The Ramsey Show - App - How Do I Balance Volunteering With Increasing My Income? (Hour 3)

Episode Date: July 23, 2021

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🎵 Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, broadcasting from the Dollar Car Regional Studio, this is The Ramsey Show, where America hangs out to have a conversation about your life and your money. I'm Christy Wright. Joining me today is my good friend, Ken Coleman, and we are here for you. We're taking your calls at 888-825-5225. If you have a question about money, paying off your debt faster, what to save for, how to work the baby steps, we're here for you. Give us a call, 888-825-5225. And if you follow Ken or myself, then you probably know we love to talk about more than just money. I love helping people with businesses. So if you have a business question, call in for that. A question about your career, maybe what your next

step is. And of course, because my new book, Take Back Your Time, The Guilt-Free Guide to Life Balance is now available for pre-sale. We are taking all questions about time management, productivity, balance, how we can do what matters most to create a sense of balance in your life. Give us a call, 888-825-5225. I got a question about the new book. Yes, let's have it. That is available.

So when you were diving through this, a lot of this comes from your own personal experience. I've heard you say you wrote it for yourself, which is the best kind of book because you know it works. What are you finding that is maybe one or two of the biggest time suckers? I know I'm making that up. That doesn't sound very official, but you get my point. Where do you see a lot of the stress there? Yeah, well, I go into some of the time stealers in very official, but you get my point. Where do you see a lot of the stress there? Yeah, well, I go into some of the time stealers in the book. Oh, time stealers. I like that.

Yeah, yeah. That's so much better. I actually do really talk about that in the book. But to me, that is more of an ancillary issue. Yeah. I think the core thing that I really love to dig into through the majority of the book, and you heard me talk about this at Summit. We were at Entree Leadership Summit together.

But here's what I found about life balance. We don't know what it is. We just know we don't have it. Like if you ask people what this means to them, they can't really define it. So it becomes this shadow that haunts us and we always feel like we're failing. And so what I wanted to do in this book, Ken,

is I wanted to redefine it because I think many people don't have a definition for it, but they're always asking about it. It's the number one question I'm asked all the time. But the second thing is I think we feel an incredible pressure to do everything for an equal amount of time or we do everything perfectly. So let's say you have a day where, you know, let's say you put in a really long day. It's a 12 hour day, 14 hour day. And at the end of the day, you did what was right because you knew that was going to be a 14 hour day.

That was going to be a hard day. You planned your day around it. But at the end of the day, the inclination is, well, I didn't work out. I didn't spend time with my kids. I'm failing. And so the implied pressure is we've got to do everything every day and we've got to do everything perfectly. And I want to set people free from that pressure because I don't think it's true.

I don't think it's realistic and I don't think it's even desirable. And so the definition that I built this whole book around is life balance isn't doing everything for an equal amount of time. It's about doing the right things at the right time. And when you do the right things at the right time, you will feel that sense of balance that you've been looking for.

So for me, simply defining it for people and then making it tactical through these five steps to create balance. That's what takes this elusive idea that haunts us and gives us practical application for our life and sets us free from the guilt and the pressure to do everything every day. And then you can, next time you can work that 14 hour day and go, Hey, I did the right thing at the right time.

I'm proud of how I used my time and I actually feel balanced. But it wasn't because I did everything because we're never going to do everything perfectly. And I hope it's a message that really sets people free. I think it will because I think that one simple statement that you made is very profound. It's not about doing everything. It's the right thing. Yeah. That does really make a person feel like what has been kind of called balance.

It's just it makes you feel focused on, hey, this is where my focus is. I've heard you say that. When I'm at work, I'm focused on work. When I'm at home, I'm focused on those three gorgeous babies, you know. So I think that is a breakthrough for folks to realize, look, I can't do everything. It's just impossible. Yeah. But then it also helps, gives you permission to be present in what you are doing, whether that's work or home.

