In my soul, there is a deep-rooted reason why I believe wealth creation is an artistic expression rather than a mathematical science.
The main reason I view wealth as an artistic journey, rather than a mathematical equation, is because I spent the majority of my formative years dancing my heart out in a break dancing crew.
I am serious. This was me in the year 2000:
To further back up my claim as an expert in this area, this is a video from an event our crew hosted in Minneapolis back in 1999. Crews from all over the Midwest came to compete at it.
I am now a mature 36-year-old man who loves making wise life decisions that creates the byproduct of wealth. The equation I try to live looks something like this:
Interesting life decisions + Wise financial decisions = Wealth.
But I believe my journey to find wealth, and purpose, really began when I first learned how to dance. This period of my life still influences me greatly today. Dance made me see everything in life, including wealth creation, as an art form rather than a boring mathematical system of rules and laws.
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I was 18 years old when one of my best high school friends approached me and said, “I’m starting a break dancing crew, do you want to be in it?”
I remember looking back at him shocked. I’d never danced before. I didn’t know the first thing about how to be a great dancer.
But even as a teenager, I had a gift of spotting really cool experiences that could totally enhance the quality of my life if I fearlessly jumped into them.
“A break dancing crew?” I asked. I visualized all the lights, music, and girls in my mind. I had no idea how to successfully do a single dance move, but I responded without hesitation. “Heck yeah man, I am in!”
Three more friends joined the crew that week. We called ourselves S1, and we bought a 15 x 15 foot piece of linoleum and installed it in a friend’s basement. We bought break dancing videos at the mall, and we studied them every night after school.
After a few months of practice, we were ready for our first event. Our crew went out to the nightclub ,First Ave in Minneapolis, (The same club Prince performs at in the movie Purple Rain,) and we met all of the other break dancers in the city who would meet there on weekend nights.
I’ll never forget the night we walked into the club for the first time as a crew together. The circle opened up, and each of us jumped in and showcased our style and listened to the crowd go wild.
This lifestyle became one of the most enjoyable periods of my life. It was the first time that I realized that life isn’t just a bunch of rules and expectations other people set for you to follow.
Life is the greatest dance floor ever. It’s a place for expression. It’s a place to have fun. It’s a journey where you can find, and live, your unique style of wealth if you practice and work for it every day.
Dance, and wealth creation ⸺ at their core ⸺ are art forms that we can use to interpret our deepest thoughts, feelings, and ambitions and express them into the world.
Now that I’m older, and my body doesn’t bend as fluidly as it did when I was 20 years old, I realize that the skills needed to become a great dancer, are the same skills you need to master life and become a great wealth creator. This is the reason why I often talk about wealth creation in an artistic sense rather than a mathematical sense.
To me, dance and wealth creation are related and live in the same family. They are spiritual siblings. They are an attitude. They are an art form where you take your life and create something beautiful and meaningful out of nothing. They are expressions of art that are deeper than numbers and rules. Your unique journey to your wealth is all about finding yourself, and turning the visions your soul dreams about into reality.
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HERE ARE THE 7 BIGGEST LESSONS BREAK DANCING TAUGHT ME ABOUT WEALTH CREATION:
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Wealth Creation Tip #1: Start Practicing.
Just start! Start today! Find people who know what they’re doing, and start emulating them just like we did when we watched our first break dancing videos.
Any person must take three steps before they can reach greatness: 1) Imitation. 2) Experimentation. 3) Innovation. Get some books, watch some videos, and just start imitating the responsible and successful people that you see.
Wealth Creation Tip #2: Find Your Style.
Becoming a great dancer and wealth creator isn’t about mastering a fixed set of moves. It’s about finding, and mastering, your personal style as it’s expressed through the moves.
Study the basic techniques of wealth creation so you know the basic steps you have to take. But once the basic financial building blocks are set in place in your mind, such as: RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS; IRA’s and ROTH IRA; Index Funds; Taxable and non-taxable income; undervalued assets; and investment opportunities…
Once you understand these moves, that’s when you start exploring inward to find your spirit, and learn what your soul dreams about accomplishing in life.
This is how your personal style of wealth creation begins to form. Are you great at being frugal? Then be frugal. Are you great at making money? Then make money. Are you great at minimalism? Then be a minimalist. Do you like stocks? Do you love real estate? Are you an entrepreneur? Find your style. Become whatever you’re great at.
Personal style is the quality that turns an average dancer into a great dancer. The same is true with wealth creation. Personal style is what turns an average wealth creator, into a great wealth creator.
Wealth Creation Tip #3: Train Like An Athlete.
Dancers are athletes. Wealth creators are like athletes too, but in a different sense.
Dancers discipline their bodies. Wealth creators discipline their minds.
