In a period of barely more than nine years, from August 1998 through December 2007, I went from a paycheck to paycheck existence to being financially free. At age 38, I quit my full time JOB and semi-retired, with plans to manage my investments, to make sure I didn’t miss my two boys growing up, and to pursue my passions in life. My average JOB income during that span was probably about $25,000 annually. Occasionally, someone asks me how I became financially successful in that relatively short period of time, while many others struggle for a lifetime and never achieve financial success. The simplest answer is that I made a decision to do it, and then did it. Many others made the decision not to.
I decided to set goals that could change my finances. Many others decided not to set goals. I decided to read books that could improve my thinking, my planning, and my skills. Many others decided not to read those books. I decided to attend classes and seminars and join groups that promised to teach me how to have a better financial future. Many others decided not to attend. I decided that if I only lived on this earth once, I wanted to give it everything I had to give, and I wanted to dare to dream and I wanted to dare to pursue those dreams. Many others decided those things were not possible, or were not worth the trouble, or were not “safe” enough.
Nine years later, I am 38 and semi-retired, pursuing my passions and being there to see my children grow up, and many others are blaming the economy, the government, the country, the JOB, the boss, the lack of hours in a day, the way they were raised, and anything else that they can think of as an excuse for why they still struggle financially. I learned somewhere in that nine years when I was working on financial freedom, that “you can have your excuses, or you can have your dreams, but you can’t have both”! I decided to go for my dreams. Many others decided not to. I learned that for every excuse I offered up before I “decided to”, there were thousands of people that overcame bigger obstacles to go on to amazing successes, financially and otherwise, and that meant my excuses were no longer valid.
Today, I think the biggest reason most people are not doing as well financially as they are capable of, can be summed up by saying that they decided not to….
It is not the lack of money – America and the world contains insane amounts of money, and it will flow freely to anyone that adds enough value to other people’s lives. T. Harv Eker taught me two of the declarations that I say out loud every morning – “I get rich doing what I love. I deserve to be rich because I add value to other people’s lives.” It is not the lack of opportunity – America and the world offers more opportunities for financial success today than at any time in history. There are more millionaires today than at any time in history, and more self-made millionaires are being created faster than at any time in history. It is not lack of access to “The Secret” or a recipe that works – financially successful people offering to teach how they did it are everywhere you turn today, and if you can’t afford the gurus, the libraries are full of free access to their books. Most of the books I started with came from the public library. Today, I am beginning to have my own small library of success, motivation, and real estate books, CD’s, etc. Today, I believe that the more you learn, discern, and implement, the more you earn. I forget who to give credit to, but somebody I studied said, “The learners inherit the Earth, while the learned are beautifully equipped for a world that no longer exists”.
Jim Rohn says “economic disaster begins with a philosophy of doing less and wanting more”. I agree. Finding a formula for financial success that works is easy. I can go to any bookstore and find a few dozen of them in less than an hour. Deciding that you are willing to pay the price is what stops most people. T. Harv Eker puts it this way… “It is one thing to know what to do, but a whole ‘nother thing to do what you know.”
I believe that “Deciding not to” erodes people a little on the inside. When we “decide not to”, we know we are capable of more, and we feel like less of a person because of our decision. Our self confidence erodes a little, which causes our dreams to be smaller, which causes us to take less action. Less action means less results, which leads to a decline in our attitude, and our self confidence erodes even further. This creates a vicious downward spiral.
The upside is we can “Decide to” at any time, and if we “Decide to”, we can create an upward spiral in the same way. “Deciding to” builds us up a little on the inside. We feel like more of a person, and our self-confidence grows, which causes us to dream bigger, which leads to more action. More action leads to better results, which improves our attitude, and our self-confidence grows even more and we take even more action….
I believe this upward or downward spiral all stems from one decision… and I ask you, are you “deciding to” in your life today? I hope so, because your success story might be just what you need, and it might be just what your family needs, and it might be just what the world needs. Please, don’t neglect to write your success story! Also, if you haven't already started, when would now be the right time to start?
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Visualizing All Your Dreams Come True
The first paragraph is adapted from The Success Principles, by Jack Canfield…
Fred Couples and Jim Nantz were two kids who loved golf and had very large dreams. Fred's goal was to someday win the Master's Tournament, and Jim's was to someday work for CBS Sports as an announcer. Fred and Jim were suitemates at the University of Houston in the late 1970's, and they would playact the scene where the winner of the Masters was escorted into Butler Cabin to receive his green jacket, and be interviewed by the CBS announcer. Fourteen years later, the scene they had rehearsed many times in Taub Hall at the University of Houston played out in reality as the whole world looked on. Fred Couples won the Masters, and was taken by tournament officials into Butler Cabin, where he was interviewed by... CBS sports announcer Jim Nantz, of course. After the cameras stopped rolling, the two embraced each other with tears in their eyes. They always knew it would happen that way, because they had already done it all those years earlier.
There is amazing power in acting as if something has already happened. In visualizing your dreams... especially when you bring all of your senses into play, and make it as real as possible. I think it was Dennis Waitley that said they did a study of high level athletes, runners, I believe. They tested the runners before, during, and after running, checking how their bodies acted at various points. This is where it gets interesting. Next they had the athletes visualize themselves doing the same run. The athletes saw the entire run in their minds, seeing it as real as possible, and their bodies tested exactly the same when they visualized as when they had actually done the running. Same harder breathing, elevated heart rate, all of it! You see, if you really become a part of what you are visualizing, your body can't tell that it isn't real! What this means is, if we really make our dreams real, in our mind, daily, over and over again, our mind and body think it is real.