And what's interesting, Ken, is when we ask about balance, which I am asked about this all the time, I think what we're really asking is something else. I think we're saying, how can I be proud of how it's been my time? How can I be happy in my life? How can I be confident in my choices when I say yes to this thing or that thing? And what's fascinating is when you follow my steps to balance I lay out in this book, you actually, that is the result. You are happier, you are more confident, you are more fulfilled and you feel that sense of balance, but it wasn't because you balanced everything perfectly like a scale with trade-offs. It was because you learned to align your time with what's right right now and then be proud

of those things. And so it's a different approach, and I think it actually solves the problem in a better way. I was in a country store not too long ago up in Brevard, North Carolina, a beautiful mountain community where my in-laws had retired to. And it was one of those frou-frou stores. So it's like, Stacy's going in, so I have to. And so we're just walking around, and she's shopping, and I'm just perusing. And I saw a little sign on a shelf and I'll never forget it and it said you can do everything you want just not at the same time yep and you're in I mean I want to ask you about seasons yeah because you know I know your journey

right so I know your story a little bit more than probably the average person of being a colleague of yours but now you're in it feels like you're in several seasons at once but you're getting ready to go back to not getting ready you are moving back into seminary which is a graduate level program uh while being a ramsey personality and everything that comes with that a show writing coaching uh you're a wife to matt and then you're a mama to three awesome kiddos um what would you say to men and women right now that feel like i'm straddling several seasons yeah yeah i think i think when we take the pressure off to do everything then it gives us this reminder that you have permission to do what's right right now so as as an example, what's right right now? Okay, you gave some examples there of like work and my kids and seminary.

That's a lot. But there are a lot of things that I don't do. And so because I don't have time for those, those are not a priority right now. Let's say, for example, my house isn't as clean as I want, which it never is, or I'm not working out as much as I want, which I am not in this season, or seeing my friends as much as I want, which it never is, or I'm not working out as much as I want, which I am not in the season or seeing my friends as much as I want. Instead of feeling guilty for that, I'm like, oh, well, that's just not right right now.

Let me give you another example. I would love to play on an adult soccer league someday. I would love to travel to Europe. I would love to do lots of things. And you could look at that and go, oh, well, boo hoo, poor me. I'm never going to get to that. No, no, no. Just because something's not right right now doesn't mean it's never right.

It just means it's not right right now. Not this season. It gives you permission to shake the guilt of all this pressure and good things, good opportunities, desires that you have, and say it doesn't mean it's never right. It's just not right right now. So that is probably one of the most powerful questions

you can ask yourself. What's right right now? Do that and watch how it gives you permission to be present for that thing and shake the guilt of all the things that are not right right now. Do that and watch how it gives you permission to be present for that thing and shake the guilt of all the things that are not right right now. By the way, if you are struggling with feeling out of balance, if you feel like, I don't know why I feel so busy all the time. I don't know why I feel out of balance. I actually created a quiz to help you get to the root of it. I have identified four main causes of being out of balance. And this quiz is going to show you which

one you might struggle with and what to do about it. You can take my balance quiz by texting busy to 33789. That's busy to 33789. Figure out why you feel out of balance in the first place. And by the way, that's free. So I don't know why anybody wouldn't text Izzy to 33789 right now and just see where you stand. And don't forget the new book, Take Back Your Time, The Guilt-Free Guide to Life Balance on pre-sale. RamseySolutions.com ChristyWright.com. Go get it right now. People all over the country are discovering a faith-based and budget-friendly way

of meeting health care costs through Christian Health Care Ministries. Christian Health Care Ministries, or CHM, is a nonprofit organization that helps members carry one another's burdens with healthcare expenses, and they have successfully shared each other's medical bills for nearly 40 years. See if CHM is right for you by visiting chministries.org. CHM is a proud sponsor of Dave Ramsey Live Events. Guns.com is the number one online retailer of custom window coverings. You get free samples, free shipping, and with the new promo codes they run every month, you'll save even more. Use promo code RAMSEY to get the best deal. Today's question comes from David in Texas. He writes in, I'm 31 years old, debt-free, including my condo, and I have $65,000 in savings.

