We’ve all had struggles that feel like an insurmountable obstacle; Whether we are talking about making a difficult decision at work (like going for that promotion) or perhaps it’s a health/lifestyle goal that we are grappling with continually.
Most real estate investors have felt like these obstacles can be everywhere (leaky foundations, permit processes, LTB issues, etc.) However more often than not, the real obstacles aren’t external, rather they are internal, mental habits. Whatever the case may be, everyone has at least one big thing that stands in the way of their success.
Rai Dalio, Bridgewater CEO and financial guru, demands that you find yours and deal with it.
His prescription is to:
“Write down what your one big thing/challenge is (such as identifying problems, designing solutions, pushing through to results.)”
Perhaps it’s simply the fear of the unknown, or feeling inadequate or “too young”, “too old” or “too new”, etc. He urges us to unearth our favourite reason (read excuse.)
The next step is to dig deeper. Dalio says to find the cause by outlining “why the challenge exists (your emotions trip you up, you can’t visualize adequate possibilities).” This is often a larger, deeper held belief. Hint: it’s usually not the little nuisances that occupy our conversations. Those aren’t the important, big thing.
The Bridgewater CEO continues, “While you and most people probably have more than one major impediment, if you can remove or get around that one really big one, you will hugely improve your life. If you work on it, you will almost certainly be able to deal successfully with your one big thing.You can either fix it or you can get the help of others to deal with it well.”
Re-read that. You don’t need to perfect yourself and you likely won’t remove ALL difficulty. However, removing your one big challenge will change your life dramatically. I like to think of this as akin to the Pareto Principle (80/20 rule): which problem is causing the majority of my struggles. Choose that one, the big one, and work on it.
Finally, he recommends a two pronged approach to assist you in overcoming the big thing and getting out of your own way:
“There are two paths to success:
1) to have what you need yourself (or cultivate it.)
2) to get it from others.
The second path requires you to have humility. Humility is as important, or even more important, as having the strengths yourself. Having both is best.“
Do the work to better your situation and develop strength/determination; but even then, at a certain point everyone needs help/assistance; And that’s ok! In our personal lives that could be our spouse, friends or even a therapist. In business that can be a Partner or Co-venture.
At Ontario Assets I partner all the time with those who’s strengths compliment my own and who’s challenges I can help solve. Together we both achieve more and create more abundance.
