Written by Peter Horsfield, as such they are his personal views.
- Let ‘It’ Go
- It’s a process
- Take Care of Yourself
- Start Now
Let ‘It’ Go.
The past is dry cement. It’s set. We can’t be changed. It is what it is. The reality is “life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards” Soren Kierkegaard.
The challenge is how to do it more effectively and how to do it well. Elsa in the blockbuster Disney movie Frozen sings about the self-empowerment and freedom of letting it go.
Maria Kondo writes about the power of sparking joy through the process of letting go.
Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus have even started a movement of minimalists with their quest to live a more meaningful life, by embraces less AKA letting go via the process of minimalism.
There are countless other guru’s, spiritual leaders and teachers we can also draw on for inspiration and advice too, however ultimately letting go come down to us and the personal decisions we make.
Learning to fail forward it’s the key here, rather than remaining a nut stuck in a rut and having our failures, fears, judgements and self-criticisms hold you back.
Acknowledging failure AKA hugging the cactus helps us to recognise the areas where we need to evolve.
Failure is a massive part of being successful, because failure is where the lessons are. However letting go of what we are hanging onto and that which is holding us back is the first big and vulnerable step we must all take, if our failures are to be the starting point for our growth.
It’s a process.
“There are those who are travelling and those who know where they are going. Successful people have this over their rivals. They know where they are going”. Roy Disney
From the two decades I have been studying and applying wealth, my biggest ah-ha moment was the realisation that, simply by doing the work and remaining committed, eventually whatever goal we set ourselves it will ultimately be achieved.
George Leonard’s book Mastery refers to mastering anything is to practice for the sake of practice itself, not for results. All significant learning is composed of brief spurts of progress followed by long periods of work where it feels as if you are stuck on a plateau. There are no experts- only learners.
Just like learning to walk. We try. We fall. We get back up again and try again until we can walk assisted and then unassisted.
Trust the process.
Financial planning is exactly the same. Ultimately the goal is to achieve financial independence “to walk unassisted and be able to assist others”. It takes time. We need to adjust. We need to learn and grow from our failures, be encouraged, be held accountable and do the work.
Mastery of anything especially when achieving financial independence is the same. It’s not rocket science. It requires patience, commitment and consistently making choices aligned to our core values and beliefs.
Doing so not only heightens our probability of success, it more often than not helps us attain our goals sooner.
Take Care of Yourself
Best summed up in the story of two wolves.
An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.”
He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?” The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”
Note to self. Your feelings are valid. You are allowed to enforce your boundaries. You do not need anyone else’s approval. You are capable of amazing things. You are enough.
“Self-care is giving the world the best of you, instead of what’s left of you”. Katie Reed
Start Now
An inch of action, will always go further than miles of good intentions.
In life I’ve learnt that that change can happen in a moment, however coming to the decision to change can sometimes also take years if not decades.
I also know that change is often easier to implement in small incremental changes while maintaining status quo rather than making sudden dramatic changes. Although sometime making a sudden and dramatic change may be only alternative left.
Be it learning a new language, improving my health, relationships, finances and business. It all starts with a single action followed by a commitment.
The secret is to do only one thing at a time and follow this one thing through to its completion, before starting anything else. Why? Because from little things big things grow.
Because you become better at choosing activities more aligned to your purpose. You prioritise the things important to you first instead of being distracted and sweating the small stuff.
The best payoff thought is that your productivity improves. Allowing you to have more time, to do more of the things that only you can do, and that you gain a direct benefit from doing.
Be More You Be More You Be More You Be More You Be More You