Then, your mind starts telling itself, "I need to figure out how to make this dream happen. I need to put together all of the pieces of the puzzle somehow." You start looking for and seeing things that you wouldn't have noticed before. Do you know that, as you go through life, every minute of every day, you don't notice 95% of what is going on around you? Stop right now, and check out every detail of everything around you. Blades of grass moving, a clock ticking, objects around the room, cars passing, everything. Look at every little detail. Up until you started looking for it, you didn't notice 95% of what was there. You couldn't. Your mind can not process that much information at one time. So it focuses on what it thinks it needs to know and pay attention to the most. How does it decide that? One way is habits. Your mind pays attention to what you are in the habit of paying attention to. Another way is pay attention to the most important things, like the road when you drive. Another way is pay attention to what you have trained it to look for. When you visualize certain dreams over and over again, you start seeing things that can help you accomplish that dream. Sometimes you see little tiny things, in bits and pieces, over time. Sometimes you find one huge answer that makes the whole entire dream come true all at once. You train your mind what to look for, and it follows your commands. Science has taught us that human beings only use approximately 5-10% of our brain functions. This might sound a little hokey to some of you, but I honestly believe that by training our subconscious on what we want it to look for, we tap into the vast unused portions of our brain, and it starts working for us. That subconscious has to do something, and I think it does whatever primary directives you give it. If you tell your brain that you are watching TV and vegging, and you don't want it to do anything, it won't do anything. If you tell it to block out something painful, it will block it out. If you tell it to pursue your dreams, it will!!! But you have to make it real. The stronger and more real you make your visualization and images, the harder and faster your brain will work to find ways to create what you are visualizing. Keep in mind, you can't just visualize riches and sit on the couch and wait for the riches. You actually have to think, and plan, and turn your thoughts into actions (process of manifestation: thoughts lead to feelings lead to actions lead to results). But, still, this process will help you find the missing pieces that you didn't see before. The most successful people throughout history knew this... If you study successful people, you will find this is a key ingredient with almost all of them. Short version: what you think about comes about! What you focus on expands.
Personally, about 8-10 years ago I was poor. I made about $8-10/hour, and was solidly lower middle class. I had just started to get seriously interested in real estate, started studying success, etc. My wife Tammy and I went with my Mom and my sister to a gentlemen's house that my Mom was sort of dating. He had a very nice, 3/2/2 block house, with an in-ground caged swimming pool, and beautiful poolside commercial bar and grill (if memory serves me). He was a bit of a wine connoseuir, and, while I am not a wine drinker, most of the rest of them enjoyed sampling a few wines. It was a warm summer evening, the pool had a built in light, and the water was great. We had an amazing time, though my Mom may have drank a little too much wine, and tried to return some (sorry Mom)! The home was unlike anything I had experienced before. When I say I was raised without a lot of money in my life, it is not an understatement. This was a different lifestyle than Tammy, myself, my sister, or my Mom were accustomed to. I told my wife, that night, in front of my Mom and sister, that I would get us a home and pool just like that. If memory serves me, they all rolled their eyes, and I am guessing my wife said something like, “yeah, when we are about 80 years old, maybe”. I said I didn't know if it would take a few years, or many, or what, but we would have that again, and it would be all ours. I told my Mom and sister that, if they wanted that house in their future, too, they could learn with me. I think, at the time, it wasn't real enough for them to start pursuing it. Later, in T. Harv Eker's course "The Million Mind Intensive", we did some hypnosis, and I saw the same home again. I have visualized it many times sense then. In October of 2006, my wife and I purchased our new home, in the very same neighborhood as that house. It is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage, concrete block house. We have done a few things to it, and have plans to do some more some time (I rehab houses!), but it has an in-ground, screened pool, with a light in it. Every time I drive home, I feel a tinge of joy that part of my dreams is coming true again. I experience that high almost every time I start nearing home. On my way home I drive past the street that man’s house is on, and I sometimes look out at the houses and wonder, which of those houses is the one we visited those years ago. Which house helped me visualize my dream home, and helped push me to make it a reality several years later.
Interesting thing... My wife and I looked at pool homes just under $200K off and on for 2-3 years. I always told her we would get our nice, new, pool home before our son started kindergarten, so we would be in a good school district. She sometimes supported me, and other times gave me a "yeah, right". It didn't matter. I already knew I would have it, because I had been there so many times before. When a realtor friend of mine told me about our current house, I told him $249.9K was out of our price range. He said the listing agent said the sellers were very motivated, and we should check it out. I called the listing realtor, chatted with her about the house some, and decided that, even though we probably wouldn't be able to stretch to it, we would look at it, because the pictures were amazing. This house was in a completely different league than anything else we looked at for $200K. We walked in, looked at each other, and both had this smile on our faces like we were home. I knew I was in trouble, and these sellers better be very motivated. Long story short, at that time, I was not thinking the least little bit about my dream. Months later, I was watching "The Secret", and I was reminded that it was my dream house. In "The Secret", John Assaraf shows his son his dreaming board, (I have been gathering pictures so my family can make these soon), and he starts to tear up. He had a picture, from years prior, of the exact same house they were living in, and hadn't even realized it. It was a picture from some glamour homes type of photo shoot or whatever, and it was of the house he later bought as his personal residence. I think it said about 7,000 or 9,000 square feet, with a 3,000 square foot guest house. You know, your ordinary run of the mill stuff.
I will be making a dreaming board soon (and encouraging my wife and kids to do the same), and will do plenty more visualizing, because I am not done yet. I have more, bigger and better things to come, and I hope all of you reading this do as well. Best wishes, and happy dreaming!
