Does Money Add Balance? What About Happiness?

photo credit: aresauburnâ„¢

Yesterday, I visited a new lunch spot in town. It’s one of those “hole in the wall” joints, serving up yummy hamburgers (and veggie-burgers), hot dogs and chili. When you walk in, you’ll very quickly notice that the staff of four is all wearing the same shirt. It says, “Living the Dream.”

Awesome.

As I made my way through my meal, I noticed a few things:

1. Everyone working there was happy.
2. Nothing on the menu is more than $7.
3. The restaurant was only open on weekdays for four hours.

I was there for about an hour, and it looked like roughly 50 people made their way through the line. I could do the math and make some guesses and get a pretty decent idea of what this place was bringing in the average week. As you might imagine, they’re probably not going home at 2:30 and jumping in piles of money.

But maybe that’s okay. Maybe they don’t enjoy jumping in piles of money. Maybe they love their work, are ecstatic that they only have to work four hours a day, and are living the dream in the process.

I think a lot of us would dare to live our own dream if it weren’t for the money thing. We don’t want to be poor, but if we were really honest with ourselves, we probably could get by on less than we think. And as a result, our life would be a lot more balanced.

The case can be made that after covering our basic needs and having a little disposable income, more money won’t make us happier. So, putting in all those extra hours for a few extra dollars may actually make us much more grumpy. Or upset. Or insane.

Heck, even lottery winners aren’t necessarily happier. And they didn’t have to do anything to get that fat stack of cash other than drop a few bucks on a ticket.

The most redeeming part of Tim Ferris’ 4-Hour Workweek is the beginning, where he challenges his readers not to try to make millions or simply work less, but to figure out what kind of life they want to live and then do what it takes to fund that life.

No doubt my hamburger making friends want to live a life that allows them to be in the shop during lunch hours and out doing other things before and after that. They also want a life where they can make a quality sandwich, delight their customers and keep a roof over their heads. Put all that together and you get one heck of a burger joint, where everyone slinging food is also slinging smiles.

This weekend, spend some time reflecting not on revenue targets, but on what you enjoy doing – both for a career and for life. If you’re not able to balance your life pursuits with your work demands, then you’ll feel so imbalance that you can’t walk down the road towards living your dreams.

Tell us: what’s your big dream and what are you doing to get there and stay balanced in the process?