I currently work for the government in IT. I chose this path because as a teenager, I was painfully shy and didn't like interacting with people. Now I'm mature. Personality has changed. And I love being with and helping people. I'd like to go back to school to be a nurse, which I can complete in less than three years. I can afford my living expenses and the school cost with the savings I have. Would you recommend that I make this jump?

With a nursing degree and IT background, I could pivot to health informatics after a few years of experience as a nurse. Yes, and it's not even a jump. Way to go, David. This is the biggest no-brainer in the history of questions. All of the money situation is taken care of. You're cash flowing. There's no debt here. It's clearly passion for you and gives you a ladder by which you can continue to advance. I wish I could add more to this question, but there's nothing there. It's a no-brainer.

And again, not a jump. This is going to be a really cocky stroll. You know? I mean, he's got this. I like that. And by the way, that's what we want at Ramsey Solutions. We don't want you taking big jumps, financially or professionally. It's not necessary. I think we romanticize this stuff for movies and stuff like this and some of these social media doofuses that are out there that are posing next to private jets and telling you, just go for it.

Maybe not. Maybe not. You know what's interesting, though, is I think that so often people see it as a jump, not because the money's not there, like in David's case, but because it just feels scary. Yeah, sure. Oh, it just feels scary because it's new. You nailed it. Put the plan on paper.

See how you can afford this on paper and let the information give you the confidence that you are okay. We get a similar call here on the Ramsey Show often where people are scared to do something, scared to buy something, scared to change jobs, and they have the money. It's just scary because it's new. It's not because you can't afford it. You absolutely can and you should. And you should do it. Yeah. I love it. All right. Let's go to Joshua in't afford it. You absolutely can, and you should, and you should do it. Yeah. I love it.

All right, let's go to Joshua in Indianapolis. Hey, Joshua, how are you? I'm doing great. How are you all today? Good. How can Ken and I help? My question is, my wife and I are on baby step two. We live in a 120-year-old house.

It needs a lot of renovations. It's our starter home. We've been in it for about eight to nine years. We were considering upgrading. All of our friends around us are. We have not because we are kind of on hold. We wanted to talk to you guys about what would be the best thing to do. We owe $29,000 on it. We're real close to paying it off. But again, it's going to need a lot of renovation once it's done. So do we pay it off, reno it, maybe stay in it, maybe sell it now, maybe upgrade now? What do you guys think? I need some help. How much debt do you have total other than the 29 that you own the house? We owe 12K on a car and that's all. Oh, okay. When you say it needs tons

of renovations, but you've lived in it for eight or nine years, what renovations are you talking about? Well, we recently found some mold in our bathroom. The home hasn't been updated in about 40 to 50 years. We bought it as is. It's livable and we've enjoyed staying there, but it's not really suiting our needs anymore. The kitchen needs redone, you know, basically cosmetics, but also, you know, the electrical is going to need replaced in the next five or six years i had that looked at um the roof is fine um but the foundation's got some cracks in it things like that how much though i think christy asked the right question how much

how much money is it going to cost to do all of that i would say 50 to 60000 to $60,000. All right. Okay. So why are you thinking about selling it? Y'all want to move anyway? Because you said the house doesn't suit your needs. Repairs aside, you said it doesn't. What does that mean? Yes. Repairs aside, we're leaning towards moving anyway. I want to move because of the mountain of work.

My wife likes it, but she's also considering moving as well. Okay. How much do you guys make? $48,000 to $50,000 a year. Okay. Other than the $29,000 that you owe in the house and other than whatever potential repairs, let's ignore that for just one second,

how long will it take you to pay off this $12,000? On the car? Oh, a year and a half at the most is my plan. Okay. Let me ask you this. How much is the house worth, do you think, if you put it on the market today? You got an idea? I would say $50,000, $55,000.

