Scheduling Harvests

It is that time of the quarter again, where I have a couple days left to close as many tasks as I can to make my bonus. You might be thinking "It isn't the end of the quarter yet" and you'd be right, but due to the major teams we engage with and their schedules during the last month of the traditional quarter, we have staggered ours to finish a month early. This way we can disrupt them less when they are busy and, have more of their time when we need them to help us.

For "full" bonus, I need 80% of the milestone tasks completed, but we have ambitious goals and this is easier said than done. However, I generally completely close to 100% of my tasks, but this is a short quarter, with a month of vacation between for me, and a month of vacation in southern Europe affecting many of the people I need to complete tasks. Anything that doesn't get completed, gets carried forward.

I haven't worked "for the bonus" earlier, however with my renewed desire to put extra income onto the mortgage, the impact it has can be significant. My goal is to put at least half of the bonus amount into the loan every quarter, which will effectively mean that we would be paying off at least 40% more per year. Ideally, we will be putting more than that in over the next 8 years we have a collar on the loan, as it is a supercharged period for shortening the loan time.

What this "new" (it isn't new, but now I am actively pursuing) approach has given me, is some purpose for getting the bonus that goes beyond an abstract sense of needing more to pay the bills and rising costs of living. Making the goals tangible, scheduled and visible, has provided clarity of thought and has made it clear what behaviors are required.

This should be obvious.

But, applying it to our daily lives is not that easy, because our habitual selves tend to automate what it can and ignore what is uncomfortable. And, spending our money on what we can't immediately see the impact of, is uncomfortable. And then, there is the concept of "bonus", as if it is free money that falls out of the sky, making it easier to spend.

Easy come, easy go.

Because the extra money lays outside of the base salary, it isn't as large as the monthly salary and because it doesn't arrive monthly, it is easier to see it as a splurge fund. However, it is around about two full weeks of pay and takes a fair amount of work to qualify, so it is definitely not easy come and, shouldn't be treated as such.

On top of this, it isn't a guaranteed tap and there is no promise for how long this particular system will be in place. This means that the reward structure could change with very little notice and the opportunity to earn extra is reduced, or taken away altogether. Due to this, I can't say that I will be able to add more onto my mortgage in a year from now, let alone the eight years of the collar.

Make hay while the sun shines.

We should never take current conditions for granted, especially when they favor us. It makes us complacent and entitled, plus it gives us the impression that we can waste the opportunity it provides now, because there will always be next month, or next quarter, as the case may be. It is only when that opportunity is lost, that we realize how valuable it was and how much we could have done with it.

In the case of paying down our mortgage faster, while my wife understands why we should, she is also in the frame of mind that if we just wait a bit longer to start paying more, we will be okay. However, she has been saying that for a year now and the time will never be right. It isn't because she hasn't a clue, it is because we are human, and unless there are concrete steps in play, schedules and visibility on activity, our best intentions tend to fall through the cracks.

Lately, I have been focusing more of my attention in this area, which is why I have been writing about the mortgage, but the application of these practices applies to anything. For instance, if you saw the way I schedule my bonus tasks, you would see that it is systematic, repeatable and there are checkpoints to hold myself (as well as others hold me) accountable. It makes a *massive difference when it comes to my ability to not only complete the tasks, but also to ensure that what I am doing is as useful and impactful as possible.

There are always optimization opportunities.

However, if we wait until conditions and processes are "perfect" before we start working toward our goals, we will never start working. This is part of the plan in many cases too, because when we aren't behaving in the ways that get us to where we want to be, we are leaking opportunity.

For instance, it might not be possible to make a large monthly, quarterly or yearly deposit on the mortgage, but having a schedule of small amounts means that if the opportunity arises to do larger, the habits are in place. However, if there isn't the habitual process, those small amounts are whittled away on other activities that might not mean much to us, and over time the amount leaked can be significant.

For instance, on a thirty year loan, the added cost of a pizza on the loan per month, will reduce the loan by about two years. Starting that from day one of the mortgage and then increasing it as more is earned or bonuses arrive, means that it might be possible to half the loan time - which makes a massive difference to quality of life later.

What I am trying to encourage lately is that for those who have "plans", to actually make concrete plans instead. Establish the task list and behaviors needed, create a schedule and make it all visible, so that each day, week, or month, you are able to get a snapshot of progress and identify areas of opportunity.