When you consider the avenues for achieving personal wealth or financial independence, it’s rare that a few million dollars are just going to drop in your lap. Even if it does, it can “poof” slip through your hands if you aren’t careful. Money success rewards those who prepare and expect it. But like any relationship, if you don’t take care of it, it won’t take care of you.
If you don’t know where you’re going and you don’t put any effort into things you will??…usually get very little in return. This sounds all too obvious right? So, why is it that so few people actually reach their financial goals in life? I think we get distracted and lose sight of what we once wanted. We go from ambitious dreamer to survivor. Then, we just sort of fall into place and go with the flow! But why does this happen?
The media are full of articles of the latest lawsuits, scandals and how unprepared most baby boomers are for retirement that you might think it was impossible to create wealth these days. You’ve got to discern the facts all the while preventing yourself from falling into the black hole. This is one of the reasons I don’t watch too much TV. I chose to program my own mind. Then, I write to clarify what I see. I don’t need someone to tell me when it’s okay to come out and try again, or that the storm has cleared.
I write about housing and foreclosures in order to bring awareness and to try and keep things in perspective, but without an agenda. I also know a lot of people who are creating wildly successful businesses as solo entrepreneurs. A lot of these people are in their 20s and 70s as well. How could you explain this? They are well prepared and expect the success until it’s a reality. They view change as an opportunity versus a threat. They have ventured off into fields and niches that have yet to be written about. Some were forced. Others have a very creative mind. But all of them made the decision, planned for success and expect it.
Remember there will continue to be a lot of bad news on the housing front and general economy. But this isn’t “the end”. Think creative destruction. Often times things have to collapse to make way for the new. Spring follows winter, regardless of how cold it gets and I don’t see hell freezing over. Yea, life goes on and today’s misery will be in the books one day.
The Paradox of Success is that you have to remain positive in the face destruction. Leaders of industries are born during these times of peril because all the decks are cleared. If you open your eyes, you will see this in terms of 100 year old companies going down all around us the last 3 years.
Life offers so much opportunity but we have to be wiling to roll with the punches and defy the norms. As I sit here typing this out on my iPad and enjoying some late Friday Florida sun, I realize I have the ability to run an international business anywhere in the world due to what we’ve accomplished this generation. It’s not what Ive accomplished but what is literally at my fingertips, available to me, you or whoever else realizes its there for the taking. But you had better be careful or it will pass you by.
Also, let me be the first to warn you that one day….way down the line, the one question you don’t want to be asking yourself when you are sitting on the front porch reflecting back on your life is: “What if?” “What if I hadn’t listened to or bought into the idea that things were too hard or that I was too old, or the economy was too bad? What if I replaced my excuses with reasons? What if I had taken charges of my finances versus just putting it off? Have you really thought about that day? Its a day we all face.
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