What Is Your EvE Ratio?

What is your EvE Ratio (a term coined by Tom Murphy)? Simply put, it is how much you spend on Education and personal development Vs Entertainment each month? Sadly, the typical person spends about 100 times as much time and money on entertainment as they do improving themselves.

Human nature drives us to predominantly move towards pleasure and away from pain. Obviously, entertainment and recreation bring great pleasure. This is why we are naturally drawn towards tension relieving instead of goal achieving activities.

The EvE ratio helps you quickly and easily create a measurable value that can be used to gauge your progress in personal development. And if we can measure something, we can manage it!

To determine your own EvE ratio you must do a quick analysis of all the things and activities you spend your time and money on for Entertainment. They may be:

• Television (cable or satellite costs)
• Movies
• Sporting events (live or on TV)
• Vacation
• Internet surfing (non-work related)
• Night life (happy hours, dance clubs, etc.)
• Hobbies
• Etc. (expand or contract this list as it applies to your life)

Now add up the average amount of money you spend on these activities each month (just guesstimate). Then do the same for the amount of hours you spend.

Once you have your numbers for Entertainment, determine the Education and Personal Development values. These things and activities may include:

• Non-fiction books
• Seminars/Training Classes
• Professional development (skill building for your primary job)
• Educational CDs, DVDs, or MP3s
• Online Learning (distance learning programs, iLearningGlobal.tv, Success University, etc.)
• Magazines like SUCCESS, Inc., Fast Company, Business Week, etc.
• Formal classroom education
• Etc. (expand or contract this list as it applies to your life)

Do the same exercise with your Education as you did with Entertainment; add up the average amount of money and average amount of time you spend each month.

The final step is to compare the numbers. Ideally these numbers will almost match; meaning you spend nearly equal amounts of time and money on your personal development as your recreation. In reality, most will find that the entertainment numbers far exceed education.

Once you know what your EvE ratio is, you have to ask yourself a very serious question:

Is that OK?

This is a personal choice. If you are happy with the ratio and with your current place in the world, then that is great. There is no need to change.

However, if you feel something is missing in your life and that you are not achieving all that you are capable of, then you must take action to change your EvE ratio.

The easiest way to do this is to start small. Begin allocating a percentage of the money you spend on entertainment to be spent on educational materials. Plan a specific amount of time each day or week to devote to your personal development. If you devote just 1% of your time, you will only need to spend 15 minutes each day investing in your mind (and your future!). Gradually increase these amounts over weeks or months until you reach your desired EvE ratio.

The purpose is not to give up entertainment and tension relieving activities, it is to find balance. I personally place a very high value on recreation (evidenced by my passion for mountain biking, kayaking, and other outdoor recreation). But, I also make sure I learn something new every day and I focus on continuous learning and personal development as part of my daily routine by watching videos on iLearningGlobal.tv, listening to inspiring and educational CDs in my car, and loading my MP3 player with audio from Jim Rohn, Chris Widener, Brian Tracy, Bob Proctor, and many, many more. By doing this I am able to turn education into entertainment and boost my EvE ratio at the same time!

Did you ever notice that LEARN contains the word EARN? Coincidence?

Remember, it's your time, your money, and your choice...CHOOSE WISELY!!

Scott Thomas

P.S. The most effective way to boost your EvE ratio is to join iLearningGlobal and get high quality, high impact training from the best teachers in the world delivered to you instantly 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The best investment you will ever make is investing in yourself. Discover the future of learning and personal development at http://www.ilgachievers.com. You're worth it!