Skilled Migrant Professionals Spring 2016 | Page 32

Finance
32

Relish The Ride
How to enjoy the journey to wealth
By Gennavieve
Lyons, Director
at Lyons Property
Mentoring

www.smpmagazine.com.au | Winter 2016

WHEN PEOPLE ASKED ME WHY I was sacrificing so much and
working so hard on my personal wealth creation, my response (and
perhaps yours) was something along the lines of:
“I want to get out of debt and create a passive income so I can put
100 per cent of my focus into my passions and interests. I have a lot
of things in my life that I want to do and accomplish, so I am putting
in the hard work now.”
This is still as true as ever, however, in order to stay in the right
mindset for attracting wealth, the key is balancing your life. There’s no
need to wait for everything – do some of those bucket list things now!
You don’t have to be completely financially free to do what you love,
however, make sure you don’t lose sight of your financial goals in the
process. If you wait to be rich before you do something, you might be
waiting your whole life because trust me, you will always set a higher
financial goal for yourself. Do whatever it is and enjoy it in a way you
can do it right now.
You will also need to consciously allocate time to follow your passions, otherwise you will make excuses. Many people trap themselves
in a ‘means-to-an-end’ style of living and work for 40 years or more
at a job or business they hate so that ‘one day’ they can do what
they want… in retirement. Everybody does it – seems like people are
trained to do that; to all follow society’s blueprint for a boring life. If
you are already breaking the mold by taking your wealth into your
own hands, I urge you to take it one step further and pursue a passion or tick off some life goals at the same time to keep you sane!
It might not be perfect and may not the exact style you want
to do it, but it’s a start and it will serve as fantastic motivation
to reach your financial goals, so you can put more time or
funds towards whatever it is you want to do!
Here’s an exercise to help you get started:
1. Make a list of five things you’ve always wanted to
do. Then beside each one, write your reasons why you
haven’t or can’t do that thing.
2. Read your reasons back to yourself ALOUD. Are
those reasons really just excuses? Now, for every reason
why you can’t, come up with at least one reason why you
can pursue what you want.
3. Pick three of those wants (or maybe all five) and start doing
them! Start learning what you need to learn. Do some research and
talk to people who are successfully doing what you want. Work out
how you can do it on the budget you have now, rather than putting
it off completely.
For example, say you wanted to learn a new language (goal). Initially you imagined using a personal tutor or taking classes, however,
right now you are too time-poor (excuse). Now think outside the box.
How about to start, you download a language app and practice when
you have a few spare minutes (solution)? Or find an audio course that
you can play in the car on your way to work (solution).
One of our main reasons for desiring to be rich is to be happy
(despite what people say!), so why not make the journey to wealth
worthwhile too? Start living as much of your dream life as you can
right now and close the gap between the two lives!