Fred Couples and Jim Nantz were two kids who loved golf and had very large dreams. Fred's goal was to someday win the Master's Tournament, and Jim's was to someday work for CBS Sports as an announcer. Fred and Jim were suitemates at the University of Houston in the late 1970's, and they would playact the scene where the winner of the Masters was escorted into Butler Cabin to receive his green jacket, and be interviewed by the CBS announcer. Fourteen years later, the scene they had rehearsed many times in Taub Hall at the University of Houston played out in reality as the whole world looked on. Fred Couples won the Masters, and was taken by tournament officials into Butler Cabin, where he was interviewed by... CBS sports announcer Jim Nantz, of course. After the cameras stopped rolling, the two embraced each other with tears in their eyes. They always knew it would happen that way, because they had already done it all those years earlier.
There is amazing power in acting as if something has already happened. In visualizing your dreams... especially when you bring all of your senses into play, and make it as real as possible. I think it was Dennis Waitley that said they did a study of high level athletes, runners, I believe. They tested the runners before, during, and after running, checking how their bodies acted at various points. This is where it gets interesting. Next they had the athletes visualize themselves doing the same run. The athletes saw the entire run in their minds, seeing it as real as possible, and their bodies tested exactly the same when they visualized as when they had actually done the running. Same harder breathing, elevated heart rate, all of it! You see, if you really become a part of what you are visualizing, your body can't tell that it isn't real! What this means is, if we really make our dreams real, in our mind, daily, over and over again, our mind and body think it is real.
Then, your mind starts telling itself, "I need to figure out how to make this dream happen. I need to put together all of the pieces of the puzzle somehow." You start looking for and seeing things that you wouldn't have noticed before. Do you know that, as you go through life, every minute of every day, you don't notice 95% of what is going on around you? Stop right now, and check out every detail of everything around you. Blades of grass moving, a clock ticking, objects around the room, cars passing, everything. Look at every little detail. Up until you started looking for it, you didn't notice 95% of what was there. You couldn't. Your mind can not process that much information at one time. So it focuses on what it thinks it needs to know and pay attention to the most. How does it decide that? One way is habits. Your mind pays attention to what you are in the habit of paying attention to. Another way is pay attention to the most important things, like the road when you drive. Another way is pay attention to what you have trained it to look for. When you visualize certain dreams over and over again, you start seeing things that can help you accomplish that dream. Sometimes you see little tiny things, in bits and pieces, over time. Sometimes you find one huge answer that makes the whole entire dream come true all at once. You train your mind what to look for, and it follows your commands. Science has taught us that human beings only use approximately 5-10% of our brain functions. This might sound a little hokey to some of you, but I honestly believe that by training our subconscious on what we want it to look for, we tap into the vast unused portions of our brain, and it starts working for us. That subconscious has to do something, and I think it does whatever primary directives you give it. If you tell your brain that you are watching TV and vegging, and you don't want it to do anything, it won't do anything. If you tell it to block out something painful, it will block it out. If you tell it to pursue your dreams, it will!!! But you have to make it real. The stronger and more real you make your visualization and images, the harder and faster your brain will work to find ways to create what you are visualizing. Keep in mind, you can't just visualize riches and sit on the couch and wait for the riches. You actually have to think, and plan, and turn your thoughts into actions (process of manifestation: thoughts lead to feelings lead to actions lead to results). But, still, this process will help you find the missing pieces that you didn't see before. The most successful people throughout history knew this... If you study successful people, you will find this is a key ingredient with almost all of them. Short version: what you think about comes about! What you focus on expands.
Personally, about 8-10 years ago I was poor. I made about $8-10/hour, and was solidly lower middle class. I had just started to get seriously interested in real estate, started studying success, etc. My wife Tammy and I went with my Mom and my sister to a gentlemen's house that my Mom was sort of dating. He had a very nice, 3/2/2 block house, with an in-ground caged swimming pool, and beautiful poolside commercial bar and grill (if memory serves me). He was a bit of a wine connoseuir, and, while I am not a wine drinker, most of the rest of them enjoyed sampling a few wines. It was a warm summer evening, the pool had a built in light, and the water was great. We had an amazing time, though my Mom may have drank a little too much wine, and tried to return some (sorry Mom)! The home was unlike anything I had experienced before. When I say I was raised without a lot of money in my life, it is not an understatement. This was a different lifestyle than Tammy, myself, my sister, or my Mom were accustomed to. I told my wife, that night, in front of my Mom and sister, that I would get us a home and pool just like that. If memory serves me, they all rolled their eyes, and I am guessing my wife said something like, “yeah, when we are about 80 years old, maybe”. I said I didn't know if it would take a few years, or many, or what, but we would have that again, and it would be all ours. I told my Mom and sister that, if they wanted that house in their future, too, they could learn with me. I think, at the time, it wasn't real enough for them to start pursuing it. Later, in T. Harv Eker's course "The Million Mind Intensive", we did some hypnosis, and I saw the same home again. I have visualized it many times sense then. In October of 2006, my wife and I purchased our new home, in the very same neighborhood as that house. It is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage, concrete block house. We have done a few things to it, and have plans to do some more some time (I rehab houses!), but it has an in-ground, screened pool, with a light in it. Every time I drive home, I feel a tinge of joy that part of my dreams is coming true again. I experience that high almost every time I start nearing home. On my way home I drive past the street that man’s house is on, and I sometimes look out at the houses and wonder, which of those houses is the one we visited those years ago. Which house helped me visualize my dream home, and helped push me to make it a reality several years later.
