Get Invested: Living By Design, part 1 - Reconnecting to your big 'why'
00:00 Welcome to Get Invested on the Property Hub podcast channel, the leading weekly show for Australians who want to learn how to unlock their full self, health and wealth potential. I'm your host, Bushy Martin, and each week I go deep with the best investors, experts, leaders and founders to find out what it takes to break free from the grind, discover freedom and to live by design. Subscribe now and join me and get invested in the life that you really want. Let's get started. Hi Proud and Fighters, welcome to a special Get Invested mini-sode. Let me start with the obligatory questions.
00:39 How often do you reflect on the past to garner your learnings and to plan for the future, so that you've got clear goals and targets that you're looking to achieve? If our track record of choosing history at high school is any indicator, then I'm guessing that only a very small percentage of us take the time to reflect and learn as a basis for planning our future. So in this context, my message today is not new, but it's so important and instrumental in your success that it's worth repeating this message every year. Because psychologists say that you need to hear something seven times before the message sinks in. And for many of us In the current world of constant noise, it's more like 77 because with repetition, things
01:24 become habits. But the other reason I'm going to echo these important messages is that most of you will listen and nod your head in agreement with what's actually being shared and then do nothing because the seeming urgencies of life always seem to get in the way of the important and when you hear this message again in the future, nothing's going to have changed. So I'm going to challenge you to prove me wrong, to take the time to not only think about what we share, but to do something about it. And if you do, email me the outcome of your thoughts to hello, that's H-E-L-L-O at knowhowproperty.com.au so that writing it down will embed it further
02:07 into your unconscious and subconscious. And it will also introduce an element of accountability because once you pledge what you're going to do to someone else you're more likely to follow through so as we come to the end of another year and the beginning of a new one in this and the next episode we're going to look at how you review your life progress and take you through the process that Sonia and I always adopt to see how we're tracking now I don't know about you but the end of every year is always a time of reflection and questioning and they just seem to be happening faster and faster as every year passes. So as the year winds down and we get to have a little time out with family and friends, that little voice in my head raises its voice and it starts
02:54 questioning, how do I feel about the year that was? What were the challenges and successes of the year and what did I learn from it? Did I move closer to or further away from where I want to be with what I call my three Ps, personally, professionally, and most importantly, passive income and investment-wise. And it's this last passive investment component that generally gets very little or no attention, but it's the one that will give the biggest impact on your current sense of peace now,
03:28 as well as your future freedom and ultimate fulfilment. My wife, Sonia, and I have developed a really simple process that we go through regularly and it's amazing how effective it is at keeping you on track and helping you to achieve your definition of freedom faster than you'd expect. So I thought I'd briefly share our approach with you again and some of the things that Sonia and I do to review how the year went prior to planning for the next one which will be the subject of this and next week's episode. It's based around the simple approach that I've painted out in my book The freedom formula. And it always starts with returning to our big why. By starting with the
04:08 end in mind so that we can see if the year has taken us closer to or further away from our ideal lifestyle. If you don't have a crystal clear and compelling vision of how you want to live in terms of what your ideal lifestyle looks like, how it looks, feels, tastes and smells, what you're doing with who, when and where, then you need to start by doing a simple values and vision exercise. Without this, it's a bit like playing a game of sport and just kicking the ball around and maybe getting the occasional goal without realising. But really, you're out there to win your annual game so that you can end up winning your life season premiership. You'll be directionless and at the whim of mercy without it. To put it another way, it's like driving a car
04:54 without putting a location to your GPS. You'll just end up meandering aimlessly without really knowing where you're heading and where you're going to end up, and you won't have a roadmap measure to track your progress against. And in the absence of clear direction, you'll be at the whim and mercy of every next shiny new thing as you chop and change repeatedly and end up going nowhere fast. You see, your big why lifestyle vision is your heart-based magnifying magnet that will attract and amplify everything you need in life to achieve your goals. If you know why and how you want to live, you also have a compass to assess every choice and decision that you make, consciously and subconsciously, day to day, in terms of whether your choices will take you closer
05:40 to or further away from your desired life. But you need to be clear on what that is and why. And I fully appreciate that the times reflect on what's truly important to us can feel very disconcerting and uncomfortable. A lot of us, especially men, avoid the self-reflection process by keeping ourselves busy and just keep flat out doing. This is actually a subtle form of avoidance that seems well justified but can leave us hollow and unfulfilled long term. As Henry Ford is famous for saying, thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in However, if you don't take the time to really get in tune with what makes you happy at a deeply emotional level, you'll never reach your full potential or get the most out of life. This process is about smashing through those high external expectations of what we should do and really get in touch with what makes us feel good.
