That's what we are taking, one season, to change our lives. That's the commitment. Concentrate, put off amusements, pay attention and kick it for one season, so we can play the rest of our lives. What amazes me us is not how few people have chosen to do the same thing, but how many. If you knew that if you spent one year working hard you could have a six figure income forever, would you do it? So far, the answer from many folks is a resounding 'yes.'
What if it took two years? Or even three? Would you work very hard for three years to make a six figure income forever?
We would, and we are; we don't mind sacrifice in the short run for wild success in the long. But maybe that's just us. See, we want to wake up one day and realize that we don't have to get up, that we can drive to the beach or take a flight to Europe, go for a jog or take up painting, ride a horse or go to a basketball game. Whatever we want. And that includes doing what we are doing now; Kathy loves being an attorney, so she may simply keep doing what she loves. But it will be because she loves it, not because she has to.
We never before believed such a thing was possible; really, it sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? But now we see it happening to other people right before our eyes. There is simply no denying what we have witnessed and know to be true, and we are so blessed to be a part of the whole thing. Success leaves clues and we are collecting them.
So, one day a couple of years from now we'll be lounging on a warm beach when it's a snowy January day in Memphis, and we will have to determine whether it was all worth it. Yeah, sure we will, right?
If you're skeptical, that's okay; you're right to doubt that statement just a little bit...see, we'll be on the beach alright, but we won't really have to think at all whether it was worth it or not. That's a no-brainer.
Showing posts with label Fighting for your dream. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fighting for your dream. Show all posts
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Commentary on THE WEALTH FILES Part Two
Busy, busy, busy. A week between entries is too much, sorry folks.
"Rich people play the game of money to win.
Poor people play the game of money not to lose."
So what's the lesson here? If your goal is simply to be comfortable, then since you will not have much more than necessary to live at your chosen level you will always be vulnerable to some bad fortune or poor decision. You will not have a reserve. If you want to be comfortable, odds are you never will be. Think how many times a team has lost a game in which they had a big lead, simply because they stopped playing to win and started playing not to lose: you see it all the time.
But if your goal is to be rich, whether or not you ever get there, you have a much better chance of winding up comfortable. Once you have achieved a certain level of comfort, you will not be satisfied but will, instead, keep working for more, building a reserve, so that if disaster does strike you will not be wipe out. And if disaster does not strike, then you can live your life doing exactly what you please.
So how do you become rich? By working for someone else? Not usually. I suppose there are those people at the top of the corporate pyramid whom we could call rich,but 99% of the company's employees would not be. So, if you're the CEO of a huge multi-national corporation, you don't need to read this blog, because you already know what I'm saying. For the other 99%, though, slogging up the corporate pyramid and hoping you don't get fired before you get where you want to go, and good luck with that, they have to choose a different path. And that path is being your own boss. But that scares off a lot of people because, you see, that requires investment. Not only money, but emotional, too. You have to invest in yourself.
How many times have I seen people shy away from spending a small amount of money to start their own business because they are scared. And let's be clear: they aren't scared of the amount of money...usually they have spent more than that on their cell phone, or a video game system. No, the money isn't the issue, they are the issue. By spending money to start a business they will actually have to invest in themselves, and for many people, maybe most people, that is simply too frightening to consider.
How many people have gotten rich working for someone else? Not many. How many people a truly comfortable working for someone else? These days, not many. The only way to achieve either goal is to work for yourself.
Or win the lottery.
"Rich people play the game of money to win.
Poor people play the game of money not to lose."
So what's the lesson here? If your goal is simply to be comfortable, then since you will not have much more than necessary to live at your chosen level you will always be vulnerable to some bad fortune or poor decision. You will not have a reserve. If you want to be comfortable, odds are you never will be. Think how many times a team has lost a game in which they had a big lead, simply because they stopped playing to win and started playing not to lose: you see it all the time.
But if your goal is to be rich, whether or not you ever get there, you have a much better chance of winding up comfortable. Once you have achieved a certain level of comfort, you will not be satisfied but will, instead, keep working for more, building a reserve, so that if disaster does strike you will not be wipe out. And if disaster does not strike, then you can live your life doing exactly what you please.
