The Happiness Manifest – Part 4 – Keep Learning

Did I mention how much I enjoy my time on planes?  As much as I lament the time spent not in meetings with clients or teaching someone about the joy of money [or is that just the strange creature that I am?], still I remember, as I am tapping away at the keys or scribbling in my notebooks, how precious this time is for me to do the things that keep me in line with my values.  If you have not seen my business cards, you won’t know that I declare my values right there for the world to see clearly, so that I may be reminded and held accountable to those declarations.

Character.  Integrity.  Growth.

These words mean many different things to different people, as we all come to this world with our separate perceptions, yet I am eminently clear on what they mean to me.  One of the values that keeps me curious and open is Growth.  To me, this signifies my commitment to be a perpetual student – of the markets, of the human condition, of all the whys and wherefores, and of my own ability to be a better human to my community.

In the Happiness Manifesto, the fourth step is …

  1. KEEP LEARNING … pick up a book, start something entirely new, try what your children love on for size, play with knowledge.

There is a correlation to learning and to older people being more active and suffering less depression.  It is postulated that the benefit is not necessarily in the accumulation of knowledge, but in the curiosity.  Learning has a positive  influence on our self-confidence and our sense of purpose, and setting and seeking goals to achieve is known to improve our well-being.

When was the last time that you showed curiosity about your money, about what your advisor was investing in, or in what other choices might be available to you in other types of investments – such as investments in your own education, or in starting a dream?  Are there things that you yearn to know, to discover?   Let your advisor be your guide to helping you articulate those things that make you question.  Enlist their help in becoming playful and childlike with this learning.  Geez, just have some fun!

However esoteric, if you wonder – you should discover.