Failing Small

Human nature seems to abhor failure.  

Paradoxically, failure is critical to our growth.  

People need to try new things, push the boundaries on ability, push the rules both written and unwritten in society. 

This is not the same as breaking the law and ruining your life. Some rules can bend and some can break. 

As a parent maybe one of the bigger struggles is to allow your child to fail small. Sounds easy until you find yourself in the day to day. The want for one's own life to go smooth means micromanaging or helicoptering over your kids. Suppose all of us parents are guilty to some degree. 

As my oldest gets older, the realization that he needs to be pushing the boundaries more before he leaves the house. Life can be a little cold. Boss's don't want excuses, landlords need the rent. 

Allowing our kids to try and fail to see the consequences allows them to not fail BIGGER later in life when the stakes are drastically higher. 

The importance of us individually to keep getting out of our comfort zones as we age and keep trying things that we are likely to fail at but may pay off later. The roots of life have a way to grabbing hold. 

Scott Adam's book 'How To Fail At Almost Everything and Still Win Big' does a good job of explaining this benefit. 

If the goal is to grow as a person or raise a person who will grow - failure is the only path. 

Financial Independence

 A often discussed topic - Financial Independence. 

The definition is highly subjective to each individual. With most coming down to some number multiplied by your salary or yearly expenses. 

But I offer for consideration a more objective umber. $100k.  

$100k number where many things start to compound.  

10% returns in the stock market now are sizable enough to start moving the needle. There are more 20% up years than 10% up years - and that can compound significantly over the decades.

$100k is likely a 2-3 years worth of a persons yearly expenses. $100k provides some base level of freedom that you can float a few months between jobs without much worry. Having that level of stability alone can be life changing as you are not taking a job because you have to but you can wait on a job that is the right one.  A high level of job satisfaction is for most people the biggest professional accomplishment. 

Lastly, $100k means you have set up your life in a way to make it happen. A person doesn't get $100k by accident. You have to earn, save and invest to get there. Habits not easily formed and imbedded too deep in behavior to stop by the time you reach $100k paving the way for the future. 

$100k may not be for everyone. I get that. It is however a good goal to strive for when setting about life if money is a concern to you.