When I was in the dance crew, we used to dance all night long at events and parties until the sun would come up. To be good, you had to be in the best physical shape of your life so you would never miss a beat all night long.
Being a great wealth creator demands the same toughness and fitness, but instead of disciplining your body, you need to be able to discipline your heart, spirit, and mind.
You have to be able to say no. You have to fight for what’s right. You must be able to sacrifice today’s kind-of-wants, for tomorrow’s absolute-needs-and-dreams.
Training the body to dance requires disciplining the mind. But training the mind to build wealth, requires saying no the bodies desires.
You have to go on a daily adventure and kill your excuses, fear of failure, and perfectionism. Even when you’re tired, hurting, and exhausted, you have to push yourself to read, study, and save more. Just like a great athlete, you have to always strive to be greater than what you were today.
Wealth Creation Tip #4: Kill Your Addictions.
Destroy your addictions! Kick them out of your life!
One thing I always appreciated about the great break dancers, was that even though they lived deep inside the late-night clubbing and raving world, they always respected and valued sobriety, even when drugs and alcohol were as common as bottles of water.
The reason they valued an addiction-free lifestyle was because nobody wanted to sacrifice the power of their spirits, and ruin the quality of their dance.
Deep in the break dancing world, there was little patience for drugs, alcohol, or drama. The great dancers were too focused on pushing their performances to the next level. They knew addictions would kill their discipline and style.
It takes the same amount of focus, discipline, and freedom from addiction, to become a great wealth creator. You have to be totally ready to give everything up that’s holding you back if you want to be successful.
In modern society, addictions come in all different shapes and sizes. Drugs and alcohol are the obvious ones. But there are many more we engage in every day that keep us from our potential and purpose.
Addictions such as: media, shopping, peer pressure, laziness, blaming and excuses. These are all addictions that keep us from becoming great wealth creators.
Focus on what’s important to you. Build your discipline. Destroy your addictions. This is a massive step that has to be taken if you want to become a great wealth creator.
Wealth Creation Tip #5: Make Great Friends Along the Way.
It’s not the money or the moves that will make you great. It’s always about the friends you will make and the lives you will change along the way.
It’s always the people you’re around that make a night of dancing fun. The same is true when you’re creating wealth. The people you put yourself around are the catalyst that will actually make you feel wealthy no matter how much money you have.
When I think back on my years of break dancing, some of the most memorable nights I ever had, were because of the awesome friends I had around me. Being a great wealth creator, demands the same social dynamic.
Make friends on your journey. Share the wealth you create. Love the people you’re around.
Transform your life into a giant dance floor where amazingly unique people are constantly spinning in and out of it. Exchange your energy with theirs. Help other people reach their dreams, and let them help you with yours.
Never isolate yourself if you want to be a great wealth creator. Dance. Live. Share. Help. Pray. Love.
Your number one goal if you want to become a great wealth creator is to transform your life into the greatest dance floor and party for God that has ever existed on this earth.
Wealth Creation Tip #6: Invest in Making Great Memories.
Always make great memories because our memories will be more valuable than money to all of us one day.
One day you will either be too old to enjoy your money, or you will not be able to take your money with you when you die and leave this earth. Never forget why you’re on your journey to create wealth.
The only thing all of us will have in the end is the memories we make during the best years of our lives. Make sure that no matter how much money you’re making, or saving, or investing, that you’re remembering to create awesome memories along your way with the people you care the most about.
My love for dancing reminds me of this daily. One day the time will come when I will be too old and weak to be able to dance like I could when I was young. One day I will be forced to stay in my chair when my favorite song comes on.
At that time, I will only have my great memories to remember how awesome my life really was.
Never pass on an opportunity to make an awesome memory, to save another dollar that you don’t really need.
My Final Wealth Creation Tip #7: Have Fun!
Be aware. Be grateful. Have fun dancing, and creating your style of wealth at all times.
One day everything you have worked for, and sacrificed for, will come to an end. All you will have is your memories that make you happy. Invest in making your life great, first. Invest to make more money, second.
Never forget that.
Live to create an awesome dance with your life. This way you will never have regrets, and you will always know you did the best with your limited time alive. Once you become a dancer, and a wealth creator, you will always be one. There really are no rules or definition to success, except the ones you create for yourself.
Find you. And create the wealth that God created you to create.
READ ON: THE WEALTH MINDSET: A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO CREATING WEALTH.
READ ON:
MONEY AND INVESTING: NINJA AND JEDI WEALTH
PURPOSE OF LIFE AND HOW TO CREATE WEALTH
DISCUSSION TIME: LEAVE A COMMENT TO INSPIRE SOMEONE READING THIS AFTER YOU:
What are some of your favorite wealth creation tips? What activities have inspired you to think of your life differently?
