What Will You Do When You've Made It?

Thoughts have been running through my head today about what I would do when I make it.   When my financial dreams and aspirations and plans have come to fruition.   By my own reckoning, I'm about half way there.   But it depends on what your definition is of financial freedom, doesn't it?

• Are you someone who wants who wants to be a millionaire on paper, i.e. having assets to that value?

• Or are you someone who wants to make more passive income than your outgoings, a la Rich Dad?

That second one is deceptively easy, although I confess I am about six years into it.   However, I expect the next six years to be all downhill as opposed to the first six years which sometimes feel like they have been all uphill and all on a roller-coaster!

And today I was marvelling at the abundance of my speakers.   They have all been so generous in the prizes they have given me for our Property Extravaganza on 21st March.   A little gremlin was sitting on my shoulder as the prizes rolled in.  I was incredulous and grateful all at once, but my gremlin was saying "ah yes, well that's all very well for them, they are millionaires/multi millionaires.   It's easy for them to donate prizes worth anything between £500 to £10,000 and lots of them too".   Blah, blah, blah.

And then my next thought - follow me here - was "I wonder why on earth they are still bothering to educate the likes of us if they've already made it?".   Followed up with "when I've made it, I'm just going to sit with my feet up".   More blah, blah, blah.

And then it hit me.   Of course I won't sit with my feet up.   I've got plenty of money in the bank and a million pounds worth of assets and I don't need to work nearly as hard as I do now, and yet I choose to. Ah, so they love their work so much, educating us, sharing their learning, that they've had their chance to sit with their feet up and chosen not to.

It's very important to know what you want and to go after it.   Its equally important to love what you do and know why you are doing it.

Peter Stanley spoke about time freedom.

Katharine Wooller spoke about her love of horses and working in property which is also her hobby.

I love to help people.

Will any of that change when we reach a place where we think we've made it?   I doubt it.   I'll be the same person, driven and loving to help.

So, on the basis of a little light thinking earlier today, I'm changing my mind about what I will do when I've made it.   It's that easy to change your mind!

Do you know what you would do?  

There's a great exercise on pages 9 and 10 of Nicola's Money Gym book where you are asked to write down how you would like to be living your life on a Tuesday in two, five or ten years' time. Write down where you are, who you are with and what you are doing from the moment you get up to the moment you go to bed.

Is that a compelling enough vision for you?   If not, go back to it again and again and build a vivid and specific scene.

Now, how are you going to get there?   We are going to show you how on 21st March.   Book your tickets now and help the homeless via The Big Issue.

Comments

[Margaret]

Great question Judith! Think the answer is often "more of the same" but perhaps only if our current activities and behaviour are driven by our values.

Unless we are really short of money to put food on the table or a roof over our heads, we're probably motivated by a desire to help others, to contribute, to make a difference, to be noticed, to exercise power... and those same motives will be evident even when we have "made it".

If our current activities are driven by the need to be secure, to get out of the rat race, to provide for family, to pay off debt - then life after we've made it might be quite different.

It really highlights the importance of deeply understanding the basic mativators and drivers of our behaviour... Have you heard Tony Robbins talk about the 6 human needs??? I can feel a new blog entry coming on!