Introduction

I recently was watching a video by one of my favourite intellectuals, Dr. Jordan B. Peterson (Maps of Meaning, 12 Rules for Life,) and he was speaking to Joe Rogan about the simple act of making your bed in the morning. (Watch on YouTube Here)

His suggestion that if you want to change your life for the better, a good place to start would be to make you bed. His suggestion is that your life is not just defined by “who you are” ie. your personality but also by your acts. Your sphere of “being” is not just the thoughts in your head, it is your body, and your acts, and your environment. All these things are intertwined inextricably. So the key concept is “what can I do?” What do you actually have control over. ( I won’t get into how he believes we really don’t have control over anything, that would fill a book).

Trajectory

His point of view is that no matter where your life is at, if you want it to improve you have to point at where you want to go. You cannot fix your crappy life by focusing on how crappy it is, nor can fix it by doing nothing. Of course, it doesn’t need to be said that doing things to make you life even WORSE will probably not be helpful, either.

If you have a long way to go to get to the life you want, then the key here is to “Aim Lower” as he put it. Pick something small, like making your bed, and do it. You will have improved your life by a small increment. This is the start of a journey. It is a first step . The objective of this is to get your world in order, but doing things that you are capable of doing right now and taking steps towards your ultimate goal, not trying to fix everything that is wrong all at once. This points you in an upward trajectory and gets you moving. You need to focus on where you want to go, not where you don’t want to go. It is a very important point. Your mind needs to be thinking about its goals, not ruminating on what is bad.

Once you begin your upward journey it seems that your are not making very much progress at first, but is is an exponential curve, The longer you stick with it and the more improvements you make, the changes start to build upon one another and your rate of change or improvement will multiply as well. It is compounded.

Money

These principles work exactly the same no matter what aspect of your world you are talking about. I would like you to consider that these ideas work perfectly in the world of investing and your personal financial situation.

If you want to be financially free, you can start by “making your bed”. The analogy here is to begin with something simple and build from there.

For example, you could start by reducing your spending or making a budget. This will put you in a good position to move forward without making things worse.

If you want to get out of the hole, stop digging.

I wrote an entire blog post about the importance of “Spending less than earn” and have belaboured the point in my books, If you cannot do this one thing, you are destined to struggle financially forever, unless serendipity intervenes. This one step is doable for ANYONE, regardless of income level. It is the “prime directive” of financial jurisprudence. By doing this first step you will have put yourself on the right path, aiming in the right direction to achieve great things. This seems, at first glance, to be as inconsequnetial as making your bed, but it has tremendous power.

It is important to remember that getting to where you want to be financially is NOT going to happen overnight. It is going to take time, effort and good habits to get there, but it is doable. There is no magic formula. There is no “Secret” to building wealth. It is just a matter of adhering to a set of principles and actions using self discipline and restraint.

Long term thinking

We live in a “instant gratification” type of society where we start to believe everything we want should be easy and quick because we have made many things fit that model. We can get food delivered with the press of a button. We can hire a ride, or learn any information we need just by looking it up on our smart phones. We have been led to believe that life is supposed to be easy. This is just NOT the case. Yes, many things have become easier over the years, and we can create little bubbles of safety for ourselves that might protect us from the harsh parts of the world, but the really worthwhile things in life, that actually make an impact and create real change are still hard to do. They require sustained effort over a long period of time, and may require trial and error. Failure is probably going to be a part of the journey, and you must be willing to accept that. As Mr. Peterson says, you must be willing to humble yourself enough to make the small incremental changes that are necessary to move forward, instead of going for the top and falling flat on your face. Success is a ladder that must be climbed rung by rung. You usually cannot jump to the top.

So when it comes to your finances, try spending less than you earn. Then, once you have that step down, you can learn how to invest and start small. You can build up your wealth incrementally and watch it grow over time. I have a complete “how to” course on doing exactly this method, and it works.

You can also learn how to do this by reading my books. Keep in mind that none of the outcomes you expect are going to happen overnight. That is unrealistic and not in line with reality. Good things take time. You must accept that.

The good news here is that change is not only possible, but probable if you are willing to approach it the right way. I can give you the step-by-step plan, but you have to do it. You have to have the discipline and the long term perspective to see it through. You can make progress towards your goals and that is the point. Overnight success is a myth and TV and movies lie to us by making years of hard work and trill error into a 3 minute “Training montage”. That three minutes usually take about 20 years, and who you become in that 20 years can be amazing. Why would you want to skip that step? As they say don’t wish life was easier, wish that you were better.

Financial Freedom is Possible

So many people think that becoming financially free is a pipe-dream or is not something that is possible for them. They think this because they are either in very difficult circumstances or they have bought into the lie that you need to be special or lucky to be rich.

I want to tell you that you can overcome any circumstances with the right information and the right actions. You just need to learn what they are. I can provide that blueprint. You also have to learn that wealth is not a fairy tale. It is a real state of being that can be attained by anyone if they follow the appropriate steps in the right order.

It is not easy.

It is not fast.

You will encounter all kinds of obstacles that are attempting to prevent you from achieving your dream. You will have setbacks. You will have people that you care about questioning your decisions. You will have self-doubts. You must have the fortitude to keep going.

As a popular success guru once said: