Taking Charge of Your Life

Peri Scott - December 12, 2019

Why is it so hard to get ahead? How come we have to struggle everyday just to pay the bills? How is it that it gets harder and harder to make ends meet? It seems that the more we earn, the less we have left over. The system is rigged!

Its all on you

Yes it is.

You have been indoctrinated. School taught you to be a good student. Do as you are told and you will be rewarded with good grades. Get good grades and you will get into a good school . Get a good degree from a good school and you will get a good job. Be a good employee and you will prosper. Save 10% of what you earn, give it to the experts and you will be able to retire someday. Oh, by the way, when you do retire, you will give your life savings to another expert who will dole it out to you as you age. Hopefully you won’t live very long in case you run out of money.

Implied within these structures is the underlying unspoken idea that you will be taken care of. You will be given what you need if you toe the line. If you are a good student you will be sheltered from the scary world.

If you conform to the way we want you to be, we will make sure that you are OK.

We are led to believe that we will be taken care of but it is not true. “They” don’t care about you! “They” just want you to be productive. If you provide value they will compensate you. If you stop being valuable, they will replace you with someone who is. You serve no other purpose than to produce. You are not a person, you are a commodity. Make no mistake, in the world of capitalism (Which is the whole world) you are only as valuable as your contribution.

People only value you for what you can do for them. This is a harsh reality but it is true. The sooner you accept that fact, the sooner you can actually figure out a way to use that concept to your own benefit.

The most important thing you can know is that you are the master of your own destiny.

If people don’t get their Christmas bonus or get less of a raise than they think they deserve, they lament

”I was counting on that!”

“How am I going to get ahead?”

“They keep clawing back the benefits here, this is unfair!”

People even go as far as to go on strike for being treated unfairly at work.

This mindset assumes that your life is under the control of other people. Allow me to suggest a different approach.

You are the master of your life

You may want to consider:

• You are always working for yourself - Brian Tracy says to think of your job as if you are the CEO of a consulting company, specialising in your area of expertise, and your current boss is your best customer. Your job is to provide as much value as possible to your customer for a fair price. The implications of this ideas are huge. You will now be motivated to improve your skills, upgrade your efficiency and find ways to deliver more value. You are the actual boss.

• You should start a side hustle - This will teach you the benefits of entrepreneurship which really is the backbone of our capitalist system. You need to understand that a JOB is just a part of a bigger system. You are not entitled to a job. It may benefit you to see how your job is part of a business and that business needs to make money by providing value to its customers and you are here to facilitate that end. This will enable you to conform your productivity to the benefit of the business, and increase your value. This may give you leverage.

• Be proactive - Steven Covey in his amazing book, The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People declares that being proactive is the first and the most important principle or habit that you can adopt. This challenges the idea that you will be taken care of and puts the responsibility for your life and your success squarely back on your shoulders. You need to take responsibility for everything that happens to you.

If your boss is treating you badly - start a side hustle.

If you need more money - find a way to earn more..

I know that you are strapped for time, like everyone else, but you can learn to prioritize your time. This means deciding what is most important and making time for that. The world will demand your time for its own ends, but you have to decide what is best for you and your goals. This is the primary tenet of adulthood.

We are completely dependant on our parents when we are born and we slowly gain independence as we grow. The problem is that we stop making this our primary goal. We stagnate from "helicopter parenting” and soft, easy lives. We start to believe that everything in life that we want should be quick and easy. We live in a society that makes it very convenient to get just about anything, so we start to believe that “easy” applies to everything - including things that are NOT easy and quick to attain.

We forget that our purpose is to be self-reliant. We need to assume responsibility for everything. Absolutely everything. It is only then that we are truly adults. It has been suggested that our job as parents isn’t to protect our children, it is to teach them to protect themselves. It only when we refuse to be victims and believe that we are responsible for everything in our lives that we become fully realized human beings. This concept gets lost because of our life-long indoctrination:

Child: Be a good child and Mommy and Daddy will take care of you

School: Be a good student and teacher will take care of you

Job: Be a good worker and the boss will take care of you

Government: Be a good citizen and the government will take care of you

The central theme of my books and courses is “Be Your Own Bank” - I am trying to convince people that they might find freedom and prosperity if they learn that their money situation would be better served if they take responsibility for their own financial futures. You cannot assume the “child” role of giving it over to the experts. You cannot assume your pension or your boss will take care of you. You cannot assume that your state of financial well-being is going to be determined by your paycheck alone. You cannot assume that you are where you are because of somebody else. It is because of you. You need to realize that you are where you are in life because of you.

