Chase & Fulfill YOUR Dreams, Not Someone Else's

Hello, youtubers. Trying to get some light in here. I'm in a hotel room in Florida and.

Wow, I just hit something. I'm trying to get some better light for you guys, but I'm in a hotel room here in Florida. I had a podcast that's kind of like, are you afraid in the dark? I had a podcast and I was telling them about this great book that I've been reading, which is actually called the Psychology of Money. I'll put a link. I have an affiliate link in the description below. You guys can go check this out. I've only read half the book, but I read about a hundred and something pages of it on a plane, which is really rare for me to do because I'm a little bit ADD and I get antsy when I have to sit and read things for too long. But this book was amazing and it came at the right time for me because I'm 40 years old now and I've been working a lot in my business. You know, I started this music teaching business back in 2010. So it's 2014, and I've been at it now for. For 14 years. And when I was talking to the podcasters, they were like, wait a minute, we didn't know that this music career that you have went back so far. We thought you just kind of started this YouTube thing in 2017 out of the blue and, like, out of nowhere. And, you know, they were like, how did you go from, you know, being someone who is in science and go into this career that then evolved into this YouTube thing? And it kind of gets back into what this book is talking about. This psychology of money is the ability. There's a couple things, okay? And I love that this book talks about this. It. It's the balance of risk and luck. You know, sometimes we hear people like, well, you just got lucky. And it's interesting because this book is like, there's a balance between risk and luck in life. And I am very lucky that I was born in the 1980s when, you know, you had technology, the introduction of technology, where I think if I was born in the 60s or the 70s, I would not be as welcoming to social media in YouTube and going online and doing stuff like this, where I talk to people, live and talk about my life, you know, so that was an interesting thing of being like, the luck of when you were born to have the technology. You know, they gave the example of Bill Gates and they're like, Bill Gates was. He grew up in this town that happened to have this specialized computer. And he was one of like 300 people in the world that had access to this computer. So they talk a little bit about how luck plays a little role into what you do, and there's hard work too. And they asked me, like, how do you, you know, how did you not get into the typical habits and the typical vices of spending your money on, you know, cars, parties, whatever you want, whatever you do in your 20s? And I told them, I said, you know, the big thing for me, you know, when I was younger, when I was 16, I had Hodgkin's lymphoma. And I said a big thing for me that I have had to always think about in my 20s, that probably not a lot of people had to think about when they started working. I said, what am I going to do if I get sick again? Because when I was sick.

You know, Hodgkin's lymphoma, it's a very curable cancer they call it, or at least back in the day. I'm sure chemo has changed a lot in the last 20 years. 24 years ago, I think so. Yeah. That's the math. 24 years, that's crazy. But I'm sure chemo has changed a lot, but this, it makes you very sick. And there were days when I couldn't get out of bed and I was like, if I got that sick again, I wouldn't be able to work. And if I had got married and I had a family and I couldn't work, how would I be able to afford to just live? So that was something I thought about even back in my 20s. And I read a book called Rich Dad. Poor dad actually listened to it on CDs. You see, I'm big on books. I listened to Rich Dad, Poor dad and he talked about cash flow and he talked about the definition of rich, which was very different than the definition of rich that I knew when I was growing up. It was like, if you had a mansion, you were rich, right? For my wife, you know, she was like, wow, she's like, if you had two stories on your house, we thought you were rich. Like that was rich. And then town that she grew up in, like if you had a multi story house, for me it was, you know, if, if someone grew up in it, had a mansion, like that was, that was rich. And you know, they drove a, a fancy car or something, you know, because we were just like, you know, workingclass family, working class neighborhood. And I read this book and he said rich is actually the amount of time that you can live without working. That's rich. So say you're someone, Your expenses are $2,000 a month and you have $6,000 in the bank and no income coming in. You are three months rich, meaning you could live for three months before you have to go back to work. You have to go back to work, you're going to make money to pay your bills and everything else. He said, on the other hand, if you're someone who has $2,000 in cash flow, meaning your investments or things you do that pay you $2,000 versus your job, you