Procrastinating and Indecision

[steelandchrome]

So.... I read the first book and loved it, everything made sense and I told myself I can do this and I just need that great idea... I made lists of what business ideas I thought would make the most sense from writing a book, to app development, to online retailing....
I did some retail arbitrage and sold about $500 worth of items on Amazon then bought Walters importing book and read it, but after a few weeks of searching for the "right" product to import and resale I gave up to focus on my daytime job and figured I'd come back to it later (shocker, I haven't).
Next I decided that since I have well over $550 Million in retail sales management experience that I would write a book on how to do that for other slowlaners... I have written roughly 60% of that book and then got bored with doing it so stopped again to focus more on my daytime job telling myself I would get back to it and start writing at least 3 times a week to finish it up (shocker, I haven't)
In the meanwhile I have done some small real estate investing deals (financing flip renovations for a friend) but those were minor and not what I really want to do. I also have been invested pretty heavily in the stock market to keep money at least slightly working for me and happily have stayed steady at about a 19% annual gain but that's not enough to make true life changing events like we all hope for with a fastlane path.
Basically I have taken a bunch of small steps and stopped for focusing on my daytime job (granted I make over $160k a year there but it takes up a LOT of my time and I really despise my boss) I want to leave it to go full time into something on my own but have but am apparently more afraid of losing that high income than confident that I can make it or more on my own. I have a low mortgage, paid off cars, and a couple years worth of salary stocked away for emergency living expenses and/or investing into my business plans when I decide to get serious so I do have that going for me....

I post this mostly as a wakeup call to myself as well as a cautionary tale to some of the newer members that say "I'll get to it later", or "I'm comfortable enough where I am that there is no rush" because if you allow yourself to fall back on these thoughts then you will be right where I am lurking the forums randomly, watching TV instead of working on a business plan, trading time for money, and not moving ahead in life.

I am about 26 chapters into Unscripted and hopefully after reading that I'll kick myself in the a$$ and finally get off the couch and get going and stop being one of the people written about in the books

 

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[RedKiteKid]

Consider re-reading your post through someone else's eyes - if that's even possible. But what I mean is to look for the limiting beliefs and slowlane thought processes that might be keeping you locked in to your current job and your current status quo. There are little leaks of consciousness in your writing that you can maybe learn from, or pick apart their accuracy.

Let me try and pick out a couple too, and these stand out for me because I do the same so they are as much of a self examination as they are an attempt to illustrate the point. Most of them focus on a key theme I've noted on this forum since joining, action above all else.

You are 60% through writing a book, that means you've got less to do than has already been done. I have a similar half written tome Whats holding us back from completing these? Why?

You (seemingly) spuriously cast aside property flip financing but it is the one endeavour I see you describing with a moddocum of success. Does that mean that even though you're not a fan of the work the process of growing a fully fledged company doing this in some way might have potential for growth and enjoyment?

And to go back to the title of your post and the last line of it there will always be another few chapters, or another book to read maybe you and I use reading as a form of procrastination "if I learn more it will all come back to me when I need it, no matter that my learning has no specific direction".

Though I did try to suggest you do this exercise yourself and probably you will find different meaning and different causes to analyse than I did with my self-projection! Let me know if I was any way close!

 

[Jadyndad]

I totally feel you.

I am in a much worst position than you are. At least you have a substantial stash stowed away, I have roughly enough to sustain my family for a year if my Wife stops working altogether.

I have worked no less than 8 slow lane jobs, from retail to tech support to construction to barista training, I knew that the slow lane was not for me. But I did not have the conviction to carry through what needs to be done to be in the fastlane. I was just on an endless learning journey. Reading book after book and watching video after videos.

Now I knew that I need a kick in the butt every once in a while to keep moving in the right decision.

I think you only need a push.

Get off that couch! JK

Let's start taking continuous action from here on!

Cheers,
Nick

 

[steelandchrome]

Consider re-reading your post through someone else's eyes - if that's even possible. But what I mean is to look for the limiting beliefs and slowlane thought processes that might be keeping you locked in to your current job and your current status quo. There are little leaks of consciousness in your writing that you can maybe learn from, or pick apart their accuracy.

Let me try and pick out a couple too, and these stand out for me because I do the same so they are as much of a self examination as they are an attempt to illustrate the point. Most of them focus on a key theme I've noted on this forum since joining, action above all else.

