Being Unreasonable

I went to a "wealth-building seminar" last night, though I tend to stay away from those kinds of things, because, you know, generally? They're bogus.

But this was put on by my mortgage broker (hmmm, this is sounding worse and worse).

And it was actually—not bad. The guy who presented it reviewed a lot of basic stuff, like how to make a budget. You know, stuff that I have no desire to learn and will probably never actually sit down and do. Although he claims that a budget is KIND OF KEY to building wealth.

Whatever.

But the guy said one thing that actually stuck with me, in amidst all the crap about assets and liabilities and income and expenses (that last part is where it all seems to fall apart).

Someone in the audience said to the presenter, who is now a gazillionaire, "It's important to be practical." Meaning, "Don't aim too high."

And the gazillionaire, who claims to have been $60K in debt in 1996, and not only climbed out, but over and up, said that he disagreed. He repeated that old saw about if you aim low, you can be pretty sure you'll hit your target. He said that it was important to "be unreasonable."

When he was $60K in debt, he set a goal to retire on $100K a year. And then he met that goal.

Naturally, I applied all of this financial info to fitness, triathlon, running. (The whole money part? Yeah, that blew right over my head.)

I'm taking a stand for unreasonableness. I would never in my wildest imagination thought that I could run a marathon, and certainly never ever ever thought I could swim 1,000 yards (yes, it is yards) at one go. Ever. Nevermind get on a bike after that and then run (of course we have yet to see...but that's not the point!)

The point is to take a risk. Push yourself. Go out on a limb.

Maybe your version of being unreasonable is asking for what you need. Or taking an unpopular stand.

Or signing up for swimming lessons.

I don't know.

For me, trying to become a triathlete, even my teensy version of one, is totally and utterly unreasonable. Running a marathon, or a half (upcoming!), is totally unreasonable.

For me, three years ago, running one mile was totally unreasonable.

Who knows where this little game could end?

Point is: I liked the guy's point!