Good Pain, Bad Pain

Life is Hard

By now, my readers should be familiar with the concept of good debt vs. bad debt. Debt is not inherently evil, it is just a tool to be used.. and it can be used for good and for bad. It can run you into the ground financially or it can set you soaring above the clouds. In fact, it is very hard to become financially free without using debt, or leverage to accelerate your timeline and returns. 

The concept of good debt vs. bad debt is a universal paradigm that applies not only to money, but to life itself. There is a popular meme that is going around about "choose your hard".

This applies to many aspects of life in general. I like to think it is the best lesson there is.

Struggling financially sucks. It is hard and painful. Yet, the only way out of that difficult and life-sucking scenario (precluding a windfall) is by choosing more pain. The pain of self discipline, the pain of sacrifice, the pain of long term thinking. It is hard to be disciplined. It's is hard to be patient and wait for your returns. It is hard to do the right things even when it hurts in the short term. But that is the key - it is short-term pain for long term gain. Financial struggles tend to be categorised as long term pain due to short term pleasures. We blow money on stupid things that give us a temporary "high" but are soon forgotten. This is the problem. We are thinking backwards. 

Like working out; if we go to the gym religiously, work hard (put ourselves through self-inflicted pain), and eat right, we will gain muscles and good health. As a result, long-term ailments and health problems will become less likely. We are choosing the pain. We are choosing the "hard". This beats having life choose the "hard" for us. Because life doesn't pull any punches.

If we choose the "hard" of budgeting, saving and investing our money, starting small, spending less than we earn, then the long term pain of poverty will eventually leave us. We will have a buffer against the economic ebbs and flows of the world. We can CHOOSE this pain. We choose the pain of self discipline so we don't have to experience the pain of "circumstances". 

This is good news. It is hard to hear that life is going to be hard. I understand, but it is just the reality. The good part is, it is a choice which 'hard' or 'pain' we experience. If we choose the 'hard' of self discipline, patience and long term thinking we enjoy the benefits of that choice. If we "choose" to be left to the good graces of the universe we might be in for a different kind of pain. It's as if the universe demands its pound of flesh and says, in order to live life on earth, you have a debt of 'pain' to pay. You get to choose "how" you pay that debt. You can suffer the pain of self discipline, or you can suffer the pain of God's choosing. Take your pick. I know I would prefer to control my own destiny, thank you very much. 

This is not to say the world will not throw you some crappy curveballs from time to time even if you have your act together. But in the event that it does, you will be much better prepared for it than if you have nothing. Like they say, don't wish life were easier, wish you were stronger. 

Scale

The other interesting thing is the amount of effort to become super wealthy and the amount of effort to barely get by are not much different. It all depends on a few choices, and what you focus on. Do you think Jeff Bezos has more time in a day than you do? Do think Warren Buffet works 40 billion times harder than you? Not likely. So what is the difference? 

These guys work on the right things. They spend their time on high-value activities that have a high rate of return. If you spend your time working at a minimum wage job, working hard and putting in overtime for no extra pay may or may not reap you some rewards. But working hard and putting in overtime for no pay at your own business has a massive return. Same hours, same initial paycheck, but the end result is exponentially different. This is the key.

The other thing that the rich learn to do is leverage time. They put money to work for them instead of trading their time for money. If you can create passive income and then rinse and repeat, you are virtually working 24 hours a day 7 days a week on autopilot. You will have money that comes in no matter whether you work or not. This is not hard to do. I explain everything you need to know to set this up in my course "BYOB" or my books.

Leveraging time is the magic that allows unusual amounts of money to enter your life.. do not rely on luck or charity to take care of you. Be willing to put in the work. Be willing to endure the pain of getting ahead. You are probably going to experience pain anyways, you might as well choose the pain to feel. You might as well exhaust yourself working towards a lofty goal than some menial one. You might as well make mistakes and fall on your face doing something worthwhile than living someone else's dream. 

There are two points I am making here:

1. You will experience pain - Life is hard. period. You will fail. You will make mistakes. You will have to learn to walk before you can run. You will have to change and grow. This is what life demands of you. There is no getting around these facts.

2. You can actually choose the pain you experience - You can pay your debt to the universe in whatever manner you choose. But you must pay it. Do not be fooled.

So in this good news/bad news scenario you are in the driver's seat. It's going to hurt. You get to pick how it is going to hurt.  Make the right choice. Choose the pain that serves you.