This has been one of my favorite articles on your blog to read. All good points and so very true about breaking and no time for drugs or alcohol.
Thanks Todd! I enjoyed writing it too. I am passionate about creating personal style and art with our lives, far more than I am about creating massive bank accounts and things we don’t need. Just live and dance, and create action to find your purpose. When your life becomes a dance that creates daily happiness beyond your wildest dreams, you are one of the wealthiest people in the world no matter how much money is in your bank account. That’s the message we try to share here. Thanks for reminding us of this truth, Tortuga.
I absolutely LOVE this post, I love how you’ve managed to find the comparisons between two things you love 🙂 it’s all so true, and this could really help people to see how the points you raised will help you not just with your finances, but with your life.
Thanks for stopping by @francesca! That’s really our goal here at Wealth Well Done. My view on life is: Who cares if you have million of dollars, if you are stuck in a miserable life! That’s why we take a backwards approach in our writing to inspire people to build wealth. Build an awesome mind, and an awesome life first, and then let that happiness and purpose automatically lead you to your destiny and wealth. My view is: If you can master your life, you can master anything, including finances. So figure what you want out of life first, and then build your financial life around those dreams second. Thanks for being a friend and stopping by.
Such good advice you are giving here! Loved the part about destroying our addictions as well! Until you are really ready to make changes and destroy the things that are holding you back, you will never make the changes necessary to be successful! Thanks for sharing these and for connecting two totally different subjects in an enlightening way! Loved the video!
Thanks @ Steven. I may actually have to write more on the addiction stuff, and really add “breaking addictions” into our mission statement, because you’re so right, in order to be successful, you have to break EVERY anchor that is holding you back from success. Even though I was never a really messed up drug addict, I’ve struggled with my own addictions in the past that really hurt my opportunities to grow as a person. In my younger years, I was addicted to pride, and do-whatever-you-want syndrome. I was addicted to laziness, and even relying on my talent over hard work a lot of times. It wasn’t until I focused on killing those addictions that I started to find the life I always dreamed of. Thanks for commenting, and inspiring me to think more about how much our addictions harm our ability to create the life God wants for us, because I believe the happiness that comes from living the life you were created for is ultimately what wealth is.
I really love Tip #2 – Find your style. I think everyone has a natural inclination to be better in some financial areas than others i.e. investing, being frugal, side hustling, etc. There’s no set formula for financial independence. Everyone finds their own unique way there. Awesome post 🙂
Hey @fourpillarfreedom, thanks for commenting. You are totally right about finding your style. Find out what you like about personal finance, and then become great at it. Master it. Teach it. Love it. My attitude in life is: Find the stuff you love, and then pour your heart, mind, and soul into it and master it. Everything you don’t like, just be good-enough at it, or contract it out to someone who is great at it so you don’t have to waste any of your valuable time alive doing things you don’t like to do. Finding your style is a massive key to happiness, purpose, and wealth. I personally like frugality, value-seeking, entrepreneurship, adventurism, and index fund investing. Those are the areas I try to master to create wealth. That’s my stile of living that I love. Everything else I contract out.
I love it! Great post!
Thanks @lake Girl! I had a lot of fun writing it too! I have so much more fun in my life when I see wealth creation as an artistic expression rather than a mathematical science. I just love dancing and creating spontaneous beauty through life. Just like a great dancer, it’s all about practice, practice, practice, so when you get to your moment to shine, you can just let yourself go and get lost in the moment of creating art in front of the world. Thanks for commenting!
Bill, I think you need to revive the breakdancing habit in FIRE. I’ve got a buddy that was into it — he was on a crew that breakdanced between periods at a North Stars game (he’s probably got 10 years on you).
Cheers!
-PoF
Lol, awesome! Hey, @POF, I still groove all the time; but my hard-core, ground-rocking days are mostly behind me. Once I hit 30, I really became aware of how much I enjoy my fully functioning ACL knee joints. Haha. I’m 36 years old, so if your friend was around my age, or in a crew that was around during the late 90’s or early 2000’s, I may have run into him. But the north stars were a long time ago. I think they moved to Dallas by the time I was about 12 or 13, and I didn’t start break dancing until I was 19. In any case, even though I’m not a hardcore breaker anymore, I still stay active. Mountain biking is my new favorite adrenaline sport. But that doesn’t mean I don’t still get out and dance my heart out. A few times a year, I still get out and let the dance moves fly. Until the day I am old enough that I can’t walk anymore, a dance floor will always be one of my comfort zones to find my peace and happiness in. I was talking to J$ @budgetsaresexy, and he said there’s a dance floor at Fincon. I’m sure I’ll be making an appearance there if it gets intense enough for me. Haha. THanks for the comment! 🙂
You’re a multi-talented individual, Bill! An interesting story and a great analogy 🙂