And you got that much you got to put in repairs in it? Well, yeah. Yeah. So, and that's your combined income is the $48,000 to $50,000? That's both of you? Yes, that's combined. Interesting. I'm a little surprised the house is only worth $50,000. Is it really run down?

We bought it for $39,900. It's an old farmhouse in kind of the middle of nowhere. I have not had it appraised since we bought it for $39,900. It's an old farmhouse in kind of the middle of nowhere. I have not had it appraised since we bought it. Have you had a real estate professional, which you could contact at RamseySolutions.com, come out and take a look at it and give you a really good idea what the market will bear? I mean, how educated of a guest was that that you gave me on $50,000? It's not a very good educated guest. I have not had someone else.

All right. Well, I think that's worth it. Do you understand what I'm saying? You really got to see what this thing is worth. You got any acreage? No, sir. Just a half acre. Okay.

Yeah. I think you need some more information. Yeah. What I was going to say before you said the mold, what I was going to say is pay off your debt and then sell the house you know i'm not opposed to you moving and getting a new house that's fine you know upgrading your house a little bit get definitely getting something that's that's maybe newer better whatever um you've got some money to be able to put down on it but but you want to do that debt

free you want to do that after baby step two when you have three to six months of emergency fund for when things come up because they will so that's kind of the the baby step you've got a thousand dollar emergency fund then you pay off all kind of the baby step. You've got a $1,000 emergency fund. Then you pay off all your debt in baby step two. Then you save up three to six months of expenses. And then you save to put a down payment on a house. Now, because you have some equity in this house, you could use that when you sell it. The only concern that I have for you is the mold situation.

And so that may be something that would kind of trump this where you just need to get out. And you maybe get out, sell the house, take the equity, pay off your debt, and put something down on something small. Or maybe it's something where you sell the house, take that money, pay off your debt, and then rent for a little bit until you save up some more and then buy something else that you want. I think that you need to take care of your situation with the mold for sure.

But like Ken said, let's go ahead and get a real appraisal. Let's figure out how much this is actually worth. I think you do make the move, and I think when you do, you pay off your debt. Maybe you move to another house. Maybe you rent for a while. But either way, I think we need to get out of that house because the mold is something you don't mess around with. But I would tell him I had to deal with it. We bought a house recently and discovered it when doing some renovating.

Yeah. The mold remediation is not as scary and crazy as you think, usually. I have no idea, so I don't want to sound like Mr. House Reno guy. I'm not. But Christy's right. That's a health issue. And if you're going to sell it anyway, let's say we decide to sell it and rent, which is one of the options you gave him, that mold's going to need to be taken care of.

Yeah. So take care of that first and then go from there. And run your options. Yeah. But I think a real estate agent can help you see how much it's actually worth because that's going to be really, really important to you making the best decision. The other thing, Ken, that I think is hard with some of these situations is we don't have all the information and we're trying to make a decision. That's right.

Right? Whether it's with a job. Someone called in the last hour about like, well, I think I want to be a tech for this thing. And you're like, well, do you know? And when you have limited information, you're not going to make the best decision. Yes. But the great news is the information is out there. Yeah.

If you do some of the work. You and I both talk about this all the time. The other thing that you need all the information is it allows you to overcome fear. There's a natural amount of fear attached to any change or any new thing. But it doesn't have to be paralyzing fear. When we have information,

and you make a very good point, get all the facts, and then it's not as scary as it needs to be. I mean, there's natural fear going into anything new as you touched on last segment but my goodness uh to put the puzzle together we need all the pieces yeah yeah and ask multiple people if you're getting quotes on mold remediation get three quotes yeah not just one person yeah you know whatever you're doing do your homework yes it takes work but it pays off in the long run, not only in a financial sense, but also in your peace

