The Future is What you Make of It

Amar Pandit , CFA , CFP

Amar Pandit

A respected entrepreneur with 25+ years of Experience, Amar Pandit is the Founder of several companies that are making a Happy difference in the lives of people. He is currently the Founder of Happyness Factory, a world-class online investment & goal-based financial planning platform through which he aims to help every Indian family save and invest wisely. He is very passionate about spreading financial literacy and is the author of 4 bestselling books (+ 2 more to release in 2020), 8 Sketch Books, Board Game and 700 + columns.

I launched this blog for you on January 3rd, 2020, and what a ride it has been since then. More than 2500+ of you are reading the blog on a regular basis and many are sharing their love and feedback. Thank you so much for your time and attention.

This is the 219th post and I am so excited to share this with you. Though every post is special, I wanted to make this a little extra special and personal.

First some highlights on the last 2 years.

Besides this blog, I launched www.happyrichinvestor.com in February 2020 (for investors as you can make out). I post there every Tuesday and Friday just like I post on this blog and have posted 200+ posts till date. Other than these 2 blogs, I released the HappyRich Advisor Book, completed 6 Sketchbooks, soft launched the Real Financial Professional Program with Carl Richards (attended by 126 students from all over India), wrote a chapter for a US book that will launch in 2022 and generated an amazing library of content. A creative below will illustrate this in a simple manner.

The objective of writing the above is not to brag but to actually challenge myself to continue to do meaningful work in a disciplined mannerIn the process, I hope to inspire many of you to challenge yourself to bring in the best out of you.

Look at this amazing visual by Tim Urban @waitbutwhy

As you can see above, since the day you are born, of all the possible paths, you have taken a certain path or life has led you through a certain path. There is nothing we can do about it. I mean we can never change our past.

However, our Future is what we make of It.

Your 2022 will be What you Make of it.

I now share some parts of a Daily Stoic email that I thought is super relevant for all of us.

It says we all have flaws. We all have things we know want to change.

What happens even when we know we have things to change. Nothing happens.

This is true of everyone. Yes, literally everyone.

But then …

The last day of the year came, and you made a New Year’s resolution to change a thing or two that would help you achieve your goal. And then the next year came around. You were still doing the same old thing and you had not achieved your goals.

I made the resolution to lose weight in 2021. Guess what, I failed miserably. Though I started well, I didn’t really change my eating and work out habits for 2021. I was not disciplined enough with my eating and workout habits as I was with my writing and work habits.

What was really happening here? Didn’t I know what needed to be done? I certainly knew what I needed to do. I had to eat wisely and exercise regularly. Though there were days where I did eat wisely and exercised, it was not enough. I knew what had to be done, but I wasn’t doing it enough.

Seneca reminds us that all fools have one thing in common: They are always getting ready to start. They are always getting ready to change.

And then?

They never do the work that’s needed. Rooting evil out of your life takes work.

It’s the same with losing weight, quitting smoking, breaking the smartphone addiction, reading more, writing more often, and building your business.

A simple resolution won’t do. A simple resolution and a few months will not cut it.

So, like my weight loss goal, is there a personal or professional goal that you hope to accomplish?

Whether it is to grow your firm, acquire ideal clients, market your firm, make your firm valuable, or simply start writing.

To that end, it’s worth repeating Epictetus’s question: How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself?

You must stop delaying. You must get started?

When?

Today. Right Now.

But Don’t Simply Get Started and Give Up.

Be Prepared to put in the work that is required.

I am prepared to put in the work that is required to achieve my personal goal. I am prepared to put in the work that is required to achieve my professional goals.

I hope you are too.

A new year is upon all of us. Is there a better time than Now?

On that note, Let’s get started.

The HappyRich Advisor is not a book…it’s a map of the future of Real Financial Planning globally! Read it…you’ll thank me later! – Carl Richards