Interesting thing... My wife and I looked at pool homes just under $200K off and on for 2-3 years. I always told her we would get our nice, new, pool home before our son started kindergarten, so we would be in a good school district. She sometimes supported me, and other times gave me a "yeah, right". It didn't matter. I already knew I would have it, because I had been there so many times before. When a realtor friend of mine told me about our current house, I told him $249.9K was out of our price range. He said the listing agent said the sellers were very motivated, and we should check it out. I called the listing realtor, chatted with her about the house some, and decided that, even though we probably wouldn't be able to stretch to it, we would look at it, because the pictures were amazing. This house was in a completely different league than anything else we looked at for $200K. We walked in, looked at each other, and both had this smile on our faces like we were home. I knew I was in trouble, and these sellers better be very motivated. Long story short, at that time, I was not thinking the least little bit about my dream. Months later, I was watching "The Secret", and I was reminded that it was my dream house. In "The Secret", John Assaraf shows his son his dreaming board, (I have been gathering pictures so my family can make these soon), and he starts to tear up. He had a picture, from years prior, of the exact same house they were living in, and hadn't even realized it. It was a picture from some glamour homes type of photo shoot or whatever, and it was of the house he later bought as his personal residence. I think it said about 7,000 or 9,000 square feet, with a 3,000 square foot guest house. You know, your ordinary run of the mill stuff.
I will be making a dreaming board soon (and encouraging my wife and kids to do the same), and will do plenty more visualizing, because I am not done yet. I have more, bigger and better things to come, and I hope all of you reading this do as well. Best wishes, and happy dreaming!
Monday, January 7, 2008
The Navy Destroyer Captain
A Navy Destroyer, which is a huge battleship, is traveling on a foggy morning, with horrible visibility, and the lookout sees a beacon light flashing ahead. He reports to the captain, who has the crew hail the source of the beacon on the radio. The captain says, “tell them to change their course 5 degrees starboard”. They radio the message, and they get a response back saying “change your course 5 degrees port”. The captain says to notify them, “change your course 5 degrees starboard immediately or we are going to collide”. The response comes back, “change your course 5 degrees port immediately and there won’t be a collision”. The captain says, “YOU TELL THEM this is the captain of a giant Navy Destroyer Ship speaking, and they better change their course 5 degrees starboard immediately, because they don’t want to collide with a vessel of our size!”. The response comes back, “change your course 5 degrees port immediately, because this is the lighthouse you are talking to”.
Some things that seem impossible can be accomplished by virtue of hard work, creativity, persistence, etc. There is much to be said for the person who insists on finding a way to get something accomplished, no matter how difficult the task. I am a firm believer that you must be a “find a way to get the job done” kind of person to be truly successful in life.
On the other hand, we need to be sure that what we are trying to accomplish is the right task or tasks. The moral of the story with the captain destroyer is, some things are beyond your control, and your efforts can be much better spent working on things that are within your control, rather than fighting against things that are not. If you are spending your time and energy trying to change your spouse or someone close to you, you are probably fighting a losing battle. You can definitely improve your life by working on you, and I am a firm believer that the more personal development you do the better your life will get, but you can’t change someone else – the decision to change is a decision people can only make for themselves. If you spend all of your time and energy complaining about the economy, the government, the country, or the world, you got a tough row to hoe. If, however, you find the flaws, and figure how to best work within these systems, or even come up with ideas that solve problems that are common to many, then you are in business (or at least you should be). One of the secrets to life is figuring out the fights that are worth fighting, so you don’t waste your efforts trying to get a lighthouse to change its course.
MAKING IT PERSONAL
On occasion, when politics comes up, friends or colleagues ask me why I seem sort of ignorant of candidates, causes, etc. This is just my personal leanings, and many very successful people disagree with this completely, but I don’t spend much of my time on political issues. I discovered long ago that, for me personally, I could spend a pound of effort trying to influence political issues, and I would get back only an ounce of return (very little influence on a vote outcome, etc.), but I could spend an ounce of effort figuring out the best way to work within the existing systems, and get back a pound or more of return (for example, I don’t make knowing every candidate’s stance on tax law changes my personal agenda, but I do make sure I know the changes that are happening, how they affect me, and how to make the most of the existing laws and/or future laws as they pertain to my business).
Now, here is something that kind of makes me a little sad. I drive by LRMC (the local hospital) on my way to work most days, and I routinely see people “picketing”. For example, I saw one person there every day, for over a month, carrying a sign complaining that they received a $3K procedure that they didn’t want. They probably gave up 200 hours of their life, or more, to let those driving by know how mad they were at the hospital. Do they think it mattered much to the people driving by? What could they have done that would have helped their cause more? First, did they make sure they had the appropriate insurance coverage to begin with, and, if not, are they getting it to prevent a similar situation in the future? Second, did they take the right approach, and talk to the right people, about trying to resolve the issue in their favor as much as possible (or did they just scream and yell a lot at whoever came on the line whenever they called)? Third, if there is a cause involved that they care about, which I doubt, then is there a better, more productive way to take up for that cause? Fourth, and lastly, did they evaluate what the 200 hours of their time spent carrying a sign was costing them? It would have cost me more than $3K, so I would probably be cutting off my nose to spite my face. Plus, if their time isn’t worth that much, then they should worry more about improving how much their time is worth, and less about being angry at a world that is probably largely just doing what it is supposed to be doing – which may very well be giving someone the best possible care in spite of themselves… Then again, maybe if they persist long enough, they will get that lighthouse to change course 5 degrees starboard!
I spent many an hour trying to back down lighthouses in my life before I discovered personal achievement (complaining about things I had no control over and/or fighting battles I couldn’t win used to be a regular thing for me), but I just couldn’t get most of them to budge… Today, I still hit a bump in the road now and then. Do you have any lighthouses in your life, that you are working fervently to get to change course 5 degrees starboard, and if so, are there other things you could do with the time and energy being spent that would help you to have more success and happiness in your life? If so, I wish you Godspeed in recognizing those issues, and changing your focus, so you can do more, have more, give more, be more! Best wishes from a former Navy Destroyer Captain - LOL!
