Here's How to Make the Most of Your Mental Bandwidth

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Doggie photo by Ryan Walton on Unsplash

Although I’ve been quietly creeping and keeping drafts hidden for over a year now, I have OFFICIALLY entered the blogosphere and gone public — WHOOHOOO! I had some celebration sushi to commemorate this auspicious occasion. Although, it is worth noting that Monday was 1/2 off sushi night — this blog doesn't make me any money. Yet.

In all my research, reading and general curiosity about blogging, I’ve come across one interesting consistency: People are, like, super unhappy.

You heard me.

There are so many blogs about blogging to help people ditch their day jobs.

And I get it — I’m reading every word!

I’m not bashing that niche at all. I say this while blogging, as a blogger, who hopes to one day monetize her blog.

It’s just so interesting to me that such a large number of people are looking for a way out. But it makes sense. Fulfilling work is hard to come by, and if there’s a way to do fulfilling work, earn enough money to support your family or supplement your income, why wouldn’t you do it?!

What kills me are the clickbait posts about how anyone can go from a desk job pushing papers to earning $50,000 per month in just four months if only they would start a blog using that blogger's affiliate link. But that’s another rant for another day.

More than anything, absorbing all of these posts gives me pause and makes me wonder why.

Why are there THIS many personal finance blogs? Why are there this many blogging-about-blogging blogs? Maybe we’re collectively unhappy with our jobs or underprepared for the real world; or maybe we’re looking for friends who also freak out when almond butter is buy one, get one free. But that’s what makes the internet cool! Friends! Connections! You feel me?

making blogger connections has been the best part about blogging

SIDE NOTE: If you want to kill some time, peruse some of my personal faves:

And then there’s me.

I still feel like there is a gaping hole in the personal finance world that falls somewhere between “what is a budget?” and “long-term capital gains tax.” At least, there's very little to work with in a way that resonates with me.

That’s the space I want to occupy.

That’s the space where my friends live. Smart, engaged human beings who feel like they somehow missed the boat on personal finance and want to know more, but they don’t want to ask because they feel like they should know … and on and on the cycle goes.

I want to add value to someone’s inbox, and make them feel a little bit more confident in carrying a financial conversation and making money decisions with their spouse, with their boss, with their cat — whatever.

Related post: What Kind of Relationship Do You Have With Your Money?

Because as millennials, we’re kinda in this funky space.

Maybe we’re too young to know, but we’re too old not to care.

If life is a baseball field, we've already rounded first base. Life isn't slowing down, which is a scary thought (and a little bit makes me want to cry?). 

Life isn't slowing down. So make the most of your mental bandwidth with the time you have left.

Between all of our napkin industry disruption, 90s nostalgia (shout out to Lisa Frank!) and general need to maintain a steady paycheck, life as a millennial can be overwhelming. We’re being told from every direction that we should be planning for retirement, but also that we should travel internationally while we’re young; that we can’t hold real careers, but that we’ll be working longer than any generation before us.

It’s a lot.

So what are we going to do about it?

Me? I’m starting with the Line Down the Page (LDP). Here’s what I have so far:

Save more money and free up some mental bandwidth when you create a simple list of what you can and can't control. It's an easy way to take control of your finance.

On the left side, I’m starting a list of all the things I can’t impact or control. Example: Nuclear weapons in North Korea*.

On the right side are things that I can impact. Example: Did I really just pay $5 for a Coors Light? In no universe should a single can of Coors Light cost $5. No. Nooooooooooooooooo. 

Take control of your life and your finances by acknowledging what sucks your time and energy.

I can take control of my personal finance. I can control how I spend the 30 minutes before bed. I can control the way I react to someone stealing my sandwich at work.

You get to choose how you react to every situation.

There are some things that you simply can't help, but there are others that are in your court — things for which you can't blame anybody else. Like, say, wasting an hour of your life scrolling on Instagram.

From making more money to increasing happiness to forging a kick-ass career, I am a staunch believer that time management is the key to success. And yet, Time Management 101 is not a class we are required to take in high school or something you’re tested on in order to become an adult.

It’s one of those life approaches that you read in a Malcolm Gladwell book and think, “Huh, that’s so true,” before going back to scrolling through a Reddit thread on which Korean skincare line is best for anti-aging.

But this time management stuff isn’t something to brush off. Eliminating those things you can't control from your brain space and focusing on what you CAN control is crucial to succeeding — hell, it's crucial to staying sane. 

And choosing what takes up your time and mental bandwidth is VERY much on your side of the LDP.

I know this.

And so WHY do I allow — heck, INVITE — all of this noise into my life?

Clear up that pesky background noise that's stopping you from reaching your fullest life and highest earning potential!

Millennials, our problem isn’t intelligence; we’re loaded with it. Our problem is mental bandwidth. And much of ours is consumed by the steady drone of background noise. Things like:

  • Social media

  • TV

  • Radio

  • Social media

  • Spotify

  • Podcasts

  • SOCIAL MEDIA

  • Books on tape (No? Just me? Cool.)

  • Social media

Make some room. 

We HAVE to make some room. 

Who knows what creative thoughts, money-saving solutions or crazy ideas might creep in if we give them a little space? 

What can we eliminate from our valuable brain real estate in order to make some room? What can we control? What can’t we?

I’ve got two: North Korean nuclear weapons and $5.00 Coors Light.

That’s only two, but it’s a start. 

I’m working on it. 

I’m only 25. 

Got two more? Let’s hear it in the comments below!
 

Free up your mind and make more room for money-saving strategies.

 

*Unless you happen to be a Navy SEAL. And if you are, a Navy SEAL: a.) thanks for the Bin Laden thing; b.) are you single? I have a friend. And c.) why are you reading this blog?!?