Cheese Placement

Posted on November 3, 2006 - Filed Under Business |

In kindergarten, we did lots of creative stuff as well as eat paste.  One day, I was especially excited to get home.  We had Art class that day, my favorite day.  In class, our favorite Sesame Street character was our subject to draw and color.

That day, mine was Oscar the Grouch.

I rushed into the old farm house, my Renoir in hand.  My biggest fan, my mom, cleared a spot on the refrigerator.  There it stayed, in the Musée de Clifford, for many months.

Years later, my mother had given me a box filled with all kinds these mementos.  Oscar the Grouch was in there.  I don’t know how I convinced mom it was Oscar.  It looked like a grey pancake with a giant green eye sticking out of it.

But I thought to myself, "You have to start somewhere."

Setting these long term goals has been like that for me: really rough.  I followed the route many high schoolers followed.  From there, the objectives laid out before me were "Get masters degree, get promoted to manager, retire at age 65, shoot myself."  That’s what I was suppose to do.  Well, I threw those out the window. 

Now I found myself in a strange land, trying to figure out what I truly want to do.

At first, a monetary objective was my goal.  Maybe $10 million in real estate or $20,000 per month in cashflow.  But those objectives feel empty to me. 

For me, money has always been a tool.  Recently, I’ve been learning how to use this tool in order to generate more tools so I can do even more.  But that’s the key: "So I can do even more."

The CashFlow 202 game then came to mind. 

The first thing the CashFlow players do is pick their dream.  These dreams are not a monetary amount.  They are something tangible, something real.  "Retire to the Caribbean" or "Skiing in the Alps". 

Once each player has selected their own dream, a piece of cheese is placed on it.  The objective:  Escape the "Rat Race", advance to the "Fast Track" where you tempt your fate.  If you land on your cheese, you can buy it and win the game.

That’s what I decided to do.

I’ve put my cheese on "Retire to Chateau in France".  This one, or maybe this one.

Simplistic?  Maybe.

But you have to start somewhere.

If you liked that post, then try these...

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Altogether on August 25th, 2008
From last week, I thank you for your input.

Comments

7 Responses to “Cheese Placement”

  1. Mikki on November 3rd, 2006 7:56 am

    After living in SH for so long, I don’t know how you’d be able to live in the second house. The view is horrendous… ;-)

  2. Clifford on November 3rd, 2006 11:46 am

    Granted the view is horrendous BUT sacrifices must be made. :)

  3. moom on November 3rd, 2006 3:05 pm

    What’s SH?

  4. Paty on November 3rd, 2006 5:55 pm

    That’s a great “cheese” to start on! Afterall… “Human beings were not meant to sit in little cubicles staring at computer screens all day, filling out useless forms and listening to eight different bosses drone on about mission statements. ” Peter

  5. Clifford on November 4th, 2006 4:57 pm

    Moom, I’m lost as well. I wonder if it’s suppose to be SC (Southern California)?

    Paty, I looooove that movie!! The conversation with the two Bobs is the best 5 minutes of movie bliss ever filmed.

  6. Paty on November 4th, 2006 7:38 pm

    Yes!! “We’ll be getting rid of these people here… First, Mr. Samir Naga… Naga… Naga… Not gonna work here anymore, anyway.” :D So funny!

  7. Paty on November 4th, 2006 7:40 pm

    Oh! I forgot. Did you get the “Special Edition with Flair”?

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