FINANCE
NEED W A N T? Y O U H AV E W H AT Y O U
N O W W H AT D O Y O U
By Matthew Broom
WHEN ALL YOUR NEEDS ARE MET, WHAT’S LEFT ARE YOUR WANTS. PRIORITIZING THOSE WANTS AND DECIDING WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO ACHIEVE THEM CAN NOW BECOME YOUR FOCUS. I'd venture to say everyone – okay, almost everyone – reading this article has their basic needs met. If you’re a career firefighter, you have a job that pays the bills, and if that’s not enough, you probably work a part-time gig. I've never met a homeless firefighter, so you likely own or rent a home, apartment, condo, or couch. And if you work a 24/48 schedule as I did, you eat pretty well at least every third day. There may be some single firefighters who subsist on ramen noodles on their off days, but hey, they’re still getting fed.
The point is most firefighters are having their basic needs met. I've had family members lose a home to foreclosure, and I've had another family member survive on food stamps, but even in the worst of times, their basic physiological needs were met. They had food and they found another place to live. When our basic needs are met, it can make sense to focus on wants, but not in a selfish, short-term, or instantly gratifying way. Everyone wants a brand-new truck and a big house, and we'd be lying if we said we didn't. But are those things a priority? Probably not.
PRIORITIZE YOUR L O N G -T E R M G O A L S . Short-term wants lure us away from prioritizing our long-term goals. For example, I just sold my old truck for a new (to me) commuter. I bought a 2011 Toyota Camry. Would I rather have had a 2021 Camry? Sure. But it wasn't a priority. I wanted a reliable vehicle that would last a long time and wouldn't break the bank. That is what I prioritized. Every want has a trade-off. If I had bought a new car, I wouldn't have been able to invest as much. If I couldn't invest as much, I would be delaying my family's financial independence. And trading independence for a fancy new car just isn’t worth it. It’s important to establish what you really want out of life. Write down your goals. Once you take a look at what you want, the next logical question is what you need to do to attain it. And if you really ask the question earnestly, the map will begin to reveal itself.
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CRAC KYL MAGAZ I N E
CREATE YOUR R O A D M A P. If you want to get somewhere, you've got to understand two things: where you are and where you want to go. And the only thing that is certain is uncertainty. On the roadmap of life, there are many detours, wrong turns, and traffic jams, but staring at a blue sky and a straight road for the entire ride would get old. Don't get me wrong, if there is a genuine need in your life, start there. If you’re struggling to put food on your table or keep a roof over your head, bust your butt to fix that situation. And once you grind through it and have a second to come up for air, then you can start to look at the big picture. No matter what life throws at you, it helps to know the North. Whether in good times or bad, you are always going in the right direction if you’re heading towards the true North. Stop focusing on short-term wants and turn your focus to significant desires. What business consultant and public speaker Jim Collins calls the BHAGs – Big Hairy Audacious Goals. These are the get-youout-of-bed-in-the-morning dreams. Motivational speaker Tony Robbins regularly proclaims, "Progress equals happiness." Defining your BHAGs and making progress will lead to happiness. Let's walk through a common want and decide what needs to happen to accomplish it.
