The Same Actions Will Produce The Same Results (Ten Tenets for Arranging Your Rich: Part 2)

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A while back I posted the first of what I promised would be "Ten Tenets to Arranging Your Rich". And wouldn't you know it, right after posting Tenet #1, things got a little crazy and life interfered with my blogging plans. Go figure :)

In any event, I think we're back on track now and as promised, we've got nine more tenets to go. So, without further adieu, here's tenet #2:

The same actions will produce the same results.

I love this little quote for a couple of reasons: 1) its just so very true and its been proven over and over again in history, politics, love and yes, money.

The second reason I like this saying is that it tells you everything you need to know to fix the problem. Its not just inspirational... you don't have to decipher the meaning of the flying eagle and the sun setting behind the mountains... no, this one's pretty darn clear:

The same actions will produce the same results.

What does that mean for you?

Well, that depends upon how you want to apply it to your life. If your car runs out of gas every time you think you can make it a little further, then perhaps you should start getting gas sooner.

If your spouse stops talking to you everytime you go on a rant, perhaps you should consider some anger management or communication courses.

And if you're still living payday to payday even though you've done everything you're "supposed" to be doing, then perhaps you should do something different.

As awestruck as I am with mankind's potential, we tend to be serious creatures of habit. As we venture out into the world of endless opportunity, we quickly find ourselves a safety zone and then concrete ourselves in it.

We may complain about it, we may whine about it but the truth is, we have no real intentions of ever leaving it.

Why would we? Its predictable. And if there's one thing we don't like, its the unknown.

So, instead of seeing what's really out there, we'll stay where we know what to expect, all the while wondering why we just can't seem to get ahead.

But its hard to get ahead when you've stopped moving forward.

I spent many years working for one company or another, doing everything I knew I was "supposed" to do. I thought that by climbing the corporate ladder, I would one day have the money I needed to do all the things I wanted to do. So, I made sure I always met expectations, even exceeded them on a regular basis and by all accounts, did "well".

But remember Tenet #1? "Rich" is very relative . So, despite my steps up the corporate ladder, I was anything but rich.

I left early in the morning and I got home late at night. I missed many of my son's "firsts" because I was always working. And all those personal enrichment plans I had? There was just no time and in all honesty, the idea of pulling out the paints or tilling up a garden was the last thing on my mind. All I wanted to do was collapse on the couch.

I was no longer working for a living. I was living to work.

By the time I walked away from the corporate world, I was making $60,000 a year plus expenses but I had no freedom. I enjoyed a cushy office downtown but I had no room to run. I had business cards and an expense account, but the real me was nowhere to be found.

So I walked. I did something different. And you know what? I got amazingly different results.

Was it scary?

Absolutely! Change always is. And even now, there are times when a client doesn't pay when they should or my flow of new projects just seems too slow. But every time I think I might considered going back to the corporate world for that steady paycheck, I immediately remember what I'd be giving up.

I find time to garden just about every day. I'm home when my kids arrive from school and if I feel like sleeping in, well... who's to say I can't?

No, I'm not saying everyone should quit their jobs... unless of course, that's what you really want to do. What I am saying is that if you continue to approach life in the same manner you always have, you're going to get more of the same results you've gotten so far and if you're reading this, I'm assuming you'd like those results to be different.

But your boss isn't going to decide that you should have a shorter work day or Fridays off or a siesta break every afternoon. Your paychecks are never going to surprise you by being substantially more than they're supposed to be and while I'll never say "never", waiting to win the lottery is probably not a good strategy for success.

If you want to arrange your rich, you're going to have to make some changes. You have to make them - they won't do it on their own. They might be small, they might be big. Maybe you need to save more, spend less, change jobs or invent that little doohicky that no one can do without. Whatever it is, do it. Make the change. And start enjoying the rippling effect they create in your life. :)