When you hear ‘bottom line,’ you most often think of financial statements. That is true when you think of the bottom line as the net income after all cost of goods sold, SG&A, operating expenses, etc. Some might look at EBITDA or net profit or some other formula they have created over the years.

Yet, there is another bottom line that is much more important. It is your personal bottom line. Haven’t heard of that? We all have one. Every one of us has a bottom line that we rarely review. Most of us just look at the inflows, but never look at the things that take away from what comes into our lives.

The real bottom line is simply this: what is the faith and hope that is left over once the cares of the world, the delight in riches and desire for other things are taken out. The real bottom line is what you are once the world takes a big chunk out of you.

The traditional life formula might look like this:

Positive Circumstantial Inflow (new job, salary, promotion, accolades, weekend plans, for some – faith)

Minus

Cost of Living (actual dollars to live lifestyle – vehicles, homes, trips, etc.)

Minus

Personal Cost of Opportunity (the real human cost of lifestyle and position – time, cost of relationships, etc.)

Equals

Net Living Gained (what is left over, hope, faith, trust)

Our society normally focuses solely on inflow (what we can get). We rarely count the cost of our chosen lifestyle (that is why we are in the financial malaise we are currently experiencing). We almost never count the personal cost of opportunity (that is where divorce comes from, in my opinion – no one understands what the job or promotion does to marriages or kids). If faith or hope makes it through the formula, you end up with perseverance and character. If not, people normally end up with divorce and or distant marriages, etc.

Think about it. Take your current inflow opportunities (salary, position, etc.). What is the cost of living of living that lifestyle you think is required of that opportunity? Subtract that. Now, what is the personal cost of opportunity (what does the boss or company expect – travel, time at the office, morals, etc.). Subtract that from the inflow line as well.

What is your Net Living Ratio? Is there any room left for your family or for you? Have you lost yourself in the process? Where is your hope and faith? Is it in the opportunity or is it in something bigger?

The current loss of confidence in our society is primarily because we have put our hope in sources of inflow. When they stall or recede or are depressed it causes the vast global society to shrink back and to become depressed. We have put our hope in the wrong things.

Think about it… In the good times our society puts hope into revenues (how much you make, status, position, etc.). In the bad times we moan and complain because we don’t see the increase of opportunity because those revenues are not there. Our focus is on the top line inflow as a society. That is circumstantial living. We allow what happens at the top to affect our whole livelihood.

Faith is built on bottom line wisdom. Hope is still found when all expenses have been taken out. It is about Net Living, not top line only. Take some time and evaluate your life portfolio. How solid are you? Is your cost of living more in line with reality? Have you re-prioritized your personal life? Or are you spiraling down with a world focused on the wrong things. These are the discussions that will make you more whole in time.

Live Full and Live Free.

By Jeremie Kubicek

GiANT Perspectives