'And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.'
Best wishes,
Chris Lund
Some things that seem impossible can be accomplished by virtue of hard work, creativity, persistence, etc. There is much to be said for the person who insists on finding a way to get something accomplished, no matter how difficult the task. I am a firm believer that you must be a “find a way to get the job done” kind of person to be truly successful in life.
On the other hand, we need to be sure that what we are trying to accomplish is the right task or tasks. The moral of the story with the captain destroyer is, some things are beyond your control, and your efforts can be much better spent working on things that are within your control, rather than fighting against things that are not. If you are spending your time and energy trying to change your spouse or someone close to you, you are probably fighting a losing battle. You can definitely improve your life by working on you, and I am a firm believer that the more personal development you do the better your life will get, but you can’t change someone else – the decision to change is a decision people can only make for themselves. If you spend all of your time and energy complaining about the economy, the government, the country, or the world, you got a tough row to hoe. If, however, you find the flaws, and figure how to best work within these systems, or even come up with ideas that solve problems that are common to many, then you are in business (or at least you should be). One of the secrets to life is figuring out the fights that are worth fighting, so you don’t waste your efforts trying to get a lighthouse to change its course.
MAKING IT PERSONAL
On occasion, when politics comes up, friends or colleagues ask me why I seem sort of ignorant of candidates, causes, etc. This is just my personal leanings, and many very successful people disagree with this completely, but I don’t spend much of my time on political issues. I discovered long ago that, for me personally, I could spend a pound of effort trying to influence political issues, and I would get back only an ounce of return (very little influence on a vote outcome, etc.), but I could spend an ounce of effort figuring out the best way to work within the existing systems, and get back a pound or more of return (for example, I don’t make knowing every candidate’s stance on tax law changes my personal agenda, but I do make sure I know the changes that are happening, how they affect me, and how to make the most of the existing laws and/or future laws as they pertain to my business).
Now, here is something that kind of makes me a little sad. I drive by LRMC (the local hospital) on my way to work most days, and I routinely see people “picketing”. For example, I saw one person there every day, for over a month, carrying a sign complaining that they received a $3K procedure that they didn’t want. They probably gave up 200 hours of their life, or more, to let those driving by know how mad they were at the hospital. Do they think it mattered much to the people driving by? What could they have done that would have helped their cause more? First, did they make sure they had the appropriate insurance coverage to begin with, and, if not, are they getting it to prevent a similar situation in the future? Second, did they take the right approach, and talk to the right people, about trying to resolve the issue in their favor as much as possible (or did they just scream and yell a lot at whoever came on the line whenever they called)? Third, if there is a cause involved that they care about, which I doubt, then is there a better, more productive way to take up for that cause? Fourth, and lastly, did they evaluate what the 200 hours of their time spent carrying a sign was costing them? It would have cost me more than $3K, so I would probably be cutting off my nose to spite my face. Plus, if their time isn’t worth that much, then they should worry more about improving how much their time is worth, and less about being angry at a world that is probably largely just doing what it is supposed to be doing – which may very well be giving someone the best possible care in spite of themselves… Then again, maybe if they persist long enough, they will get that lighthouse to change course 5 degrees starboard!
I spent many an hour trying to back down lighthouses in my life before I discovered personal achievement (complaining about things I had no control over and/or fighting battles I couldn’t win used to be a regular thing for me), but I just couldn’t get most of them to budge… Today, I still hit a bump in the road now and then. Do you have any lighthouses in your life, that you are working fervently to get to change course 5 degrees starboard, and if so, are there other things you could do with the time and energy being spent that would help you to have more success and happiness in your life? If so, I wish you Godspeed in recognizing those issues, and changing your focus, so you can do more, have more, give more, be more! Best wishes from a former Navy Destroyer Captain - LOL!
'And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.'
Best wishes,
Chris Lund
What Makes the Most Sense in Real Estate Investing?
When it comes to real estate investing, I hear a lot of opinions about what works (and what works the best). Some make a lot of sense, and some make very little. Some sound like they make a lot of sense, but really make very little sense. Due to Barbara encouraging me last night (thank you!), I will share some quick opinions (keep in mind, I am doing this very quickly before going away for some weekend R&R with my family (if it is with the family, is it still R&R? - LOL), so it is not meant to cover every aspect of any one type of real estate investing, but just to give you all a little food for thought (means it is only what pops into my head, and not necessarily well thought out, so be forgiving). Wholesaling property is a great way to get started in this business. You can learn how to find deals, determine what constitutes good deals, tie deals up with a contract, and usually you assign your interest in them to investors with the cash and/or rehab experience that you don't have, yet. If you wholesale deals to the right people, they would probably be willing to spend a little time teaching you some of the ins and outs, do's and don'ts, in the process, thus speeding up your learning curve. You can make money fast, with little or no money at risk (wholesaling is hands down the fastest way to a payday). You can also find out right away whether or not you have the ability, and the consistent persistency, to be able to find serious bargains in real estate. Many of you already know, finding serious bargains in real estate can be easier said than done. In regards to wholesaling, I happen to know someone who is buying a serious bargain every month or two in and around Lakeland, Florida, so if you find great deals in Lakeland I can tell you who to call!!! Second, flipping. I am flipping a house every month or two in and around Lakeland, Florida (coincidence? LOL) right now, and attempting to quickly accumulate serious cash that way. A few things to be aware of with flipping: seasoning is required by many lenders when you try to sell (I am finding many that want 90 days in the current market; I have heard that some lenders want a lot longer than that), be careful not to get yourself personally tagged with IRS dealer status, give yourself a big cushion on your cost of estimated repairs (I still do that and I have been doing this business for almost 10 years), be prepared for a likely big hit at tax time... However, the main issue I see with flipping is this... Most flippers are not truly investing, but are working a JOB flipping houses. They flip a house, live off the proceeds, flip