I have never wanted to be special. I want to be average. I do not need to stand out in any way. Of course virtually nothing about me is average. But I have always been very comfortable being part of a system, just a cog in the wheel. The more we can systematize the more we can find accidental success.

I love a boring financial situation. Automated bill pay with a clear amount left over each month ensuring I don’t pay interest or late fees. I automate my retirement investing so I’m sure I’m prepared for the future and I automate investing into boring index funds so I’m getting average generic (but more stable) returns on those investments. I’m reinvesting any earnings from those boring investments and letting boring compound interest get me closer to financial stability when I retire.

I have a boring old house. I love my house but it is not flashy and needs lots of work. It’s small compared to my peers’ and it’s in a nice but not fashionable part of town and I have a boring little mortgage. And I have zero need to get a bigger flashier house. This suits me just fine.

I have a boring car – it’s seven years old and paid off. I’ll keep it as long as I can. It makes no financial or circumstantial sense for me to go buy something new when this works perfectly well and costs me little money.

My wardrobe is incredibly boring. It’s mostly leggings and running shirts at this point, but I have plenty of suits that are about ten years old. They are staples and still fit so it’s no problem. A black suit is a black suit. It’s boring but classic.

I strive to be boring in most areas of my life. Boring means I don’t spend unnecessary energy and decision-making ability on things that aren’t important to me. I care about the things I do with Fiancé. I care about the thing we will create for dinner. I care about the blog posts I will write and I care about the flowers I will plant in our yard for our wedding. I don’t care about what my hair looks like today as long as it’s presentable and professional.

If you want to be special and standout absolutely, go do that. But if the pressure of all of those expectations to be amazing at everything is weighing on you, go be boring. Be average. Pick the things that matter to you (not them, YOU), and put your energy into those. Be average at the rest. Coast. Eat the same thing for lunch everyday so you can get excited about dinner. Do the same workout routine every week so you don’t have to find the motivation to get into it.

Your energy is the same as your money. You have some but it’s not unlimited. You can’t have or do everything. You have to decide where to splurge and where to make minimum payments. You can’t splurge everywhere and you can’t make minimum payments everywhere. You have to pick and choose.

So be average in your minimum payment categories and splurge in the things that matter – both physically and financially.

Boring is beautiful.