Let’s get right into it!

Do you want to live a life of abundance? Not only money but one of depth, fulfillment and cherished memories. Nearing the end of your journey, what will you look back and reflect upon as a life that met or surpassed your expectations. Success is defined as, “the accomplishment of an aim or purpose” Elsewhere it is presented as, “reaching a certain level of financial stability or professional achievement. What about health? What about family? One retired attorney who I met one beautiful morning in Orlando, put it another way. As the end of a game where we walked the nine holes, I, as I normally do, ventured to hear his opinion on this eternal mecca of our life. “How do you define success”, I asked in a tone as if I were asking how to end global hunger. He thought for, what seemed like a whole minute, and finally said, “Success is the ability to be able to do whatever you want to do with your time. When you reach that moment you have arrived”. I think there is a lot of value in that answer but it is not enough. What if when you finally reached that moment, you have wrecked your family relationships and don’t have a great relationship with your parents, siblings or children? No, I think the definition of success begs more evaluation, respect and consideration.

I also posed this question to my late father.

The main regrets, people seem to experience at the time of death, is regretting the following:

1. Wished they had spent more time with loved ones. (maybe there will always be some degree of regret here)

2. Wished they had worked less in order to be better at the no. 1 regret.

3. Wished they had lived more, do more things as in the things we had thought of doing but never got around to it.

Maybe success is simply living a life with few regrets, not no regrets but as few as possible. How do we live a life with as few regrets as possible?

First we would have to define what is important to us. Next we make a plan to achieve this. Then just do it.

The problem is obviously DOING IT!

Why is it we cannot get it done? There are several reasons, maybe some sound familiar to you, I know I am guilty of a few:

• Needing the plan to be perfect first to start. Just starting is sometimes the most difficult part.

• Worried about failing, sometime even succeeding.

• The little repetive habits become boring and unnecessary.

• Distractions, lack of focus.

Notice that I never mentioned being lazy. This is because we don’t work hard at something because we are lazy. We are not motivated OR we haven’t created the habit or habits that sustain the mechanics of achievement. Sometimes we think too much. Why are some people so good at getting things done and completing projects tasks, etc.? This is simpler than you think.

Your Best Version

There is so much free accessible advice on the internet by influencers, gurus, coaches that we should all be such high achievers. Alas we are not. Why? Because much of the advice is not practical and sustainable. Sometimes they don’t address the most basic issues, how to get things done consistently, the most basic ingredient for being an achiever. The words ring constantly, “Wake up earlier, it is compatible with your circadian rhythms, that natural instinctive behavior as we respond to light”, “follow your passion, you will never work another day in your life” and so on. While these are effective for some, they are not applicable to all in the quest to be their best. We are all different so what works for some will not necessarily work for all. So we must follow fundamental guidelines and build upon them.

To provide the actionable and sustainable advice, we decided to simply follow the example from those who have actually done it, not the Youtubers or Instagrammers or others that typically belt out advice in volumes to drum up the most likes and followers.

We are not referring to Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, etc. Remember, that level of success requires more than just being a high achiever. There is a certain level of narcissism and sick obsession required in those cases. There is nothing wrong with that but we prefer to focus on a life of abundance, a balance that is most likely to produce happiness and inner peace, including the financial independence that is also part of this framework. Therefore we will focus on the more “ordinary” achievers that reach high levels of achievement and success without sacrificing relationships along the way, a life of abundance. In terms of dollars, we are referring to those who achieved financial independence to the point where they were able to spend their time as they deemed fitting without damaging their current and future financial independence, i.e a sustainable financial independence.

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But first we have to learn how to achieve consistently. By that I mean people who do what they say they are going to do, day in and day out. Let’s be realistic though. They have days of poor performance, life will throw curve balls at you, but the perseverance is the key trait of this group. No one, NO ONE (yes I had to shout this for effect, sorry) is absolved of having to deal with curve balls in this life. I believe success is determined by how we deal with these curve balls. Ok I will stop referring to them as curve balls for our non sports fans.

All our advice on this blog will be grounded in practicality without the unrealistic generalizations that end up being ineffective because they neglected the unpleasant details that were endured along all journeys. For example, “follow your passion”, is bad incomplete advice that is impractical for a person with responsibilities and financial obligations that cannot shelved temporarily. This is life but with all its pitfalls we can achieve a life of abundance. So whatever advice we share, it will be distilled through the realities of actual experiences, not given by someone who has little clue of the comprehensive canvas of life’s realities.

The good news is that it is not complicated. To be successful, all you need to do is do what you say you will do…consistently. Did you know that it was as simple as that? The tough part is to do it consistently which is why it is so elusive and seemingly complicated. It is the very fundamental difference between those that are able to achieve their visions and those that futilely get no closer or move at an agonizing pace towards their goals.

Firstly, your habits determine your destiny. Observe your habits, they will explain where your present is leading you towards. By repeated actions, you will become that which you commit, whether unknowingly or deliberately. Okay, but how do we practice the right habits? We have plans and we know what it takes to succeed but somehow we don’t get it done. Now here is what I have observed. We all know what we want to do already but we are either scared or we lack confidence. “We lack confidence” means that we lack faith in ourselves to commit completely to a goal or a string of actions needed to accomplish that goal. Why?? Because we have gradually created a standard that we have accepted about ourselves. Over time we have accepted we are not A students, we are not going to be rich, it is too hard for us, we don’t get things done or it is not within our capability. The problem is that once you start accepting it once that you are any of the above, it leads to weakening in faith in yourself, which leads to further acceptance or resignation to lower standards. Some are sure that they will get rich one day, but daily they sabotage themselves by their habits.

Why is it we don’t do what we intend to do? Because that is the standard we have decided to live by. All you have to do is decide, decide not to accept mediocre performance. Really? But how do I get things done? This is the problem you say, I know so much about planning for success but I just don’t get things done that I am supposed to.

What if I said it is simple to change that? Well it is, the “Mat socho bas karo” way. This is Sanskrit for “stop thinking and just do”. Incidentally I have been saying this for years on my instagram page and then recently it was said in the movie, Top Gun Maverick. My daughter called me and said in an incredulous voice, “Daddy, they are saying your saying in the movie!” Well Nike started it with, “Just do”, but that was only half of it. The other half is to stop thinking. The difference between winners and losers typically is that winners do what they intend to do and losers just say it and then settle for an outcome. To simply get things done regularly you MUST shut off the brain. For example, if you planned to go running at 6am, when the alarm goes off, get up, don’t think and MOVE. Trust me this works like magic, once you make it outside the door, it gets easier and easier. If you allow yourself time to think, it will start. “Why not tomorrow", “it is hot, the news said to be wary of heat waves”, “it’s not like the world will end if I don’t go tomorrow instead”, “sleep is important to your health” and so on. Your brain is excellent at rationalizing procrastination, self preservation and being your sweet tolerant friend in the heat of the moment.

So we know that we need

1. Practice the right habits.

2. Once we choose the habits for success

3. We need to figure out HOW to practice those habits.

4. HOW to do what we say we will do

So let’s start becoming achievers and then superachievers by practicing “mat socho bas karo”.

MAT SOCHO BAS KARO…success made simple (to be continued)

“Success is being able to do what you want with your time without an adverse effect on financial independence or relationships”