I’m undertaking a 1000-day reinvention project, focused on launching a writing and advisory business around personal finance for GenXers. I’m blogging here daily to track my progress. In Friday Flash, I share an epiphany or aha moment from the past week.
This week I started writing a downloadable guide with ten rules for rethinking your financial future. It’s aimed at Gen X professionals, 45 and older, and includes such tips as learning to adaptively adjust your portfolio based on simple indicators and planning ahead for a move to senior living rather than assuming you’ll be able to age in place.
I believe there is a need for this kind of guidance, grounded in quantitative data, sophisticated analysis, and stories about real people moving through midlife into senior citizenhood. But I feel kind of cheesy writing it and promoting it.
How do I get over that?
In her book The Let Them Theory, Mel Robbins writes:
You are so much stronger than anyone’s opinions about you. Stop giving your power to other people and step into your potential.
Let me live my life in a way that makes me proud. Let Me make decisions that align with my values. Let Me take risks because I want to. Let Me follow the path my soul is turning me toward.
Doing what makes you happy, being brave, taking risks, and following your own path will always be more important than other people’s opinions about it. This is YOUR life. Stop letting other people’s opinions ruin it.
Write the book. Ask them out. Wear what you want to wear. Go surf all day. Go back to school. Drop out of school. Move. Get a dog. Book the trip. Stop drinking. Embrace your sexuality. Take the path that you’ve been scared to follow.
It’s so silly to let what other people think drive what I do. Most people aren’t even thinking about me. They don’t care if I write and promote financial advice downloadable guides. They’re not thinking about me for the most part.
I’d like to experiment with putting down my ego as I go forward. I intend to focus on being of service rather than focusing on what other people are thinking. I’m pretty sure the tips I’m planning to offer have a lot of value.
I want and need to move forward despite the discomfort I feel.