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| Perhaps a leaflet instead.. |
Africa's heat, humidity, local culture, dance, song and animal instincts fuel CONTENDERS's ambition to coax THE.FUTURE to getintheringwithme after putting away this lightweight. Pounding the watermelons for the camera was satisfying but CONTENDER wanted to prove his killer instincts to the world. He headed out into the Savanna in search of some prey.
Following on from the 30 Rules of Very Early Retirement THE.CONTENDER thought it would be fun to list 6 Habits of very early retirement he has developed down the years......
THE.CONTENDER came across the idea of embedding habits in your daily routine from Steven Covey. He is world renound for his 7 Habits of Highly Effective People see summary here. THE.CONTENDER highly recommends his follow up book the 8th Habit as well, it includes a brief description of the other 7 - time for a trip to the library?).
- Emotional intelligence - Stalking the springbok his head is turned by a rhino - surely that would be the ultimate trophy for his first outing? Very tempting... focus THE.CONTENDER , smell the roses! Its too big, too precious too stupid!
The early retiree does not have his head turned by the latest marketing campaign easily (unless it is half price consumable offers in the supermarket - we like those). He stalks his prey for the best deals and he ignores the glitzy, shiny gizmos that cost a fortune and "need" upgrading every year - to whose benefit is that?
- Financial Intelligence - All those years of training. The prey does not stand a chance .
Statistics, PE (Price to Earnings), PEG (price to growth), balance sheets, rental yields, mortgage rates, you name it it is all in his arsenal along with the ultimate weapon of choice A SPREADSHEET*.
The early retiree has put the hard yards in (New Zealand rugby saying for working really hard as a team to move very slowly forward up the rugby field) he spends time learning the basics, then the ins and outs of finance. What is money "money doesn't grow on trees" todays fiat money is trees - as much paper printing as you like and electronic entries on the computer called QE (quantitative easing) i.e money printing, debasing the currency....more for another day. The early retiree understands the rules of the game and learns all the tricks to get check mate.
- Determination - Slowly moving forward through the savanna he has his prey it in his sights... getting closer and closer as it twitches its ears can it hear him. It is still a long way in the distance. Getting closer, getting there, getting there...keep going your time will come.
Patience is a virtue and planning for early retirement will take time and will power to stay the course. You need to get things done and be bloody minded in this time. Our fledgling hunter eyes the goal of master early retiree huntsman, nothing is going to stand in his way!
- Mental agility - thinking on his feet he spots some big rocks in the landscape ahead. They are in his way what does he do? Good job he thought of packing a few sticks of dynamite!
Thinking and planning ahead to avoid the big rocks. The early retiree has developed the planning habit. He has worked out his retirement needs and how to deal with any challenges THE FUTURE holds...probably. He regularly checks his progress and changes course if needed. He learns on is feet (actually getting stuck in, not just reading a book or this blog;) He can critically evaluate an opportunity or pitfall. - Continuous Learning - last time the prey ducked left behind a bush and then bolted to the right. He was not expecting that. Now THE.CONTENDER will move carefully to the right ready, waiting, listening and alert.
Embedding this habit into your daily life opens doors. Amazing opportunities that you would never be aware of present themselves. Opportunities to live more cheaply at the same standard of living. Opportunity to spot an idea for a business and set it up for success. Opportunity to get a promotion in work because you are the best person for the job. Opportunities to meet new people to socialise with and enjoy life.
- Human Communication - waving at the jeep to sweep around to the left to flush out the springbok the driver turned right, beeped his horn and flashed his lights... it all went horribly wrong!
What happened to the lost art of listening attentively to someone, understanding their point of view, what motivates them? Do you like it is someone is not listening to you - why should they? What about conveying your ideas effectively to them and getting them on board?
The early retiree lives in an ever changing and sometimes challenging world. Without varied human contact are lives would be much poorer. People are a source of friendship, help opinions, fun. Get away from the gadgets computer games and forge some strong relationships. Help everyone prosper.
- Enlightenment (nice idea but that would be one too many) - Sitting on a rocky outcrop our hero surveys the shimmering savanna under the brick red setting sun and ponders - "is the universe round or square, what is the meaning of life? have I found happiness and financial freedom...." suddenly the sun is full in the sky beating down on him, I know! I know!.... perhaps not, but it is damn hot!
