Working with freedom

In 2011 I graduated from College with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology with a minor in Biblical Studies....today, 2019- 8 years later, I am a Mortgage Lender/Loan Officer with a deep passion for Personal and Business Finance. How did I go from Psychology to Finance? The only dots I can connect between the two is my love for people, and my high success in Math, specifically Algebra and Stats. I was HORRIBLE at Geometry and Trigonometry. I never would have thought I would end up doing anything with numbers or even money as a student, because I was only good at 'basic math'. Honestly, I dreamed of being a Basketball Coach, or a Counselor and that is how I scored on my personality career assessments, so that means that’s what I am supposed to do, right? Not so much, although I would probably be good at both, I am unfortunately not doing either, sorry Mrs. Nelson (my career counselor in High School). Maybe she would have guessed Loan officer and finance nerd, or maybe she wouldn’t, either way I am happier than ever doing something I deeply love. What I love most about what I do is that I am working with complete freedom. I work because I want to, not because I have to! Getting to this place has taken time, discipline and consistency. Here is a look into how we approach our daily hustle to have work life balance focused around accomplishing our goal of ‘Working with Freedom’.

TIME, DISCIPLINE & CONSISTENCY

Our society is built around impatience. Time is not something we soak in when the thing we want is available. We do not say to a waiter, "just take your time. I will eat when you have time to prep my food". Or to the doctor, "I do not feel good, but go ahead and prescribe me a medication when you are free!" No, we are the complete opposite. We as a society try to do everything as fast as possible.

On the regular, my kids demand 5 things at once of me, while my phone dings to alert me of a new text message about dinner plans at the same time my alarm is going off to switch the laundry and my Facebook notifies me the bicycle I have been watching has dropped its price. It is mind blowing how instantaneous our attention can be distracted.

Surprise, Surprise, this instantaneous demand of you and your wants is not healthy! This is not the way we have accomplished our goal. We have reached a place at 30 and 36 years old that we are not scared about our cash reserves or our retirement. We have arrived here because we have been patient. We have stayed the course, not being swayed by the next idea or shinny object in front of our face. This does not mean we have not made adjustments or changes throughout our 8 years. What I mean is we have stayed focused on the goal, ‘Working with Freedom’. Only changing our plans if we knew it supported our work/life balance goal.
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We only have so much time in a day and we believe staying focused on the areas we are strongest in and those that give us our greatest Return on Investment (ROI) are the areas we invest our time. We know our ‘WHY’ for all our commitments. We have sorted through how our time is distributed and how it helps us reach our goal.
Discipline and Time are closely related in our home. The only way for our family to manage our time is by being disciplined with our commitments. If we are running late from one meeting to the next, we are showing either a lack of discipline or a lack of time management. Our greatest asset to succeed in time management and discipline in our personal and professional life is sharing a joint calendar between Spencer and I. We use google calendar with colors that we both can edit and update. It has reduced so many time management errors.
 
For us Discipline also looks like staying focused and appreciating the season we are in. For example, I graduated college and started working as a bookkeeper, then volunteered as a bookkeeper and controller for a church, from there I became a financial analyst and then a Financial Consultant for Financial Advisors and now am a Mortgage Lender. In all of these occupations, I was content! I LOVED what I was doing. I was serving others with the skills I had. It was not until I learned about additional knowledge, I could gain to better my craft that I began exploring career advancements. Each new occupation required discipline which allowed me to excel in my roles.
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Lastly, Consistency is the umbrella of all three traits that has led us to our goal. We have stayed true to who we are from 2011 to 2019. We have been people of integrity, honesty, dedication, loyalty, compassion, strong communication, generosity, coach-ability, patience and love. Without our consistency it would be incredibly hard to measure where we were going and if we had made any progress. Our goals have always stayed the same, no debt outside our mortgage, live on less than we make, save and invest, give abundantly to causes we are passionate about, travel and enjoy family and friends, laugh and be grateful always. These goals remaining consistent have ultimately led us to a lifestyle allowing us to Work with Freedom!