of mind of knowing you did your due diligence and you're doing the best thing. This is The Ramsey Show. Thank you. according to the united states census bureau nearly one in ten people relocated to a new city last year and that was in 2020 that means this year there's a good chance you or someone you know is planning a big move now i know it feels like there's a good chance you or someone you know is planning a big move. Now I know it feels like there are a thousand unknowns you're juggling when you're relocating, but you cannot lose focus of one of the most important personal and financial factors in your move, your housing. I recommend hiring a quality real estate agent like one of our endorsed local

providers or ELPs to help you find the right home in your new city. ELPs are top performing experts in their local market and have years of experience helping folks just like you make successful moves. It's easy to get instantly connected with an endorsed local provider agent. Just go to ramseysolutions.com slash agent and talk with a Ramsey trusted agent about how they can help with your relocation. That's ramseysolutions.com slash agent. I'm Christy Wright and Ken Coleman and I are answering your calls 888-825-5225. We're on for a couple more segments. If you've got a call, if you've got a question rather, give us a call. All right, we're going to go to John in San Francisco, California. Hey, John, how are a call. All right, we're going to go to John in San Francisco, California.

Hey, John, how are you? I'm good. How are you guys? Good. How can I help? All right. I'll try and keep this short. I'm 24.

I live in San Francisco with a roommate making about 99K gross. I recently got a job offer from a fund I worked in investing for about $160,000 to $170,000, but a lot of that is through bonuses. The catch is that it's a really far commute away, and having a car in this city is insanely expensive. So looking at the difference after taxes, taxes on the bonus, the various costs of having a car for the first time and being a young man. It comes out only to about 10k net a year. And another wrinkle is just, I'm not sure it's that great for my career growth. You know, it is a sort of more

direct investing role, but I just don't know if this sort of, you know, if a long commute is worth it. So that's the real question. I'm gonna let Ken answer this because I know he's gonna dig into this and ask you lots of great questions. I just wanna call out from the get-go, John, it sounds like you don't want it. Like you're making a strong case

of why you shouldn't take it. So I just wanna call out, it sounds like you're already leaning that way. Am I right? Well, I'm really, so this is the other wrinkles. I'm really well supported in my current role. I have a fantastic manager. She's really supportive. She wrote to the executive committee with sort of an offer in my ask to sort of match and keep me and keep me this day.

John, John, John, John, John, John, listen, this is so simple. So I'm also guessing the one thing you didn't say, I'm going to take a guess, I don't mind if I'm wrong, that your current job also really represents a ladder for you professionally, that there's opportunity for growth there, correct? Yeah, it also will let me follow my girlfriend. She's going to law school next year. It's just a much more flexible working environment. I can follow her.

I can see myself moving up. Yeah, so that relational piece is all bonus. So here's the deal. I would say no, and I think you called us today for permission to say no to a job offer that seems really, really awesome. Am I right? Yeah. Yeah.

Let me tell you why, John. And I want to help you feel really good about this an hour from now or three hours from now. So, Christy, here's what I found. Taking calls from people who have taken promotions, and six months later they call me. They go, Ken, I took a really great job, and I don't like it. I said, well, why'd you take it? And they go, because the money was really good.

And there's one other factor. You feel like you have to. That's it. But there's one other factor. When we get a job offer, it's not just the money all right it's also we feel wanted and everybody wants to feel what oh they want me oh that feels good and then the money makes it almost a it is good it feels good to be wanted and then the extra money makes you go this is the right decision and john i'm

really thankful that you called us thanks for being vulnerable with us and your gut is absolutely right it's not worth it for multiple reasons that you already laid out this is a great decision for you to say no say no to the good so that you can say yes to the best. And I'm going to tell you something, folks. Sometimes promotions become traps. I've heard it over and over again. You've got to step back and say, all right, because here's what I teach, Christy. It's never the money. It better be the next rung on the professional ladder. It better be about purpose because I'm going to tell you something, more dollar signs but less significance always leads to somebody going, man, boy, this was the wrong move. So good on you, sir. Say no. And here's the problem, Chrissy. We talked about this before when you gave great advice to somebody and I said,

they're going to question. People are going to go, you're crazy to turn this down. No, John, you're not. For all the reasons that you've already determined. That you already knew before you called us. The other thing I want to call out is this is not the only opportunity you'll ever have. That's correct. You're good and you're going to continue to grow and expand your skills and be in high demand. And there may be another job that offers you the same amount of money or more

that is closer, next to your girlfriend, all the things. This is not the... When we make decisions based on fear and scarcity, they're also always bad decisions. And so we don't want to make decisions based on that. This is not the only good opportunity. You had your mind made up before you called us, but I'm glad that we could confirm it for you.