That's enough publicity for the day, did THE.CONTENDER learn something, a silly sales pitch is plain outright stupid. In Africa at that - a world away what was he thinking? It was not early retirement; the trip was costing him and the world a fortune!
THE.CONTENDER had to develop all of the above habits. He procrastinated a little. At times he could be undecided when decisive action was needed. Eventually it was forced upon him causing a stressful situation. He was wandering through life with only some vague ideas of what he wanted. He put too much emphasis on "perfect" work instead of good enough. The important part was spending time working with the people who mattered.
For instance THE.CONTENDER is a realist, but can be overly optimistic at times. THE.CONTENDER expected miracles from other people on one project. He underestimated the time needed for some development work, it had been moved off shore making communication much more complicated. THE.CONTENDER had promised a working solution in three weeks... it took six.
Unfortunately expectations are best set low and over delivered on. A lesson learnt and it never happened again!
Bad Habits, Good Habits
We all develop habits, good and bad down the years. New year resolutions seldom banish the bad habits due to the delayed action point of the 1st of Jan. Your Determination habit needs to come to the fore NOW. You need to improve your Mental Agility understand what you need to change and what you need to learn to make it happen.
Ideally your early retirement habits need to consider the micro and macro world around you and your place in it. In business it is classed as Look Inwards, Outwards, Look Up, Look Down and Look Behind You
Develop a habit today!
Pick a habit you would like to nurture today. How will you encourage yourself to work on that particular skill every day until it becomes second nature?
Perhaps you can copy THE.CONTENDER and have a WHITEBOARD in prominent location in your home with the habits listed on it?
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| Our Whiteboard with the kids meals, activities, to do list and habits in a prominent position right next to the bottle warmer so we view it more than once a day |
What activities can you participate in to develop the skills? get a piece of paper write you habit on the top and brainstorm what comes into your head however silly it may be write it down until you cannot think of any more (usually 7 minutes does the trick:)
Are there any on the list that take your interest but are a bit vague? Perhaps take that interest and place it in a circle in the center of a piece of paper. Around it add related / actions words skills in their own bubbles and so on until you have your very own mind map - hopefully lots of new ideas to build your new habit?
Hunt down some of those Bad Habits
today and replace them with some GREAT HABITS they are a darn
sight harder to catch, accompany you for life and work on autopilot!
Disclaimer: No animals have been actually used in this post. Scientific research has been carried out on THE.CONTENDER only. He has assured us that he has no long term effects of the learning process other than developing some grey hairs due to "I get it now" light bulb moments. To us he seems in full control of his senses and faculties ...
Make financial freedom a habit on the way to life long happiness. Until next time.......
CoNTeNDeR
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Great advice. Both the big picture and the fine details of your financial and emotional states are important to consider when assessing your readiness for early retirement.
ReplyDeleteEarly retirement / financial independence / financial freedom / downshifting - just having a look at their definitions and stories around the web all mean different things to different people.
DeleteSo your point on readiness is very pertinent. We need to understand what it means to us and what you personally need for you and your family in the future.
These are damn hard questions the wife and I have spent many an hour trying to work out. I don't think we will work it out either.
We just have a few medium term stepping stones and some fuzzier long term goals for us and the family. We are aiming for an income that should suffice for our medium term needs with no frills and whistles attached to the lifestyle in this time frame.
Could this change? We are changing countries who knows what opportunities and challenges await us. If we need to change direction we will. We are will work in some way or another in the future as we enjoy new challenges.
Perhaps "early retirement" could be looked at in another way. Perhaps it is just a pool of savings and investments that can be used to change ones current lifestyle. Take some time out to pursue other careers and opportunities. That pool of money could be self sustaining or finite for only x number of years.
Life is only lived once and in the now so we need to enjoy the moment as well.
Personally we could not forgo the now for "extreme" early retirement such as the blog ERE.
Back to your point on readiness; what is the type of lifestyle one wants in the future whilst understanding that the requirements will more than likely change with age....
Good luck