310 Plus 6

Six years in to my grand plan to reinvent, primarily, my whole financial scene. It has been successful to date and I see glimmers of possibilities that the Monterey peninsula may just be possible in another four-ish years...maybe six...but nonetheless not that far off. I have read 48 Days to the Work You Love by Dan Miller and I am working to remain in the mindset that there really IS something more out there. It takes consistent, if not constant, attention to formulate new possibilities. Someone recenly told me that the difference between a rut and a grave is the depth. I am committed to NOT getting to the six-foot mark.

The tenets of 310 involved total financial and personal freedom within 10 years from March 10, 2004. I have since paid off all debt except two houses and will be able to vigorously invest as soon as one remaining second mortgage is paid off in the spring of 2011. Reality says that my kids won't be totally out of the house until 2018 or 2020. That allows seven to nine years of the aforementioned effort at building real wealth and a springboard to phase 2, which should include a condo with a view of AT&T Park and true, Christ-centered peace.

Because the alternatives must be discussed, the well-worn path of despair should be pondered. Imagine another fifteen years behind this gray desk in quiet desperation? Work without passion stretching out into old age without hope of escape. Maybe another mortgage, backsliding into car loans, credit cards and dysphoria? Low end red wine and endless hours of television. All of this while the waves roll past the Golden Gate and the sun sets far out on the Pacific. The smell of grilled salmon and spinach risotto drifting in from the balcony. Countless bottles of velvety Silver Oak lining a wine cellar with reserves at the ready. The crack of the bat just across the way and the lights of the City twinkling on and on. Moonlight on the bay and the Berkeley hills beyond. So many reasons to press on toward the sublime.