All right, let's go to Cody in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Hey, Cody, how are you? Cody, you there? All right. No Cody. Well, Ken, the thing that is interesting to me about this last call about John and his current company is, and you made this such a good point, when we see dollar signs, we stop thinking clearly.

We think that that's the next thing we have to do i feel so good about people are going to tell you you're crazy yeah people are going to tell you you're crazy for not taking the money and here's the other thing you're going to end up in that spot but then your old position may be gone you took the position you're calling the king coleman show i'm miserable i thought i was supposed to take it yeah i think there's also this pressure that like you have to or you're missing out. You have to or you'll never be asked again. You have to or it's the only job out there. I think you're absolutely right.

And it's just not true. It's not true. And I will tell you there's so much fear of peers. What are other people going to say if I don't take this? And we cannot underestimate that when we're alone with our thoughts. It's okay to feel that because you love these people.

They speak into your life. But at the end of the day, you've got to go, they're not the ones that are going to follow this path. They can give me advice all they want to. They can give me perspective all they want to. But it's my path.

It's not their path. And I tell you, you know, because of the business that you and I are in, I mean, you and I really are in the business of helping people reach their dreams. I mean, really. And I got to tell you, I have seen more and more and more that the friends and family members who poo-poo the pursuit of the dream many times are doing it because they don't want to be left behind themselves. It's that insecurity they're projecting. That's interesting. They didn't chase their own.

And when they see you go, it's not that they want to hold you back. It's not that they have ill will. Sure. Because I dug into that. I was like, how could the people that love us the most discourage us the most? Sure. It's their own fear. And you just nailed it.

It's projection. Because they go, I didn't chase it i don't want you leaving me in the middle of the road while you're moving forward or i chased it i chased it and i didn't work whatever happened right and so we've got to be careful to say do i believe this is right yeah do i believe it's right i mean mean, you were talking about earlier, do the right thing. And the right thing is, hey, what's the next rung on the ladder for me? Yeah. Regardless of what anybody else thinks. Thinking long term.

Thinking long term. Yes. Not immediate paycheck, but long term. Is this going to move me in the direction I want to be? Is this the location I want to be? Is this aligned with my goals of where I want to be? You coach business owners all the time on this, small business owners. Like, what's the right move?

You know, there's a temptation there to grow too quick or to take a big risk. Well, and I tell people this with anything in life, whether it's in business and how you manage your time, in a career move. If you don't begin with the end in mind, you'll end up crossing someone else's finish line. And you have got to start with your vision. I believe she just dropped a mic, folks. Someone tweet that. Stitch it on a pillow.

Is that what they call it? You dropped a mic. Drop your headset, please, as you take us to break. That was really good. Say it one more time. If you don't begin with the end in mind, you will end up crossing someone else's finish line. And we're out. This is The Ramsey Show. The words of the mouth are deep waters, but the fountain of wisdom is a rushing stream.

Proverbs 18.4 What you do has greater impact than what you say. Stephen Covey said that. That's a good one. It's like parenting. Do as I say, not as I do. Boy, isn't that the truth. All right.

Ken Cullen and I are answering your calls today. This has been a great Friday, and Cody is back with us from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Hey, Cody, how are you? I'm doing good. How about yourself? Good. How can Ken and I help today? Hey, so I'm 26 years old.