another house, live off the proceeds, and never accumulate any wealth. In order to eat, these people have to keep flipping houses. That is a job, and not an investment, although it may be a job you like better than many other jobs). When you flip houses, you need to be accumulating a war chest of cash, and not be living Just Over Broke (my personal opinion)! Third, long term investing (rental property). I made the bulk of my personal wealth holding a lot of real estate over the past ten years, while the market was rocketing higher. The catches: most people underestimate how much of their cashflow needs to be designated for vacancies and repairs. Many people with positive cashflow spend it as they make it, then when a major repair is needed or a vacancy occurs, and they don't have anything saved for it, they claim rental property doesn't work and tell how it will make you broke (even experienced investors allow this to happen sometimes; ask me how I know this!). The upside is rental property, done correctly, has multiple profit centers: positive cashflow, paydown of mortgage (tenants buy you houses), tax advantages, and appreciation over the long run. Keep in mind, rentals are great, but you must have patience, and the mindset to put up with occasional babysitting (if you manage them yourself). They are generally a great way to build wealth for the long term (history proves this, as it is the way many, many people have accumulated great wealth). Consider which method of real estate investing will best help you achieve your personal goals... What is your return on your money in any given activity? As an example, I have some properties that I own free and clear, and people tell me how great that is. Wrong! They provide great cashflow, but I recognize that my return on investment this way usually sucks. As an example, one of my free and clear rentals is a $70K rental property. It rents for $650/month. Taxes and insurance suck up $200/month. Of the remaining $450, about $150/month covers vacancy and repairs (averaged over the long term). My average cashflow over time is $300/month, or $3600/year. On $70K, that is barely over a 5% cash on cash return on my money (obviously that doesn't factor in appreciation, tax benefits, etc.). If I can leverage a property like that, by getting a mortgage, and still have positive cashflow, I might do quite a bit better. However, if I invested that same $70K in flipping, I could buy one cheap house, fix it up, and sell it for a $20K profit. If that takes me 4-6 months, I might do it 2-3 times in one year. If I keep those profits growing and working for me, have I sky-rocketed my returns compared to rentals? Absolutely (if I am not living off of that money)! That begs the question, why would I ever keep property long term? Well, flipping only works when I bust my butt hunting deals, buying, fixing, and selling. Most of my long term keepers require little of my time and attention from day to day. Furthermore, my long term keepers, done correctly, keep chugging along making me money day in and day out, whether I find a good deal lately or not, whether I am working hard or gone on vacation for a month (the test for passive income - does it make you money while you sleep?). They also give me a good, stable base to support me through good and bad, and, over time, they continue to grow my wealth, even if very slowly at times. So I find a mix that works for me. If I get too many good deals at once, I can still wholesale a deal here and there. So, wholesaling, flipping, and rental property are all important, and all have their place... You just have to figure out what works best for your personality, which will best help you meet your personal goals, and which most suits your current financial situation and level of experience.
'And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.'
'And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.'
Is Your Life A Complete Success?
With some work in the area of personal development, and maybe even without it, I think most people recognize to some degree or another that a big part of the path to real happiness is figuring out their destiny. What is the path that was meant for you, where everything seems right with the world? What is the path that God laid out just for you, that you need to discover and travel to be truly fulfilled? I have seen the following put a few ways, a few different times, but just saw it again recently… It can shake you to your core. It is very thought-provoking, and if you do it, and follow through, maybe, just maybe, it will help you make all your dreams come true! And, if you read it, and say that was interesting, and don’t do anything, well, then you will keep on doing the same things you have always done, and keep on getting the same results you have always got. Here goes…
Imagine yourself on your death bed, and consider this question: “Was your life a complete success?”
Then ask yourself, if not, “What things do you wish had happened that would have made it a complete success?”
That’s it. Just answer those two simple questions. Once you have answered them, maybe you just figured out your destiny; your passion; the path that God uniquely intended for you! If you did (figure that out), then don’t waste another day without taking steps towards your dreams. Take some small, symbolic action now, to signify the change in you, and start changing your life for the better. New beginnings. I hate to be clique, but success starts by figuring out your destiny, and then starting to move towards it. Embrace it. Don’t worry if it seems impossible now – in fact, the more impossible it seems, the better – because the journey and the achievements will be that much more incredible! By starting, and taking little action steps every day, you start on the path, and at the right times and in the right places, God will send the miracles you need to help you along the way. You don't need to have every piece of the puzzle figured out before you start, either. The process of achieving goals and making your dreams come true should, by design, be lifelong - with short term, intermediate, and long term goals. As you grow and change, your goals and possibly your dreams can change with you. May you have more, do more, be more, and make all your dreams come true! Best wishes, and God Speed!
Imagine yourself on your death bed, and consider this question: “Was your life a complete success?”
Then ask yourself, if not, “What things do you wish had happened that would have made it a complete success?”
That’s it. Just answer those two simple questions. Once you have answered them, maybe you just figured out your destiny; your passion; the path that God uniquely intended for you! If you did (figure that out), then don’t waste another day without taking steps towards your dreams. Take some small, symbolic action now, to signify the change in you, and start changing your life for the better. New beginnings. I hate to be clique, but success starts by figuring out your destiny, and then starting to move towards it. Embrace it. Don’t worry if it seems impossible now – in fact, the more impossible it seems, the better – because the journey and the achievements will be that much more incredible! By starting, and taking little action steps every day, you start on the path, and at the right times and in the right places, God will send the miracles you need to help you along the way. You don't need to have every piece of the puzzle figured out before you start, either. The process of achieving goals and making your dreams come true should, by design, be lifelong - with short term, intermediate, and long term goals. As you grow and change, your goals and possibly your dreams can change with you. May you have more, do more, be more, and make all your dreams come true! Best wishes, and God Speed!
