Banjo Smyth

You are probably asking what does running a marathon have to do with Investment Strategies & Wealth Creation? For most people the answer would be NOTHING but for me the answer is EVERYTHING.

11 months ago I decided to fulfill a lifetime dream and complete a marathon. I have always been an active person and generally go for a couple of 4-6km jogs a week - a long way off the somewhat ridiculous figure of 42km that the marathon is. I see the marathon as the ultimate physical test, something that will push you into areas and feelings that you have never experienced before.

This is where I see the similarities to Investing and Wealth Creation. When you are beginning your journey towards financial freedom you are faced with ideas and concepts that are totally foreign to you. Dealing with the Stock Market, buying Real Estate to rent out and going into debt to create wealth are all concepts that are incredibly scary to someone that hasn’t experienced then before. Just like with the marathon these foreign ideas force you to choice one of two things. . . .

When your legs start hurting or you mind is getting confused you can either

Give up and stop running or stop learning about Investing

Or

You can keep going despite the fact that you feel completely spent, exhausted, confused and angry.

There is nothing better than going on a long run and getting to the point where you feel like you have to stop but you somehow manage to persuade yourself to keep going and finish. In that moment you have conquered the part of your brain that says “I can’t do it”. You have learnt that if you push through the pain barrier or that overwhelming feeling you get when learning about investing – you will succeed.

So after 11 months of training I am now only 4 weeks away from the Melbourne Marathon. 3 months ago I completed a half marathon (1:41:30) - 3 ½ minutes faster than my goal time. Since then I have slowly been building my long runs up and last weekend I completed a 35kn run in 3:15:00. My main goal for the marathon is to finish but I would love to do it in less than 4 hours. 4 weeks to go and I will let you know how I went.

When I tell people that I am doing a marathon they all tell me I’m completely crazy. To be honest I agree with them and that is the beauty of doing such a silly thing like running a marathon. It is such a long way to run that if I can finish it, surely I can do whatever I set my mind to?

So you want be rich but you don’t know how to get rich? Only a minor problem I’m sure you will agree – surely it can’t be that hard? First you will read Rich Dad Poor Dad then dream about getting rich quick and how you can become a millionaire whilst working from home. Next you might try some get rich quick schemes or get rich scams before you start to run out of ways to get rich. Unfortunately this will all happen before you become wealthy.

So can someone please tell me how to get rich because I’m impatient and running out of time!

Now before I bore you the secrets of how to get rich I want you to think about something. Do you ever catch yourself thinking about how everything is going to be ok when I’ve got this or everything is going to be ok when I’ve got that? Humans have a bad habit of always looking into the future rather than living in the moment.

The other day I was at the supermarket and I was making small talk with the guy at the check out. He told me how he was really happy because his shift had gone really fast and it was nearly time to go home. Nothing out of the usual but it got me thinking. We are only on this planet for such a short time that surely we should want every moment or minute or hour to last as long as possible. The idea of being glad that your day is over ‘quickly’ is a very weird concept. So what does this have to do with making easy money and becoming rich? Everything!

I am here to tell you that becoming rich is as much about your mindset as it is your wealth creation strategies. How many problems do you have today that you think would go away if you were to become rich? How many little annoyances each day would disappear if you knew how to get wealthy and were to become a millionaire? Well I have some good news and some bad news for you. . . .

The bad news is that those little annoyances will probably be there no matter how rich you are they just might take on a slightly different form. The good news is that you can get rid of those annoyances and problems before you get rich and you can start today.

The even better news is that in doing this you will learn the number one secret to getting rich. You might be saying “hold on this doesn’t make sense; I don’t want to get rid of my problems before I get rich - I want to get rich so that my problems will be deleted automatically”. Well I’m sorry but you’re wrong. Learning how to get rich is about earning money and about creating a great mind set. To be truly rich you need to be happy because I don’t know about you but I don’ think it would be fun being really rich but really unhappy and sad.

