5 Important Lessons I've Learned From 2022

TWT Newsletter #1

As we start 2023, I wanted to write my first newsletter The Wealthy Thing to share some important lessons I've learned in the last 12 months.

I’m hoping these lessons can be utilized as a stepping stone towards your personal development and growth to build a wealthier life as you start 2023 and beyond.

Like most advice, it should be taken as perspective and adapted to your specific situation rather than followed blindly. No one knows your situation better than you.

Without further ado, my five lessons learned in 2022.

Lesson 1: Plan less and take more action

How did I get to where I am? Not by sitting around watching Netflix every night or partying every weekend. I took consistent action every day towards my goals. Action creates momentum, and momentum creates success.

Yes, I agree it is good to plan and strategize to make good decisions. I love doing both, but I've learned it is a form of mental masturbation if thats all you do. If you don't execute on those plans - it means nothing. For example, I've been thinking of writing this newsletter for some time, but instead of waiting and thinking about it. I had to start doing. And here I am writing. No fluff. I found a tool to create newsletter and put my timer for 2 hours and started writing.

Action! (I’m yelling at myself)

So if anything in 2023, take more action towards your next steps. As famous artist Pablo Piccaso said "Action is the foundational key to all success".

Lesson 2: You can do anything but not everything

One of the hardest lessons I've learned. I truly believe we as humans are creators and have infinite possibilities. We can do anything we set our minds to. But because of the constraints of time and space, we can only deeply focus on a few things.

That is why you need to decide to focus on the few impactful things in your life. Really drill down and discover what you want and how to get there.

An exercise I do to discover these things is taking out a sheet of paper and writing down questions to decide what you truly want. When you have that, come up with actionable steps. Followed by standards and non-negotiables for your path.

Make this your personal vow and commitment. Refer to them when questioning the actions you take daily.

Ask yourself do the things you do follow your commitments or not?

Do your actions take you closer or further away from your goals?

Furthermore, If you're feeling overwhelmed - it means you're trying to do too much. Refine your commitments and non-negotiables. Stop spending your time trying do it all because you'll end up doing everything with mediocrity.

Lesson 3: Make it stupid simple

Making things stupid simple is the best philosophy you can incorporate to anything. How many times did you try to overcomplicate things leading yourself to analysis paralysis (I know I have).

For example when writing this newsletter, I could have asked all these questions: what website platform to use? What email platform is best to send the newsletter out? What colors, fonts, and logos should I use? But I knew to accomplish my first, I needed to keep it super simple and start. It could get no readers or be terrible, but I know through time it will get better.

Another example to drive it home is honing on my real estate strategy. When I first started I was all over the place. Do I do multi-family, single-family, self-storage, RV parks, or short term rentals (airbnbs), the list goes on. After a lot of iteration I knew I had to keep it so simple any dummy could follow it. I picked one strategy to eliminate distractions and analysis paralysis. This one thing - deciding on a real estate class was so liberating. It gave me clarity in 2022, I focused on buying single-family homes in the area I knew best to build-up my real estate portfolio. Expansion will come next. Keeping it stupid simple gave me single-minded focus for the next steps.

That's how the majority of the best things you've accomplished happens. You didn't achieve or built something in one go. It usually takes small steps to get started and a lot of iteration. So keep things stupid simple that anyone can follow the plan and do it. I promise it will make your life easier.

Lesson 4: Remove relationships that aren't serving you

A difficult lesson I've learned about relationships in 2022. People come and go; like the 4 seasons. There are some people that stay in your life no matter what (keep these friends close and dear), but most people are distractions who steal your energy and focus.

I call these people energy vampires. Like normal vampires, they will suck your energy away.

Evaluate the people in your life and jot down how they make you feel. Does this person take away energy or do they give you energy. You want to have more of the latter. Also I don't mean you should remove all your friends and family, but be cognizant of who you spend your time and energy with. These two resources are the most valuable things you have. We all have the same amount of time - it's how we use it and who we spend it with that defines us. So give yourself more energy by removing the ones that don't serve you (and nourish the relationships that do).

Lesson 5: Pay for your education

Something extraordinary I've discovered in 2022 was paying for education (and I'm not talking about college). A little bit of a life hack. In 2022 was where I spent the most on my education (over $50,000) and received the most growth in my life. I invested it in courses to help my self-development, grow my mindset, and hired coaches/mentors in Real Estate (an industry I wanted to grow in). I plan to double down on it in the next coming years.

There's two main reasons why:

1. We learned at a young age that you had to pay for your education to make money and make something of yourself. Well that's true, many people have taken huge debt to go to college. Why not use the same approach and be more intentional. If you could pay $50k to learn a skill that makes yourself $500k in a year or two, you would do that every time. That's a better return on investment than investing in the S&P - which you'll probably make that much in 7-10 years! Also skill stacking compounds faster than the stock market.

2. The other reason is information to execution. If I can pay to learn from someone's experience and mistakes to help me reach my goals months or years faster - you would take that opportunity every time. A frame of reference I think about for this lesson is if I will be making 1M+ every year in some future, then I am paying that cost now to get there faster. The sooner I get there, the more time I get to enjoy the life I've created for myself.

So make sure if you see an opportunity that could change your life, lean in and learn something new. And make sure you've evaluated and vetted the opportunity first. If it's worth it and can collapse time on what you want to achieve - do it.

To wrap things up into perspective:

• Plan less and take more action.

• You can do anything but not everything

• Make it stupid simple

• Remove relationships that aren't serving you

• Pay for your education

Hope you learned and enjoyed my first newsletter!

If you want to learn more about building a wealthier life for yourself through mindset and investing subscribe here. Also, share with someone who might gain value from this newsletter. Remember you can make magic happen and have an awesome day!