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Since this is a blog about creating a life that is rich with happiness, joy, and freedom, I figured I should have some money talk in here too. In this case, I will try to define the currencies that I believe each of the 7 areas of our lives use. Units of these currencies are traded back and forth with other people, your environment, and yourself.

I would love to get your feedback on this list of matching currencies to their respective areas. Since each of us has different experiences, we know more about one area than the other. With that being said, let’s get started.

Professional

While we may work at a job to make money and put food on our table, the way we succeed in the professional world is not by trading money with someone else. We trade knowledge when we are in the service industry, or we trade goods when we are in the product industry.

When we make those trades, we do it in exchange for something we want. We may want money but that isn’t the only reason people work. What are some of the things that motivate us to work?

The mission of the job or company can be a great motivator. We willingly give of our knowledge or produce something knowing that can/will make a difference in other people’s lives.

The social aspect of being part of something bigger than ourselves is a great motivator. I’ve always wanted to be part of a big culture, one that can influence major parts of the population. I have since realized that I can make a bigger difference on a personal level by working at a smaller company. I have access to all levels of the corporate ladder at a small company and that excites me.

I’m sure there are other examples of motivations. Regardless, understanding what motivates you to work is a powerful thing. For one, if your current work isn’t satisfying your motivation (money, mission, social, etc.), then you know why you may be unhappy at work and what you’ll be looking for in a future role.

Trading the currencies of knowledge and goods for something else is how we succeed at our job. The more value we create by trading these things, the more successful we’ll be.

Friends & Family

This is an interesting one since we may not realize we are doing this. To some, cultivating lasting relationships with friends and/or family can come naturally. For others, it can be very difficult. In my opinion, the key to all of this is creating shared experiences.

When we do something with other people, that creates a memory. We can then recall that memory (hopefully a fond one) with those people and share another experience remembering that previous one. In this scenario, shared experiences can compound and stimulate deeper relationships.

Knowing that some of these experiences might not be good ones is okay. In this way, we can think about them like relationship bank accounts. When we have fun and exciting experiences, we deposit into that relationship’s bank account. When we have a negative experience, we make a withdrawal from that relationship’s bank account. Withdraw too much and that account will go to zero or negative.

Following this perspective, we can see how people can be great at cultivating rich relationships with friends and family. They are constantly creating positive shared experiences (making deposits) rather than negative ones (making withdraws).

Physical

This one is a little more straightforward. Our physical body needs 3 basic things to survive: food, water, and shelter. When we trade these things with ourselves, we succeed in living another day. Kind of weird to think about it that way, but basically, that’s what’s happening.

But there are different degrees of “living another day” that we can control. We can over-eat and indulge in unhealthy, sugary foods, thereby causing too much weight gain or diseases like diabetes. We can also under-eat and become malnourished, thereby causing frail bones and atrophied muscles.

Either extreme is not good for our bodies. Eating a well-balanced and healthy diet gets us ~90% of the way to a healthy physical body. Creating extreme workout plans without setting up the habits of a good foundation will not help create the physical body we all desire.

Therefore, I try to not skip meals and have a healthy dose of protein, vegetables, and PLENTY of water. But we can’t forget about rest. Our bodies will break down without the proper amount of sleep. We trade these currencies of food, water, and shelter for another day. The better they are, the better the next day will be.

Mental & Spiritual

How do we succeed in developing our mental and spiritual sides? I believe it takes a level of focus and stillness for us to truly grow. To become smarter and more knowledgeable about different topics, we must dedicate ourselves to learning. To become more soulful and in touch with our spiritual side, we must practice peacefulness.

Studying something new opens our minds to greater possibilities and helps us succeed in all intellectual areas. Continuing to study, whether it is knowledge about the external world or yourself, increases our mental endurance and enhances our spiritual understanding.

I have a hard time concentrating on one thing at a time. I am like that dog from the Disney movie Up who gets immediately distracted when he sees a squirrel. That is me. When something new or different comes into my mind or my environment, I lose track of what I was currently doing and shift my attention.

I know this is who I am. I’ve studied myself. But I have also realized how to combat this tendency. Like so many others, I listen to calming noises to drown out the outside distractions. Sounds like the waves on a beach is my favorite.

This is what works for me. It helps calm my mind, holds my focus, and keeps me still when I need a moment to concentrate. I may be concentrating on work or on nothing, and both are okay.

Financial

Finally, the most obvious currency for the financial part of our lives is money. This is something that we all want more of because it helps us attain other things that we need. But how do we become successful in our financial world when it comes to handling money?

It takes discipline and determination just like all of the other parts of our lives. If we want to have a physically fit body, we need to practice healthy dieting and exercise habits. If we want a monetarily fit bank account, we need to practice healthy spending and saving habits.

The best part of all of these currencies is that simple habits can be formed around them to automate our success in each area. It might take a little bit of planning, but that makes it even better! Why? Because we are intentionally designing our lives around what we want to succeed in.

This month might be financial. The next month, we continue with our financial habits, but also add some physical habits. Then we can add professional, family & friends habits. From this process, the snowball effect will take hold and our lives will start to exponentially get better.

Once we have the habits in place and plans in motion, all we have to do is make sure we don’t get off the train.