The Incremental Life

build an extraordinary life one step at a time

The Blessing of Criticism

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If you're experiencing zero criticism

Have you had a rough week from your critics? Don’t let the naysayers get you down. Take some time this weekend to evaluate the substance of the criticisms that have been lobbed your way.

Consider if there is any validity to what’s been said about you. Be humble and willing to admit your faults and mistakes, but don’t grovel in self-pity. Pick yourself up, apologize if necessary, then attack next week with a renewed vigor to overcome your failures.

Anything else that’s left over, dispose of it like yesterday’s trash and move on. Ignore future repetitions of criticisms you know aren’t true and do your best to remove those negative voices from your life.

Going forward, consider criticism a blessing. It means you’re making an impact on the world around you, and that someone’s taken notice.

If you’re experiencing zero criticism, it means you’re either having no impact or accomplishing nothing. #critic
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Jeff M. Miller (@jmarkmiller)

I’m Jeff M. Miller, and I help ordinary people who are stuck in a rut change their behaviors so they can be extraordinary. I’m an entrepreneur who retired from my full-time job in my early 40s to work from home. I’m a financial counselor, life coach, graphic designer, and passionate believer in helping others improve their lives a little more each day.

http://theincrementallife.com

The Three Most Important Reasons to Plan for Retirement

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The Three Most Important Reasons to Plan for Retirement

During my family’s journey toward debt freedom we absorbed all sorts of material about how to win with money. It’s no surprise that the major bulk of our study was produced by Dave Ramsey, and that’s because we believed he knew what he was talking about and because his methods are saturated with Scripture.

One of the verses that came up was extremely powerful and convicting to me. Proverbs 13:22 says, “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous.” Some translations of this verse use the word wise instead of good, but the impact is the same. I’m not so shallow to teach that this proverb is all about leaving a big pile of money for my grandkids, it’s more about leaving behind a legacy that touches my family for generations to come.

What was I leaving behind? What sort of foundation was I laying not only for my children, but for their children as well? It’s my responsibility to leave as many resources behind as I can for my family, but to also instill in them the wisdom to use those resources wisely.

In financial terms, that means being prepared for the future. You see, planning for retirement is not something we can do half-heartedly. Too many of us live the “good life” now by stealing from our own future. Even worse, we don’t realize that we’re also stealing from our childrens’ futures as well. How so? Who will end up paying my medical treatment and long-term care if I haven’t planned and saved for it? Where will I live if you can’t afford to support myself in my latter years?

My children will.

Have a Plan for Retirement

The hard truth is that if you fail to plan for your latter years, then you’re planning on becoming a burden to your family, church, or society. Those are hard words, and yes, circumstances arise that necessitate getting help, but the responsibility to prepare for the future belongs to you.

Think about it. Many people hit retirement age around the time their children are fully engaged in trying to save for their own retirement as well as trying to help their own children through college or otherwise get started in life. Should your children put their own retirement plans on hold because you didn’t plan yourself? Should your grandchildren take on massive debt for their education because their parents need to spend money to take care of you instead?

How about doing all you can to prepare for a future you know is coming? Dig in and start saving and investing so that you’re not a burden on our children, and so that you can live out your days with dignity and grace. Some of you will live 20 to 30 years beyond retirement. What if you could spend those years enjoying life, giving cheerfully, and teaching you grandchildren the life lessons you learned along the way?

Three Reasons Why

These are the reasons you need to plan for retirement—critical, important reasons that should resonate deep down in your soul:

  1. Prepare for retirement so that you leave a legacy behind. Do more than leave a pile of cash as an inheritance. Live a life that teaches your children and grandchildren how to wisely manage and appreciate their material wealth. This includes exemplifying gratitude and service—giving with an open hand from the blessings you’ve received. And don’t forget to protect the ones you love by getting your affairs in order—a valid will, sufficient life insurance, and anything else your family will need once you’re gone.
  2. Prepare for retirement so that you’re not a burden on your family, church, or society. Don’t make the mistake of believing Social Security will be enough. Even if there’s still money coming from the government by the time you retire, you’ll soon learn it often won’t cover your basic living expenses. Realize that you have no idea what the future holds—disaster, sickness, disability—and do all you can to prepare for the “what ifs.” Save, invest, purchase long-term care insurance at age 60—take responsibility for your own future rather than leaving it to your children.
  3. Prepare for retirement so that your final years can be lived with dignity. Though it may become necessary for health reasons, I doubt many of us want to spend our final years in a cut-rate nursing home or long-term care facility. I doubt many of us want to live our final years counting every penny, worrying whether we’ll buy food, pay the electric bill, or refill this month’s prescription. Wouldn’t it be better to be able to live independently, free from worry over paying for basic necessities? That won’t happen without an intentional plan.

Don’t let time get away from you. No matter your age, if you haven’t started preparing for retirement you need to get started—the sooner the better. Be responsible and take the steps necessary to enter your retirement years with hope, knowing you’ve done your best to leave a legacy, care for your family, and finish your time on this earth with dignity.

