the good kind–the kind that excites me for an interview or a soccer game. I don’t recommend everyone quit jobs they don’t like, move back home, and make just enough to get by. If saving $1,000/month for something that will make you happy is a need, then make the money to do that. What I recommend is to truly understand why you do what you do to earn money. What is it for?
QOTW: “The only truth is that this moment exists, no past or future.” – Tom Sr.
?FNW: What do we learn meeting Jeff @ the recording studio? March 13th–two songs done!
10/14/2017 review: The end is as true to me as it was when I wrote it–asking “what is it for?” is valuable question at least monthly, if not daily. This is kind of like “zero-base budgeting”, a technique I learned after this during my MBA and have since used at work. Basically, this budgeting system starts at zero, then each activity (project) you want to fund is added one by one. This is an alternative method to starting with the budget you’re given, then apportioning that total across all projects you’d like to fund. The benefit is that end up with a more accurate estimate of what you need–either more or less than the pool of money you’d otherwise have been given.
When I said I wasn’t passionate about the main job duty of restaurant management, I mistakenly thought the job could only be “shift execution”. Now I’ve come to believe one can be a restaurant manager with a different main duty–for example, enabling your staff to get jobs. That’s a very different job, even though it would necessitate shift execution.
I also would rephrase when I said I wanted to spend time “doing things I enjoy”. I was referring to hobbies, but I had yet to identify an overall purpose, which I hesitate to assign for myself. Since I’m acting as though God has given me a purpose, rather than “things I enjoy” I would now say “things which support God’s purpose for me”.