We’re back from Florida! We were at FINCON last weekend, a writing conference “Where Money and Media Meet.” It got me thinking: “What’s the most important thing I learned while there?”
Let’s explore this idea that’s been soaring through my brain like a hang-glider flying over a rainbow:
“Think more about what you should be doing, and do everything you can to do that.”
This is what I mean:
On Thursday, we were invited to a lunch by the journalist who interviewed me for MSN and CNBC last winter. Carl, Mr. 1500, from 1500DaysToFreedom joined us. I’ve known Carl since last year, and he asked me:
“If you won $10 million dollars tonight, how would your life change tomorrow morning?”
As I chewed on an incredibly delicious piece of thought stuffed between the fleshy folds of my brain matter, I thought about my answer.
I realized the problem in my life isn’t my job or boss. Being self-employed means I am my own boss, and I create the job I want to have every day. I’m not trying to escape a life-sucking career. I’m a full-time contract sales rep; a landlord; and a writer and blogger.
The things I hate most about working, no longer exist for me. For example, here’s a short list of the things I hate about “working” for someone else: 1) I hate having to wake up super-early to an alarm and then commute in busy rush hour traffic. 2) I hate having to ask permission to take time off to do the things I really want to do. 3) I hate having a manager who wants to impose their goals on me, when I am very clear about the goals I want to achieve in life.
But I’ve found, other than these three things, I really enjoy working with awesome people, and creating incredible things with my time alive. I am a goal-driven man, and I enjoy working to accomplish bigger and bigger goals.
And in my current sales, blogging, and landlord life, I feel like I’ve solved a lot of these problems I hate about work, while positively balancing most of the aspects I like about work.
In my sales business, my clients usually aren’t ready to start talking about work until 9 AM, and they leave the office by 5 PM, so it’s easy to plan all of my appointments between rush hour traffic, and I always have nights and weekends off since my clients don’t work during the nights or weekends either. And almost all of my clients are people I enjoy working with. Together we work toward the same goals: They want the best products and service from me, so they can focus on being great in the other aspects of their jobs.
This is probably why I rarely talk about early-retirement on this blog. Why? Because why would I want to retire from a work lifestyle that has all of the things I enjoy doing, with few of the things I don’t like doing? Why am I not obsessed with wanting to retire early? Because I’ve created a style of work for myself that perfectly fits the type of lifestyle I like to live.
And now that I am writing this, I think this is the answer to find happiness most people seek: Rather than try to retire from the job you hate. Try to find a way to create the lifestyle and career that you love.
But even though I have a lifestyle business that I have no interest in retiring from, there is still more I want out of life. That’s what I am going to continue building and growing toward.
What more do I want?
I know that I am going to die one day. When I do die, I want to feel like I lived the life I was created to live. This feeling of, “Doing something that is bigger than just making money and being happy,” may have originated inside of me because I have had a spiritual, or conscious awakening at some point. But I have this deep, inner calling that continues to push me to try to do something powerful, helpful, and totally unique with my life. I like my sales business, and rental property, but I feel my soul craving a deeper life experience than just trading products and services to generate a profit. I also want meaning. I want purpose. That’s where this blog comes into my happiness equation.
This is where my statement in the beginning of this article comes into play: “If you’re not doing what you want to do, then you have to find a way to start moving toward doing the things you want to do.”
Even though I am starting to have everything I once wanted, there are still dreams inside of me that feel unfulfilled. I want to write; help; and inspire others. I want to help make people believe that they can reach a little further, and accomplish more than they ever thought possible. I want to share the insights, tools, and lessons I have learned that have helped me, so that other people can find the happiness I have found. In short, as I gain more money, I am starting to change my goals from the pursuit of money to become financially independent, to the goals that have nothing to do with money, like making a difference and inspiring people who feel captive in their lives to reach a little further, work a little harder, to create the freedom they crave.
Ultimately, the financial independence community I was immersed in for four days last week, continues to inspire me to do less of the things that KINDA makes me happy (like work for money), and more of the things that REALLY makes me happy. (Like seeing people gain confidence, and drive to go a little further, and embrace new ideas that can transform them to a new version of themselves.)
All in all, the financial independence community I was around this last week continues to push me to keep going on the journey I personally dream about, and push myself to become who I am supposed to be.
If you’re still with me, here’s the steps that have worked for me to get this far, and the steps I’d recommend anyone who wants to start doing everything they REALLY want to do:
#1) Destroy a consumer mentality and all high-interest debt which is keeping you locked in a financial cage.
#2) Avoid spending your hard-earned money on the things that only KINDA make you happy, and focus all of your energy on finding and accomplishing the things that REALLY make you happy. Sacrifice 50% of the things you don’t need to be happy. Then increase your savings/investing rate to 50% so you can start saving for the things that REALLY make you happy.
#3) Study to Learn. Learn to Grow. Repeat the process, and start growing into the person you want to become.
#4) Ask yourself, what do you really want to do with your life?
