20 Positively Stubborn Ways to be FI

Learning a new skill

I love days when I am put in my place. Learning from an expert and proving to me how little I know.

Today was one of those days - a humbling experience using a chainsaw. One I will reflect upon many years in the future.

A chainsaw is a powerful and dangerous machine that you must respect. It is a marvel. At the same time cutting the trees is a bit of an art that takes time to perfect.

Felling old and new trees will provide warmth for Tribe in the winter making way for new growth.




Looking at THE.PaST I would never have done this if we did not stubbornly believe in our goal of financial independence in a countryside house. Below I have outlined 20 stubborn steps towards FI which will ultimately make you stand out from the crowd. 

Our Stubborn Waste of Wisdom

You start out in life knowing nothing and leave this life knowing a lot. Unfortunately, in THE.CoNTeNDeR's humble opinion, western society does not value wisdom. It really does not give a f****.

Get out of the way, old man, you are hogging the jobs. Retire, you dinosaur.

Is it me or is there something seriously wrong in the western world where old people are marginalized and their wisdom is not passed on but mainly deemed outdated. What is out-dated anyway? Is "deliver to your door" and "work till you drop" in front of a computer all that matters nowadays or a means of controlling production and distribution in a way that means profits and taxes?

We are a stubborn bunch and as a result we are not capable or knowledgeable of the basics of living. This may sound harsh but how many people understand how to wire a plug nowadays.

The wise old men could teach us DIY and grow your own, tax returns, financial decision making. We are too busy, we do not need to know how to do this, we can take out a loan and pay someone else a lot of money to do it so that we can go and have fun playing videogames.

Ignore the crowd / society and be a stubborn bastard

Making a difference generally means being different. Sure, everyone is different, don't get me wrong but going to work for someone else generally reduces your ability to really make a BIG difference for society and yourself.

Companies need people to do work accurately and quickly. Efficiency and productivity are the buzz words. Make lots of small differences in work and collectively the company does well. At the same time one's ability to make a REAL difference to society as a whole is EXTREMELY limited.

Working for someone else

1. Limits your income - the company makes more money from the work you do than they pay you.
2. Takes up the majority of your time, thus limiting the time you can dedicate to thinking and actually making a real world difference.
3. Conditioning - 9-5 is the norm, a monthly paycheck is the norm, a commute is normal.

I wonder what Plato and Socrates would have thought of modern society. I have a hunch they would marvel and be repulsed at the level of control society has over us. 

Learn to Be Different

Making a difference means breaking free from normal. Valuing risk over percieved safety and

conformity. Learning to embrace failure instead of fear?

Catching tiles at the renovation project

Before we get to the Stubborn Financial Independent Ba***** List let's start with the difference between knowing and believing. They are completely different but both can be right and wrong. Always challenge the status quo thinking (ideally in your head and not out loud if you see what I mean).

Without trying something for yourself, you will never know. As mentioned above the best way to get ahead in life is to go safe my lad, collect the monthly pay check and off to the pub. Let's break this down as an example and Ask WHY five times

1. Why do I want to work until retirement & who said that we should? 
2. Why don't I retire early?
3. Why can't I retire early?
4. Why do I need to save so much to retire early at my CURRENT living standard?
5. Why can't I save enough to have the living standard I NEED?

The 5 whys is a powerful technique used to simply think. Seek questions and the answers will follow. It can be applied to so many things in life. Why do I need to buy THIS CAR / HOUSE / VACATION. Have this JOB, FRIEND, DESIRE. Perhaps give it a go now on a subject close to your chest.

Be Different

Perhaps being a right selfish bastard has some merits…. providing it is in the right context, taken with a pinch of salt and ideally hidden from sight and not talked about.

A small note of caution, we need to be careful and stealth-full when starting out on a FI journey. Testing the waters with people around you is advisable before "coming out" full on about FI OR just keeping quiet may be in your best interest at first. Unfortunate consequences from being too bold could be to alienate family, friends and colleagues which may ultimately damage your happiness and ability to become financially independent.

See the post Downshifting are you mad???

The Stubborn Financial Independent B****** List

1. Be strong minded and know what you want - dedicated to your mission to obtain what you want.
2. Keep to your goal but allow yourself to change the way to get there.
3. Refuse silly stressful timelines - pointless, showing off and asking for trouble.
4. Don't finish anything fully - waste of time and effort. 20% effort will produce 80% of the desired result move on and let someone else do the rest.
5. Question the given "truth" - there is always two sides to any "story" and ask what is in it for me.
6. Avoid all labels and brands and forget what people say - learn to dress well for less and have a signature. Perhaps a hat, tie, scarf or color. People will ultimately remember you more.
7. Refuse to accept the price you are offered - everything can be bartered or they loose your trade. Worst thing that can happen is you shop around for a better price cannot get it and have to go back to the same store.
8. Refuse to gossip - pointless, negative and destructive
9. Refuse un-ethical work / lying: leave it to someone else with no morals - do you really want to live with it?
10. Throw away the idiot box (TV) and avoid advertising. Always ask they are telling me this because... we want you to buy something
11. Do not give up private information for something "Free" - you will be marketed by something on a personal targeted note.
12. Never eat junk food on at least 6 days a week - go to a burger joint with friends once a week but otherwise eat well.
13. Refuse to "ride" when you can walk.
14. Pay a fair share of tax but take all the tax breaks you can get. They are there (such as paying into a pension) so you are entitled to them. I will leave up to you what you believe your fair share of tax should be (noting that the rich like capital gains tax as it is only charged at 18% in the UK)
15. Keep to your principles and habits if someone says come on this will be fun or are you a wimp - just say NO. 
16. Don't buy presents and don't ask for presents - make them. A drawing, a cake, a pot of jam or tomato chutney.
17. Mothers / Fathers day, Christmas, Easter Bunny and the Halloween pumpkin lantern are all just clever marketing tools to make you waste money, food and resources on an unprecedented scale.
18. Avoid all expensive hobbies and sports, golf, skiing, wine club, going to watch games and sport, computer gaming with the latest equipment etc... find a cheap or useful hobby instead. Walking with the local ramblers club, playing football in a team.
19. Refuse to kiss arse, just be the best

Go out and Be Stubborn

So what if someone comes back to you and calls you STUBBORN a MISFIT or a TROUBLE MAKER? Well, rise above that. How do you change the perceptions and how do you really MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

No matter what you do, make a POSITIVE difference. Be POSITIVE. Have a GO. Stubborn is not bad, it is CONFIDENCE, CONVICTION and willingness to take RESPONSIBILITY. It is making a difference positive or negative. Shake the boat and see what falls out. If it was you, it was for a reason and you learnt something from it for a reason.

We only live one life. A sacking is a learning and an opportunity. Standing up for yourself breads self-esteem, relationships and confidence.

CoNTeNDeR Stubborn to the Core.

Peace, respect and tranquility to all stubborn b******* out there :)

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