To The Silent Army:
Why is it that we waste our lives working for the dreams of others in resentment of putting aside our own dreams? Why do so many of us labor at things we see of no true value, despising our work, and excusing our ideas of truly adding value to others as pipe dreams? Realize that the labor of your hands is at the service of someone else making their dream into a reality. Can you not do the same? Do you not have endless resources available to you? Is not there more guidance readily at your fingertips than ever before? Why do we willingly trade our freedom for imprisonment?
It used to be that a library gave you everything you needed to guide you through any task, and path you wished to take. Now you don’t need to leave your home to have access to thousands of times more information and guidance, freely given and at your disposal.
Guidance and resources are not the issue. In fact, they never have been. Perhaps then, motivation, emotional support, desire, and the willingness to learn and work is the key. But that sounds very overwhelming. But with so many options, what would you choose to do? And how do you know it would be profitable or valuable to you or to others, rather than wasting your time for very little return?
Would you rather spend forty hours a week at something stealing your time and energy from you, in the hopes that you might have a few hours to enjoy at the end? Is that better than the return you could create on your own, even when things fail so that you can learn and try again? Or would you rather spend the majority of your time adding value to others, energizing yourself through the value you add to others, and exploring
But what about your bills, your responsibilities? How much does your job own you? How much do your things own you? If you minimized your travel time, cooked your own meals, turned off the TV, stopped paying for childcare, and found more affordable living space, how much would you truly need to pay the bills and enjoy a a little recreation every month? Between learning what it takes to build a profitable and perhaps even automated business of your own; taking on odds and end jobs so that your time is flexible; and allowing yourself room to create things of value that may bring in little, could be very prosperous, or perhaps even fail and teach you how to move forward with something else; how well do you think you could pay your bills?
I’ve done it for fifteen years. I’ve had business rise and fall. Some made a steady income, some were all over the map, some failed miserably. I learned my lessons and kept moving forward. I chased my dreams and learned what it takes to be successful. I am successful, and grow mores every day. My most prosperous and enjoyable ventures haven’t been when I chase after a passion or great idea, but when I sought to add tons of value to others. I test my ideas, weigh them against the advice of the highly successful, and use the very people I wish to serve as my bouncing board. When I chased my own passions, very little happened. When I chased after money, it ran away. When I chased the desires of others, money was no object, it came easily. And I’ve seen the same results happen with everyone close to me who chose to do the same. All it took was minimizing the time needed elsewhere, to free up the time needed to pursue excellence in the things others find valuable.
“A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both.” -Francois Auguste Rene Chateaubriand (1800’s French Writer & Diplomat)
I won’t overwhelm you with the list of hundreds of books I’ve read, the hours upon hours of conversations and advice of the kindest and giving Millionaires and Billionaires that I’ve had the pleasure of knowing, or the countless courses that have driven me to where I am now. Instead, I’ll leave you with the two most powerful and surprisingly free resources I’ve found for finding freedom in adding value to others.
Read the book. Use the tools. Enjoy your freedom.
http://www.themillionairefastlane.com
~Draven Grey
