Think Outside of The Box: Create Financial Independence and a Life You Love

If you want to create financial independence and live the life you love, you can.

Unfortunately there are no direct steps you can take because each and every one of us are different. There are some basic principles you can follow though that will guide you in creating financial independence and a life that you were meant to live.

*Most Important* Stop Caring What Other People Think

When I got divorced in 2012 I went back and forth on my housing options.

I could have bought a house. I could have rented. I could have lived with my Dad for the rest of my life. But I decided to do something different.

I bought a trailer.

I feel a bit foolish for admitting this, but the one thing I was most worried about when making this decision was what other people thought of me. You’ve heard the term “trailer trash” countless times. Hell, you may have even said it before. And I thought that by moving into a trailer I’d automatically have this awful stigma associated with me. And even worse, with my two daughters.

My insecurities were unnecessary.

After taking some time to think things through this was really the best option. I paid far, far less than what I would have renting or buying a home. And, I knew that this was a temporary sacrifice that I desperately needed to make if I was going to reach any of my financial goals.

We as human beings want people to like and accept us. It’s hard to make a decision when you feel like their will be snickering behind your back.

But guess what? The snickering goes away. Eventually someone else comes along who chooses an even more unorthodox approach than what you have taken and nobody thinks twice about you anymore.

You’ve got to stop caring what other people think. There will always be haters around waiting for you to screw up. Make those sacrifices that will benefit you and your family and be confident in them.

If the worst case scenario is someone pointing a finger at you and laughing, who cares? They’re not worth your time or aggravation.

Make sacrifices. Take chances. Do what other people wouldn’t even think of doing.

Find a Job That Works for You

And no I don’t mean work on creating tons of passive income streams. (Although that’s not a bad idea.)

What I mean is find a job that allows you to live your life. For example, if you want to spend more time with your kids working 60 hours per week isn’t going to get you there. Starting your own business where you can choose your own hours will work.

Here are my tips for this:

• Choose some type of job you can do on a freelance basis that you’re good at and can complete quickly.
• Going for your passions isn’t always a good idea. When you turn a passion into work, it’s just that: work. So don’t think that if you love (fill in the blank) now that you’ll love doing it full time because when you have to do something to pay the bills it isn’t quite as fun.
• Start a business that is scalable. (not trading x number of hours for x number of dollars) Examples of this could be selling physical products, courses, or books.
• If you like your job and it fits in with your life then keep it!

 

Always Create Goals

You always need a goal. And not just any goal, but a goal that will challenge you.

To reach your full potential you need to be challenged.

Think of what matters the most to you. What would you like to accomplish this month? This year? Five years from now? And so on.

Be sure to make goals that are really meaningful. Planning for your future, learning, and challenging yourself is the key to growing as a person.

Final Thoughts

You can create the life you want to live. It’s not easy and it won’t happen overnight but it can be done.

If you stop caring what other people think and are willing to make temporary sacrifices to get to where you want to be, you can accomplish anything.

Should anything else be added to this list?