#5) Now that you’re becoming the person you want to be, you have a vision of what you want to do, and money is no longer the biggest pressing issue in your life because you’ve saved a ton; start making the decisions that will lead yourself toward doing what you want to do full-time with your life.
#6) Do it! Take a part-time job trying something new. Experiment with your talents, life, and ideas. Start a little side business doing what you see in your mind. See if you like it, and if you do, begin to grow your little hobby from a part-time experiment into a full time lifestyle business that you love to live.
After you have done these 6 steps, hopefully you’ll find yourself in the same position I found myself in this weekend, when Carl asked me: “If you won ten million dollars tomorrow, how would your life change?”
And the best place to find yourself in, is to be able to answer: “It really wouldn’t change my life that much, because I’m already living the life I dreamed of living when I was broken and discouraged, and just wanted a life that could provide me the peace and meaning I always dreamed of living.”
How would your life change if you won ten million dollars tomorrow?
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I really love the thought process you have here. I think everyone, if they really knew it was possible, would want a lifestyle of financial independent. Thanks for sharing your insight on that process.
Also, that’s really cool that you could answer the 10 million dollar question that way. That’s awesome. I’m wondering though, would your answer be different if he had asked you an additional question: if you had been given $10M and at the same time been told you had 5 years to live (and you believed them), would that change your answer?
Hey Sam! Yes, I believe if I had a limited amount of time to live, it would change my answer. I would immediately put all my fear aside, and put all my energy, into taking this blog into the next level. I would be 100% open and vulnerable. I would talk about my failures in life, and very openly talk about how I came back from them. I am currently working my way toward this dream, but I am being cautious, because once you publish things on the internet, you can’t take them back. But if I only knew I had 5 years to live, I would 100% move forward to living my life without fear. I’m slowly getting to that point in life, and the more money I have saved, the more fearless I become, but I still deal with fear of what people (mostly clients of my business) would think of some of my worst decisions in life. My own personal holy grail that I am working toward is = financial independence so I can fearlessly live my deepest dreams. Thanks for commenting.
Love the question. There are a few minor adjustments I would make if I received $10M. I would put it all into investment accounts, my apartment building into managers hands, buy an RV and travel the country and maybe the continent, to see all the parts I haven’t seen in decades. That is a goal I’m slowly working toward. $10M would put me there nicely. Other than that, not much would change. I am happy with my current lifestyle, while putting around 40% aside every month. It’s just a matter of time until I can purchase that RV. I’m happy working toward that goal today.
I think my investment strategies of 50% stocks/ 50% real estate would stay the same, but like you, I think I’d get a lot more aggressive. I think I’d stay doing the same thing for awhile just to get used to the fact that I am now worth 10 million dollars, but then like you, I think my life would slowly change. I’d spend January thru March (dead times in Minnesota) either in a ski condo in the mountains, or writing on a beach somewhere. Like you, my wife and I want to try renting an RV for a summer to see if we like it, so we’d do that in a few years. So I think my life would slowly make changes, but the cool thing right now is that I have found what makes me happy, and even if I suddenly became rich beyond my wildest dreams overnight, I don’t think my pursuits would change all that much. I think that’s when you know you’ve figured yourself and your life out: When money doesn’t impact who you are, it just helps you accomplish your life goals faster and more efficiently. 🙂
Damn it, Billy. You’re always making me think. But thinking is good, of course, so I commend you. Great post. Mrs. Groovy and I are in a really good place right now. If we managed to come across an extra ten million dollars, we’d probably only do two things differently. Give more to family, friends, and charity and spend two to three months every year in Montana. We really love that state and would love to build Groovy Ranch West out there. And since we’d really like a place out in Montana, perhaps we can figure out a way to do it with our current resources. Like I said, Billy, you’re making me think. Cheers, my friend.
You comment is pretty inspiring to me, because that means I am doing what I’m trying to do: Make people think in fresh, positive ways about the goals, motivations, and plans for their life. My article was read hundreds of times in total, so your comment makes me feel good that even though you were the only one that commented that it made you think, there’s probably hundreds of people out there who were inspired to think new, fresh thoughts too.
You’re right about the giving part… Ten Million dollars would be way more than I’d need to be happy, so I’d be able to financially help others in ways I can’t now. Like if I got that ski condo in my dreams, I could share it with families who may never have a chance to go on such a vacation. Sharing is where so much life happiness ultimately comes from.
Even I started to think hard in this one Billy B! I’m a young guy and after reading, learning and discussing how people feel and look back at their lives when they are old and pondering how fast life went by, a few things come to mind regarding this mindset you discuss in your blog post. I have found myself thinking about…
1. Was I a good person? Whom did I love in my life and did I do the best at showing them how much I loved them?
2. What did I accomplish and how was is measurable? Did I leave a lasting impact on this World?
3. Did anyone learn anything from me? Was I a good steward of the gifts, talents and tools I had available in my life to accomplish good in my life?
These are tough questions to answer but as someone who has a winning mindset, values financial independence and has become a talented writer wanting to impact the World, I leave you to ponder these questions as well!