06:40 Once you discover this, you can then use this as a magnifying magnet compass to start, attract and do more of what makes you feel this way while stopping, avoiding and repelling those things that don't. You need to just get out of your head and into your heart. And I realise for blokes like myself, this is no easy task. The process is a start of living your life by conscious thought, decision and intent. what we've been calling for years living by design not by default. Here you're assessing every choice and decision you make by what will make you feel good both immediately and over the long term. So how do you uncover your why? Now I don't pretend to be an expert in this area but the following discussion offers a mix of approaches that have helped my partner in all things Sonia
07:32 and I in this journey to living a life by design and on purpose. You just need to take some time out for an afternoon in a beautiful quiet place, perhaps with a bottle of wine or a couple of beers, switch off your mobile phones and then let your imagination run. I guarantee that it'll be the best half day that you ever spend, even if you don't realise it at the time. To help you get your thoughts organized, start by asking yourself these seven simple questions that revolve around your values, happiness, life measurement, what's important, your bucket list, and how you really want to live. So let's break these down with a bit more detail. Firstly, ask yourself, what are my core values? Now, core values are your fundamental beliefs. They'll help you know what's right from
08:21 wrong for you. They can help you to determine if you're on the right path and fulfilling your goals, and they're your guiding principles that dictate your behavior and your actions they create your unwavering and unchanging invisible god so ignore these at your peril because your subconscious is already programmed to know what they are for you by nature and nurture so if you're not aware of your underlying beliefs and values you'll probably end up self-sabotaging yourself so as an example my personal core values are summed up in the word humility, as it's the human quality that I admire the most but see the least. For me, humility is unpretentiousness, respectful, unassuming, and not seeking recognition. I'll then break the word humility down into the
09:09 following core values, where H is for harmony, which is about feeling calm, peaceful, tranquil, serene, enjoying solitude, fun and freedom. U is for uniqueness, which is about being original, creative, clever, different and stylish. The M in humility is for being motivated and in the moment, being optimistic, passionate, fit and healthy and focusing on high performance. The I is for integrity, the importance of honesty, being principled, staying true to my values and having the courage to say no. L is for loyalty. This covers being certain, dependable, trustworthy, persistent, patient, and determined, and being there when it really counts. The I in humility stands for inspiration. This is continuous learning and constant curiosity in action.
10:09 The T is for thoroughness. This means being punctual, prepared, and having attention to detail. And finally, the Y in humility stands for yes, which to me means acceptance without judgment or criticism. So what are your core values? Of course, there are no right or wrong answers with this. With this, you may have a handful of non-negotiable values or a lot of things that are fundamental to you,
10:36 and you certainly don't have to sum them up in a handy acronym like i have it is however important to stop and crystallize what's important to you so you can measure choices decisions and options against them so that you're aligned with your personal integrity which in turn affects your level of self-esteem and your level of self-belief from personal experience i can tell you that if you're not doing things in alignment with your fundamental values and your core beliefs this continuous compromise will eat at your subconscious and hamstring your progress in all aspects of your life. Conversely, if your actions and associations are aligned, magic can happen exponentially. Now the second question to ask yourself is, what makes me happy?
11:22 When are you at your happiest? What makes you come alive? What are you passionate about? What's your biggest achievement and why? What are you doing when you feel fantastic? Think back to your childhood and all of those memorable times during your life when you felt really good. What were you doing? Who were you with? How did you feel? Why?
11:45 In my case, music really makes me come alive and moves me emotionally. My earliest memory was standing on tippy toes holding onto the edge of the piano singing, or more like making a bunch of noise and jigging from side to side while my good mother tinkled the ivories. I'm also at my most relaxed and content when I can soak in the quiet of a long range natural view. I just love the sense of peace that comes from relaxing with a good book and a great cup of coffee. Waking up every morning to our smiling Samoyed rescue dogs and taking them for a walk in nature as the first thing that we do each and every day come rain, hail or snow. or playing hockey or going for a run with the sun on my back and the wind in my face
12:28 also makes me feel fantastic, like burning energy at the gym and keeping physically fit. Great food is also a big passion, as is travel, architecture and continuous personal development. And I love wearing character hats and the look and feel of a designer pen in my hands because you can take the boy out of architecture, but you can't take the architecture out of the boy. Next, ask yourself, how will I measure my life? As the old saying goes, people who stand for something can easily fall. Sorry, I'll say that again. People who don't stand for something can easily fall for anything.
13:07 So deciding how you want to measure your life means making a stand for something and then living your life in alignment with it. in my own personal case i'm going to measure my life by the quality of my relationships and the degree to which i've helped others improve their lives and achieve their goals my goal is to leave everyone i meet feeling smarter and smiling on the flip side don't measure your life by constantly comparing yourself to others this is a never-ending road to misery as continuously growing expectations erode any opportunity for happiness, contentment and peace. Work out how much is enough for you to live the way you want. Don't allow expectation inflation to become your misery master. The fourth question to ask yourself is, what's most important to me in my life?