Jeff M. Miller (@jmarkmiller)

I’m Jeff M. Miller, and I help ordinary people who are stuck in a rut change their behaviors so they can be extraordinary. I’m an entrepreneur who retired from my full-time job in my early 40s to work from home. I’m a financial counselor, life coach, graphic designer, and passionate believer in helping others improve their lives a little more each day.

http://theincrementallife.com

There’s No Comparison Shopping Allowed on the Road to Awesome

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there's no comparison shopping allowed on the road to awesome

There’s an old quote from Theodore Roosevelt that’s one of the truest statements ever uttered by a human.

“Comparison is the thief of joy.”

I’m all for taking a look at successful people and gleaning all I can from them—that’s called studying best practices. The problem comes when we begin to compare our success to others and discover that we don’t measure up. We make false comparisons that only lead to jealousy, envy, and depression.

Jon Acuff addresses this issue in his great book Start: Punch Fear in the Face, Escape Average and Do Work That Matters. He teaches how the Road to Awesome is a journey, and each of us are at different mile markers along the way. You may only just now be in the Learning stage of life while someone else is further down the road in either the Editing or Mastering stages.

Don't compare your beginning with someone else's middle

What good does it do to compare ourselves to someone much further down the road? Of course we don’t measure up! How could we? Unless we’ve gained unusual success in some way, we’ve got years of hard work ahead of us before we catch up to someone who’s had a head start.

When we compare ourselves against someone further down the road to success we begin to feel like the world is against us. We start to whine and act like life is unfair and tell ourselves, “the little man just can’t get ahead.”

That’s a load of tripe.

What we can’t see are the thousands of failures and setbacks that other person endured along the way. We don’t see all the extra hours of hard work they put in, or the monetary investments they made in themselves and others.

Is your road a hard one? Sure. Are you as far down the road as you’d like to be? No. But let’s stop and put things in perspective.

I was listening to Dave Ramsey’s podcast on my walk yesterday morning and he was commenting on a news story about the world economy. He said something in passing that made me realize just how very blessed I am. I’m paraphrasing, but he said that if you have an annual household income of $34,000 or more, that places you in the top 1% of average global income.

Think about it, if you can read this, that means you’ve probably got a decent job, a place to live, and access to the internet through a computer or mobile device. You’re incredibly rich in comparison to the majority of the world’s population, not only in your financial situation, but in your health, security, technology, and education (especially literacy).

How’s that comparison working out for you now?

The world isn’t against you. The deck isn’t stacked in favor of the rich, it’s stacked in favor of those who work hard, have a desire to excel, and won’t give up. Sure, your circumstances come to bear on your situation, but look around and see just how well off you really are, and how many opportunities surround you just waiting to be grasped.

Jeff M. Miller (@jmarkmiller)

I’m Jeff M. Miller, and I help ordinary people who are stuck in a rut change their behaviors so they can be extraordinary. I’m an entrepreneur who retired from my full-time job in my early 40s to work from home. I’m a financial counselor, life coach, graphic designer, and passionate believer in helping others improve their lives a little more each day.

http://theincrementallife.com

The Secret Formula for Incremental Change

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The Secret Formula

My wife and I are coordinating Financial Peace University again this semester, and this week’s lesson was the one for which Dave Ramsey is most known. It’s all about getting out of debt using the Debt Snowball method. Dave gets so fired up in the lesson that it gets me excited every time I watch it.

One of the parts of the lesson that has always most resonated with me is his formula for achieving success with his plan. He doesn’t call it a formula, but it has always seemed like a nice, succinct formulaic statement. I can attest that the formula works because it’s exactly how our family got out of debt.

I’ve modified it a bit for clarity’s sake, but it goes like this:

(P + T) x S = R

Your Level of Passion over Time multiplied by your Depth of Sacrifice equals Results.

As you can see, this isn’t a magic formula. Implicit here are dedication, hard work, and sacrifice. This formula doesn’t offer an easy road.

Each component of this formula is crucial for achieving the change you desire in your life. You must be passionate about your goal—you’ve got to want it! You must understand that change takes time—incremental change is a marathon, not a sprint. And you must be willing to sacrifice, knowing that the deeper you’re willing to sacrifice, the faster you’ll reach your goal.

This is the secret to incremental change. Get fired up about who you want to become and dedicate yourself to implementing change over the long haul. Be willing to sacrifice deeply and you’ll begin to see amazing changes happen in your life.

secret-formula

Jeff M. Miller (@jmarkmiller)

I’m Jeff M. Miller, and I help ordinary people who are stuck in a rut change their behaviors so they can be extraordinary. I’m an entrepreneur who retired from my full-time job in my early 40s to work from home. I’m a financial counselor, life coach, graphic designer, and passionate believer in helping others improve their lives a little more each day.

http://theincrementallife.com