I heart Suze Orman

It's Saturday at 9:00 pm, and I'm about to watch Suze Orman. Many of you who know me well have probably realized I love, love, LOVE learning about personal finance. Even though it isn't the most glamorous of subjects right now, I feel now is also the most important time to get smart about finances.

However, I feel that while I'm raving about my passion for personal finance, I must also confess my love/hate relationship with the segment "Can I afford it?" It brings up that whole problem with comparison that I spoke about in a previous entry. It seems that when someone on the show is doing better than me, I get jealous. They have $9000 a month take home? What?!? They already have how many hundred thousand in retirement?!? But then, when there is someone who is in debt, or makes less than me, I feel better. I have a feeling that tonight's show will really test my progression with my comparison issue. However, it's coming up soon next so I'm going to watch and report.
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Alright, I did reasonably well during the segment this week. I still felt those urges like "Holy cow, how does a 31 year old bring home $10k a month?!?!?", but then I realized that she is probably a lawyer or doctor, which is not where I am destined to head with my life. I still have a long way to travel, but I now feel that I at least try to tell myself to stop and to rationalize those jealous claims. This was the first conscious test I've had since writing that past entry, and I think I did well. Now I just need to start making a conscious decision more often. I also need to blog more often....oops! :)

Careerism?

I meant to write this post on Friday night or Saturday afternoon, but by the time my weekend class was over I wanted to head straight home. However, there was something the professor of my financing higher education class said that really hit home, and brought me back to an internal conversation I had been ignoring for a long time.

Although we had eight hours of class time, during which I learned a great deal, there was one particular lesson that struck a personal chord. The professor spoke of the two "diseases" which were most poisonous to today's institutions (and organizations/businesses in general). These two diseases were jobism and careerism. By jobism, he was referring to those people who come into work just to put in their 40 hours and get paid...so they can go get on with their life. Careerism refers to those who are so focused on the next step in their career that they cannot focus on their current position. I'm pretty darn sure I suffer from the second of those diseases.

I'm always thinking to myself "Well, when I finally get a job in this office..." or "Well, when I have less administrative tasks and more fun projects...". I'm also focused on the when and the if, rather than the here and now. It really bothers me, and causes me to wonder when it all started. I'm really trying to watch it so that I not only use this job in order to propel me to where I want to go, but in addition, add some value to the department while I'm here. It's going to be a hard road, considering that my self-esteem is still taking hits every now and then (mostly self-inflicted), but I know I can do it. And you are all more than welcome to hold me to this!

I commit to live in the here and now, not only in life...but at work as well.