leave your job and you have $2,000 in expenses and $2,000 in income, you are technically financially free. And that hit me. That has always stuck with me. The cash flow of, hey, okay, if I keep my expense, if my expenses are this, all I have to do is figure out how to make my investments, make this much money so that I can be free. And that was a goal of mine that I had. And people are like, well, how could you foresee that that was going to happen? And it's not that you foresee these things. It's like, I knew what my goal was and I was willing to delay gratification for almost a decade to get the result that I wanted or to achieve the goal that I wanted when I was 23. And I think that's important thing. They go over in this book Psychology of again, I put a link in the description below if you guys want to go check it out. But he talks about, you know, one of the chapters I read that I thought was really cool was when is enough enough? Right? When is enough enough? And for entrepreneurs, that's really hard because we always want to do something else in our life. We always want the next thing and when is enough enough? And he says, you know, it's different for everyone. And he gives examples of people in here, and I can't remember names, but they're famous people who went to jail and did some bad things. But these are people who had like 100 million dol. But they really wanted to be a billionaire so bad that they made poor decisions to try and become a billionaire. And they lost their reputation over it. And, you know, it just. It just wasn't enough for them. They wanted that goal so bad. And for some people, you know, for some people, they don't want $100 million. Some people don't want to be billionaires. Some people just, you know, they want $10 million or a million dollars, whatever it is. You need to figure out what's enough for you. And I think what happens in today's society, especially this social media society, you know, the Instagram culture is, you know, you go on Instagram and you're scrolling, you're on Facebook and everyone's posting these perfect pictures of, you know, their trips. I do it, I go to Scotland and you're seeing all these lovely photos of Scotland. But my, my life is not picture perfect all the time. But on social media we make our lives look like it's picture perfect and everything's hunky dory, but nobody knows what's going on behind closed doors. And just because they use someone, there's an example of a guy, he was a ballet and you know, he talked about the fast and the fancy cars and he's like, you know, when someone would come in a Lamborghini or a Porsche, I never thought about the driver. He's like there. I never thought about the driver. I like the car. But most people buy these cars because they think other people, it sends out this, this thing that you're rich. And he was talking about this guy who had a Porsch and he was like, I made the assumption, you know, that this guy must have money one, because he's driving a Porsche. And you know, even if you pay, if you pay in cash, that's a lot of money. Or even if you have a car payment, you have to be able to afford the car payment, which is usually a four figure car payment on a Porsche. So he's watching this guy and one day he comes in and he's driving a Toyota and he's like, what happened to your Porsche? And he's like, oh, he's like, I, I couldn't afford to pay for it. I, you know, so I think they had to repossess the Porsche and he ended up getting this, this crappy Honda or toy that he really could afford. So it just goes to show you, just because you see someone flashing around with a Porsche or a Lamborghini or whatever they're driving, it doesn't necessarily mean they can afford the car. So again, it's that picture of what you think is perfect. So be careful of who you compare yourself to. You know, this year I learned a lot of lessons. Even though this year was a really great year, it was a really bad year for me financially. I lost a lot of money in investments that I thought were good that didn't work out and that happens. That's life. But you know, that's why this book is so timely because I realized, I just, I Have to go back to the basics of trusting, trusting myself. Because what I was doing was I was listening to other people who I thought knew more about life and money than I did. But in retrospect, when I look at it, I'm like, wow. I think I actually know more about money in life than some of these people who. Who I've been getting advice from, or you. You realize that they don't know much more than you do. And that's the truth in a lot of things is, you know, you have those perceptions. These people are, you know, oh, you're seeing them on the trips or you're seeing the fancy cars. You're seeing this Persona that they're displaying on social media. But behind closed doors, it's something totally different. And the only person you can really believe in and trust in is yourself. Okay? That's first and foremost. And I got very, very far in life for the last 17 years, trusting myself and trusting my instincts. My wife's like, you have great instincts. And that's