A Warm Welcome!

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Welcome to The Brian Blog #1;

    A place for sharing expansive thoughts, ideas, innovations all (hopefully) in a simple and easy-to-understand manner.

•  The main goal of this page is to bring the reader valuable and enjoyable content on a wide variety of topics that hopefully will enhance their life.

•  Some content I plan to cover: reviews of products, books, financial/life goals and investing, home remedies, art, and how to increase positivity in your life (To name a few.)

Today's Topic: Goals

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    There's almost nothing like sitting on the porch of a cabin tucked deep in the woods; taking in the morning sun while drinking tea and listening to the songs of birds as they sit perched on the branch of a tall pine.

Those moments are even better when shared with someone special. Perhaps it's my love for nature and simplicity that drives me to retire early, however, there are many things I've learned on my journey, and I believe many of my lessons may add value to others who want to achieve financial independence.

If you share this goal with me, or have a similar one, I may have some advice for you:

1: Get Excited - Accomplish a Goal!

If you've never successfully completed a goal then you're missing out. Try setting some small ones that are within reach and savor the sweet taste of victory.

(I created the art for silly fun. Let me know what you think.)

An easy goal may be to try something along the lines of saving up a certain amount (even if it's small), perhaps just more than you've ever had in your bank account before, or building a budget, or changing your own oil using the help of a youtube video. These are well within most people's reach yet many people don't try achieve them. They go straight for the big fish.

Why go for small goals? Because accomplishing small goals triggers something in your brain that makes you want to accomplish even bigger goals. It may sound bizarre but try it. The effect it has can compound your confidence and build an even stronger drive to accomplish more. 

2: Hold your goals close to your heart.

There is actually some research on this, however, talking, though it can feel exciting and good while you do it, can greatly dissipate your enthusiasm and deplete energy you need for your goals. 

I recently read an article about how talking about your goals can actually trigger a success switch in your brain, making it feel like you've accomplished something when you haven't. This may not make sense to you at first but I can personally attest that this applies to me. Put it to the test if you must.

With that said, I don't recommend holding your goals back from people who will be achieving them with you, such as a spouse. In fact, what works best for me is when my Wife and I craft and work on our goals together. If you DO feel compelled to tell someone else, try to make sure that it's someone who is absolutely 100% going to drive you to accomplish those goals. I must say though, most people will let you down on this. They aren't driven to accomplish your life for you so rely on your own energy to drive you and not someone else.

3: Learn from Other's Mistakes

I see a lot of what society considers "successful people" nearly every day, as I'm sure a lot of you do. Many of these people started off goal-driven and with similar goals to what you have now, but they seem to have lost their way. Who knows? This may actually be you.

Do you recall the old adage that reminds us not to forget to "stop and smell the roses"? As cliche as it may sound, many people who start with big goals forget to do just that; they forget to enjoy the things in life that that first sparked the desire to do what eventually led them to do what they do now.

It starts off simple enough, perhaps a desire to retire early, or have a family and some land -- before long they were caught up in the competitive spirit of climbing the corporate ladder; so much so that it confused their original goals with overwork and eventually burnout.

I personally experienced this while running my own telecommunications business. After months of working several extremely long-hour days, I woke up one day and realized that I was miserable. I had worked so hard, I had forgotten why I was working at all. And worse off, I hadn't accomplished any of my goals!

The goals that had driven me to start what I was doing were so far removed from my mind that I no longer even thought of them. They became secondary to my new goals, not the fueling source for my new ones, and I got burned out. Had I kept my original goals in focus, I would have remembered to stop and smell the roses once in awhile.

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What are some of your goals?

Do you want to retire early?

Do you have any advice for the next generation?

How was this first Blog Post? Did it add value to your day?

Thank you for reading. I hope you have a blessed day.