{"id":703,"date":"2011-08-05T16:14:16","date_gmt":"2011-08-05T20:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/dailyjoys\/?p=703"},"modified":"2011-08-05T16:14:16","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T20:14:16","slug":"your-personal-dow-jones-average","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailyjoys\/2011\/08\/your-personal-dow-jones-average.html","title":{"rendered":"Your PERSONAL Dow Jones Average"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What\u2019s Your PERSONAL \u201cDow Jones\u201d Average?<\/p>\n

I remember the arguments with CFO, Gene Rager, as vividly as if they were yesterday.\u00a0 He posited that labor was the only thing worth anything: of any monetary value whatsoever.\u00a0 Every attempt I made to thwart his position was handily rebutted.<\/p>\n

Labor hours in industrial measuring terms.\u00a0 Or, in personal language.\u00a0 Time.\u00a0 The seconds of your personal passing clock.\u00a0 These are the currency in question on the trading floor of your life.<\/p>\n

People bat around the NYSE news, the \u201cDow Jones average,\u201d and the latest news from the NASDAQ as if they were the ultimate governing principles of our\u00a0 national life.\u00a0 They are mighty important components in the global view (the macro). If you are an investor or your income is tied in any way to national financial performance, they are significant to your personal view, as well (the micro).<\/p>\n

Using the New York Stock exchange as a model I am going explore my personal \u201cdow jones\u201d average.\u00a0 Today\u2019s Dow finds its root in a set of folks based in fiscal journalism and statistics. It\u2019s accepted anniversary is May 26, 1896.\u00a0 The measure it is known as today has undergone scores of transitions in its 115 year history.\u00a0 It can honestly be said that it has always been an assessment tool and a means to measure certain financial realities.\u00a0 Certain realities, not ALL realities.\u00a0 Today\u2019s Dow tracks 30 stocks.\u00a0 Thirty. (The composite average Dow tracks 65 companies).\u00a0 In other terms, the Dow is like gathering 30 kids from representative kindergarten classes across the country and taking their temperature on a daily basis.\u00a0 During the cold season the average would be rather dismal.\u00a0 During the best days, free of allergens and contagion, the average would appear mighty healthy.\u00a0 The average temperature may not reflect the actual health of all kindergarten age kids, but it would be a measure, an index.\u00a0 ONE way among many of looking at this one thing.<\/p>\n

So \u2013 financial health of the country aside, I want to bring this measuring model into my own personal experience.\u00a0 If Gene was right and my only true trading capital is my time\u2026what are my indices saying about my performance these days?<\/p>\n

In the context of a personal measure, the balance in my bank account becomes one of many measures of my performance.\u00a0 Not THE measure, but a measure.\u00a0 It is contrary to conventional wisdom to suggest that my success is not measured by how much money I make.\u00a0 It is A measure.\u00a0 It is not THE measure.<\/p>\n

My personal measures certainly don\u2019t date back 115 years like the Dow does.\u00a0 My measures rose out of a period of time of absolute clarity in which I wrote my life mission statement.\u00a0 I could call it, instead, my life measure statement.\u00a0 THIS is my personal Dow Jones Index.\u00a0 I apply it broadly, across the spectrum of the investments of my life (i.e. as the Dow does with an assorted spectrum of blue-chip stocks) and measure daily how I have done against the base line of what I identify as important.\u00a0 You may be familiar with my measures: they have made their way around the world in speeches, memorial services, graduation and promotion announcements and the like.\u00a0 My measures are featured in the visual leading this poster…poster 27003 from my friends at maryanneradmacher.com<\/p>\n

Those words provide me the capacity to measure what I believe is important.\u00a0 Financial matters are one among many.\u00a0 MANY.\u00a0 I am not determined in ebb or flow by the contents of my bank account.\u00a0 The touch economic challenges have knocked on my door, too.\u00a0 Just like many readers are experiencing.\u00a0 Just last week when I shared in conversation that economic times are rough I had this retort, “I would never have guessed that you weren’t just absolutely wealthy – you seem so happy!”\u00a0 I value good fortune and am grateful for resources.\u00a0 My happiness is not determined by my bank account.\u00a0 My INDEX for measure can be found in the words on that poster.<\/p>\n

Am I concerned for the health, specifically, the financial health of this country?\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Am I concerned for my own family’s financial health?\u00a0 Yes I am.\u00a0 Worry.\u00a0 Anxiety.\u00a0 Berating the decisions that have been made.\u00a0 Woefully watching the actual Dow Jones or its more capricious friend, the NASDAQ, will not make me any more financial stable.\u00a0 Doing what I am called to do with excellence, attention to detail and passion is what I am able to do at a personal level.\u00a0 And when I apply my own Dow Jones index to measure the events of my day – it’s almost always a positive report.<\/p>\n

What’s your index?\u00a0 What elements of your life represent the average that you will measure?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s Your PERSONAL \u201cDow Jones\u201d Average? I remember the arguments with CFO, Gene Rager, as vividly as if they were yesterday.\u00a0 He posited that labor was the only thing worth anything: of any monetary value whatsoever.\u00a0 Every attempt I made to thwart his position was handily rebutted. Labor hours in industrial measuring terms.\u00a0 Or, in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[369,367,365,366,60,114,368,363,364],"class_list":["post-703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-joys","tag-bank-balance","tag-dow-composite","tag-dow-jones","tag-dow-jones-industrial-index","tag-live-with-intention","tag-maryanneradmacher-com","tag-nasdaq","tag-new-york-stock-exchange","tag-nyse"],"yoast_head":"\nYour PERSONAL Dow Jones Average - Daily Joys and Simple Pleasures<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailyjoys\/2011\/08\/your-personal-dow-jones-average.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Your PERSONAL Dow Jones Average - Daily Joys and Simple Pleasures\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What\u2019s Your PERSONAL \u201cDow Jones\u201d Average? 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