Never let anything get in the way of pursuing your dreams. If you do, you will regret it. As I wrote in my Wall Street Journal bestseller, Buy This, Not That, “You will regret more of the things you don't do than the things you try!
Remember that annoying kid in school who made fun of you for getting a good grade? The goal was to make you feel bad at doing well so he wouldn't feel so terrible about himself.
I had plenty of encounters with such kids growing up at my public high school. In the end, I brushed their mockery aside. I decided to be the best student possible to have as many opportunities as possible.
The Kids Who Teased You Continue To Do So As Adults
I thought the mockery would slow down as I got older. However, it seems to have amplified due to the internet. Most recently, I was criticized for my idea of starting and keeping a family business going. My idea was to provide options for my children when they graduate from school. The world is a harsh and competitive place.
Andrew from Vancouver, who is 29 with no kids said I was “obsessed.” Another guy named Li from somewhere in Asia, who is also 29 with no kids, called me “crazy” over e-mail.
I'm not sure why people without kids feel like they know about the pressures parents face. But it's a curious phenomenon I've observed since I became a father.
Why is planning ahead and offering an idea to help other concerned parents considered obsessive and crazy? Besides, what kind of fool would sell a cash cow that is enjoyable to run in a low-interest rate environment?
In my mind, it is stupid not to plan for the future. Globalization increases competition for jobs while technology reduces the number of jobs required to produce. My decision to potentially give up on early retirement and go back to work due to inflation and economic uncertainty is logical. Yet, you'll read tons of comments making fun of me for the move. How strange.
Paradoxically, life is getting easier and harder at the same time. As parents, we must fight for our children until they can independently fight for themselves.
Always Keep Pursuing Your Dreams
There are a lot of dreamers who read this site looking for a better life. But due to the fear of being ridiculed, they hesitate to pursue something different. Or they are too afraid to put themselves out there for the world to judge. What a shame!
Even Andrew, my critic, decided to shut down his website after I visited it. I just wanted to understand where he was coming from. It's probably a good idea. His employer would be none too pleased reading his article about how laziness was helping him reach retirement sooner.
It's OK to be obsessed with the things you care about. It doesn't matter how whacky your goals may be. The people criticizing you are too afraid to try themselves. They wished they had your courage. They're fearful that one day you might succeed, making them regret their lack of effort.
It takes courage to get out of suboptimal situations. Just know your financial independence number is not real if nothing changes.
Finding New Motivation To Continue
I'm revisiting this topic because the pandemic really put a damper on my energy and motivation. For example, no longer do I prepare a post the night before after a long day with the kids. Instead, I wake up later and take my sweet time. Toward the end of the pandemic, I really burned out because I spent so much effort marketing my book.
As you grow older, there's generally a natural decline in motivation. You've accumulated more wealth, achieved more goals, and are more aligned with your life philosophies. The quiet quitting movement becomes more appealing.
However, I've found that criticism helps recharge my motivation battery. Therefore, if you are a naysayer, I'm asking you to lob some new criticism my way! It will help prevent me from slacking off too much. After all, I'm a father of two young children. I need to stay in shape and provide for them until the year 2037!
Here are five examples where I was given the thumbs down. However, due to an unwavering desire to keep going, I was able to prove my detractors wrong. I hope at the end of the post, you share some examples of how you overcame criticism as well.
Pursuing Your Dreams By Overcoming The Naysayers
1) Getting Benched In Tennis
In 2010, there was an arrogant, overweight guy named Chris who captained a USTA 4.5 level team I was on. He seldom let me play because he thought I wasn't good enough. This was even though I was beating the other starters on the team. Every time we'd get on the court for practice he would make fun of any mistakes I made.
One day, I had enough and told him to play me in a singles match or shut up. He accepted the challenge and I ended up beating him 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 on a cool evening over two-hours. The next day he went to the hospital for pneumonia and stopped playing for five months.
During the district playoffs, he decided not to put me in the lineup. He put his buddies in instead and we lost. Given I didn't receive the playing time I thought I deserved, I joined a different team a year later. My new team and I ended up beating Chris' team during the playoffs. No victory tasted so sweet. I credit Chris for keeping me motivated to keep practicing and keep eating right.
Today, he's still a 4.5 level player while I got bumped up to 5.0 for five years. Fight on!
2) Making Fun Of My Blogging Endeavors
Back in 2009, I told one of my work colleagues, Robert, about my new blogging endeavor. At the time, I was writing a daily investment newsletter recapping the markets and really enjoyed the process. Maybe blogging might be a natural next step for me after finance? I was hopeful.
Instead of being supportive about pursuing my dreams of doing something new, he made a funny face. H then started typing on an air keyboard in mockery. I was taken aback because we were at a team bonding dinner and he was my junior.
What kind of emotional dummy makes fun of a senior colleague's hopes? Further, I was to be interviewed by the promotion committee to help determine his upcoming promotion.
Not only did he not get promoted that year or the next year, but the firm also shipped him off to NYC to a different department. The department later downsized due to the rise of electronic trading. He's still at the same firm doing the same miserable job, but for less pay.
This site, which he made fun of, is now the best thing I've ever done financially. It earns at least 2X more than his job with 70% less work and 90% less stress.
If I one day want to sell it and do something new, I can for a nice chunk of change. If he wants to sell himself one day, he can't, unless he wants to try the black market for body parts.
His air keyboard mockery was one of the best fuel that has kept me going.
Related: The 10 Best Reasons To Start An Online Business
3) Writing A Severance Negotiation Book
When I first published, How To Engineer Your Layoff in 2012, I heard an endless cacophony of doubters. Readers and other bloggers said the idea was stupid. The most frequent things mentioned were, “why would anybody pay you to get laid off,” and “that sounds sketchy and not something I'd do to my company.”
Today, I still hear the doubters even though quitting your job and leaving your colleagues in a bind is selfish. It is dumb to not try and negotiate a severance from a job you planned to quit anyway. If you plan to retire early, then all the more reason to try and negotiate a severance.
Eleven years later, I've received countless personal e-mails from readers telling me how the book helped liberate them from a bad job situation. One woman told me this summer she walked away with a $65,000 severance. She would have been fine quitting with nothing.
Another guy told me he not only walked away with over $100,000 in severance because he was a co-founder of the company that got acquired. He also sent me a glowing article an online publication wrote about his transition to angel investing. Nice work Eric!
One doubter confessed he was let go with only two months of severance after eight years of work. I had to break it to him that his two months of severance was not severance. It was actually mandatory WARN Act pay. He sadly got zero severance and would have known this had he read my book.
The book generates a steady stream of passive income to the tune of $40,000+ a year. The book is in its 6th edition and is a passive income generation workhorse!
Related posts:
The Inside Scoop On How One Man Negotiated His Freedom (a reader's story)
How To Negotiate A Severance As A High-Performing Employee (the detailed story of how I helped my wife negotiate a six figure severance at 34 as well)
4) Seeking Early Retirement
The natural transition after negotiating a severance is to take some time off, find a new job, change industries, start a business, or retire. I decided to permanently leave corporate America at 34 and focus on my writing. Writing is what I've loved to do ever since I was a middle schooler writing international pen pal letters while living in Malaysia.
Of course I had my doubters. Leaving a high-paying job before your highest earning years sounds foolhardy. But the funny thing is, many people in the finance industry back then wanted out as well. They just didn't have the courage or the plan to leave. If I later realized I needed more money, I could have just gone back to work.
Given it was my financial well-being I was putting at risk, I was my biggest naysayer. You can see every early retirement stone I turned over in the post, The Dark Side Of Early Retirement.
However, thanks to publishing this post two years before making a move, I was able to face my fears and gain some perspective from hundreds of people who had made the same move.
If Andrew and Li were around back in 2010, they'd probably also think this amount of planning was obsessive and crazy. But this amount of self-reflection is what gave me the courage to change my life for the better.
Thinking about the negatives of early retirement was the catalyst for coming up with the idea to negotiate a severance. Negotiating a severance package that paid for five to six years of living expenses enabled me to try new things without fear of financial ruin.
Not a day goes by where I'm not thankful for extricating myself and my wife from the matrix. If I had listened to people who told me I would be stupid to leave banking, I'd probably be incredibly unhealthy, stressed, and unhappy right now.
Pursuing your dreams is worth it. After retiring early in 2012, I look back and smile at all the things I tried.
Related post: How A Couple Can Retire Early
5) Overcoming The Internet Retirement Police
About 18 months after I retired from the finance world, I no longer said I was retired. It felt stupid and disingenuous to say so. I wanted to consult part-time for a couple of fintech startups in San Francisco to see what all the fuss was about.
After getting my taste of what the startup world was like for a couple of years, I set my sights on becoming a teacher. I've always enjoyed mentoring kids and young adults. When a high school tennis coaching position opened up for $1,100/month I decided to interview for the position.
After two years of coaching, we won the Northern California Sectionals championship for our division. This was the first time in the school's 50-year history. It was a proud moment and a wonderful feeling being a part of the teaching community.
Remember, when people doubt you, just keep winning!
The Internet Retirement Police Trying To Arrest Me
After winning, I sent out a tweet wondering if there were other teachers who wanted to share their financial journey story on Financial Samurai. My goal was to help bring more awareness and respect to the teaching community since we were relatively underpaid. In the tweet, I also mentioned I was a teacher.
This is when the Internet Retirement Police tried to bash down my door and say that I wasn't a teacher. They tried to pigeonhole me as something else, even after two years of coaching. In the end, I utilized their criticism to write more interesting posts. We won another Northern California Sectionals championship the next year! It's interesting, but the IRP tend to mostly be the most privileged people around!
I'm not sure why people feel the need to tell others who they are and what they should do. But I'm appreciative of their criticism because it enabled me to become a nice part of the school's history. Maybe, when my boy turns 13 and is applying to high schools, my school might look upon him favorably. After all, he's already ben a part of the family for so long.
Related: Sweet Dreams Of Becoming A Millionaire Again
You Will Regret More Of The Things You Don't Do
The #1 reason why more people don't do the unorthodox is that society has a terrible way of accepting the unusual. People who are able to freely pursue their interests are the luckiest people on Earth. It's sad pursuing your dreams is often faced with ridicule. But that's society.
Conversely, people who not only don't pursue their interests, but also try to take others down, are the saddest people who will forever wonder why they never tried.
To all the dreamers out there who want to do something different, please go for it! Don't let the naysayers deny your progress. Be unapologetically fierce about pursuing your dreams!
Make Better Decisions And Reach Financial Independence Sooner
You’ve only got one life to live. So you might as well arm yourself with as much knowledge as possible! My new Wall Street Journal instant bestseller, Buy This, Not That is here to help you build more wealth so you can better live the life you want.
Not only will you learn how to achieve financial freedom sooner, you’ll also learn how to make better choices using my 70-30 decision-making framework. Start reading it today!
Related posts:
Once You Have F You Money, It's Hard To Tell Others To F Off
For A Better Life, Be The 1% In Something, Anything
Three White Tenants, One Asian Landlord: A Story About Opportunity
Overcoming The Trough Of Sorrow: Defeating An Emptiness Inside
Reader Questions And Suggestions
Readers, what makes you stop pursuing your dreams? Given many things today were once whacky and new, why don't more people experiment with different things? What became of those annoying kids in grade school who made you feel bad about your efforts? Why is pursuing your dreams so hard?
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Sam
Like you, I won’t apologize for my success I worked hard to become the best I could be in my field of employment. My wife and I lived below our means while raising two beautiful girls. We spent money on the things we valued, educating our kids as an example, and eliminated meaningless spending.
My wife decided give up her career to be a stay at home mom. I’m forever grateful
When our income increased over time we didn’t fall into the “keeping up with Jones” trap. Saved and invested wisely
Retired at 55 and laughing everyday. Life’s Good
I’m not sure why you get trolled sometimes. Probably because you have strong opinions that sometimes go against conventional wisdom. However you are always respectful, always back up your opinions with facts or personal experiences and are kind to your commenters. But lets face it, you are very successful and very talented and that makes you a target for jealousy. That is a sweet tennis victory. I was dropped off a tennis team that had “too many” players. I joined another team and my partner and I smoked my former team’s best two players in a match. They did try to take credit by saying they had taught me how to play better!
There is no shortage of opinionated people with big mouths trying to tell you what to do these days. It could be friends, family, teachers, bosses/ supervisors etc. You have to keep believing in yourself no matter what these people try to tell you. I’ve had a few unfair situations happen to me that ended up working out well for me after the fact. And to see those responsible get their payback through karma was definitely sweet! Appreciate your efforts with the blog Sam.
Have you ever heard the “crab in a basket” analogy?
I don’t want to type it all out right now but I’ve seen it time and again.
A guy I worked with is exactly what you describe here. Always a victim, always squelched. Even my genuine attempts to help him in his career (i was a consultant he was fte) were taken as threats.