So the first thing that you need to do is realize that you already have everything within you that you will need to become rich. Your mind is a wonderful thing and you can use it to create whatever you want. The first step in becoming rich is to become happy in your self. How do you do that? Simply start appreciating what you DO have rather than what you DON”T have. I guarantee that if you can start to become happy within yourself then your financial goals will become so much easier to achieve.

So stop living in the future and start living in the present. The quicker you can do this the quicker you will be able to learn how to become rich. Who knows you might even find out that you are already rich?

I’m sure you are probably thinking – what is the “Law of Opposites” and what does it have to do with Investment Strategies & Wealth Creation? When I first heard one of my mentors (Jamie McIntyre) talk about his Law of Opposites theory I was thinking exactly the same thing.

So what is Jamie McIntyre’s Law of Opposites?

The law of opposites is an incredibly powerful tool that can be used to help develop the mindset of a millionaire and in turn create a successful life. Quite simply Jamie McIntyre suggests that one of the best ways to become financially successful is to

“Find out what most people are doing and then do the exact opposite”.

This means that when you are faced with a decision or a particular situation, you should think about what the average person would choose to do and then do the exact opposite. As funny as this may sound, if you start using the law of opposites I can almost guarantee you that new and amazing experiences will begin to enter your life.

When Jamie McIntyre first told me about his law of opposites theory I thought he was being silly. How can the law of opposites help you develop the mindset of a millionaire, surely its more likely to develop the mindset of a ‘crazy lunatic’ who has a severe blockage in their decision making process? After reassuring me that he wasn’t a ‘crazy lunatic’ he proceeded to explain why the law of opposites is in fact a crucial part of developing the mindset of a millionaire.

When I look at the results that most people’s actions are producing they are way below my expectation. So if you want to produce similar results to these people then your task is very easy - Simply make the same or similar decisions that they are making and you will be just like them in no time at all. What Jamie McIntyre is trying to say with his law of opposites is that to be successful you need to do things differently than the general public. You need to start developing your mindset of a millionaire and stop making the same decisions as everyone else.

The best example that I can give you of Jamie McIntyre’s Law of opposites in effect is how most people approach becoming financially rich or wealthy. Rather than trying to get a financial education and develop the mindset of a millionaire most peoples attempt at becoming wealthy is to buy a whole heap of tattslotto tickets. If these people would take the time to educate themselves in the world of finance they would be astounded at what they could achieve.

Forget any fancy strategies or crazy ideas, if people could learn and master one simple concept like ‘compounding interest’ their lives would start to change forever. I am always hearing from people who are worried about how they will be able to afford to pay for their child’s education but did you know that if you were to invest $3.33 per day into a fund that was earning 15% that by the time your child turns 19 it would be worth $110,424. Then if you stopped contributing and let the money to continue to grow on its own it would be worth

- $9.6 million by the age of 50

- $39.2 million by the age of 60

- $158.2 million by the age of 70

Basically that means that if you were to give up a ‘soft drink a day’ or your weekly tattslotto ticket you would be able to leave your children a multi million dollar inheritance. When you start to create the mindset of a millionaire you will never cease to be amazed by the things you can create.

The ironical thing about tattslotto is that within 3-7 years of winning, most people are in a worse position financially than they were to begin with. Why? Because they haven’t developed the mindset of a millionaire, they have simply been gifted a whole lot of money and they don’t have the correct skills to make their money work for them.

Imagine if someone was to offer you the choice of these two things

They will give you a million dollars in cash

or

They will teach you how to create the mindset of a millionaire

What would you choose? I know what most people would choose and to be honest a few years ago I would have taken the cash too but after developing my own mindset and learning to implement Jamie McIntyre’s Law of Opposites I know that it would be the wrong choice. In order to succeed we need to branch, take some risks and develop the mindset of a millionaire. Funnily enough, sometimes the best way to do this is to see which way most people are going and head the other way.