The Lessons - Part 1

... Continued from Part 1

10: There is always a way. I wanted to borrow money for investing purposes. How could I do this without needing to go through the hassle of showing two years of tax returns. The only options I was aware of were Two Years of Tax returns or have 20% deposit in which case the lender wouldn't care because I had so much skin in the deal. By knowing the Truth - there is Always a way, you just need to put your thinking cap on - I discovered it... 3 payslips from a job (that's only 3 weeks of pay). I had to Ask to discover it, but if I'd accepted the Conventional Wisdom I was being told I would not have known.

11: Job Security is a myth. Staff are provided with jobs by the employers for as long as the employer has a need for them, and no longer. From the largest companies to the smallest business. As soon as your services are not needed you are Out Of Work. Knowing this in advance can free you of the Fear you may have about Losing Your Job. And knowing There Is Always Another Game In Town can also help free you of that fear. The only security you have is in your own Ability and Willingness to work.

And even in that, you are not in control. Because the decision to make use of your services or not is always up to someone else.

12: Do what you like. This is an old cliche but it has deeper connotations than the words imply. Some may Like the Task itself, while others enjoy what they get out of the task on an Emotional level. The problem I see with the cliche is that people think it's all about the Physical Task and not the Emotional Satisfaction garnered from the task. And that Emotional Satisfaction (in whatever form it takes) is paramount and could be garnered from a variety of tasks.

I like to be a part of the essence of capitalism and man's great achievement of creation. Civil and Civic construction provides me with that. It isn't that I necessarily like blowing a whistle, handling chains, doing up nuts, tearing down a wall, picking up a scoop of dirt and dropping it off somewhere, or screwing drywall. Those are the tasks themselves. It's what I get out of those tasks - what those tasks Mean, intrinsically, that satisfies me.

Steve Shulenski mentioned Truck Driving and I get the impression he doesn't enjoy it. I DO enjoy it because I see it more than just moving a gear stick and depressing pedals. I see it as a Vital Cog in the machinery of society that without trucks - and those who drive them - our civilization comes to a grinding halt. There would be no gas at the gas station, no goods on store shelves, no food at the fruit and vegetable market, nothing. And so to be a Truck Driver is to be a part of a Vital Element of the society we live in.

Also, while the truck has a starting point and a destination, how the truck gets there is up to the driver. Hence the driver is free. Those two elements satisfy my inner self.

13: Bridge Burning. This is part and parcel of Letting Go. Can't make it to second with your foot still on first, and so on and so forth. But I had to mentally shift to do this, and, to an extent, have a focus on the objective - get a job. That's what enabled me to look forward and not bother looking back. Letting Go, Bridge/Boat burning and so on, all also depend upon you not to Look Back and to be Regretless as a result.

Anything I have done in the past is just that, something I did in the past. It is Unchangeable not matter how I might wish it otherwise. So I need to Accept that and Move On. That is what I did. By ending the businesses there where no lingering New Owner Questions and Assistance, That part was Finalized, Closed, or however you want to term it for your own understanding.

Without this retreat I was forced to continue the journey. And even if the original reason for the journey changes, the journey continues under a different reason - whatever that reason may be at the time. This then, also requires an ability to Let Go. Even if to Let Go of an old reason in favor of a new one - or an old direction in favor of a new one.

14: Leverage and Future Considerations. The purpose of investing is to have a Fallback at some time in the future - notice I said Fallback and not Retirement Nest Egg. The fact I invest is an indication I believe I have a Future in which to make use of that investment. If I didn't believe I had a future I would not spend my Now Time, Now Energy and Now Money on something that didn't give me Immediate Gratification. By Investing I am acknowledging I have a Future. (BTW, without this Future Value thinking, capitalism would not flourish and we'd all be like savages killing food when we were hungry and plucking fruits when we were hungry and living the life of scarcity all lower forms of animal live.)

To further explain my Fallback concept... I don't think we should Retire. I think we should keep working in some capacity until it is impossible for us to work any more. By being a Part of something we are needed, if only mentally. And so we keep ourselves going. If you accept you are no longer needed, you are telling your brain your life has no more use and might as well not exist. If you don't shortly die you will be miserable.

I've never seen a bird die in mid flight. The Youngest people I know are Active in some Productive Capacity - including people as young as 79 and 82 who have more vim and vigor than people 30 years their junior and who look as young as well. The oldest old people seem to be waiting for god. Drinking tea and eating unnutritional biscuits and cakes and hanging out with equally depressing people.

In some places in the above I have referenced the Hotsheet website. But those places where I have referenced it are not the only places the same lessons apply. They apply in other places - such as this last point about Future - But I leave You to See them.

Your comments most welcome.

Michael Ross