The times I had to restrain my laughter came when a new widget was introduced to market and I’d have to listen to him all day about how he thought if that years ago and his idea was stolen.
He exerted more energy than anything I observed to:
-trying to find weed,
-sharing racial slurs at the office as humor,
-and undermine others as his moving-up strategy.
Applied appropriately, selfishness is actually a virtue, but so few can get their one dimensional mindset around that.
Great post, Sam. I’ll tell you more about the analogy over an ale sometime. Bummed I didn’t get a chance to meet you when I was living there.
Since forever i knew normies wont never understand how the game is played. They dont have “hardware“ to even think for themselves.
So i keep me first — always — and my dreams in my heart with action and use all laughs as fuel.
I guess i’m doing good for the last 15 yrs. Sleeping and making dough online. Meanwhile normies still waking in the morning to for the men.
Haters are gonna hate. Agree 100%
If you keep thinking about something you want to do, there’s no reason not to do it.
I’ve never regretted anything I’ve actually done, it’s always the things I didn’t do. Vacations/travel/sporting events included.
It just sucks that you HAVE to deal with things like this. I remember in my rotational class, I told everyone how retiring early is totally possible, as young as in your 20’s or 30’s. This one guy would publicly mock me and laugh at the idea of early retirement.
Saying things like “hahahaha you think early retirement is possible, look at you!”. It sucks that factually incorrect statements like that are legally allowed to be said.
Great post! I really enjoyed this read and it made me think about my dreams and passions. Unfortunately, I have been living to the expectations of others (friends, parents, etc.) and find myself in a depressed and miserable banking job.
I took a step back after reading this article, and do not have any passions or dreams anymore. I am 28 years old and feel depressed about my future. I have no idea what my passions are or what I can do to find a fulfilling career path.
Any advise? Anything would be helpful. Thank, Samurai.
Are you at least pursuing FIRE or have you thought of taking off a month away from work?
Read Teddy Roosevelt’s “Man In the Arena” speech if you haven’t already. It’s perfect for this conversation.
Hello Financial Samurai,
I’ve been following your site for a few years now. The fact that you kept your head above the ground and followed your dreams is obviously what’s provided you and your a family a lifestyle that many people can never fathom. There will always be naysayers in all that any of us do, but unfortunately some would rather put someone down than do the work to improve upon their lives. I’m certainly not up to your pedigree, but I can honestly say that the information that I’ve gained from your site has been an integral part of changing my financial outlook.
“society has a terrible way of accepting the unusual. People who are able to freely pursue their interests are the luckiest people on Earth.”
INDEED!
Sam
This post is reflective of my comment to you about how if you want to get even/revenge with an enemy/naysayer just be more successful than they are!
Clearly you have done well at placing those individuals in their rightful resentful place!
Good on you for doing so, everyone should dream big and act on it, or wallow in mediocrity and self pity!
I used to regularly council Marines on this very topic!
“Misery Loves Company”, Author Unknown!
Marines trying to go to college at night in the late 80’s were routinely harassed to go out drinking rather than focusing on their college courses!
It was clear to me that they were more interested in your failure so they could continue to say they knew better than to try!
I learned early in life that most people are extremely lazy but for some reason want higher accolades and organizational standing than those willing to actually work hard to earn them!
It’s like my previous postings that describe how wealthier people will always interject their family standings as the benchmark others have to achieve prior to being allowed at the table of discussion!
I grew up poor and am now wealthier than the majority of my colleagues who still look down upon me because my wealth came from blue collar labor work and personal discipline and theirs came from pedigreed parents thereby allowing them to imagine themselves as deserving a hierarchical/societal position above myself!
Truly it’s comical talking to entitled idiots who want blue collar workers to pay for their student loans!
What a disgusting group of educated idiots to even imagine that their acceptance of incurred debt for an education that allows them access to best paying jobs in the country should be forgiven by having the less fortunate who could not even imagine going to college pay for it!
Only a Dumocrat or a Communist could come up with this for an actual debatable discussion!
I would rather the government pay for outstanding home loans than outstanding student loans!
Your message is Spot On!
Above Average people carve out their own path and usually it goes straight through the thickets and thorn bushes of naysayers and evil doers (Just got to Love George Bush jr.) Which this reminds me I earned my first $20.00 at 10 years old, cutting out a massive thorn bush near one of my childhood friends dad’s home.). One of the other boys who did not work as hard only got $5.00.
