I’ve done countless “Financial Planning for the Fast Changing World” seminars. I started educating and inspiring people when I was still boarding a ship. Now, I’m doing this advocacy not only for OFWs but as well as for all people who are looking for ways to reach financial independence.
In all honesty, all of my attendees say they find my seminar inspiring and very educating but sadly not all of them get the full grasp of what the seminar really is for. According to them, it somehow helped them to start a new page of their life. On the other hand, others are having the same financial problems even if they were motivated by the seminar. If you look around, this same thing is true in all areas of life—some get what they want, while others are just playing blame game. What is stopping us from becoming successful?
The hindrance to our success is the gap between what you know and what you do. Try to study the story of all successful persons and you will find that they are just like most of us – average people. The difference between successful and not so successful people is simple. Successful people are bias to action. You don’t need to have a brain of a valedictorian, cum laude, or rocket scientist. All you need to have is an attitude of the likes of Michael Jordan who always thinks: “I just have to do it!” In fact, I met a lot of people who are brain gifted. They know all the complicated mathematical formulas, they can recite the periodic table even if they are drunk, and they can tell you the date or even the time of a particular event in history. But a lot of them are living a mediocre life and are not happy with what they have. In fact we feel it even in sales, a lot of highly educated people fail to reach the top of the rank. If you teach them, what comes to their mind is: “I know that already!” Knowing is not enough, what is important is DOING!
We read books, attended seminars, and listened to all motivational speakers on how to become successful, but it seems that things are not changing. Even if you accumulate all the learnings that you need to become successful, it is useless if you don’t know how to apply it. It’s like owning a beautiful sports car but you don’t know how to drive. Matheuz, my seven year-old son asked me one day, “where can you find the mine of wealth?” I was momentary frozen by his inquiry. I don’t know how to explain to him that wealth is a very big concept to understand at his age.
But if you are going to ask me the same question, I would say that you can find the biggest mine of wealth in the cemetery. It’s been a graveyard of many unrealized dreams, inventions, music, books, products that were never out in the world and remain in the brain of the individuals that are now decaying into ashes. Some of the greatest books in the world have never been published because the author was too coward to face criticism. We always have excuses why we could not take further steps and do something out of the box. We worry too much on how we are going to please people around us. One day, you will be surprised that the thing you are thinking for so long are now being done by someone who are visionaries like you but has guts to dive into opportunities. Don’t let your success Rest In Peace. Fight against the hindrances that’s stopping you from success and like Michael Jordan, you just got to do it.
