In my last post, I discussed some ideas, strategies, and tactics that help pave the road to FIRE, but are so simple that I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of them myself. As was pointed out in a comment to the post, what ultimately mattered was that I acted on my newfound knowledge. And, I guess to my credit, I acted pretty promptly.
The “why” I did so is critical, I think. It’s what separates people like me from others who progress slowly or not at all, notwithstanding having access to the same or similar information. And it’s what I wanna ramble on about discuss in this post.
Three-part harmony
A few months ago, a documentary on Arnold Schwarzanegger debuted on Netflix. I knew Arnie’s story well enough. I suppose I had a generally favorable opinion of him, too.
The documentary was terrific. Segmented into three parts—one on his youth and bodybuilding career, the next on his acting career, and the last on his public service career and life after it—it showed how Arnie reached the top heights in each area.
Now, I knew all that. But I’d never put the story together to appreciate it. Like Arnie or not, the story is pretty remarkable.
Anyway, the documentary made me think far more highly of Arnie. In part because of his objectively impressive and diverse accomplishments. But also because of Arnie’s bare honesty in admitting to his shortcomings and mistakes. He made no excuses. He didn’t shift the blame. He didn’t try to minimize the degree or impact of his shortcomings and mistakes. He just flat out owned up to them.
That honesty shouldn’t strike one as remarkable. But I think it’s pretty rare.
Sometime later, Marc Maron interviewed Arnie on his WTF podcast. When I saw the episode queued up in my podcast aggregator app, I was excited to listen to it.
The episode did not disappoint. You should listen to it. Go ahead. I’ll wait for you.
Among the several semantic gems Arnie drops in the episode is this: “Shut your mouth and open your mind.” If there’s a mantra I can get behind, and that I’ve learned to appreciate and aspired to be guided by, it’s that. Also something of a corollary I heard years ago: “No one has a monopoly on good ideas.”
Contrary to popular opinion
I’m a contrarian. I’d say it was because of nature. And maybe it is. But nurture had much to do with it, too. I mean, my dad’s response to anything I (or anyone) says, has always been, “No, [insert his opposite opinion here.]” He’s wrong a lot. But this habit of his was transmuted in part to me, leading me to not take what people say to me or what I read at face value. When I ingest information, I almost always do so with a healthy dollop of salt.
As a result, I have a hard time believing things and people. On the other hand, when I do settle on a position, I’m reasonably sure there’s an objectively good basis for it. If for no other reason than I’ve examined the other side as well as I could. And probably too much a lot more than most other people.
A happy side effect is that I’m not only open to changing my mind, I welcome doing so. I’m rarely happier than when I shut my mouth and abandon my preconceived notions and listen to/read some well-reasoned counterarguments. Maybe I’ll change my mind, and benefit from having done so. Or maybe I won’t, and will be further assured in the soundness of my opinion or practice.
The very notion of FIRE—along with many of the strategies and tactics for reaching it—completely upended so many things I’d long since taken to be truisms. All this grabbed my attention. Immediately. Fiercely.
Had I been less of a contrarian, or, like I think most people, stiffly resistant to changing my mind, I’d have balked at all this. Maybe for months. Maybe for years. Maybe forever.
That’d have made/kept me poorer.
Instead, I benefitted. This was all because, having recognized objectively good ideas, and given my contrarian and open-to-change nature, I started taking action. Quick like.
I wasn’t hung up on changing my mindset and practices. No, I was exhilarated by the prospect.
Progress was slowish at first as I dipped my toes into unfamiliar waters. As I saw quick and concrete results, my confidence grew. So, too, the depth and breadth of the waters I entered.
Our progress compounded and milestones were reached at an increasingly rapid pace. Certainly faster than I ever could have dreamed before discovering FIRE.
Could we have done more so as to speed up the progress? Absolutely. But was there steady and meaningful progress? Also, absolutely.
I’ve written a lot on this blog about how, almost to a person, everyone I’ve tried introducing to FIRE essentially has smiled and nodded but done nothing with the information I’ve given them. Maybe because they think the concept a joke. And not possible or impossibility. Maybe because they’re too lazy to take action. Maybe because they buy into the concept but don’t think they have the resources to reach it. Or the discipline it might take to reach a goal that they understand would take “several” or “many” years to reach. Without even bothering to define what “several” or “many” actually translates to for them.
Or maybe it’s because they’re unwilling or afraid to admit that this “other,” contrarian way of doing things is or might be better than what they’ve long done things.
Some people even actively push back at the concept of FIRE. Others do it more quietly.
And, hey, maybe some of them could never FIRE even if they tried. No matter how hard they went at it. But everyone . . . everyone . . . able to make a go at FIRE will make financial progress. Progress that is, I think, likely to compound in its positive effects.
And in the end . . .
It is, of course, ironic that the person who said to shut up and open your mind often is someone we all understandably think of as being so loquacious. But all the more powerful for that. Of course, sometimes there’s just as much surprise in a quieter person speaking.