Focus On Fixing
I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year’s Day (or New Year’s Eve, as the case may be). I thought about doing an e-mail about New Year’s Resolutions, but I kept coming up with the same old tired stuff everyone already knows. Don’t make too many resolutions, and burn yourself out. Break big goals down to bite-sized, manageable pieces. Make your goals specific, and measurable. Determine ahead of time that it will be difficult at times, and that you are willing to see it through. Have a plan in place for overcoming your toughest temptations. Buddy up with a friend, and hold each other accountable. Write or draw your goals as if they have already happened, and post them in locations where you will see them for constant reminders. Continually visualize your desired results as if they have already happened.
Then I thought about resolutions myself, and, as it turns out, I already had short term and long term goals in most areas of my life, and doing New Year’s Resolutions seemed kind of redundant. So, what I ended up deciding was to focus on something for the New Year… I am going to FOF (Focus On Fixing), aka stop complaining, and FOF that which I formerly complained about! That being said, if any of you catch me complaining in 2008, please give me some encouragement (accountability)! Anyhow, rather than talking about resolutions, I am going to FOF with my first ‘newsletter’ of 2008.
Let me start with a story… This guy takes his lunch to work every day. On Monday, he opens his lunch box and finds a bologna sandwich and a pickle. He whines and complains to his coworkers about what a lousy lunch he has. On Tuesday, he opens his lunch box to a bologna sandwich and a pickle again. Again he whines and complains to his coworkers, saying he doesn’t care for bologna sandwiches or pickles. On Wednesday, the same routine repeats, and again on Thursday. On Friday, he opens his lunch box, and has a bologna sandwich and a pickle, again. He whines, complains, pounds his fist on the table and says he is sick and tired of bologna sandwiches and pickles, and he lets go of a few choice words. This time, a coworker that watched the same tired routine all week long, asks him, “Why don’t you tell your wife you don’t like bologna sandwiches and pickles for lunch, and ask her to fix you something different? The guy responds, “Wife? What wife? I’m not married. I make my own lunch.”
The point of the story is we can only truly succeed in life when we take responsibility for our own results. Whatever our lives are today is largely the result of the decisions we have made and the actions we have taken (or not taken) in the past. Further, we need to realize that, no matter what hardships come our way, we choose whether to let them beat us down, or whether to settle for mediocrity, or whether to rise up and overcome them so we can push on and make all of our dreams come true! Way too many people in this world spend most of their time and energy complaining, and never stop to appreciate the fact that they created most of the results they are complaining about. Hmmmmm….
My personal example… I grew up poor, and spent many years complaining that a poor person could never succeed financially in life. I could spend hours on end saying how unfair it was that wealth only came to the lucky; those who were born into it… or maybe to a few fortunate lottery winners or professional athletes or star actors/actresses, etc. I really knew how to whine and complain about how unfair life was to someone like me. Furthermore, I had friends and family that were great at commiserating with me. We could tell stories about our problems, try to outdo each other with the size of our problems, and exaggerate how bad things were more and more every time we told them. Ever do that yourself?
As long as that was my approach, I would never do any better financially than I was doing at that time. A tale for another time, but, fortunately, I read a few good books, starting with “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki, and I got up the nerve to talk to a few people (a coworker and the guy who was my landlord at the time come to mind) who had succeeded in real estate, starting from nothing and building from the ground up, and I discovered that maybe, just maybe, I was wrong about wealth. Needless to say, I have since discovered that I was completely wrong. I was fixing myself bologna sandwiches and pickles, and then complaining every day about what I had in my lunch box.
Here comes my old adage – what you focus on expands. If you focus on complaining, you get more to complain about. If you focus on crap, you get more crap. I think it was T. Harv Eker who said if you complain enough, you become a giant crap magnet. I believe it, because it was true in my life.
Still applies to me today, in fact… I just found myself complaining the other day about how my wife is impossible to get along with. Then I thought back to a discovery I made not too long ago. The more I blamed my wife for being hard to get along with, the harder she was to get along with. However, a Bible Study class about marriage taught me the following, which I then proceeded to prove true. They said when I stopped complaining and blaming my wife for our disagreements, and started doing everything I could to make my wife happier and my marriage better, she would respond in kind. Bible study theorized, correctly, that when innately good, Godly people are treated great, they have no choice but to respond in kind. Someone like my wife MUST, by definition, respond in kind. I purposely treated my wife like a queen for several weeks, and my wife and I were both amazed at how well we seemed to get along. She was treating me like a king! Then, I got lazy, and slipped back into old habits of mediocrity. Now, it is time for me to stop complaining about bologna sandwiches and pickles in my marriage, and to start making myself better lunches again. It will work again, the same as it did before, if I just follow through and do it. My wife MUST respond to my kindness with kindness, by definition of who she is as a person. It is a thing of beauty. Don’t believe me? Take it for a test spin in your life, and see if treating good people well isn’t repaid in kind…
Back to the point of my story… almost all of us have an area or areas in our lives that we complain about. Do you have anything in your life that you complain about routinely? Is there a chance that you can find ways to improve that area of your life instead of complaining about it? It doesn’t matter if its finances, or relationships, or medical problems, or a bologna sandwich and a pickle in your lunch box every day, if you find yourself complaining about something, stop, and seek out ways to Focus On Fixing instead of complaining, and see if it doesn’t change your life for the better.
