Category: Self Improvement

Have you ever been laughed out of a room metaphorically or literally?

I have.

Most people hate it. They tend to feel sheepish, angry, embarrassed, foolish… the list goes on.

But worse, they tend to stop exploring the thing or idea that was laughed at, dismissed, or told was a bad idea.

I hope to be laughed at. In fact, the more people laugh at me or tell me I’m wrong the stronger my conviction becomes. Because the majority is almost always wrong.

In fact I’ve found I become uncomfortable now when too many people agree with me, and I start re-evaluating my position.

The only thing that takes less effort than dismissing someone else’s ideas is agreeing with the masses.

Think about that for a moment.

How easy is it to tell someone they are wrong, dismiss what they say, poke obvious holes in their ideas with very little upfront thinking?

It takes almost no effort.

But it’s even easier to nod in agreement. It’s why mainstream news is so popular. People love to be told what to think.

I think it’s tough to develop this skill early in life. You’re impressionable and you think older people know something you don’t. It’s probably only been in the last 5-10 years that I’ve learned this lesson, and it’s probably been the most valuable tool I’ve developed.

But be careful. It’s not as easy as, “everyone thinks I’m wrong so I must be right!”. There are times when you can be too close or personally invested in something to see clearly, especially when you’re young. That person you’re dating that everyone says, or hints, is no good for you? They may just be on to something.

You get the idea.

The last couple years have popularized financial speculation as entertainment for many people, largely, in my opinion, to being trapped at home due to COVID. And while that hasn’t been true for the last twelve months or so (being trapped at home), it seems we’re still weening ourselves off the speculative rush.

Along with speculation as a hobby came the culture of “apeing in” which is simply jumping into a position or bet with a large amount of money, usually more than is prudent. It reminds me a lot of the guy that sits down at the poker table and plays uber aggressively, bullying the table with a high frequency of all-in bets.

It works every time until the last time.

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I like trends. In fact I’ve started largely focusing my writing on this blog around that entire idea so I can help think through the major trends I see in the world around me. Whether that’s technology, narratives pushed on us by media or society in general, markets and investing, etc.

But the most important trend we should all be paying attention to is ourselves and whether we’re on a trend of becoming better people. It’s always something that’s been in the back of my mind, and I’ve been putting in a lot of work lately to bring it to the front.

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I’ve been meaning to write a quick thought about this for awhile. Back in early July someone posted to our FB real estate group saying,

The road to financial freedom seems so far away…

My quick, off-the-cuff reply was, “The road to nowhere is far longer”. It landed, because it’s true.

But there were plenty of other comments, one I found particularly disgusting. It said,

Wait for a good deal they’ll always pop up. And slow and steady wins the race. My motto is “calculated risk.”

“Slow and steady wins the race.” I’m not sure there’s another saying I despise more.

If you’re somehow unaware, the saying is derived from a fable in which a tortoise challenges a hare to a race when the hare mocks him for being so slow. The hare is so far ahead he decides to stop and nap, and the tortoise ends up passing him and winning.

The motto, “Slow and steady wins the race” is henceforth ingrained in children at a young age.

Let’s be clear, slow and steady does not win the race. It gets you to a pre-determined destination through sheer grit and determination much like grinding out 50 years in a 9-5 job will get you to retirement when you’re about too old to enjoy it.

Is this really what we want to be striving for? Is it what we proudly want to exclaim our strategy is in building wealth and aiming for financial freedom? Is it what we want to be teaching our children?!

Absolutely not.

The tortoise beat the hare, but he did not win. Let’s be clear on that.

The tortoise beat the hare, because of two things. First, the hare was distracted, lazy, and cocky. Second, the tortoise was a grinder.

What we should be aspiring to is a combination of the best attributes of each the tortoise and hare. Give me the speed and the recklessness of the hare combined with the determination and focus of the tortoise.

And yes, I said the recklessness. I want to formulate my goal and work relentlessly toward it as quickly as possible. That doesn’t mean just moving as quickly as I can, but figuring out ways to accelerate that with added risk taking.

THAT is how you get to financial freedom and still have time to enjoy it.

Yes, at times you will stumble. You may suffer a set back, like our hybrid tortoise/hare missing his turn. But you can quickly re-calibrate and continue moving at a breakneck speed. And who’s to say a wrong turn doesn’t turn into a shortcut? You don’t know if they’re there unless you’re looking for them.

So stop idolizing the tortoise. He’s a loser. His strategy is exactly what you’re trying to get away from. And just because you’re trying to get away from that grueling 9-5 by slowly working on your side hustle, real estate business, whatever, does not mean you aren’t being a tortoise.

If you’re moving too slow and playing it too safe you’re always going to be a tortoise.

Get going!

The last week or so in SoCal I was telling Kaitlin that I knew I’d have a tough time getting back home. Not that I wanted to stay, I was ready to get back, but because I knew how much I’d deferred and stacked on my plate for when we returned.

We have the McCarty House rehab that I desperately need to check in on. Not just over the phone, but in person.

I have a Board of Review hearing for my property tax assessment appeals.

We’re closing on a land bank property on Friday.

I need to get one of our houses rented that we weren’t able to find a tenant for before we left.

And I still have work to attend to, personal taxes to knock out, and dealing with adjusting to life with kids stuck at home and social distancing in general. The list goes on and on.

It’s a lot.

When things pile up like this I tend to get overwhelmed. When I get overwhelmed I tend to freeze.

I think it’s because the large number of tasks seem insurmountable and I don’t know where to start. I’ve found that making lists help, and I like Wunderlist for that.

I’ve never been good at organization. I’ve tried bullet journaling, Evernote, a calendar, etc. but nothing ever sticks. Wunderlist has stuck around, but I wish I could make it more of a daily habit rather than an outlet only for when I feel like I’m suffocating.

The other strategy is to obviously just take one day at a time, one thing at a time. Making the list helps me realize what that is, because I literally can’t think when I feel like this.

That “thing” happens to be the Board of Review hearing on Thursday. So I’m focusing time and energy preparing my materials to hopefully knock that out of the park.