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Attitude and hard work always win

This is a topic close to my heart. This chapter will be short, but is by far the most important one in this book. What I have found in life is that skill, knowledge, and education bear no meaning when it comes to how successful someone is. I don’t mean financially successful necessarily; I mean successful in whatever endeavour they are looking to achieve.

The truth is that someone who truly works hard towards a goal will almost always achieve a better result than someone who is smart. Why is this? Well, it comes down to how taking action vs. not taking an action will always win. I find that those who are brought up to work hard will almost always be willing to take action whereas those who are brought up to be intellectual will most certainly ‘think things through’ before taking action. What does this cause? Well, it causes inaction which we know in other chapters provides sub-par results. So always think, what can I do to work harder?

Should you worry about the optimal way of doing something or should you just do it? Of course you should just do it. Does that mean you do not ever try and improve your processes once they are in place? Of course not, but it means that most generally the worst case is failure, and failure is usually not a big deal. When it comes to finances there are an immense amount of options available not just in terms of actual investment products, but different types of financial salespeople, institutions, etc.

The problem most people face is that they try and learn everything they can, and usually one of two things happens. One: they either don’t get it and give up, or Two: they learn too much to the point where they forget that action is always better than inaction.

What does this all have to do with attitude and hard-work? We will talk about attitude shortly but first hard work. Most people attribute hard work to putting in time and effort into something. They attribute hard work to the actual ‘doing’ of whatever action they are taking.

So, the action that is necessary to take steps towards your financial goals is to actual do the steps: create goals, evaluate your spending, create a budget, review your budget monthly, meet with a financial adviser, etc. It could be anything, but actually do what you put your mind to.

I know I am probably sounding like a broken record at this point but it doesn’t matter if you are good at what you are doing. It only matters that you are taking steps towards what you want.

Think back to when you were learning how to tie your shoes. Your parents would have shown you how. They would have taught you the theory, the knowledge. But it wasn’t until you actually started tying your shoes yourself did you become proficient at it. You could study how to tie your shoes until you grow old, but until you actually do it you won’t get anywhere.

This may seem like a simple example that is meaningless, because heck, the majority of people know how to tie their shoes, but it is very similar to the topic at hand.

Do you really think that the carpenter, the mechanic, the artist, or the painter became masterful at their skills without practice and doing? Of course not, practice makes perfect and this is true with finances as well. So, start doing right now.

Attitude is a skill that is much more important than hard work.

I need to start this part of the topic by explaining that I am an eternal optimist. I believe that every action has a potential positive outcome. Does that mean every outcome will seem positive? Of course not. In fact, to some, an outcome might seem negative but that is based upon their perception. Does it mean that I take everything with a smile? Of course not! But it is about how react and learn from the outcomes.

What are some perceived negatives? Getting written up at work. Losing a big contract. Making the wrong decision. I could go on and on of course. Let’s change our mindsets; let’s change our attitudes. Getting written up at work is a way to improve in your performance. Losing a contract allows you to analyze what not to do in the future or shows you how to improve your process. Making a wrong decision allows you to never make that wrong decision again. Basically, your failures allow you to learn and grow. But, these should be seen a positive because of this!

This all sounds obvious, right? But time and time again, I meet people that don’t seem to carry this same thought-process so their mind wanders to thoughts like:

1. I don’t have enough money to invest.

2. I will never get out of this situation so why try.

3. Every time I try to budget it never works, so I don’t make one any longer.

The topic of this book is finances of course, so I am trying to stick to relevant examples but this applies to literally EVERYTHING. Change your attitude from a negative or neutral attitude to an always positive, can-do attitude. I used to wrestle in high school and I remember my coach explaining to us how, wherever the head of your opponent goes, their body will follow. While this is certainly true, what I have found now is that your head follows your goals and desires and they are inspired by your attitude.

If you know you can do something, then magically you will be able to do it. So always start off knowing that you can achieve the end-result. Be positive in every interaction and every thought and I promise your life will be much more enjoyable.

Here is the key though, only when you combine your hard work AND attitude can you really excel. Without putting the two together you can only get so far. You can’t learn how to do a handstand just by knowing you can do a handstand. That would be silly. Instead, you have to know that it is possible for you to do a handstand and then use your hard work to take the steps necessary to achieve it. You won’t try to do a handstand if you don’t believe you can do one. That is where you need a positive and optimistic attitude.

If you don’t believe you can do it prior to starting you simply won’t start. Work on your attitude and do what you want to accomplish and you will succeed.

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