I wanted to give up—not in a suicidal way, but from a business perspective. I felt lost and just wanted to quit on the spot. Then, I discovered this -> (image of The Valley of Despair) I think it perfectly captures what it feels like to be on a journey of improvement. X-axis: Competence Y-axis: Confidence Here’s what it shows: Uninformed Optimism: At first, you feel optimistic and confident, but you’re really just uninformed. Informed Pessimism: As you face challenges, you realize the reality of the situation, and that the “grass isn’t greener on the other side.” Valley of Despair: This stage tests whether you’re truly committed. It shows how important your goal really is to you, and it’s where most people quit. Informed Optimism: If you persevere through the Valley of Despair, your confidence will align with your competence, and you’ll finally get the hang of it. What this taught me, was that problems are inescapable and inevitable, but it’s a matter of what type of problems we want to face. I can’t give you an action to prevent this from happening, but I hope that if you’re in the Valley of Despair at the moment or facing it in the future, this image will remind you to keep pushing through. If you persevere, you’ll reach the end of the tunnel. I hope this post brought you some value.

Staying consistent isn’t as hard as it seems—but it’s not easy either. I struggled with procrastination for a long time, it was hard for me to consistently take action. Then I read Atomic Habits by James Clear, which introduced me to the “2-Minute Rule.” The rule is simple: keep it to just two minutes when starting a new habit. The goal isn’t to make progress but to build the habit itself. I found that this trick isn’t just for beginners—it works whenever consistency is tough. That led me to develop a framework I call The Growth Equation. The Growth Equation has two parts: • Effort • Volume For growth, aim to maximize both. But for consistency, make procrastination easier to overcome by lowering either the effort or the volume. PS: Lowering the effort should be the last thing you do because it encourages to not try hard. Using this equation can help you stay on track, even when staying consistent gets hard. Hope this was helpful in some way :)

On the path to financial literacy and financial freedom, there are always set backs. What have been some of yours? My most recent one is my camera. While making video clips for a video, my cat knocked over the camera and broke it. A new one is a few hundred I don't current have. Oh well... Positive lining, I have more time to refine the script and work on thumbnails while saving for a new camera.

Comment below with you idea of financial freedom. What does it look like to you? Do you have an idea of how to obtain it?

I used to think that motivation was random, something that just hit you when it wanted. And honestly, I didn’t think it was all that useful. But then, everything changed—I learned how to unlock it on command. Let me explain… @Alex Hormozi, once explained it, and I thought it was excellent. His definition was that motivation is the deprivation you have of something. For example, the reason you are thirsty (motivated to hydrate yourself) is due to a lack of hydration. I have a question for you… Why do the rich keep getting richer, even though they’re not deprived of money? Here’s the truth… It’s not about how deprived you actually are, but your perceived deprivation of something. Because motivation is not objective, but it’s subjective. And when I thought about making this post, I meant to end it there… But that reminded me of something I funnily enough heard Leila Hormozi say on her podcast. She explained that we are way more motivated to run away from pain (a bear) than towards pleasure (a Lamborghini on 99% sale). So that made me think: “Can we somehow combine these two concepts together?” And the answer is yes. Yes, you can. So here’s the version: Motivation is made up of two parts that are somewhat the opposite of each other: 1. ⚖️ Compare 2. 🚨 Run away ⚖️ Compare: This is when you compare yourself to someone better than you to make yourself feel deprived of what they have. 📌 Example: If you make $10k/mo, but you constantly compare yourself to people like @Alex Hormozi, your perception of how much you make decreases. Even though you’re far from being poor, you still feel like you are, compared to him. ⚡ Amplify: If you want to make yourself more motivated to earn more money, simply compare yourself more to people who make even more than Alex, like Elon Musk, for example. By doing that, you are increasing the distance between you and where you want to be, creating more perceived deprivation.