So how do you become rich? By working for someone else? Not usually. I suppose there are those people at the top of the corporate pyramid whom we could call rich,but 99% of the company's employees would not be. So, if you're the CEO of a huge multi-national corporation, you don't need to read this blog, because you already know what I'm saying. For the other 99%, though, slogging up the corporate pyramid and hoping you don't get fired before you get where you want to go, and good luck with that, they have to choose a different path. And that path is being your own boss. But that scares off a lot of people because, you see, that requires investment. Not only money, but emotional, too. You have to invest in yourself.
How many times have I seen people shy away from spending a small amount of money to start their own business because they are scared. And let's be clear: they aren't scared of the amount of money...usually they have spent more than that on their cell phone, or a video game system. No, the money isn't the issue, they are the issue. By spending money to start a business they will actually have to invest in themselves, and for many people, maybe most people, that is simply too frightening to consider.
How many people have gotten rich working for someone else? Not many. How many people a truly comfortable working for someone else? These days, not many. The only way to achieve either goal is to work for yourself.
Or win the lottery.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Commentary on THE WEALTH FILES Part One
We have all been programmed, I am slowly beginning to realize that now. I'm not sure when or how or why we were taught to think backwards, but we were. At least, I was. I had been programmed to believe that you should trust in someone else to employ you, to invest in you and then to demand that investment back in the form of my labor. And that's completely fair, too; if they are the one who invests in and trains me, it's only fair that they get to leverage my efforts for their benefit, right? But when was I taught that's how things should be, instead of me investing in myself?
The truth is that my experiences are no different from most Americans. In The Wealth Files by T. Harv Eker, the author gives 17 ways in which rich people think differently from the non-rich, and every last one of them rings true. The first one, in particular, is something I have been guilty of many times in the past.
Rich people believe "I create my life,"
Poor people believe "life happens to me."
Wow, that's me alright. Is it also you? Have you ever seen a successful person and said, "that kind of stuff never happens to me?" I've done it too many times to count. I would then write their success off to luck, or family wealth or good genes or the phase of the moon, or anything at all other than what it truly was: somewhere along the way, somebody took a chance and worked hard and invested in themselves. They didn't offer excuses why they could not do something, they simply did it. They created their life, instead of waiting for life to happen to them.
But the vast majority of people will never do this. I know, because I see it every day. They will continue doing what they have always done and hoping something will change, because they have been programmed to believe that is what they are supposed to do. Only a very few will ever take control of their own life. I'm glad I'm one of them.
The truth is that my experiences are no different from most Americans. In The Wealth Files by T. Harv Eker, the author gives 17 ways in which rich people think differently from the non-rich, and every last one of them rings true. The first one, in particular, is something I have been guilty of many times in the past.
Rich people believe "I create my life,"
Poor people believe "life happens to me."
Wow, that's me alright. Is it also you? Have you ever seen a successful person and said, "that kind of stuff never happens to me?" I've done it too many times to count. I would then write their success off to luck, or family wealth or good genes or the phase of the moon, or anything at all other than what it truly was: somewhere along the way, somebody took a chance and worked hard and invested in themselves. They didn't offer excuses why they could not do something, they simply did it. They created their life, instead of waiting for life to happen to them.
But the vast majority of people will never do this. I know, because I see it every day. They will continue doing what they have always done and hoping something will change, because they have been programmed to believe that is what they are supposed to do. Only a very few will ever take control of their own life. I'm glad I'm one of them.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Notes from an inspirational weekend - Part Two
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Okay, back to thinking about what we learned in Tupelo on November 12th, digesting some truly inspirational material to brighten what appears to be a cold, gray day; in reality, there is plenty of sunshine outside, you just can't see it because of the clouds.
"Most jobs are designed to buy you at wholesale and to sell you at retail....you should use your job to finance your dream."
Think about that for a minute. If you could have an hour of your life back to do with as you pleased, how much would you pay for that? Would you spend $50 if you could have one more hour at age 18? Or 29? Or 39? Would it be worth $100, or $200? How much is your time worth? If you would buy back an hour of your life for, say, $100, then how much did you sell if for in the first place?
The only real answer, of course, is that time is priceless, yet most people are willing to sell their time, and thus their life, quite cheaply. They accept a given wage from their employer, who then turns around and uses their time to make money selling their services to a client. That's how this works, the employer takes the risk of paying someone to do a job while betting they can then sell that person's efforts to someone else for a profit. There's nothing wrong with this arrangement, per se.
