"True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence." – Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Cool picture, huh? My old boss from the rat race used me for the image. Little did he know that this would be prophetic in more ways than one. Can you believe I used to wear a tie? I don’t even wear pants anymore. His art is awesome. You should check it out.
Anyway, there are four categories of freedom. They all fascinate me. Spiritual, physical, mental (the close cousin of spiritual), and financial freedom. They all link together, and there is no real freedom unless we possess the whole lot of them in abundance. To the degree one area is lacking, we must be suffering.
Suffering hurts. It’s inevitable, but what the heck? Let’s do our part to keep it to a minimum, shall we?
There are many Christians, for example, who claim spiritual freedom but live paycheck to paycheck in bondage to creditors and the government. Is the richest person in the world truly free if they suffer from addictions to food and alcohol? Unfortunately, the spirit does not exist separate from the body it inhabits. The two are intimately attached. So much so that where one is enslaved the other will manifest that bondage of necessity in some way shape or form.
I am relentless in my pursuit of all four aspects of freedom, which when combined amount to Real Freedom (hence my company name). I pursue God, give and help others, diet and exercise as if I were training for a gold medal in the olympics, control my thoughts, use positive affirmations constantly, and work like a lion (I don’t like dogs).
Do you?
I don’t do it all perfectly, of course. I’m half human after all (half superhero – I fight crime at night). But I try at least. I give it my best. It’s worth the price. It all adds up to peace, happiness, strength, power, confidence, wealth… and freedom. Real freedom.
Freedom from guilt.
Freedom from sin.
Freedom to push your body to limits most people can’t.
Freedom to work as long and hard as you want because you have unlimited energy.
Freedom from illness (eat right and exercise and you won’t get sick very often, if ever – who woulda thunk it?).
Freedom from fear.
Freedom to choose your thoughts carefully as opposed to allowing random thoughts to control you.
Freedom to feel good as a result of choosing those right thoughts.
Freedom to help who you want.
Freedom to go where you want. Buy what you want. Work when you want.
Freedom to do what you want to do as opposed to what you have to do.
Not many people live this way. If only you knew how possible it is.
I had a tough time deciding whether or not to devote my career to all four aspects of freedom, or strictly to my current occupational specialty which is helping others become financially free. I finally decided to stick to my roots… for now. More than likely you will see hints of all four of these themes throughout my work but our focus will be on freeing your finances like a condemned man released from death row. It won’t fix everything, but it sure will help.
As my man T. Harv Eker likes to say – "Money isn’t everything, unless you don’t have any. Then it seems like it’s everything."
Ok I’m getting tired of typing. Here is your first step to financial freedom – Train your mind to expect wealth.
You didn’t think I was going to tell you to go get a job did you? Heck, a job is the last thing anyone needs. But I won’t go down that rabbit trail for now.
Money comes to those who expect it to come. That’s the bottom line. Not "hope" – expect. I read in a book once a long time ago this interesting fact that a survey revealed about entrepreneurs. It has always stuck with me for some reason. It said something like this…
"The typical entrepreneur usually does not know where the money is going to come from. But he knows it will come. It has to."
It resonated with me so much because I have thought like that from day one almost instinctively. But even though you may not have been born with that instinct, I think you can take steps to acquire it.
Your assignment is to learn everything about money that you possibly can. Don’t worship it (You can have a ton and still be miserable. Ask me how I know). Just respect it. Don’t expect to have a lot of something you don’t respect. Money is sensitive. It only comes around places it is appreciated.
Even more fundamentally you need to discover what it is you truly believe about money and then adjust your beliefs where they need to be adjusted. Everything else will come naturally.
If you need help understanding how to adjust your beliefs on money, you’ll do yourself a huge favor by checking out one of my money mentors, T. Harv Eker, has for you right here.
I highly recommend using Eker’s free 30-page consumer awareness guide called “Get Hardwired for Success: How to Reset Your Mind's Money Blueprint to Create Automatic Wealth”. This eye-opening resource is provided by the world’s leading expert on mind reprogramming as it pertains to money. You will thank me for this.
Do these two things and you will be well on your way, my friend. I wouldn’t steer you wrong. You’ll see.
"In my anguish I cried out to God. And He answered me…by setting me free."
- Psalm 118:5
Train – Train your mind to expect wealth.
Learn – Learn everything about money that you possibly can (but don’t worship it).
Adjust – Discover what it is you truly believe about money and then adjust your beliefs where they need to be adjusted.
Preston Ely
is a real estate investor, serial entrepreneur, life coach, musician and philanthropist. CEO of Real Freedom, Inc, one of the most influential internet-based information publishers in the world, owns the largest Anytime Fitness Gym in the United States, is recording a music album with Atlantic Records, sits on the board of Advocates Of Love Orphanage, and has a non-profit charity assisting the poor and oppressed in Cuba with both their physical and spiritual needs.
With over 200,000 subscribers to his email newsletter, he is rapidly fulfilling his mission on earth, which is to glorify God by setting people physically, mentally, financially, and spiritually free through his music and his message of FREEDOM. Preston is 37 years old, lives in Tampa, FL with his wife Ashley, where he spends most of his time reading, writing, and practicing mixed martial arts.