Best wishes, and I hope you all have less to complain about, more to be happy about, and a great year in 2008!!!
To be added to or removed from my e-mail list, respond to:
Chris Lund at reinvestorsfl@aol.com and let me know your wishes.
One of my goals for 2008 is to increase my readership. If you like receiving ‘The Lund Letters’, and you know someone else that might enjoy them, just have them drop me their e-mail address and I will add them to my list. I promise to never sell contact information, and readers can be removed from the list on request at any time. Thank you!
P.S. – I am not sure how long it will last, but attached below is a URL on ‘Making A Difference’. It is neat, and touching, and I thought you might enjoy it. If you can’t click into it, then it might work to cut and paste it into your browser.
http://tinyurl.com/2zesmp
Let me start with a story… This guy takes his lunch to work every day. On Monday, he opens his lunch box and finds a bologna sandwich and a pickle. He whines and complains to his coworkers about what a lousy lunch he has. On Tuesday, he opens his lunch box to a bologna sandwich and a pickle again. Again he whines and complains to his coworkers, saying he doesn’t care for bologna sandwiches or pickles. On Wednesday, the same routine repeats, and again on Thursday. On Friday, he opens his lunch box, and has a bologna sandwich and a pickle, again. He whines, complains, pounds his fist on the table and says he is sick and tired of bologna sandwiches and pickles, and he lets go of a few choice words. This time, a coworker that watched the same tired routine all week long, asks him, “Why don’t you tell your wife you don’t like bologna sandwiches and pickles for lunch, and ask her to fix you something different? The guy responds, “Wife? What wife? I’m not married. I make my own lunch.”
The point of the story is we can only truly succeed in life when we take responsibility for our own results. Whatever our lives are today is largely the result of the decisions we have made and the actions we have taken (or not taken) in the past. Further, we need to realize that, no matter what hardships come our way, we choose whether to let them beat us down, or whether to settle for mediocrity, or whether to rise up and overcome them so we can push on and make all of our dreams come true! Way too many people in this world spend most of their time and energy complaining, and never stop to appreciate the fact that they created most of the results they are complaining about. Hmmmmm….
My personal example… I grew up poor, and spent many years complaining that a poor person could never succeed financially in life. I could spend hours on end saying how unfair it was that wealth only came to the lucky; those who were born into it… or maybe to a few fortunate lottery winners or professional athletes or star actors/actresses, etc. I really knew how to whine and complain about how unfair life was to someone like me. Furthermore, I had friends and family that were great at commiserating with me. We could tell stories about our problems, try to outdo each other with the size of our problems, and exaggerate how bad things were more and more every time we told them. Ever do that yourself?
As long as that was my approach, I would never do any better financially than I was doing at that time. A tale for another time, but, fortunately, I read a few good books, starting with “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki, and I got up the nerve to talk to a few people (a coworker and the guy who was my landlord at the time come to mind) who had succeeded in real estate, starting from nothing and building from the ground up, and I discovered that maybe, just maybe, I was wrong about wealth. Needless to say, I have since discovered that I was completely wrong. I was fixing myself bologna sandwiches and pickles, and then complaining every day about what I had in my lunch box.
Here comes my old adage – what you focus on expands. If you focus on complaining, you get more to complain about. If you focus on crap, you get more crap. I think it was T. Harv Eker who said if you complain enough, you become a giant crap magnet. I believe it, because it was true in my life.
Still applies to me today, in fact… I just found myself complaining the other day about how my wife is impossible to get along with. Then I thought back to a discovery I made not too long ago. The more I blamed my wife for being hard to get along with, the harder she was to get along with. However, a Bible Study class about marriage taught me the following, which I then proceeded to prove true. They said when I stopped complaining and blaming my wife for our disagreements, and started doing everything I could to make my wife happier and my marriage better, she would respond in kind. Bible study theorized, correctly, that when innately good, Godly people are treated great, they have no choice but to respond in kind. Someone like my wife MUST, by definition, respond in kind. I purposely treated my wife like a queen for several weeks, and my wife and I were both amazed at how well we seemed to get along. She was treating me like a king! Then, I got lazy, and slipped back into old habits of mediocrity. Now, it is time for me to stop complaining about bologna sandwiches and pickles in my marriage, and to start making myself better lunches again. It will work again, the same as it did before, if I just follow through and do it. My wife MUST respond to my kindness with kindness, by definition of who she is as a person. It is a thing of beauty. Don’t believe me? Take it for a test spin in your life, and see if treating good people well isn’t repaid in kind…
Back to the point of my story… almost all of us have an area or areas in our lives that we complain about. Do you have anything in your life that you complain about routinely? Is there a chance that you can find ways to improve that area of your life instead of complaining about it? It doesn’t matter if its finances, or relationships, or medical problems, or a bologna sandwich and a pickle in your lunch box every day, if you find yourself complaining about something, stop, and seek out ways to Focus On Fixing instead of complaining, and see if it doesn’t change your life for the better.
Best wishes, and I hope you all have less to complain about, more to be happy about, and a great year in 2008!!!
To be added to or removed from my e-mail list, respond to:
Chris Lund at reinvestorsfl@aol.com and let me know your wishes.
One of my goals for 2008 is to increase my readership. If you like receiving ‘The Lund Letters’, and you know someone else that might enjoy them, just have them drop me their e-mail address and I will add them to my list. I promise to never sell contact information, and readers can be removed from the list on request at any time. Thank you!
P.S. – I am not sure how long it will last, but attached below is a URL on ‘Making A Difference’. It is neat, and touching, and I thought you might enjoy it. If you can’t click into it, then it might work to cut and paste it into your browser.
http://tinyurl.com/2zesmp
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