Regards
Chris
Woohoo! You got me cheering for you reading this post. Way to go! Some people get completely crushed from naysayers and critics. So I love how you use them as fire to fuel your motivation and prove them wrong.
I also couldn’t stop laughing when I read your line on that air keyboard naysayer, “If he wants to sell himself one day, he can’t, unless he wants to try the black market for body parts.” You sure proved that guy wrong!
When I was growing up, I used to get really defeated when people were mean to me or said rude things. Slowly, I started to grow out of that as I gained confidence. Developing a bit of a competitive streak helped me work harder as well.
It is interesting when you say your biggest naysayer was yourself. I definitely struggled with this a lot. And still do sometimes now. I love my mom, but she has always had a defeatist mentality. So often she would say things like, “Oh no, I can’t do that,” “I’m not smart enough,” I don’t understand xyz” etc. It really rubbed off on me subconsciously so that sometimes I automatically think that too when I’m facing a challenge or something new. Now that I’m aware of this, I’m trying to break out of this default and really help my kids grow up believing they can do anything with enough practice, time, and dedication.
Hi Untemplater. I am seeing that the women of my mother’s generation (I think me and you are similar ages, 35) grew up in this weird era of gender shifts. They were supposed to be independent, but not really. Yes, free love, but really… a traditional marriage was still the norm.
Many, like my mother, were left divorced, when they were raised in a world with so few divorces… “In 1958, the [divorce] rate even slumped to 2.1 [per 1000 Americans], with 368,000 divorces. ” The divorce rates then went to 5.1 per 1000 Americans by 1979. And “TIME reports that older generations continue to get divorced, but the decline [ to a rate of 2.9 Americans/1000 in 2017] is due to the smaller amount of millennials getting married.” (in the fifties https://www.insider.com/divorce-rate-changes-over-time-2019-1#the-divorce-rate-decreased-in-the-50s-as-american-ideals-changed-8 )
So, what I mean is, they were conditioned to expect to be married, then they have been divorced and left, and I often hear the narrative for that generation of women being “I don’t know how to do something.” My mom is 65. From my observations, I do not see that mentality from women who are 55 and Under. (I am not sure about the gradation in confidence from 55 to 65). And I am not saying that your mom is divorced, though she may or may not be.
I think it’s more of an idea of gender stereotypes that women were born with, and the immense change that our society has gone through in their lifetime. And my main comment is just to agree with you. I hear my mother (and other of my friends’ moms) sound just like yours. And it makes me bristle, and also think about why.
And also, you nail on what could be a solution: Teach your kids they can do anything. And also, open their minds to think big and take action. Good luck to you!
Untemplater,
My mother said the same thing all the way up until her death this past October!
But she was interviewed by Barbara Walters and testified before Arlan Specter and other congressional leaders in a hearing that eventually led to Juvenile Justice reform across the country!
Dropped out of high school at 15, had 6 kids before 21, during the winter of 1977 left with all 6 kids in tow an abusive disgusting husband/father, got hired as a prison guard, got her GED, took some college while working 2/3 jobs and spent every dollar she ever made on her children, grand children and great grandchildren up to her last breath!
Only ever preached/lived with Integrity regardless of the fact that every monster (Male and Female) within a 4 county radius attacked and took advantage of her and all of her/our family!
She may have feigned weakness and ignorance but she is by far the most amazing person of strength, intelligence and dignity I have ever even dreamed or imagined could exist, let alone actually met!
She is absolute proof that God exists and that he loves the World immensely as there can be no other answer for his creation of her!
I reflect daily on my weaknesses and talk to the man in the mirror about taking actions to correct my failings!
It’s amazing the character flaws you can change once you acknowledge and take concrete actions to correct them!
One must have faith in thyself as no one not even your siblings wish you more success than themselves!
“Dream Big, Take Action, Succeed!”
Good luck in all that you wish to accomplish!
Regards
Chris
Thanks! Yes, our parents actions and attitudes really do rub off on us.
We must be careful how we act around our children. They are always watching and observing, even if we don’t think they are!
Steven Pinker and Judith Harris say parenting has almost no influence (0 to 10%) in shaping children’s behavior. Rather, genes and chance events in life have far more influence in an individual’s personality. If this is true, which I agree to large extent based on my own experience, parents should just relax at night and not worry too much about teaching them lessons or morality.