kind of, again, just to go back to this book, I really like it. It's a very different money book than any book I've read before because I think it's a really realistic approach to money and chasing dreams and, you know, understanding that everyone's dream is different. You know, hopefully it's on Amazon. It is on Amazon. Yes. I put a link. I actually put one of my affiliate links in the comment below. So, you guys, I actually think I could probably throw it in the chat over here for you guys. Let me see if I can grab it. If not, it's in the description below. There's an affiliate link there. But it's a great book. It's by Morgan Huzel, I guess is his name. And like I said, I've just never read a book about money before that had an impact. The last book that I read about money that really had an impact, like I said, was Rich Dad, Poor Dad. But I was reading this book and I was like, this makes so much sense. This makes so much sense what he's saying, because it's so true. It's so true that we see something and we assume and we're always comparing ourselves to someone else. But you have to understand, like, is that the life you want? And that we're all shaped by our experiences. So for me, when I go back to the story I told you earlier when I was 16 and I had cancer, and for me, the goal in life, because I had that experience of being so sick and knowing what it feels like to be that sick. I wanted to create a life where down the road, if I got sick again in my 40s, which I'm 40 now, 40s, 50s, 60s, whatever, if this cancer ever came back or different cancer came back, that I would be able to take care of myself and my family and not have to worry about that. I have to go to work. I remember when I was younger, there was a guy who lived up the street from me, and I think he got cancer. I don't know if he had lung cancer or what, because he used to smoke. But I remember he would go to work, he would go get chemo, and then he would go to work sick. And I used to do that with school. I'd go get radiation in the morning and then I'd go to school. And I was like, I don't want to do that when I get older. I don't want. Yes, I did. I had Hodgkin's lymphoma when I was 16. Yes. And that has shaped who I am. And that was a big part of, like, early on this book, like, depending on the experiences you have growing up, depending on your parents, how your parents handled money, what inflation was like when you were growing up. You know, he talks about, I think it was the 1940s. And he is like, the bond market was great in the 1940s. You'd be stupid to not invest in the bond market. And he's like, but then that kind of went out of fashion. And then stocks came into fashion. And so he was talking about, you know, the circumstances in which you go up in is going to be different. You know, the stock market, the indexes didn't start until the 1970s. And Roth IRA, I didn't even know that Roth IRA started in 1998. So I was like, in high school when Roth IRA started. And that's like, that's a crazy thing. And he's talking about, we have all these new concepts when it comes to finances, and everyone thinks they're an expert. He's like, but, you know, 1998, like this, this piece of information has been around less than 30 years, and everyone thinks they're. They're an expert in it. But. But with finance and stuff, it's really something new. And I thought that was a really, really unique perspective. So I really would recommend go check out the Psychology of Money. I did put a link in the description below, like I said. And the biggest thing is to remember when you're making goals about life for finances, for anything, make it so that it's your goals, not someone else's goals. Because the experiences you have are going to shape what you value in life. And what I value. I really value options and time and freedom. I don't like selling my time for money. I would give up money to have time. That's how valuable time is for me because of that experience of me having cancer when I was younger. Now for you, you know, money might be more important than time. Okay. But just remember that when you're setting goals for your life, don't look at me and be like, you could be like, wow, Lauren inspires me. I want to be like Lauren. That's great. But don't expect that your goals are going to mirror my goals exactly. Okay? Live your life the way you want. And don't trust that all these people on social media know better than you. Okay? You're your own person. You've had your own life experiences. You've probably learned a lot and had a lot of things you've battled in your life that have caused you to form opinions and experiences and trust those things, because that's information you have that maybe I don't have. And you're going to use that and filter your life through that. So again, go pick up Psychology of Money. Great book. I thought it was awesome. And those are the things I've been reflecting on. So I'm going to go home and kind of figure out what the goals are for my next stage in life and would love to hear what you guys think and what your goals are for your next stage. I'll see you guys soon. Bye. Bye.