A group of friends and I were discussing ambition and working hard toward achieving goals and making our dreams come true. Most of us are in our early 20s to mid 30s, and we’ve all got a lot of great accomplishments under our belts. Some of the women in our group are married or engaged with kids, and others are still looking for the right one. Almost all of us have some college under our belt. There’s even a PhD in the mix.
Our passion to achieve as much as we can in life brought us together. We simply cannot conceive of how and why we should settle for anything significantly remote to being chained in situations that not only age us prematurely, but drain our spirit and emotions. We’ve all come to agree that too much dependence on “corporate, 9-to-5 living” is a primary area of concern for not only us, but our families – the ones we have, and the ones we’re planning to start. Thus we all want to escape corporate America.
One day, one of us brought up how so many people we know expressed the same level of commitment and desire to change their lifestyle, whether through gaining passive income online, real estate investment, generating income through a side hustle (Pampered Chef, Passion Parties, freelance writing, housecleaning, etc.) and even through going back to school. Unfortunately, whenever the suggestions come in or the real work starts, the same complainers have a million excuses as to why they “don’t have the time” and simply remain complacent with the level of activity and achievement they have in their lives.
“What is it that makes people neglect to take action? Everyone says they don’t have the time to look into a second job to pay off their bills, but every time I jump on Facebook or Twitter, I see they’re constantly flooding my feeds with bullsh*t,” one said.
Another chimed in. “Well, Daddy always said, ‘Baby, some people can’t do nothin’ right but eat BBQ.’ I never knew what he meant until now. It’s amazing how many people have no problem making complaints about changing their lives, but nobody wants to take any physical action towards getting things done. The more I try not to notice it, and give people the benefit of the doubt, the more I notice this happens. I’ve since realized there’s nothing left for me to do but continue to focus on myself and let them keep doing them.”
I can’t talk with ribs in my mouth
As I was thinking about what was being said, several things came to mind. First, I thought about all the friends I have/had who’ve accomplished things in their lives. Then I thought about all of my accomplishments and struggles, including current ones, which include getting on the fast track to a Master’s Degree from Full Sail University, building my online business for passive income and also my budding business as a social networker turned consultant. I have a lot going on and this isn’t even the half. However, I’ve struggled with being effective with my time – lack of effectiveness will ruin progress, even when you’re not efficient.
Taking that into consideration, I thought to myself, “Am I pointing a Jack Daniels BBQ sauce covered finger at others instead of really putting effort into figuring out how to do better? And if so, why? Because then I’m wasting my time worrying about other people when it seems to lack any benefit (well, financially) for me.”
Looking things over, I’ve realized I am taking too much time to care about others. The painful thing is, that has kept me from caring enough about me. And thus, I’ve let money leak from my pockets.
I can’t talk with ribs in my mouth. Or Jack Daniels dripping down my shirt. It doesn’t matter what I am and have accomplished, I’m still not where I need to be in order to be influential enough to make people listen to me. They hear me talk, but they smell BBQ all on my breath and notice the ruddy stains on my fingers and sauce clinging under my nails.
So, I’ve been working hard to focus on myself and my changes, especially in the past few weeks. I’ve been pleased to say, the results speak for themselves. This book called The 1% Solution has also been an important part of my development and continued self-motivation and persistence over the last week as I struggle to change my attitude.