Financial Success Is Merely A Decision

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that overcame bigger obstacles to go on to amazing successes, financially and otherwise, and that meant my excuses were no longer valid.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?