About 9 years ago, I was at my parents house for Thanksgiving, and somehow the topic of me having an assistant came up.
Which caused quite a stir from my blue-collar relatives.
Why?
Because they simply didn’t get it.
“An assistant? You can’t do that stuff yourself? Seems like a waste of money” my Uncle spouted.
I explained to him that of course I could do the stuff myself…
I just didn’t.
Because it wasn’t a good use of my time.
I thought he’d understand that.
But he didn’t.
And neither did the rest of my family.
So for the next 5 minutes my aunts and uncles proceeded to tell me how they’d never waste money on something like an assistant…
And how they were raised to be independent – and do things on their own.
I remember sitting there feeling like I was being ganged-up on.
All of these adults were telling me I was wrong.
And it started to get to me.
At the time I was barely 25 years old…
And just getting my feet wet in this business…
So I wasn’t as confident as I’d be today.
With all of them bearing down on me, I started to wonder if they were right…
I thought “well they’re older than me, maybe they know better”.
But after a lot of beating myself up…
I finally had a realization.
That this wasn’t about me.
It was about them.
They wanted me to conform to their world.
Cause what I was doing was making them uncomfortable.
Their whole world is about getting a steady job, making $45k a year, and staying there for 30 years until you can retire.
Which is fine.
That’s THEIR world.
But that’s not for me.
And it took me a while to realize that I don’t have to feel bad for having things that they don’t.
I don’t have to feel guilty for having an assistant…
Or taking $20,000 vacations.
These are normal things in my world.
And if that upsets my family…
Or makes them uncomfortable…
That’s their problem.
Not mine.
It says a lot more about their beliefs about money…
And about work…
Than it does about mine.
Anyways…
If you’re surrounded by family today, keep this in mind.
Your life doesn’t have to reflect their values.
Enjoy your day,
– Justin
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