By David Bozeman
Let's dive in.
1). Do what you love, and the money will follow. Yeah, right! Does that include basket weaving? Playing video games? Obviously implicit in this adage is the knowledge that your favorite pastime must align with what the public is willing to buy. Still, this has become one of the more nonchalant tropes of the motivational movement. It's even the title of a book. Every day, we see people winning fame, expensive gifts and, in some cases, money just for opening packages and reviewing designer clothes, etc. If Wanda at the nail salon can bag extra cash by oohing over the latest polish color, should I quit my day job to write a bestselling novel?
I wouldn't recommend it. You have to market the heck out of yourself, and then the public, the same public that makes stars out of the Kardashians and Tik Tok pranksters, will render the final verdict. Proceed at your own risk.
2). It's better to work smart than to work hard. Nobody ever really explains what this means. On reflection, I get the point. Success requires ambition, planning and preparation for the unexpected, but this pronouncement is little more than common sense. What are the particulars? Depends on who you ask. Presumably it entails knowing how to invest.
The same people who warn us that, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is, are the same ones who tease our social media feeds with life advice from forty-year-old retirees. "We always put 50% of our income into savings." Meanwhile, back on planet Earth...
For us older guys, those of us who grew up without Google and thought that a portfolio was simply a binder for important papers, financial planning was not part of our learning curriculum. We were taught to wing it, to save money, not to invest it. Usually, the same ones quick to tell you to work smart are the same ones who cut and run when you fumble and need a shoulder to lean on. At the most, they'll chide you for making "poor choices" (more useless advice - and this time after the fact). Work smart? Certainly, just pick the advice - and the advisor - that's best for you.
3). Be the person you needed as a child. You'll find numerous variations on this such as, "Be the person you needed when you were struggling," or "Be the change you desire in society." Again, true to a great extent. My problem was trying to market what I craved in my youth - guidance, mentorship, a mature and positive influence - to a world that is frivolous, cold or, at best, indifferent. Sadly, your brand of kindness, your very best intentions can sell about as well as a flip-phone in an Apple Store, thus another reason some of us feel obsolete. Such feel-good adages as this one offer a momentary rush of confidence, but the sugar-high dissipates in the face of cold, hard reality.
I'm not recommending anyone discount this particular idea. Just because your best intentions will not always fly, giving up on your softer side is not an option (You Can't Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought, 1988 is the title of a self-help book I highly recommend - check Amazon).
Financial advice isn't learned through social-media memes and envy-invoking tales of forty-year-old retirees. Success is born of planning, persistence and muscle power. Your best intentions will sink like a rock without execution. My problem is, I'm an idealist, not a pragmatist. Success demands both. The world has a way of offering fluffy motivational advice when you need strict rules, and assigning blame when a positive word would set you back on course. The aforementioned wisdom can work wonders when filtered through your own common sense. After all, the fuel you need lives within you, not inside the pronouncements of professional know-it-alls.
-Leave a comment or email me. davidbozeman63@gmail.com
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