Make a Happiness List to Send Your Finance Goals into Warp Drive

In my last post I wrote about creating a happiness list, which acts as a guiding light for your monetary and life decisions. As a personal exercise I thought I’d make two lists: one for present-day me, and one that I would have written ten years ago. To do that I put myself back in the mindset of 15-16 year old Darcy; a throwback to living in Fearsville in the middle-o-nowhere Midwest. By the way, I’m blown away realizing this was just ten years ago (and only two outta the Great Recession). Barack Obama was only into Year 2 of his presidency, Instagram wasn’t quite yet ready for the masses, and we were all worried about the scary swine flu epidemic (oh, how things change…)

My life was so different as a high school student compared to today, and my two lists reflect that perfectly. Some things never change, including how happy the woods and my brother make me. There were a couple of surprises as well, mainly in what doesn’t make my happiness list now. It’s fascinating to see the growth from where I was to where I am now. At that time in my life I solidly believed I’d have moved to Europe and published a book by now. Obviously, having made millions of dollars by doing so.

This was before I planned anything to get there, by the way. Planning is important, yall!

Let’s take a stroll down (my) memory lane and compare what was to what is.

A Happiness List Blast from the Past

Without further ado, here’s what my Happiness List would have looked like if I did this in high school:

1. Good food
2. Being accepted
3. Reading books
4. Walking in the woods
5. Being alone in a quiet space
6. Sleeping
7. Being recognized positively
8. Dreaming
9. Planning for the future
10. My brother

And just for comparison’s sake, here’s Taylor again from the Playing with Fire documentary doing the same thing:

Now I don’t know about you guys, but a few of the entries on my past list gut me. Specifically, the ones that 15-year-old Darcy would have written to be truthful, but for no one else to ever, ever see. “Being accepted” isn’t referring to college acceptances, but social acceptance instead. Ditto for “being recognized positively”. “Being alone” brought me happiness because being alone somewhere quiet meant being somewhere safe. Other people around in the house I grew up in meant constant chaos; it was a guarantee you’d hear the TV blaring, someone yelling at someone else, or footsteps stomping as hard as possible. That kind of environment always left me on guard and didn’t make for good sleep, hence why I treasured it so much to get it on this list.

I thought this important to share because coming from a bad home life actually set me on the path to financial literacy and independence. In 2016 I told myself I’d move into a box under a bridge before moving back in with family, and not out of some misplaced sense of pride. Deciding to become financially literate has, in turn, allowed for some incredible healing once I banished any money stressors. Now I’ve traded in the bridge box for dreams of a sprawling mountain home – with plenty of built-in shelves to house the tons of books I’ll have!

But I’m getting ahead of myself. That stems from my current Happiness List, written out as a happy 26-year-old who just closed on $150,000.

A Happiness List from the Present Day

Today, my happiness list is, in no particular order:

1. My brother!
2. Books/reading
3. Walking/hiking in the woods
4. Spring/autumn weather
5. Friends!!
6. Security/peace
7. Helping others
8. Working towards my goals
9. Travel/cool food experiences
10. Seeing others gain positive wins

Some things never change, including my love for reading, having my brother around, and exploring beautiful forests. I’m really surprised to find “good food” is no longer on the list, with “good” referring to taste instead of nutritional value. With that said the quality of my food has certainly gone up, with me being a lot better at sticking to the food pyramid than I ever did back then. Case in point: up until college I thought corn was a vegetable, which constituted almost all of my “veggie” servings pre-graduation. I have since been corrected and no longer confuse foods in between food groups (although tomatoes are on thin ice).

I’m also surprised “sleeping” and “dreaming” isn’t on there, either. Both were a sort of escapism from my life circumstances, and to this day I have vivid dreams better than any VR technology. I also make it a priority to sleep at least seven hours a night, as it’s a part of the day I really look forward to (and hate waking up). I guess I don’t need that escapism anymore, although it would still rank as #11 or #12.

Something else changed as well: I’ve shifted from planning for the future to actively working towards it. Now that I have full autonomy over my life and lifestyle, there’s nothing stopping me from putting my plans – and work to being the best version of myself I can – into concrete action. Somewhere along the way I’ve gone from a passive actor to an active one, seizing what I want instead of sitting anxiously on the sidelines. What a stellar change to see!

Why Your Happiness List Matters

Making this kind of list for yourself is another way of ensuring you’re in line with your goals and dreams. Mine have obvious tie-ins with my own dreams: building a mountain home surrounded by forests, world travel, and (obviously) getting the extra guac at Chipotle. I’m also happily already helping others and seeing them win, through both my charitable giving and writing stuff here!

It doesn’t matter where you are in life; make a happiness list for yourself. At best it’ll affirm your life choices and you can do a proud fist pump. At worst it’ll help you know to realign, all so you can achieve more of what’s on that list.

It also helps to ask yourself questions after making it. Does your current way of life maximize these ten things? How much money is needed to enjoy these things? What are you spending money on now that’s not maximizing your joy?

Going back to the above documentary, it made Scott and Taylor realize their super pricey town on the coast wasn’t actually maximizing their happiness. That prompted a radical shift in the way they live as they pursued never having to work again, which is the goal I’m also working towards now. It doesn’t hurt at all to write that down, and it proves invaluable in focusing your life on what actually matters most.

Share with me however much of your own happiness list you find comfortable! I’m so curious what others have down on their own little lists. Anything surprising or that you’re surprised is missing?

Top image credit: Jared Sluyter via Unsplash