Originally posted on Facebook HERE
Good morning, everyone. Looking out my back window today, looks like a beautiful day here in WI – sunny and 37 degrees out… Packer bye week. I’d usually hang out and watch NFL Redzone all day, but gotta go in and work instead today. Have some things that need to be done by November 1 and today is the only day I have enough time before then to get it done. Guess that’s the price to pay for spending 10 days in Mexico 
– while we were there, we thought a lot about what got us to that point. How is it possible that we get to do this? When Laurie Geschke and I started dating in 1995, she owned her own business and I was selling vacuum cleaners (which is how we met, but a story for another time). We each had $25 in savings, tons of credit card debt, car loans and a mortgage. Like most people in the country, really. We had never been out of the country. Not long after that I found out about Dave Ramsey, and we went through his book “Financial Peace” together. I remember one day holding each other on out living room couch and crying because we had made such a mess of things. Debt can bring you down, same as any compulsive behavior – alcohol, drugs, gambling… very similar emotions. We decided to work his plan, and I set some very lofty financial goals. Michael Singer says in his book “The Surrender Experiment” that “There are moments in our lives that are marked by destiny”. That was one of them for me. In no way did we sail through following his advice. But we did start changing our thinking about who we were and what was possible. And, through a crazy series of events, it lead to where we are now. I had set an annual income goal and a net worth goal when we started. I had no idea how I was going to do this, just got the goals in my head. And now, 20+ years later the annual income goal I set I’ve long ago surpassed and we’re on track to hit the net worth goal before I retire. We take nothing for granted. We know what “paycheck to paycheck” feels like. No matter where you are in life, you can set a new course the second you decide to live differently and believe it to be true for you. Nov 1 will be 29 years sober for me. So, thirty years ago I was an addict and an alcoholic, and broke. Now, I’m one of the top financial advisors in the country for my firm. Our deepest depths can fuel our greatest successes in life, but first we have to think it so. As Henry Ford once said “Whether you think you can, or think you can’t – you’re right”. We live in gratitude for everything. What a crazy ride. I hope today finds you all in good spirits, and if there’s an issue you’re working on, try making today the day that will be marked by destiny for you…