What do you think?
Steven Pinker – Parental Influence On Personality
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcVu6fgN3-g
Radio Interview with Judith Rich Harris
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88laoew1cXQ
I think nurture is closer to 50%, based on my experience getting nurtured and seeing how the nurture affects my attitudes and thoughts today. My drive is driven by seeing a friend die at the age of 15. He was the most popular kid in school and had so much potential. I think about him all the time and realize that every day I live is an opportunity to do some good he never got a chance to do. His death made me appreciate life and NOT WASTE time or my abilities. If I can, I must.
What happened in your experience that makes you believe parenting has no affect?
It would be interesting to see how being an absentee parent is and see what becomes of the kids. But are you willing to be absent and take that risk?
LazyGardener
I would have to agree with Sam on the 50% unless the child’s college is funded by their parents, then you are probably right about it being 10%.
My mother had her son/my brother arrested for theft of a $5.00 toy when he was 15. He hung himself in his jail cell that night.
A few years later I was 14 and stole a bike, I was scared the police were going to come to the house as the boys who I gave the bike to had gotten caught with it and “Ratted me out”!
When I told my mother she just got mad and said she hoped they would come and take me to jail and that she wasn’t going to stop them!
I “sobbed” myself to sleep that night and have never stolen again!
Once when I was 15 my mother woke me up in the morning around 2 am and asked me if I was smoking Marijuana!
I couldn’t see straight because I was blinded by the light. I told her that I had not been smoking Marijuana and she just said that she wasn’t going to to tell me not to smoke it but that she would just hope that I wouldn’t!
I probably smoked Marijuana about 15-20 times prior to my 18th birthday but that interaction when I was 15 eventually weighed on me enough to quit for good! Allowing me to make it into the Marine Corps and staying clean the rest of my life!
My mother once worked three jobs at one time and for most of my childhood life she had two jobs!
Her dedication to work hard in order to feed 6 ungrateful derelict children became my mantra for life! At 16 I took my first job on a horse farm at $4.00 an hour for 75+ hours a week I continue to work 50-75 hours a week without flinching or complaint.
She only ever preached to not lie, cheat or steal!
Something you will see by my postings I continue to preach as a path to success and eternal salvation!
A parent has more influence if they are not so wrapped up in their own interest than the development of their children!
Lazy parents have 10% influence and out of guilt they pay for their children to continue being childlike in adulthood!
Adult children incapable of personal responsibility and sacrifice for others are now living at home at the highest percentage in American history because of cowardly parenting that accepts defeat of societal liberalism!
Collective Cowards accept the defeatist norms that make up the majority of lazy parents, capitalist individuals are the exceptional parenting achievers!
I do not have children so who am I to say which parents are nasty and which ones are exceptional?
Regards
Chris
I agree with Sam. My mother taught me how to read, and she read with me from birth until, well, forever. I could read before I have memories, and definitely before the age of three when I do have memories. That opened up so many avenues of success for me. I was learning about places from around the world at the age of 4 by reading encyclopedias and any book that I wanted. We were not rich, I could not have any toy that I wanted, but I could have any book! I do think the brain is open very early on, and that if parents (or any caretakers) give true attention and love to the kid, that the kid will react to their highest potential, and that kind of confidence follows the kid.
You re-ignited the flame in me.
Definitely, many people will frown upon your dreams. Part of it is that since they feel that they can’t accomplish it, you can’t either (or shouldn’t – that way you don’t rise above them). It’s the crabs in a bucket sort of thing. Just imagine how many people’s dream were crushed through this way and how many unfulfilled potential went to waste.
I am not a great writer, but I started a blog anyways on the advice of Sam. It’ll probably never be big nor gain much traction, but if I can help just even a few people on their path to FI, I feel it’s a worthwhile pursuit. My hopes for myself is that I can become a better writer and be able to come up with focused ideas.
Never knew how difficult it is to come up with original content for a post until now. Don’t know how you keep doing it Sam! Thanks for the motivation and your work.
If you can speak forever, you can write forever! Good luck with your blogging journey. Just got to make it through the first year with a consistent schedule, and things get better over time. The question you have to ask yourself is: how much are you willing to sacrifice in the short term to earn X amount of side income or never have to work for anybody ever again?
