Week 2023#17: trust vs safety
Your emergency fund is for emergencies and sometimes you need to tap into it. When exactly depends on what you consider an emergency.
What I’ve learned
Prioritize the needs of others when you have conflicting needs yourself
Things are changing in the house in Sweden, without me being there.
Thanks to Olle, who’s been great at doing what he’s doing so far.
He regularly checks in on the house, keeps an eye on the mailbox, and has golden hands: anything he built at the house so far was of great quality and he’s thinking on his feet when a solution for a problem is necessary.
I’m really happy with his work!
The one mistake I made with a bigger construction project (flooring + trimming in a half-finished room) was not checking in with him earlier.
So, after getting pictures of the result (looks great!), I also got an invoice that was 3 times as high as I expected.
This put me in an uncomfortable situation: spend 70% of my emergency fund on paying the invoice right now or ask him to maybe pay in rates.
The thought of dipping so deep into my savings to cover the construction cost filled me with dread.
At the same time, I didn’t want to beg for payment in rates, as Olle did excellent work and I don’t want to penalize him for that.
Sleeping over it for a night, I realized that I don’t need my savings right now.
I just like the feeling of safety my savings provide.
But that’s all they do at the moment.
This feeling of safety is what would cost me trustworthiness in Olle’s eyes if I asked for payment in rates.
Ultimately, I had to make a value judgment: do I value safety or being a trustworthy business partner more?
In the end, I chose the latter.
Why? Because not feeling “safe enough” is a me-problem, whereas Olle not getting paid the promised amount at the promised time is a problem bigger than myself.
Expectations vs Reality
Goals for week 17:
Take the next step in the citizenship process: yes! I collected an offer for an official translation of the Estonian confirmation that I’ll get citizenship and dropped the original off at the translator.
Achieve something of significance in Noor Eesti 200: yes! I got myself into organizing a workshop on time management.
Plan one thing for summer: no! The motivation was to silence the voice in my head that says I’ll miss out on something cool going on in Estonia this summer. Instead, I decided to overcome my FOMO by focusing on all the amazing people I know here in Tallinn and that no matter what, I’ll have an awesome summer because of that alone!
Goals for week 18:
Kickstart two mentoring relationships at work: I made an effort in Week 17 to get my team thinking more about training and mentoring. Week 18 is for actually turning thoughts into action.
Schedule my first Mindvalley event: now that I’m a local host at Mindvalley, it’s time to schedule the first event. The idea: start the week with action, by working with others in silence on your project(s) before your day job.
Bring all citizenship documents to the German embassy
What happened
Highlights of last week:
I got closer to somebody who makes me feel things I’ve never felt before 🦋
The house in Sweden is ready for guests now 🚀
Somebody invited me to a drumming circle: I showed up with no expectations and played an instrument for the longest time in my life so far (about 90 minutes!). Not a life-changing experience, but definitely a new one!