Life can be tough, sometimes. There are a ton of distractions out there and sometimes it can be a long time before we even realize that we are headed in the wrong direction. It’s hard to tell the difference between what’s good and bad for you out there, but not to worry. I have good news for you…
So what’s the good news here?
Glad you asked briznit. I’m going to answer with a simple story. There was this guy that came up with this idea for an online business. Can’t remember the year off the top of my head, but he was looking for investors and he got a meeting with a decent name.
While waiting, the lawyer for the big name firm looked over the proposal and asked if he could invest as well. He didn’t have as much money as the guy he represented, but the online business owner said yes.
This is a true story BTW. I digress…
Months go by and the online store guy asks the lawyer about the money. He says he’s still looking for investors and with $50,000 he could have 5% of the company. The lawyer agreed and said he would just sell some old farm that he’s been meaning to sell for months anyway.
He got a call from the online guy a few months later and the lawyer still hadn’t sold the farm, so the online guy said ok. With no hard feelings whatsoever, they parted ways. The lawyer never sold his farm and the online guy went to go find more find more possible investors for his store.
Years later a reporter knocks on the door of this old farm in Nebraska. A sad and slightly disheveled man answers the door. He looks like the lawyer from 5 years ago. He’s still practicing law, but something looks different about him…
The reporter puts the microphone up to his face and asks the lawyer, “What is it like to know that your life could have been completely changed if you had just sold this barn and invested in Amazon?”
The lawyer replies, “I regret it every day…”
Seriously? That’s good news???
Yes, yes it is. You see, that lawyer was afraid to fail. He held on to that secure farm (that wasn’t making him any money) so that he could say he had something. In the meantime, he could have swallowed his fear and trusted the guy that was out there hustling and making deals.
The thing here is that when you are doing anything worth doing, you can do it on your own and hope that your little security blanket that you’ve managed to patch together, will sustain you. Or you can find people that have done something, follow them and their leadership and own 5% of Amazon.
Okay maybe it doesn’t happen exactly like that, but the point here is that fulfillment is not something you get when you play it safe and stick to doing the same thing. Fulfillment comes when you explore your world and find mentors and teachers along the way to help you.
Sometimes you’ll have to invest in them, but for the most part, you get what you pay for nowadays. So in the grand scheme of things, in thinking about your life’s direction, are you going to keep the barn or are you going to invest in a life upgrade?
Jerry “investment savy” Washington
P.S. This was a long one, but I wanted to make a point about something that I’ve seen a lot of people mess-up. So many people are getting ripped off these days it’s not even funny. It still amazes me to this day how people can still act surprised when they try to play it safe and it blows up in their face. The overweight, underpriced trainer, IS NOT going to be a good investment and neither