Be obsessed or settle for average results. If you want extraordinary results regarding the things you care most about you have to be obsessed with them. The only reasons people will criticize obsession are people who were obsessed with something and it detracted from other areas of their life and they want you to avoid that negative result. The issue was not their obsession but their lack of obsession in the other areas of their life that were negatively impacted. The other reason you described perfectly, they don’t want to see you succeed and feel bad about their lack of effort.
Great post Sam.
Love this post!! I am from Sweden where an incredible consensus-seeking stay-in-your-cubicle type mentality prevails that makes no one even able to start thinking about retiring early, much less try to actively do it.
Reading this motivates me even further to follow my ambition and let nothing stop me on my way to retire in 7 years from now, so thanks a lot!!
Cheers,
Fredrika
I have two young kids and your article spurred some conversation about starting a business with the main intent to educate and train my kids about business and finance. Experience in the real world in combination with traditional education is a great formula for success.
Your article was thought provoking, inspirational, and helpful.
I’m shocked that people would waste their most precious resource of time to speak negatively about your work.
Thanks for the great content, please keep it coming.
Sam,
Thank you for helping to remember to dream!Our culture is filled with people that will tell you ” you want to do what”.
Ok, now I’m ready to go out there and crush it!!!
People will always be jealous and try to bring you down. I love this idea of channelling negativity into greater drive! I have also learned that sometimes I do better when I only tell my “crazy” goals to friends I know will be supportive.
<3
This is very calming.
I thought it was awesome of you to share how to negotiate severance pay when you'd worked out how to do it for yourself. – No reason for disbelief – you're the example!
No financial successes to speak of here.
Almost go in on the local property ladder a few months before the market almost doubled, and kept growing. A relative very knowledgeable in real estate I asked for advise told me, as a single person such a thing wasn't possible / to hard. I just needed to know how to fill in firms and do the process – see if, with finances available to me I could buy my first place to eventually either rent out or borrow against for the next and next and next. My plan being to be out of the 40 hr a week workforce by 45 as, I couldn't handle being around the people you describe here. I come across so many and they crush dreams and increase darkness. Sometimes you can't brush their effects off and life goes bad because they are humans that crap all over other people's dreams — even small ones.
I am retired at 45 . Have been since 36 when I got fired due to chronic lateness for a chronic illness I was getting medical attention on ( finally!!) the very next fortnight in my annual holidays.
No real estate financed income – I fell in a dark hole after my relative wouldn't help. Threw the money away gambling, thought there was no point to anything and was suicidal for a long time.
Some good and bad things happened since then.
Got granted a disability pension as, it turned out many of my sore body parts we're and actual illness! Can't be cured other than with death , managed most days with medication a good diet enough sun and exercise…… And, a good an ongoing dose of positivity and serves of how to look at the bright/er side of whatever is on my mind.
Which is why I read You and a collection of other people blogs, doing what works for them and sharing it, here in internet land.
The real estate thing makes me sad. It was 2 hrs tops out of that persons life and they couldn't be bothered to answer my questions. Now they are old, hopefully won't need to use retirement homes, but if they do, I won't be able to help out as I otherwise would of as, I have no sums of money I could give.
I'm fortunate I got a council flat a few years ago. This improved my health greatly after about a year of being here. My previous place was full of black mould and my health had deteriated to the point I couldn't keep up with the cleaning of keeping it at bay.
So now, it's working on my attitude. Friends have just bought themselves a new place and, I had to face all my anger over this history anew and push it aside so I could be there to help my friend. 80%succeeded.
Keep at all the ventures that work for you Jim and if they don't, round them up, pass them on and try something else. It is very interesting to learn about even if I can't put knowledge to practice
Regards
Lisa-Michelle
This is great. I read your blog many years ago and some how I started reading it again. You Probably got me hooked when I found out you are a tennis player like I am and worked in the financial industry like I do (former college and now play 5.0 leagues, and teach on the side as a side hustle). You are a true inspiration to some of us. You keep it real and are probably one of the most authentic bloggers on the FIRE Community. Tennis question: what string do you use to save money?
Happy Thanksgiving, Sam.
Your posts really helped shape many of my own personal financial decisions.
Continue being yourself and writing great posts.
Like they say… live and learn and only get stronger….
Sam,
Your successful story touched and inspired many people like me. One of the ways America is great is that, each of us can pursue our own dreams. Believe in ourselves, work hard, the good results will come eventually. Thank you for sharing the story.