Just by knowing what your passions are and by prioritizing them, you are on your way to financial security.

Sounds so simple, but for some reason many of the female attorneys and women execs we know haven’t taken the time to think about their passions.

To me it’s like saying you are heading out on vacation without knowing how you’re going to get there. You get in the car and drive. You have a destination, but no map to get you there. Sure, you may get there eventually, but without a map the road will be circuitous. You may lose time, you may not reach your destination at all. You may run out of gas. Along the way things will come up. How and when you reach your destination will really be left to chance.

If you know what is important to you, you are on the road to making those things happen. At our firm we call them passions, intentions. And we find them the drivers of our joy in life, our purpose- As Simon Sinek says, “our why.” There are so many choices, but without knowing what is most important to you, reaching those goals becomes elusive.

Financial security starts with envisioning your ideal life, starting with your big picture, and then prioritizing what is most important to you personally, professionally, and financially. We encourage you to think out one, three, ten years. Then, when you’ve prioritized what you want, you’ll take stock of where you are and what steps you’ll want to take to reach these goals. Below are the steps you can take to clarify your passions so you can craft a plan for your financial security.

1. Identify your Passions and Pursuits

Find this idea overwhelming? Choose the top three things that are important to you personally, professionally, and financially. Then detail these out. For example, maybe you’d love to transition from your high paying legal position to a non-profit role at some point down the road. Determine WHEN you’d really want to do this, what the role would look like, what it might pay, where it would be. If you are the breadwinner, you’ll want to think about how lower compensation will work for you and your family and what your choices are here.

2. Prioritize

Often we find you’ll need to choose the one or two things that are most important to you from the list of Passions. You may not be able to reach all goals now, so choose what you want first and when.

3. Define what Success Means to You

If you were to look back three years from now, what would have to happen for you to feel like you’ve made good progress towards these passions? This will help you determine the steps you’ll need to take. Women professionals have a lot on their plates. We believe that incremental steps work best in reaching goals. Know that your goals will evolve and you’ll need to make choices. That’s ok. What is most important is thinking big and knowing what your passions in life are, so you can put a plan together to live your ideal life.

We use a worksheet called Passions & Pursuits for this exercise and we’re happy to email that to you if you’d like. You will also find a template of that worksheet in our book Corner Office Choices-The Executive Woman’s Guide to Financial Freedom.  And if you are NOT living your passion be sure to join us for a virtual meeting with Marcy Morrison on March 3rd to learn how to change that.