Chapter 18 Pages 242-252
Chapter Title: The Journey
Book Link: Click Here
Buy The book: Click Here
In this chapter, the author shares a story about how he wanted to have apple trees on his property. He discovered that he couldn’t simply go out and buy mature apple trees and replant them on his lot, instead he had to start from the beginning and plant seeds. So he planted several seeds and says that today he has an apple orchard on his property.
What kind of seeds of success are you planting that will eventually bear fruit? For me, it’s working with people who don’t know much about real estate and teaching them all about it.
I know that by doing so, I’ll have a team of knowledgeable real estate professionals that I can send deals to without worrying about whether it’s going to be handled correctly or not. This team will also be empowered to teach others what they have learned so that the cycle continues.
My approach is an example of “going small”. Of course I want the “apple orchard” right now, but it doesn’t work that way. I have to “plant seeds” and nurture those seeds if I am to have my apple orchard.
As trainees in life, we want to learn and figure out the entire process in one setting but it doesn’t work that way. We have to read, study, watch, practice, try, and most importantly….we’ll have to make some mistakes before we can master something.
Knowing this we must be prepared to read, study, watch, practice, try, and make mistakes. If we’re not prepared to do these things, we’re never going to master anything. We’ll simply end up jumping from one thing to the next until we’re too old to jump onto anything else.
Excuse me for closing this on a somber note, but here I go... This chapter references a book: The Top Five Regrets of the Dying. The number one regret in the book is - I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself not the life others expected of me.
All of us have things inside of us that we want to do in life, unfortunately we sometimes spend too much time pleasing others and not enough time pleasing ourselves. One reason that we sometimes focus on pleasing others is because we don’t know how to get started pleasing ourselves.
If you’re one of those people, you might want to read The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, here’s the link: Click Here. I’m not sure where I get my drive to live without regrets, but it’s something that I’ve always felt inside of me. I don’t want to get old and wonder...what if I had done this or that. The thought of getting to that point is a TRUE NIGHTMARE for me.
I’m ok with trying and failing at things, I can move past that and be ok, but I’m not ok with the fact that I can’t go back into time and try something that I didn’t try when I had the chance, ya dig? Therefore I take chances and risk now while I can; I get up early every day and give life my all. Afterall, what else is there?
Make today a GREAT day and continue to dream big and be sure to take at least one more step toward your goals on this beautiful day!
~Matthew
Chapter Highlights
One evening an elder Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside all people. He said, “My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us. One is Fear. It carries anxiety, concern, uncertainty, hesitancy, indecision and inaction. The other is Faith. It brings calm, conviction, confidence, enthusiasm, decisiveness, excitement and action.” The grandson thought about it for a moment and then meekly asked his grandfather: “Which wolf wins?” The old Cherokee replied, “The one you feed.”
If you could go back in time and talk to the 18-year-young you or leap forward and visit with the 80-year-old you, who would you want to take advice from?
A life worth living might be measured in many ways, but the one way that stands above all others is living a life of no regrets.
Life is too short to pile up woulda, coulda, shouldas.
I wondered what people with nothing left to do but look back might tell me about how to move forward. Their collective voice was overwhelming, the answer clear: live your life to minimize the regrets you might have at the end.
When you know what matters most, everything makes sense. When you don’t know what matters most, anything makes sense.
Success is an inside job.