I read “The Secret”, “Think and Grow Rich”, and “The Greatest Manifestation Principal of the World”. I like to read and I wasn’t happy with my life. I also read a lot of personality books about how to interact with people. “How to talk with them in The Five Love Languages”. How to be part of a team instead of being Co-dependent. Everyone said the same thing, pretty much.
It is all in your mind
You can have a millionaire mind or a “broke” mind. The way so many have put it is, you can believe you are destined for success or destined for failure. You can trust yourself or distrust yourself. And, Rory is always saying, “If you think you will succeed, you will.” “If you think you won’t, you won’t.”
I have seen my mind destroy my life. And save it.
At one time in my life, I was not happy with it. There really wasn’t anything wrong with the situation, I was happily married and loved my husband. However, I was really excited about learning more different dance steps and enjoying the whole different dance scene. My husband didn’t enjoy that at all. I would get so annoyed with him because of that. And while I didn’t really say much, I did think a lot!! Within, 3 years, we were divorced. I truly think my frustrated thoughts were the beginning of the end of that marriage.
Relationships are the hardest parts of living. What you believe about those relationships are really important!! Another book I read was “The Key” and, again, it was all about beliefs. When you get right down to it, the Bible is all about beliefs also. So, when Rory asked us to Dream Bigger than we were, if we were not happy with our success at this time, I went to those books and looked for the core of what they taught. Here is what I learned.
Older people need a social group that loves them.
Not everyone has a “family” that cares one way or another about them. But, you can develop your own “family” of like-minded people. You look for those people in all the places where you are comfortable. I love to dance, so I have dance friends. Recently I’ve started to sing in a choral group and a choir. I’ve made friends in both places. My students and other teachers in this entrepreneurial family of Rory Ricord are some people that I feel really close to. So, my dream of developing 5 close friends in 2022 has come about. However, I did have to do something to bring that about.
I realized my enjoyment of reading was causing me to isolate as I started going through my late 70s. I looked around in early 2022 and realized I only had one close friend. Almost everyone else I had left behind when I moved to Arizona. The people that I had spent time with when I moved here in the dancing group I was in, kind of left me behind when I developed arthritis in 2019. And COVID made it very clear, I was lonely, and I didn’t like it. So, my dream in 2022 became a goal and I have achieved it, because I figured out what needed to happen. And, I made it happen.
Financial Freedom was my next dream!
I had that unexpected divorce right before I retired. I had the whole rest of my life planned. I would retire when I was 62. My husband would stay in the “job of his dreams” which he never wanted to retire from. I was totally shocked when he decided he wanted a young woman to spend his life with. That young woman, unfortunately, wasn’t me.
So, I either had to stay in my job which was getting more and more unsafe. (I worked in the highest risk Juvenile Hall Facility in the Country.) Or, I needed to find a new career, something that I could continue no matter how old I became. Because I was starting fairly late in life. I needed to dream to both get me started at learning something new and be sure that I liked it before I spent much time with it.
So my dream in 2005 was to find something I enjoyed and could do forever, or at least until I had enough financial safety to stop having to work every day.
I looked for a long time. Dreams have to become goals that you don’t deviate from. You have to be totally focused to achieve them. I went through substitute teaching in less scary school districts. (I found out I was making too much for my Social Security.) So, I learned how to teach people to dance. (That was really fun until age attacked my knees.)
I started several online businesses and realized that was what I needed to find. Only I needed to find one that I could do successfully. I think I found 5 businesses that I was not successful in. I needed to find one that I could work in and be successful and become financially secure. In 2017, I found Affiliate Marketing with Rory. It was way easier than a drop shipping online store. I didn’t have to worry about the costs of doing business, or supply chain problems. And, I could do something I enjoyed, which was write about stuff. And I had all the help I could possibly need.
Now how do I go about getting that dream?
OK, that goal was to get Financial Freedom. But, what did that really mean? Remember what I did before. I made the dream a goal. Then I figured out what I had to do to get that goal. And, then I started doing what I had to do to get that goal.
It is hard to figure out just what your dream goal is. I’m older and don’t have another 20 or 30 years left, so I broke it into chunks.
- I wanted to own my own home. (I achieved that in 2018 when I bought a home in Arizona.)
- I needed to have a good, reliable car. (I bought a Toyota in 2015 and it is definitely reliable!!)
- I needed to get income coming in that I could count on. (I have income coming in from multiple sources now, which makes me much less stressed.)
- I needed to have no credit card debt. (I have gotten it down to where I only use one credit card, so my FICO score is good, and I use that one card carefully.)
- I need to build up a good savings account. (That is harder because I have a house that needs a lot of fixing. And I have spent money getting it painted, a new roof, a water conditioning system, etc.) And I want a new carpet and some new floors. So, my savings account is still a goal. But, I am working on it by putting a little away every month. (See, figure out how to do it, and do it.)
So, when my Financial Freedom dream is done, I will then add another dream!!
I think my next one will be traveling around Arizona. I did a lot of cruise travel when I was dancing and went pretty much all over anywhere I wanted to go. But, I’m looking forward to traveling in the United States and I want to start in Arizona. Definitely in the Winter! I’ve already been to the Grand Canyon and Sedona. I think I will check out the old prospecting towns next. See, I’m already starting to set up for that dream!!