Summary: Many of us have pursued hard things in life but most don’t realize how much language played a part in our success (or failure). Your language influences how you show up and whether or not you persevere when the going gets tough. This is especially important when you’re coming up with a plan for your family’s financial future. You’re much more likely to achieve your goals if you make it “necessary!”
[Disclaimer: We are not accountants, lawyers or financial advisors, so please consult your own team of professionals about the topics covered in this article.]
There’s a scene in the movie Interstellar that I love.
It’s called “the docking scene.” You can watch it HERE.
Dr. Brand: Cooper, what are you doing?
Cooper: Docking
Case: It’s not possible
Cooper: No. It’s necessary
In the scene, it’s a life or death situation. If they don’t dock, they die. So Cooper made the impossible, possible. He did this, by making it necessary.
How most of us show up in life: “I hope”
What I love about this is that Cooper’s mentality is an outlier.
I rarely meet someone who shows up with this sort of mentality.
Most people show up “hoping” they achieve something.
Imagine the same scene with Cooper saying, “I hope I can dock the ship” instead of “it’s necessary.” There’s a huge difference between the two.
Changing your language
One of the first steps to make it necessary is changing your language.
As you saw in the example above, “I hope” is not the type of language that leads to exceptional results.
Imagine your child saying, “I hope I get an ‘A’ on this test” or “I hope I make the team.”
If you are an overachiever like I am, your internal dialogue might be saying, “don’t just hope that it happens, make it happen by taking action!”
However, the sad reality is that if we were to listen to ourselves talk, we are probably using the word hope a lot more than you realize.
We see this often when we challenge people in our real estate course to set a cashflow goal for their rental properties. Many of those who set a high goal, let’s say $300,000 in cashflow per year in three years, inevitably get nervous and start saying things like “we hope to achieve this goal.”
What we often say in these situations is, “change your language!”
Instead of “I hope” to achieve this goal, how about changing it to, “I will achieve this goal.” Or better yet, “I MUST achieve this goal!”
See the difference between “I hope” “I will” and “I must”?
When you say “I must,” you are making it necessary. There’s no other option. Failure is not an option.
Big goals and fear
I wanted to close with a discussion about fear.
Making something necessary has nothing to do with getting rid of fear.
In fact, if you set a big enough goal, you SHOULD be fearful. If you don’t feel fear, go back and set a goal that scares you.
I’m sure Cooper felt fear in that scene. However, because he made it necessary, he pushed through the fear and ultimately, accomplished his big audacious goal…
The same goes with your big audacious goal. Want to achieve Fast FIRE and semi-retire in 5 years? How about doing it in 3 years? How about 1 year?
I have no doubt that if you make it necessary, you’re much more likely to achieve your goal than if you “hope” it happens.
