Let’s start with the question, “Do you plan to be here, alive, on planet Earth, ten years from today?” If so, where do you plan on being then? Don’t kid yourself, but realistically, based on what you are doing today, where do you plan on being in one year, three years, five years, and ten years? How will you and your life be different or the same as compared to today?
I got my wakeup call at about age 28, when I read “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” for the first time. I came to the realization that, after 28 years on this planet, I didn’t have a lot to show for the time I spent living, and worse, that I had no reason to believe I would do any better in the future. Up until then, my plan was just going through life, living day to day, waiting for something good to happen to me; waiting for my ship to come in. The problem was, I wasn’t even near the water; I couldn’t have seen my ship even if it did come in!
“Rich Dad, Poor Dad” was a great beginner book, which was all I was ready for at that time. It was wealth and success in an easy to read, story format that was able to hold my interest. It showed me that I needed to think ahead, long term, and begin doing little things that would add up to a better life later on. It was then that I started to become an avid learner. I figured out that if I could think what wealthy people thought, and then do what wealthy people did, eventually I would have… what wealthy people had!!!
Just a few changes... Back then, I thought I was doing about 10% of what I needed to do to succeed, and I was missing 90% of the puzzle. Furthermore, I didn’t think the other 90% was achievable before reading “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”. I really thought you had to be born into a wealthy family, and wealth was nearly impossible to achieve in less than one generation. What I eventually learned was, I actually already had 90% of the puzzle inside me, and I just needed to improve the final 10%. I already was a hard worker, with integrity, and ‘learn-ability’. The last 10% is different for different people. It might be a small shift in thinking, one or two minor activity changes, a little more discipline, changing one bad habit, or having or implementing one good idea. For me, it was largely a shift in thinking and, once made, wealth started to gradually come into my life, and stay! One year, three years, five years, ten years… Slowly at first, but then it picked up steam as I went.
Now, when someone asks me when and where they should start working on building wealth, I tell them the best time to start is now, and the best place to start is wherever they are right now! You may have to get tough on yourself to get started. You will have to ask yourself hard questions, like, “Am I reading the books that will take me where I want to go in one year, three years, five years, ten years? Am I working today on changing bad habits that hold me back from my full potential, and beginning to replace them with good habits, like living below my means and saving and investing the difference (do I pay myself first?)”?
Excellent questions. You see, what you are doing right now, today, determines who and what you become in ten years. If you keep doing the same things, you will keep getting the same results. So, ask yourself, am I improving me, and, if not, am I okay with being exactly the same person, with exactly the same results, in ten years as today? If not, when will now be the right time to make some changes? The first time I heard it put that way, I really had to think about it, but when it sunk in, it really hit home with me… When will now be the right time for you to start doing better?
So, for every one of us, we are either reading the right books to take us where we want to go in ten years, or we are not. We are either starting to discipline ourselves for a life of more, or we are not. We are either improving our habits, or we are not. Here is what you want to be careful to avoid… Don’t kid yourself. Don’t hope for and expect the best, without taking actions to create that best. Don’t wish for more, and not do something about it. Don’t fail to plan, since we all know that is the same as… planning to fail.
If you are where I was ten years ago, at age 28, with little or nothing to show for 28 years of living, ask yourself, “What can I do right now, today, to start moving towards my dreams? What can I do to begin moving towards the personal, spiritual, physical, and financial goals I want to achieve? What can I do to shake off wishful thinking, and start on a path to become the person I want to be, with the life I want to have, in one year, three years, five years, and ten years?”
Ten years ago, I ‘woke up’, I decided I didn’t want the same things out of the next ten years of my life as I had gotten out of the last 28 years, and I changed who I was becoming with a 10% change in me. A 10% change doesn’t sound like much, but what happened was it compounded, and gathered momentum, and I got on a path of personal achievement that has been absolutely nothing short of incredible! You see, just a little tiny shift in me, compounded over time, changed everything. I had to start small, biting off what I could chew and digest at the time. As time went on, I could do more and more, and I could see things I didn’t see in the beginning. If I had been given a million dollars back then, when I was 28 years old, I wouldn’t have known how to handle it, and I just would have spent and lost it all. I had to grow myself over the years, and the journey to where I am today is worth every bit as much as the money. The money may or may not disappear, but the person I became on the journey can’t be taken away, and if I started over again today with nothing, I would be able to rebuild my wealth much quicker and easier the second time around (because of who I became the first time around).
The key is to start right now making a few small changes so you can make all of your dreams come true. When will now be a good time for you to get started? How exciting, that just a few small tweaks, a 10% change from who you already are, and who you can be in one year, three years, five years, and ten years is limited only by your willingness to dream it and believe it. As Napoleon Hill said, “If your mind can conceive it, and you can believe it, you can achieve it!” You already have 90% of what it takes – why not do just 10% more??? Go for it!!!!!!! If you do, you won’t ever regret it, and if you don’t, well, the saddest truth of all… You may grow old wondering what could have been, and wishing you had done something different.
'And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.' –Anais Nin
My wish for all of us is that today be the day when the risk to remain tight in a bud is more painful than the risk it takes to blossom – and that we open up and bloom (as human beings) like the most beautiful flowers imaginable! Best wishes on the path to making all of your dreams come true!!!
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