Everyone I know has problems. We all have things that don’t go as planned or have challenges which catch us off guard. When you stop to think about it, a problem is nothing more than a situation in need of improvement. My experience is that people can have three responses to their “situations”:
- Wallow in their misery and be a victim.
- Create a solution and promise themselves that this time they will handle it once and for all. They do this every New Year`s Eve and the problem remains solved for a few weeks, at most.
- Create a solution and actually solve the problem once and for all.
The question is: What are the people doing who repeatedly achieve their goals and create the life they want? I think the answer lies in setting a strategy that is consistent with your skills and ability to execute the plan.
It seems that every problem has numerous possible solutions. For example, if you want to create financial independence, your solution might be to invest in real estate, but then you would have to narrow down your solution to a specific sector of the real state market, like single family houses. But even that is not narrow enough. You would have to decide if you were going to invest in rehabs, flips, lease options, preconstruction, builders, subdivisions, or rent to own.
The reality is that you can make a fortune in any of these sectors, just like you could make a ton of money in virtually any sector of the stock market or in any operating business you might start or invest in. The key to success is never about what you do, but rather about how you do it.
The solution you select is really just another word for your strategy and every strategy is dependent on execution. You can have the greatest strategy in the world, but if the strategy is not executed, then it will fail. My experience is that most people don’t have what they want in their lives because they consistently select strategies that they cannot execute. Too many people select a solution which is not consistent with or aligned with the skills they have and thus they can’t execute it and it fails.
If you consult any textbook or guru on the subject of strategy, they will tell you to select a strategy first and then figure out what skills or tactics or resources you need. Strategy should determine the tactics. I think that is a great theory, but unfortunately is fraught with problems and only will work if you have unlimited resources and time.
People who consistently achieve their goals and fix their problems look first to their skills and capabilities before deciding on a course of action and a solution to their problems. Creating financial independence is a great goal. The strategy you select should be based on the skills and resources you have available or that you can quickly acquire and that you can actually execute.
Too often I see great plans and solutions which never get executed, and thus the goals never reached, because they are based on the elegance of the strategy and not on the reality of skills and time needed to execute the strategy selected.
Prior to selecting any solution to a situation in need of improvement, check out your assumptions about what you are really capable of doing and then design a solution that is consistent with your skills.
The only solution worth implementing is the one which is sustainable!
Best,
Keith J. Cunningham