I just started on the baby steps, my baby step three. I have a full-time job, make about $40,000 a year plus overtime. And then I also volunteer at our local EMS agency about 2,000 hours a year. So I'm wondering how do I balance that volunteering stuff, which I love and have a lot of fun time or fun, you know, doing with maybe picking up a second job and increasing that income. And increasing what? Your income? The income.

Yeah. Yeah. So you're in, did you say baby step three? Yes. Okay. Well, first of all, Cody, you're doing great. To be 26 years old and debt free and working on your three to six months emergency fund, you're starting to get into the part of the baby steps that are a little less intense. And that doesn't mean we're not intentional.

We're definitely intentional. But there's not this, like, gazelle intensity where you have to go as hard and fast as you can to get through four, five, and six. Yes, you want to get your emergency fund funded, but it's not this sense of urgency. How much do you have in savings right now? Right now, I have about $1,500 in my emergency fund. Okay. So you want to build that up. What would three to six months be for you?

I'm looking at starting around $10,000 for now. Okay, cool. $10,000 just to give a little extra cushion. Yeah, and what do you make a year? About $10,000 for now. Okay, cool. $10,000 just to give a little extra cushion. Yeah, and what do you make a year? About $40,000. Okay, cool. Plus overtime, so. Sure.

Well, you're doing great. I'm going to suggest you do something super tactical, and I literally talk about this in my book on balance, and that is for you to sit down and do an exercise where you write out, what are your most important priorities? Now, this sounds like a simple task. Cody, it can be really hard. It can be really hard to say, okay, in this season, this season being baby step three, this season being 26 years old, this season making 40,000 a year, all the things that kind of define the parameters of this season in your life.

I want you to write down what is most important. One, two, three, four, five, in order. Now, it doesn't mean on any given week that can't change or any given day that can't change. But what it's going to force you to do is it's going to force you to decide which is more important to you right now. Getting your income up, getting through baby step number three. With only $1,500, I would say that that probably should be at the top. But it doesn't mean you can't volunteer. It might just mean you volunteer, I don't know, 200 hours this year instead of 2,000.

And then when you get your emergency fund, you're able to ramp that back up. So it forces you to put into a hierarchy what is most important, what is second most important, third most important, and so on. Obviously, your full-time job is going to be your primary source of income. From a financial sense, that's, most important, and so on. Obviously, your full-time job is going to be your primary source of income. From a financial sense, that's your most important. Second, getting these hours, these hours in the overtime and so on to be able to get your income up. And then third, volunteer after that. But if we try to treat everything as if it's created equal, then when push comes to shove, we don't know how to make decisions and we don't make any traction. And so you have permission to focus on what's most important to you.

You just need to decide what that is. And it was just like Ken and I were talking about earlier. If you were listening to the show earlier, just because something's not right right now doesn't mean it's not ever right. Maybe next year you work 2000 hours and from there you're able to keep that volunteer up. So it's just, it's just focusing on the

right thing at the right time. And when you focus on the right thing at the right time, you're not only going to feel balanced, you're also going to make progress on your finances, which is what we love helping people do through the baby steps here at Ramsey Solutions. So if you do that, write out your list, and then it will remind you, hey, what's most important right now? It's getting my income up, just like you said, getting that emergency fund up. And maybe when you get your emergency fund to $6,000, you ramp up your hours volunteering. And then they go up to 500, then they go up to 1,000. It can be a gradual increase of hours. It doesn't have to be your whole emergency fund is funded fully before you get to volunteer to the level that you'd want to.

It can be a gradual turning on the faucet, as we say a lot of times, but it just helps you remember what's most important right now so you don't get distracted. Yeah, you know, I would just encourage you, Cody. Christy's absolutely right. Remember why you volunteer. You know, focus on the why and what result you're after and why you show up, and don't get hung up on, well, I sure would like to volunteer this many hours, and I'm not getting to. Don't focus on that. I would just do a little shift and say, this is awesome that I'm even in a financial position, in a life position to where I can do this.

