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Two things to do immediately for financial freedom
When I was a kid, I was deathly afraid of heights, but in P.E., I had to learn how to repel as a part of a high ropes course--in front of my peers. After our coach laid out the ropes and taught us how it all worked, I had one question.
“How many people have been injured on this course?” My coach smiled and said, “well so far in the last 27 years, approximately none.” His markedly snarky response was thrown out in front of the whole class, and with it were all my reasons to stay off the course. Honestly, I wasn’t any less afraid of heights, but I knew that my fear was irrational, because my fear had been met with clarity about the process, certainty about the risks and confidence to climb up the course.
By the time I graduated high school, I had climbed a few mountains, been bouldering in Colorado and even taught some younger students how to repel through Scouting.
Clarity is how we get unstuck.
By unstuck, I mean having the power to go over the uncomfortable bridge of transformation from wherever you are now with what you know and experience on a daily basis to a place where your actions and experiences are congruent with your hopes and dreams. Specificity and clarity deliver that shift.
Sounds easy enough. I mean, if clarity has that kind of power, why isn’t everyone racing to get it? Honestly, the reasons are many, especially in a financial context. In the same way, almost no one makes it up a mountain summit in the Himalayas and attributes their success to a series of google searches, books and YouTube videos.
And almost no one changes their financial habits without a guide, a plan and a clear picture of the ideal future.
The truth is, that while it’s impossible to hit a target we can’t clearly see, it’s sometimes even harder to trust someone with an accurate picture of where we are now.
We all need someone with whom we can partner with to build a road map, someone who understands the goals. But without understanding where we are today, the best of guides are powerless to help.
If anyone reading this has an ambition of becoming financially free, then allow me to invite you to do 2 things immediately.
First, spend some time dreaming about who you want to be in your future in the context of your most significant roles and relationships. Second, get a guide with whom you’re willing to honestly articulate both your present situation and your preferred future with extreme specificity.
Kelechukwu “Chu” Oparah is a Licensed Financial Professional Serving your Dayton Community. For more content, Chu is on Instagram @chuoparah.