You are 60% through writing a book, that means you've got less to do than has already been done. I have a similar half written tome Whats holding us back from completing these? Why?

You (seemingly) spuriously cast aside property flip financing but it is the one endeavour I see you describing with a moddocum of success. Does that mean that even though you're not a fan of the work the process of growing a fully fledged company doing this in some way might have potential for growth and enjoyment?

And to go back to the title of your post and the last line of it there will always be another few chapters, or another book to read maybe you and I use reading as a form of procrastination "if I learn more it will all come back to me when I need it, no matter that my learning has no specific direction".

Though I did try to suggest you do this exercise yourself and probably you will find different meaning and different causes to analyse than I did with my self-projection! Let me know if I was any way close!

Thanks for the reply.
I do intend to get back to writing and finishing the book since I have already invested the time into it from this point and I know there is value there for the intended audience. I just need to set up minimum goal and expectations of writing at least a chapter a day 3 days a week and I'll have the first draft done soon enough.

I don't want to cast aside the financing of the flips completely but would rather finance my own and avoid continuing to lend to a friend. I am in the Phoenix market and have had limited success finding places to invest in with a decent enough spread or would pursue that a bit more. For the time being I look daily for a little bit and have a realtor friend keeping his eyes out for one that would make sense so I can focus more on other endeavors.

I joke a bit when I say I'll get at it after reading the book because I know that's a pitfall many people face to just keep reading, researching, learning, without taking any legit actions. What prompted me to post this thread was reading about it again in this book and saying to myself that I was doing the exact thing MJ was writing about people doing to "action fake". I know there is no magic bullet or easy lessons that will be learned from finishing the book but hopefully it will spark something more in me to take action on locking down a specific genre to go after for online retail which at this time is what I think I would like to do the most and something I can do while still at my day job till I finally decide to have my FTE. I have learned a ton from posts and threads from @Walter Hay and @biophase as well as a few others and intend to put those thoughts to action soon.

 

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[steelandchrome]

Not a huge update but glad to say I have officially renewed my office subscription so I can start writing again and have put two more chapters on "paper" and just crossed 31k words. I'm committed to finishing it and if I can do 3 chapters a week it won't take more than another 2 months to have it ready for an editor.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

[Marco Cuevas]

Basically I have taken a bunch of small steps and stopped for focusing on my daytime job (granted I make over $160k a year there but it takes up a LOT of my time and I really despise my boss) I want to leave it to go full time into something on my own but have but am apparently more afraid of losing that high income than confident that I can make it or more on my own. I have a low mortgage, paid off cars, and a couple years worth of salary stocked away for emergency living expenses and/or investing into my business plans when I decide to get serious so I do have that going for me....

I think this is the saddest part of your whole post. You make $160K/year AND you have "a couple years worth of salary stocked away"
You are obviously smart and can at least start something.
I would love to be in your position right now with some foundation built for a business AND that cash set aside. I only have one question....

What the hell are you waiting for?

Stop being afraid of losing the income... by focusing on providing value to others, your income is limitless.

 

[steelandchrome]

I think this is the saddest part of your whole post. You make $160K/year AND you have "a couple years worth of salary stocked away"
You are obviously smart and can at least start something.
I would love to be in your position right now with some foundation built for a business AND that cash set aside. I only have one question....

What the hell are you waiting for?

Stop being afraid of losing the income... by focusing on providing value to others, your income is limitless.

I completely understand where you are coming from, but I'd say it's the script at it's finest... the more you make the better and more expensive things you buy and thus the "need" for a comfort zone of consistent income. Luckily I'm also frugal enough and disciplined enough to have solid savings and investments so I can step away at some point and make a run at something.

For now my focus is finishimg the book but ultimately I would prefer to get into ecommerce to be as close to location independence as possible.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

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[RedKiteKid]

Congrats on making progress on the book. Keep writing. Keep taking action daily.

I have a lot of sympathy for feeling tied to a well paying job and know exactly where you are coming from. It's possible to start something on the side I am sure but there is just not the same fire under your arse as if you need the money to pay the rent nect month.

Still, no excuses (and being in a good starting position can surely not be used as one!) so lets crack on. Keep up the effort.

[Once again I feel like your posts show me my journey through someone elses eyes so please keep posting, I hope that it will help you as much as it is helping me!]