And remind yourself what the heart is in the volunteering for, and then I think you're going to just be so full of gratitude that you're really not going to be thinking anymore about, well, I sure would like to do more hours. And I think if you do that, you're going to be fine. And again, I just want to echo what Christy said. You're off to a great start in life. You've got a wonderful path ahead of you. I love your heart. I think there's going to be some wonderful things that come out of this. And the other thing I would tell you is that as you're volunteering and you're spending time with this organization, pay attention. Be a human sponge.

Get that antenna up and pay attention for what might be future opportunities for you because there's clearly some mission involved in this volunteering as it always is. So good on you. You're a fantastic young man. Thanks for the call. You know, Ken, when I was a Young Life leader years ago, I was a Young Life leader from 2006 to 2012, I think. And I was a leader in college as well. But what's interesting is when I started to feel this tension where I was showing up to clubs and showing up to leader meetings,

and it felt like this was not right for me anymore. That was hard. Your heart was so in it. It was, and it was also, it started to feel like, well, because this used to be right, it should always be right. And I think sometimes when our season changes, whether it changes because of family, whether it changes because of our priorities, whether it changes because of financial reasons, like we're trying to pay off our debt, that can be hard to let go of what was and accept this new thing that is now, what is right right now.

And so I just want to encourage Cody, but anybody listening, if you're in that place where you're transitioning between seasons, you're like, but I used to always do this. I used to always spend time on this. This used to be my priority and I always love to do this. It's okay if that changes. It is. You have permission to change your mind, change your plans, change your priorities. You should.

And what I see a lot in people that I work with, Ken, and I've been guilty of this myself, but our season changes and we don't change with it. We don't adapt to it. We don't acknowledge the new season that we're in. So, you know, I think back to when I had Carter, my oldest child, when he was a newborn, I still expected that I would do all the things I used to do before kids. And then I couldn't, I was exhausted. The house was a mess. If I got a shower once a week, it was a, so I felt like a failure, right? Because my new season was not like what I expected. And so if, if you're in that place right now, and let's say you've decided to start your debt-free journey, you're working the baby steps, you used to do all these things or spend money on these things or go out with friends out to dinner, go on date night, go on vacation, you're not doing them, it doesn't mean you'll never get to do that again.

No. That's actually why we teach what we teach is so that you can do that debt-free, but you have permission to change your priorities when you're in a new season. Yeah, you just really made me start to think. I think that's such a good word. And I'm looking at my own life and seasons that I look back, and instead of with regret, I need to look back and reminisce.

Well, you know what we do? There are times where, hey, Stacey and I eventually will be empty nesters again. But there was a time where we did things. You know, you, one of my favorite Christy Wright stories is you being single and deciding to go live on a farm and have all the animals. The fainting goat is the all-time legendary story. We'll save that for another time because it really is fantastic.

And you could look back on that and go, well, I don't have all the freedom I used to. Instead of regretting that, reminiscing, oh, that was a wonderful season. You learned so much about yourself that make you the wife and mom you are today. We need to look back with fond reminiscing, not fateful regret. Well, that, and it's interesting too, because sometimes we can have the opposite problem where we look back on our past as if it was so good. Like, oh my gosh, I wish I had the freedom of before. And in our present, we focus on the pain. Oh my gosh, little kids are so hard. There's peanut butter on my walls. Focus on the good in both.

Focus on the good in your past and in your present. Man, my kids snuggle my neck like I know they won't when they're your kid's age. And they squeeze mama's neck. Yes. Focus on the good. Focus on the good in your past, the good in your present, and the good that I know God has for you in your future. That's a good word to end on.

I want to thank producer Ben Hill, associate producer Kelly Daniel, and my co-host and good friend Ken Coleman. Fun. This is The Ramsey Show. Hey guys, this is James, senior producer for The Ramsey Show. Did you know over 18 million people listen to The Ramsey Show every week? And a lot of those people listen on one of our 600 plus radio stations across the country. To find a station near you, head to theramseyshow.com.