Why I Usually Bring My B Game

There is no question that in order to speed the path to financial independence, one should front-load the sacrifice.  In other words, when you are young, you should approach most ventures bringing your A game.  New jobs, business opportunities, and side hustles should be attacked and devoured.  There is no room to be anything less than utterly impressive.  The reason is simple.  These are the foundational years in which your wealth will be built.  Something funny happens, however, after you reach financial independence.  You realize quickly that twenty percent of the effort will get you eighty percent of the way to your goal.  In order to get that last surge of greatness, supreme effort is required.  While it is wise to put forth such effort early in your career, once you reach financial independence, the returns aren’t as great.  This is precisely why I usually bring my B game.

There is just less impetus to be a stellar performer anymore.

Now this is not to say that I don’t take pride in my various investments and work products.  I have just chosen to forego the extra work and energy involved to deliver that last twenty percent.

And for the most part, it has worked out splendidly.

Doctoring

While I will always give my patients my very best, I usually bring my B game to building my medical practice.  This is in stark contrast to the beginning of my career.  Back then, I would do whatever it took to attract more patients, woo specialists, and introduce myself to the community.

As a financially independent physician, I see no reason to chase business anymore.  I no longer get bent out of shape about whether the local nursing home or hospital will be happy with me.  If they don’t like my way of doing things, they can work with someone else.

When you stop being so hungry, you often realize your B game is good enough.

Investing

I usually bring my B game to investing.  By choosing the most simple, broad-based, indexed strategy, I might be giving up efficiencies.  Maybe if I became a true student of the market I could eek out a few extra percentage points and then accrue even more!

Yet, year after year, I accept lousy returns (sarcasm here) matching the market.  I have no interest in spending the extra hours every week learning about the newest, latest, or greatest!

And it’s not just asset allocation, I have been lazy and falling behind on my Roth conversions.  I sometimes forget to rebalance!  I can go weeks without signing into my Vanguard account.

For me, however, perfect is the enemy of good.

Real Estate

I used to get so anxious about making sure our properties ran efficiently.  If a tenant called with a minor complaint, I was at the unit within hours to investigate.  I was especially concerned with vacancies.  In the past, it would crush me to see a unit sit empty for a month.

Now, I usually bring my B game.  Sometimes instead of fixing an issue myself, I hire a handyman.  Other times, I allow my tenants to wrestle a few days with a minor inconvenience until I can get a handle on the situation.  If they decide I am a terrible landlord and don’t like my style, they are welcome to move out.  I will even let them out of a lease early if they are that unhappy.

I actually found, that with tenants, if you are too solicitous, they will become quite demanding.  Bringing the B game is the best path here.

My A Game

So the point here is that I usually bring my B game to all these money and career issues so that I have the energy to bring my A game to the important stuff.

• Family: To be a good husband, father, child, and sibling.
• Friends: To be available and support those who care about me.
• Patient care: To be the best doctor I possibly can.
• Health: To take care of this body that will hopefully last me a bunch more decades.
• Writing:  To be engaged in an activity I truly love.

In Conclusion

For many years I brought my A game to my finances and career.  After becoming financially independent, I realized that I could do good enough with my B game.  Now I concentrate my energy and passion on those things that are most important to me.

How about you?  Do you ever bring your B game?  How will this change after financial independence?