But what if you want more than that? What if you want to be able to make more money than the employer is willing to pay, to make your own schedule, to work when you want to work, not when someone else says that you have to work? Assuming you haven't won the lottery, then is only one legal way to do that: open your own business. A lot of people have the desire to do this, but they are scared of the risk, even if the risk is small. Usually the fear kicks in when they realize they will have to use their own money to get their business started, they have to use their job to finance their dream, but it's not risking the money that scares them: heck, our business was started for virtually no money whatsoever, and the ongoing costs are almost nil. No, what scares them is that they will have to do something new, something they aren't used to doing, they will have to change, and despite all the platitudes and encouraging slogans they may pretend to like, the fact is that most people are afraid of change. Why?
The best answer I have read is that people are really scared of depending on themselves. Instead of wanting to make their own way, to craft their own result, they prefer the (often false) security of selling them time wholesale. That is their Plan A, and if they accept the need for a Plan B, then they are admitting that Plan A might not always work, that they may one day have to fend for themselves. In other words, while everybody needs a Plan B, the very idea that it might be necessary is too fearful to contemplate.
Okay, back to thinking about what we learned in Tupelo on November 12th, digesting some truly inspirational material to brighten what appears to be a cold, gray day; in reality, there is plenty of sunshine outside, you just can't see it because of the clouds.
"Most jobs are designed to buy you at wholesale and to sell you at retail....you should use your job to finance your dream."
Think about that for a minute. If you could have an hour of your life back to do with as you pleased, how much would you pay for that? Would you spend $50 if you could have one more hour at age 18? Or 29? Or 39? Would it be worth $100, or $200? How much is your time worth? If you would buy back an hour of your life for, say, $100, then how much did you sell if for in the first place?
The only real answer, of course, is that time is priceless, yet most people are willing to sell their time, and thus their life, quite cheaply. They accept a given wage from their employer, who then turns around and uses their time to make money selling their services to a client. That's how this works, the employer takes the risk of paying someone to do a job while betting they can then sell that person's efforts to someone else for a profit. There's nothing wrong with this arrangement, per se.
But what if you want more than that? What if you want to be able to make more money than the employer is willing to pay, to make your own schedule, to work when you want to work, not when someone else says that you have to work? Assuming you haven't won the lottery, then is only one legal way to do that: open your own business. A lot of people have the desire to do this, but they are scared of the risk, even if the risk is small. Usually the fear kicks in when they realize they will have to use their own money to get their business started, they have to use their job to finance their dream, but it's not risking the money that scares them: heck, our business was started for virtually no money whatsoever, and the ongoing costs are almost nil. No, what scares them is that they will have to do something new, something they aren't used to doing, they will have to change, and despite all the platitudes and encouraging slogans they may pretend to like, the fact is that most people are afraid of change. Why?
The best answer I have read is that people are really scared of depending on themselves. Instead of wanting to make their own way, to craft their own result, they prefer the (often false) security of selling them time wholesale. That is their Plan A, and if they accept the need for a Plan B, then they are admitting that Plan A might not always work, that they may one day have to fend for themselves. In other words, while everybody needs a Plan B, the very idea that it might be necessary is too fearful to contemplate.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Notes from an inspirational weekend - Part One
Going over some notes from our sojourn to Tupelo and a lot of this is too good not to share. Tupelo was billed as a training event, and it was, but like everything else with this project it is half self-improvement. I have never met a group of people more dedicated to helping the individual find their passion in life and pursue it, while learning to help others. Sometimes, I feel like a missionary.
Anyway, let's start with this one: "Life is short and you can never get your time back, so why settle for doing something that is not your passion?" We all have to make a living, but is earning that paycheck keeping you from pursuing your true passion in life? If it is, what are you doing to change your circumstances? My passion in life is to travel the world, visit historical sites, research and write books, then rest up by laying on the beach for weeks at a time. I don't think Kathy would mind tagging along for the ride, as long as there were equestrian shops along the way like the one we found in Salzburg, and we can proudly say that we have taken the first step to make this a reality. Can you say the same thing? If 'yes', then well done and have at it! If 'no', well, what's holding you back?