14:02 Writing down what you really love doing can help to crystallise what's important to you. Maybe what you love doing is spending time with friends and family, doing a particular hobby, your job, or travelling. Your answers will be unique to you alone. This process is about finding out what you want to be doing, not what you feel you should be doing, because should is a thief. The most important things to me are my wife Sonia, my son Adrian, and our smiling Samoids.
14:34 Now ask yourself, if money were no object, what would I do? And then follow this with what's my bucket list? Write down the top 10 items on your bucket list. Next, clarify why they're on your list and how you feel about each of them. My bucket list includes singing and performing with Sting, attending and watching Australia win the Hockey World Cup, being a contestant on Australian Survivor, riding on the Orient Express, and having the privilege to visit every country in the world.
15:09 Yes, that's 196 of all of them. And lastly, ask yourself, how do I really want to live? Imagine your perfect day, week, month, and year. Now write what you've imagined down like a diary journal as if you're describing your perfect day in 10 years' time. How do you feel? What are you doing? With whom? Where? And why? Describe your feelings and thoughts along with the sounds, tastes and smells. Make it vivid and detailed and compelling.
15:44 Focus on how does all of this make me feel? If you do nothing else from what we chat about today, make sure you write down your perfect future day. from the moment you wake up to the minute you shut your eyes at night in vivid detail with a focus on how you're feeling at each and every point. If you're looking for an example, I've written down my ideal day in absolute detail in my book, The Freedom Formula. Then read this entry out loud to yourself once a week. Record it under voice memos on your mobile phone
16:18 and listen to it daily, particularly early in the piece. Now, I'd still listen to mine regularly when I'm enjoying my morning shower. Yes, sad I know, but the results have been quite incredible. This alone will activate your magnifying magnet compass and keep you focused, energised and committed to realising your ideal dream life. Now, if you're a visual person like myself, you can then convert your perfect day diary into a photo collage of images and words that bring your values, goals and bucket list to life. Once your vision board's complete, print off multiple colour copies,
16:56 laminate them and stick them all over the house in places that you're likely to see them. This includes places like the toilet and the shower, which I do in my case. These constant subtle reminders will keep you focused, motivated and committed. and for those of you who are tired of drifting reactively and want to really start living with proactive intent to create the life that you want authors michael hyatt and daniel harkavy have written the outstanding book living forward this easy to read action guide provides a great framework to help you crystallize what's really important to you so that you can create a clear and compelling vision of your future and a process to make it happen giving you an easy
17:40 to follow life plan. However, here's a quick word of warning. To really start hearing your own voice, you need to drown out external noise. To succeed on the narrow road to freedom, you're going to take a road far less travelled. You'll be swimming solo against the riptide of conformity and mediocrity. This will require an inner strength and fortitude that needs to withstand the constant barrage of ignorance and fear-based criticism that you're bound to cop from every conceivable direction. Keep reminding yourself to only listen to the counsel of those who've already done or are doing what you're embarking on. In many cases, this will mean turning off the naysaying external noise so that you can listen to the conviction of your own inner
18:28 voice. So here's a couple of things that you need to do immediately. Firstly, stop reading the newspapers and stop listening to the evening news. The mainstream media survives on creating extremes of conflict, greed and fear. They lead to bleed. My wife and I stopped buying the paper and watching the TV news way back in 1999 and are much happier for the experience. Ignorance of griefs is really bliss and if something is important enough someone's going to tell us about it. Instead feed your mind with a positive happy diet and tune into newsletters blogs and podcasts in your areas of interest to listen and learn from the like-minded secondly don't share your vision with non-investor family members and friends who don't believe what you believe
19:18 even jesus wasn't believed by his family if you share your dreams with someone and you feel bad or uncomfortable about the conversation afterwards and have feelings of doubt avoid them or don't talk to them about it again they'll steal your dreams and weaken your resolve to stay the course now if you want more information on all of this along with a step-by-step guide and other examples grab yourself a copy of my book the freedom formula on amazon or all good booksellers and even a few bad ones now now is the perfect time to spend an afternoon with your partner to get clear on your life vision so that in the next episode we can run through the easy process to ensure that every day is taking you closer to your ideal life.
20:04 So now you have an important choice to make. You can continue to do what you've always done and wonder why nothing changes, or you can spend a few hours that will change your life. For those of you who have the courage and make the time to write down your perfect day, email me a copy at hello, that's H-E-L-L-O at knowhowproperty.com.au and we'll send you a complimentary copy of my award-winning book, Get Invested. Thanks, friend and fighters.
20:34 Have a great and rewarding week. Remember to always get invested and I look forward to continuing our conversation next week. Thanks for tuning in to Get Invested on the Property Hub podcast channel, your home for property investment insights and inspiration. Make sure you subscribe to Property Hub for free. Get your weekly dose of Get Invested inspiration
20:54 along with every episode of Realty Talk, Australia's top online property show for red hot property investing news and insights direct from industry leaders and influencers. And finally, I'll see you next time.
There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click any sentence in the transcript to leave one.