What system do you use for getting things done your life? To-do lists? How do you prioritize? Things of that nature…

Also, if you had to give financial advice to twenty-somethings…how to save money, invest, etc… what would it be? (Because clearly… we’d all like to be in your position!! hahaha)

The first part of your question will be easy to keep short. I use a very high-tech organizational method. It’s very complicated. In fact, I hesitate to even mention it for fear that it might overwhelm you. In order to keep track of my daily tasks (not appointments – for those I use iCal or Outlook), I use a notepad with a checklist. At the end of each day, I move all tasks over that I didn’t get completed and I add new tasks for the following day. I rank them in priority, then voila! Then I keep my checklist in front of me all day (by my keyboard). The only other thing I do try to do is block time on my calendar to do my task list items. I know that’s not very exciting, but it works.

Ok financial advice. I’m not sure what “position” you’re referring to in your question, but here’s what I’ve learned. And trust me, I haven’t done this perfectly. Here we go (in no particular order):

- I like that you said “how to save” and not “should I save?”.
- Diversify. Keep some cash in a money market account that earns more interest than a savings account. You need to have cash available to buy things and for emergency purposes.
- Think long-term. You’re young. You shouldn’t need most of your savings for quite some time. If you have access to a 401k contribute. In fact max out your yearly contribution. Most employers match your contributions so it’s free money. The catch is, you can’t have this money until it’s time to retire. Unless it’s a matter of life or death, don’t touch this money. If you don’t have access to a 401k, get an IRA. Either traditional or Roth. Both your 401k and Roth are tax deferred.
- Risk. Accept some risk with your money. Again, you’re young so you have time to ride this market crisis out. There’s a lot of stocks and funds that are taking a beating for no good reason other than the widespread market panic. If you have any cash, now is a great time to open a brokerage account and put some money into some good solid companies or funds that are undervalued right now. Warren Buffet gave this quote last week: “A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful. And most certainly, fear is now widespread, gripping even seasoned investors. ” Warren knows a little something about wealth. I’m taking his advice right now (pulling from cash savings and moving into securities).
- Give. This is a personal thing, but there’s so much satisfaction in helping others. Plus, my rant about the $700 billion robbery a few weeks back implies that the government shouldn’t fix these problems, people should. If people shared the wealth they had, the government wouldn’t have to steal it for social programs.
- Spend some. So this one seems out of place, but it’s important for your health to enjoy life. And sometimes it takes spending to enjoy life (take a trip, buy a new shirt, go out to eat with a friend). That probably sounds superficial. I’m ok with that.

Again, I haven’t done this perfectly. If I have any single regret, it’s that I didn’t put more into my 401k when I was single. Life only gets more expensive, so save as much as you can when you’re single.

Later!

Yes, I have a question. Does the Rath Faction offer tutorials in how to use iPhoto? Because I hate it.

Are you saying that you’re a PC and that explains the “parasitic” blogging behavior? I love those “I’m a PC” rebuttals that Microsoft is putting out in response to Apple’s marketing. And by love, I mean hate.

Remote lessons on iPhoto would be tricky. I can help if you have a specific question. But did you know that your local Apple Store probably has free classes you could attend? Free. I know that with a newborn you’re probably actively looking for activities to keep you busy and I know how easy it is to leave the house too.

So if getting out of the house isn’t an option, check out iPhoto support at Apple.com by clicking here. You’ll find handy video tutorials, a getting started guide and my favorite, the user forums where other frustrated users ask the larger Apple community for help.

And in response to the rest of your comment, we’re just glad to have visitors. So come frequently and “take” all you like. Thanks for the kind words though.

“There are lots of desires and things I’d like to do. I know the deepest desire, the one I most want to fulfill is being a blessing to people, especially in the area of helping. Do you just pursue the more diverse desires (i.e. for me – volleyball, photography, horses) with trust that He will bring people along your path that you can be a blessing to? Or do you specifically hone those gifts to bless people in a very specific, targeted way? I have lots of desires, and pursue them as best I can, teaching myself to improve and getting to know and bless people along the way as I know how but I’m wondering if there’s a better way…“

So just a few thoughts. I like that you’re coming from the perspective of someone with a lot things that they want to do. Some people get stuck in the mode of not knowing themselves and they don’t know what they want to do. That’s a harder problem to solve. But when you have a lot of things that you want to do it can be confusing too. Your question is, do I pursue my interests and trust that I’ll have opportunities to bless people or do I focus my interests and pursue them in a way that I only do them if it blesses other people? I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but here’s how I’d approach what I hear you saying. Let’s call your “deepest desire”, your purpose. And so your purpose is wanting to help other people. That’s a great purpose. A person’s purpose is fulfilled through them, but it’s always for others. I really believe that. And over time, that purpose will become more clear. The way that I’ve seen that people fulfill their purpose is through vision. Vision is the path we chart to enable us to fulfill our purpose and it’s composed of all of those little, diverse desires that are inside of you. So if we’ve defined your purpose, then it’s likely that all of those other interests are part of your vision. They are the things that are inside of you to help you fulfill your purpose. So understanding the subtle difference and intimate relationship between vision and purpose is really important. So if those interests (your vision) are in you to help you fulfill your purpose, then the next logical question is “which interest do I pursue? or how do I order my vision?”

My suggestion would be to pursue the interest that activates the most other things in your life. Each one of your interests (pieces of your vision) is directly connected to your purpose. But it’s really likely that one of your interests will do more to enable you other interests and begin to have a more immediate impact on your purpose. This is clearly for example sake, but let’s use one of your interests. You could pursue a photography business and that might more quickly do more to enable you (through time, relationships, and money) to be able to help others (either directly through that business or through the means that business would provide). So I think you have to focus on the one that has the most likelihood of activating or enabling the other interests that you have. If you can’t readily identify one thing, then pick one and just start focusing on it. By the way, that doesn’t mean you ignore all of the other interests, it just means that one of them gets more attention than the others in the short term.

To specifically answer your question of whether to hone your interests to bless people or to pursue your interests and trust that you’ll come across people to bless, I’d say this. If you pursue your vision while always remembering your purpose, that both things will be true. You’ll come across people to bless, but also your very interests will be a blessing to others.

Hopefully that makes sense.

p.s. – in response to your 2nd question, Twitter went away to free up some space on the blog and because I didn’t feel like I was keeping up with it. I’m going to redesign The Faction and we’ll bring it back and I’ll try and keep twittering.

I started this post hoping that it would get me in the groove and that in no time, words would start to flow into this entry. Not happening. But I’ve got 3.5 hours in the car alone tomorrow so maybe something that I ruminate on tomorrow will be Faction ready.

In the meantime, don’t give up on us! We’ll be back soon. How about a little Q&A to pass some time? Got a question? Fire! Anything’s game – life, work, God, dreams, family. You ask. We’ll give you our thoughts. And not a politician answer where we just talk about what we want to say (after all, if we had something to say, we would not be in this position – see paragraphs 1 & 2).

A popular question so far during this pregnancy has been “are you going to find out the gender of the baby?” And of course we will, it’s inevitable. But I know what the questioner really means is are we going to find out prior to it’s arrival on earth. Emphatically, we here at the Faction are answering “Yes!” (Actually D said “no”, but she doesn’t yet say “yes”).

Most people respond with “You don’t want it to be a surprise?” And to that, we here at the Faction say, it will be a surprise no matter when we find out and we’d prefer to use the months of waiting for planning.

So there you go. The first installment of Q&A, complete with two great questions and answers. Got a question? Feel free to leave it as a comment to this entry, then check back regularly to see if your question is chosen for the next installment of Q&A.