I was talking about my business to a stranger the other day and he scored a great point. He agreed that I had a great opportunity to offer, and a person could make a great deal of money from it. Then he asked the question that threw me for a loop. "OK, suppose you do get rich from this deal. Now you're a 45 year old retiree. Now what?" You see, he was asking me about my vision of the future. He wanted to know just how big my vision was and how clearly I saw it. "I want the freedom to live my life my way, without worrying about money." I told him. "I want to wake up when its time, not when the clock tells me to. I want to spend my time doing whatever my heart desires!" "OK, what does your heart desire? Its a serious question." "I just told you." "No, you didn't." he said calmly. "You told me about some hazy vision of being a socially approved vagrant. What do you want your life to be like when you retire?" I tried again. "I want a comfortable house in the location of my choosing. I want to spend time having fun with good friends. I want to spend good time with family. I want the toys that will let me play the games I want to play." "Better. Now, what do you have to do to get that?" "Make enough money so I can take the time to do what I want to do." "And all of this will simply appear when you have enough money?" he said, setting me up for the knockout. "Yes." I said, leading with my chin. "And how will you know how to do all this comfort and fun and time, if all you know how to do is make money? If you spend all your time making money, when will you practice the other stuff?" I staggered to my psychic corner and tried to get my mental legs back. "Don't worry, young man. I have been where you are now. You have a good start. You know you don't want to stay where you are. You have an idea what you want your destination to look like. You are taking action to move. Now you need to flesh out your vision and transform it from your dream to your plan for the rest of your life." "How do I do that?" I asked, feeling as if I should be sitting at his feet on top of a mountain somewhere. "The first lesson is that nature hates a vacuum. You are throwing yourself into your business with all your energy, thinking that at some magic point called enough, you will stop doing what you do and start another life. That doesn't work. "What would happen if you drove your boat right up to the dock, then cut the motor?" "I would drift well past the point I wanted to reach. If there was something in my path, I would probably hit it and possibly damage my boat." I said. "Excellent. How would you stop your boat at the point you have chosen?" "I'd cut the motor well before I reached the spot, then drift in." "What, then, if there were a wind or current in the water?" "I would have to allow for it." "How would you know how much leeway to allow? What if the boat stopped short of the dock? Is there a way to dock the boat under control?" I thought a minute. "I suppose I could throttle back the motor so I was going slow, but under control. When I reached the spot I wanted, I could reverse the motor to stop the boat and hold me in place." "Exactly. As you approach the dock, you maintain control to obtain the result you desire." "I recognize the need to operate under control, but what does that have to do with nature hating a vacuum?" "When you reverse the motor to slow your boat, does the energy that was moving the boat disappear?" he asked. "No, its just focused in a different direction." I thought about that for a moment. "And I can't just slam the gear into reverse, or I'll damage the engine and maybe the boat itself!" "You are a very bright young man. I enjoy talking with you. I must go now, but I would like to continue this discussion. If you would like that as well, please meet me back here next week at this time. In between, please consider what we talked about today." He turned and walked back down the path to the parking area. As I stood there, I realized the gift this old man was offering me. I realized that simply making money would not bring the freedom I sought. I had to have a vision of what I wanted my whole life to be like. Since I discovered network marketing and residual income, I'd been dazzled by the amount of money available to average people. I thought that if I simply made enough money, all my problems would disappear. After talking with that old man, I knew there was a lot more to building a happy, satisfying life than money. In a ten minute conversation with a total stranger, I was ready to take the next step toward true freedom. If you think I was going to be anyplace but right where I was the following week, you need to get your head examined. I turned and cast my line out again, then leaned back to consider as the old man had asked... (To be continued) (c)Copyright 2003 by John McCabe |
