Taking the two-year test
In Cashing In on the American Dream, Paul Terhorst suggests that we take the two-year test. He writes,
…consider that the rest of your life is two years. Would you change anything? If you had only two years to live, would you continue to work where you work? Live where you live? Treat your spouse and kids the way you treat them now? See your friends as often as you do now? Travel about as much as you do now? If you answer yes to those questions, change nothing. All you have to do is retake the two-year test in six months or so.
If you answer no to any of those questions — if you’d do something differently if you knew you were to die in two years — you need to reflect a bit. What has happened in your life that makes you want to change? What alternatives do you see? How can you get started in a new direction?”
Two years is far enough away to require actual planning, but not so far off that it seems like there’s plenty of time left to plan later. (When things seem very far away, it’s tempting to take care of immediate needs and wants instead. Witness the number of people who don’t save enough for retirement or their children’s college.) Taking the two-year test at regular intervals can be a good way to make sure your life is headed in the desired direction.
When I reflect on the questions, there are a few things that I intend to change. I want to work for myself (and make lots of money doing so) instead of working where I do now. Of course I always want to be nicer to my husband and son. And I’d like to travel more often (and eventually for longer periods of time as well.)
As far as how I can get started in this new direction, it’s just a matter of doing it. I’ve been talking about starting a new business for a long time now, and actually doing an infinitesimal bit of work on it each week. Time to ramp that up, plan it out in better detail, and set mini-goals for myself. I think that traveling more will take care of itself with time, but maybe it is a mistake to think that way. So for now I will concentrate on planning the next trip. Meanwhile, I’ll make a note to myself to review the two-year test again in six months.
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January 14th, 2009 at 10:34 am
I like this idea! I don’t really think of it in this way, but there is a gentleman I work with in which we talk frequently of quality of life. It’s sort a check on my plans for the future, but this is a totally different perspective. Thanks for sharing!
January 14th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
I understand what he is saying, and it’s nice to put things in perspective, but it’s a bit unrealistic. I love to travel and been lucky enough to do so. I want to travel more and for long periods as well but that’s not feasible with work and lack of funds. If I decided to do that with only 2 yrs left, I would obviously have to sacrifice work, and then time with friends, family. Opportunity costs both ways. Just think a better strategy is to just do what makes you happy, plan for what makes you happy, and do what you can to enjoy life.
January 14th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
What a great idea.
I’ve been kind of doing this already, but I like the way you quantified as a ‘two-year test’
One thing for sure, I would NOT be working in a cubicle!
January 15th, 2009 at 5:22 am
I love these kinds of thought exercises—I did the same thing a few months back when I pondered what I would do if I had all the money in the world.
Same kind of deal, it freed my mind up to think of what I would “really” want to do. The interesting part was that at the end of the exercise I realized a lot of the things I would change had nothing to do with money and that I could do them right now. That was a big eye opener because you always think that not having enough money is what’s keeping you from doing things.
But it’s not always the case.
January 26th, 2009 at 11:30 am
From this exercise, I learned that I think first of making my fiance’s dreams come true, which gives me warm fuzzy feelings. I think second of the best way to exploit the situation (life insurance policy and loans anyone?) And last, I think that in some ways this exercise can bring out things you need to change, but that it makes you think entirely too much of living in the present and caring nothing for the future.
I know the life I want to live, and I’ve made plans to get there, but to achieve that lifestyle in any sustainable way is not possible right now. I’d rather live a few years where life is not completely perfect and the rest of my life however I want, than to live two perfect years and pay for it the rest of my life, or at least a good portion of it.