Because of decisions you made.

Because of the value that you provide.

Because of the contribution you make to the greater economic machine.

This is the world we live in. You might as will learn the rules.

If we all stopped thinking that “they” run things and start participating in running things, we would all be better off.

If you don’t like the politicians - run for office

If you don’t like how your company does business, start your own company and do it better.

If you don’t like where you are at financially - learn to make more money.

Start a side hustle, upgrade your skills, ask how you can take on more responsibility. You are the boss of you. Take charge. Responsibility is the key to being a fully realized human being.

Don’t be a victim. Be a BOSS

The middle class is disappearing. In fact, a middle class is a very unusual concept. Traditionally, there has always been a rich 1% and everyone else was poor. This was feudalism and it ruled for many millennia. The advent of the middle class was an early 20th century thing that was an anomaly of a changing world. Things are reverting back to that model. There are now a few billionaires who have 90 % of the money and the rest of us are left fighting over the scraps. The gap is growing quickly too. No one is coming to your rescue. It is up to you. These people are not about to change the status quo. They are going to keep making money. You need to protect yourself. You need to take control.

My investing strategies are cool and everything, but the most important part of what I teach is the concept of “Be Your Own” - You taking charge of your life. I cannot stress this enough. I really believe that we have been lulled into a false sense of security as the rug is being pulled out from underneath us. We have been trained to be good minions and then they treat us as such. There is no job security anymore. There is no safety net like there used to be. There are fewer companies that offer pensions. Even your retirement savings are at risk of another economic downturn. You need to take back your power. You need to “Be Your Own - ANYTHING”.

I urge you to truly be the master of you own life. You are smarter than you think you can be. You are more resourceful and creative than you imagined. You have the ability to feel powerful and in control. You can make your life the way you want it if you assume responsibility for it. It may not be easy, in fact, it probably will be very hard. Especially the part where you learn to think differently. You have been given free will. If you have been given the privilege to be born or live in a free country, you have the opportunity to become anything you can dream of. Start from where you are at and make the decision right now to be responsible for everything in your life. Now you have true freedom.

There is a Way

The best part about choosing to take responsibility for your life is that there is no shortage of information out there to help you on your journey. There are many great books, courses, videos, seminars and mentors available to show you the way. There are a hundred strategies that you can implement to achieve anything you desire. The hard part of all of this is deciding to do it. Making the decision that you will prioritize your goals. Choosing to spend your time on your most valuable tasks. Choosing to work on your side hustle instead of watching TV. Choosing to learn new information. These are actions that reinforce your commitment to taking responsibility for your future. You may need to live a life that differs from your peers. You may need to make different decisions than you have in the past. You have been programmed to follow the herd. Choose to break free.

You have the ability to achieve almost anything you decide is important enough. It is just not going to happen by accident. It will require deliberate actions and perserverance by YOU. You boss isn’t interested in your success. He is interested in his own success. You are just a tool for him to use. If you want success, you will have to take it. You will have to “Be Your Own ..Boss” or Be Your Own ANYTHING.

I believe that by assuming responsibility for every aspect of your life you are choosing a healthy mental framework in which to view the world. The idea that you are in control is the foundation of mental health and self -esteem. Being in control doesn’t guarantee that you will not fail or stumble. It just means that you are no longer a victim. If you are in control, then you always have a choice. You always can choose how to respond to outcomes. You can pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start again. You can change your strategy. You can learn from your mistakes, and try again. This is life. It is so easy to forget we have choices when we passively put our destinies in the control of others.

So Be Your Own Bank.. Or Not.

It is up to you because it’s your life..