For most of us, other people control most of our life. You might not like to admit it, but it's true. How do you feel about that? If you're okay with it, and frankly I think most people are, then you're probably shaking your head while reading this blog, wondering what the heck I'm talking about. But if you're not okay with it, we go back to the same question I just asked: what are you doing about it? What is your plan to change your life a year from now?
If you have a dream and you are not actively fighting to make it a reality, then it is and will remain nothing more than a dream. If you want your dream to become reality, then you're going to have to fight for it, because I can assure you that nobody else will. But if you want help in finding Plan B, let me know, maybe I can help. Didn't I tell you that I felt like a missionary?
Anyway, let's start with this one: "Life is short and you can never get your time back, so why settle for doing something that is not your passion?" We all have to make a living, but is earning that paycheck keeping you from pursuing your true passion in life? If it is, what are you doing to change your circumstances? My passion in life is to travel the world, visit historical sites, research and write books, then rest up by laying on the beach for weeks at a time. I don't think Kathy would mind tagging along for the ride, as long as there were equestrian shops along the way like the one we found in Salzburg, and we can proudly say that we have taken the first step to make this a reality. Can you say the same thing? If 'yes', then well done and have at it! If 'no', well, what's holding you back?
For most of us, other people control most of our life. You might not like to admit it, but it's true. How do you feel about that? If you're okay with it, and frankly I think most people are, then you're probably shaking your head while reading this blog, wondering what the heck I'm talking about. But if you're not okay with it, we go back to the same question I just asked: what are you doing about it? What is your plan to change your life a year from now?
If you have a dream and you are not actively fighting to make it a reality, then it is and will remain nothing more than a dream. If you want your dream to become reality, then you're going to have to fight for it, because I can assure you that nobody else will. But if you want help in finding Plan B, let me know, maybe I can help. Didn't I tell you that I felt like a missionary?
Friday, November 18, 2011
Is it you?
I do not believe in horoscopes: let's make that clear on the front end. But that does not mean they have no value. Sometimes the message is right on point, even if it's not determined by positioning of the celestial bodies. In that spirit, today's 'scope says: "Share some of your good energy with colleagues or friends- they can use some! At least one is consumed with worry or fear, and you can show them there is in fact a bright side."
My energy is going to be good, then, but maybe tinged with a little kick-in-the-buttness. If that's you, if you are eaten up with worry about something, let me tell you that there is a way out. I may not know what that is, but I know there is a way. There is always a way. But as long as you are terrified, you will never find it, even if someone shows it to you.
Honestly, I see this every day. A great many people no longer trust themselves, and that's a shame. See, if you are rely on others for your self-esteem, or your livelihood, then you will always be at their mercy as to whether or not your life is going to go well. The one person in the world you should always be able to count on is yourself, but, sadly, too few people trust themselves any more. And too many make a decision to follow their dream, only to allow others to snatch it away from them, to talk them out of it. I saw this happen just yesterday, and it's not the first time.
So that's my advice: believe in yourself. Find your dream and fight for it, because nobody else is going to. I have found mine and just try to steal it from me! We all fight for something every day, be it a paycheck, our kids, our way of life, whatever, we all get up every day and go scramble to make something happen. But it's a lot more fun when what you are fighting for is something you want to create for yourself.
My energy is going to be good, then, but maybe tinged with a little kick-in-the-buttness. If that's you, if you are eaten up with worry about something, let me tell you that there is a way out. I may not know what that is, but I know there is a way. There is always a way. But as long as you are terrified, you will never find it, even if someone shows it to you.
Honestly, I see this every day. A great many people no longer trust themselves, and that's a shame. See, if you are rely on others for your self-esteem, or your livelihood, then you will always be at their mercy as to whether or not your life is going to go well. The one person in the world you should always be able to count on is yourself, but, sadly, too few people trust themselves any more. And too many make a decision to follow their dream, only to allow others to snatch it away from them, to talk them out of it. I saw this happen just yesterday, and it's not the first time.
So that's my advice: believe in yourself. Find your dream and fight for it, because nobody else is going to. I have found mine and just try to steal it from me! We all fight for something every day, be it a paycheck, our kids, our way of life, whatever, we all get up every day and go scramble to make something happen. But it's a lot more fun when what you are fighting for is something you want to create for yourself.
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