How much power do we really have over our own lives? Can anyone reading this blog, wanting to achieve financial independence really do it? Or is it only possible for the lucky few whose stars align?*

My answers are a lot, absolutely and no. In my opinion, it is largely the excuses we make that hold us back. Phrases like…

“yeah, but I…” “I never had the opportunity to…’ “I can’t…’

Hell, even I am guilty of automatically thinking in this way sometimes. It is almost like a gut reaction to what is meant to be a friendly suggestion. This is the whiny excuse maker inside of us trying to justify our failures. Like a warm blanket wrapped around us, preventing our fragile egos and sense of self worth from coming to terms with the fact that we just failed at something and it is actually our own damn fault. I make a constant effort to beat the living shit of this destructive thought out of my brain.

In a way, your life is like going for a jog. For some of us, we jog on a pretty level surface most of the time. We cruise along with a sustained amount of effort.

Others are jogging downhill, experiencing great gain for very little effort. However some people are running downhill so fast, they are constantly tripping over themselves and falling over.

Others are jogging uphill most of the time, really fighting for every bit of gain.

All of us will encounter cliff faces from time to time, where we need to learn how to rock climb a new area. Our first few climbs will involve a fair bit of discomfort. However as time goes on, rock climbing becomes easier.

The more we jog and rock climb, the better we get. We build our muscles, our knowledge and our courage. There are some that are so proficient at rock climbing they make it look like child’s play. These people easily climb a large cliff quicker than a lot of people can walk to the local shop.

Here is the thing though. A lot of people see that cliff face and just decide to quit right there. They linger in the depths of the gorge, blaming that cliff for their ruined plans and pointing out the injustice in the world, “look at that guy who always gets to run downhill“. They want to feel better about failing, so they make excuses.

So when we say:

“yeah, but I…”

We are really saying “there’s that cliff, ruining all my plans”.

When that knee jerk reaction of “this cliff is why I couldn’t do that thing I wanted to do” creeps in, stop, recognise that you are making a whiny excuse. Instead you can put on your big boy pants, accept that you failed and actually learn from it. Think for a moment, “what can I do to get to where I want?”

You see, there is this radical notion that you are actually in control of your life circumstances. There are certainly hardships, unfairness and injustice in the world, but these shouldn’t prevent you from doing everything you can and becoming the damn best rock climber out there.

I will reinforce an opinion that I have previously shared on this blog. If you are living in Australia or any other developed country, reading this on a computer or smartphone with a generous data plan, despite what you may think, you are indeed one of those people running downhill and perhaps even tripping over yourself along the way.

Locus of control

Locus of Control is a psychology concept about our attitudes regarding the amount of control we have over our own lives. The concept describes internal and external locus’ of control.

Those with an internal locus of control generally believe and act as though their own decisions and actions are what determine the outcome of their lives.

Those with a more external locus of control generally believe that their lives are largely influenced by external factors such as fate, governments, luck or systems.

There is a continuum between these 2 extremes, with everyone sitting somewhere in between.

The Power to Retire Early

This is where things get juicy. It turns out that the link between a person’s locus of control and their wealth accumulation has been scientifically studied! These studies demonstrate a definite correlation between our locus of control and personal wealth.

When financial independence became a goal for me, I cut away unnecessary expenses, downgraded my car, sought a better paying job and dived head first into the financial independence community on Reddit and Facebook.

When I first started university and I was faced with 5 years of poor living. I could have easily blamed society for not supporting full-time students. Instead I signed up for several casual jobs, worked 13 day fortnights during my holiday breaks, joined the Army Reserve and spent 18 months working a loophole in the social security system to qualify for Youth Allowance. All of this hard work netted me a lifestyle of relative luxury compared to some of my peers, even the ones that were just bank rolled by their parents the whole time.

Scenario 1: External Locus of Control

An example of someone in the “Nothing is my fault” crowd, when it comes to optimising commutes out of their life.

Pat: Wow, commuting is costing you a fortune. If you can eliminate that, you will shave years off your retirement date. How about you walk or bike ride to work? Non-Shuffler 1: I live too far from work so I can’t walk or bike ride to work. Jobs need to be decentralised out of the city so not everyone has to commute in everyday. Non-Shuffler 2: All the jobs in my field are in the city where the houses are too expensive. The government has to do something about housing affordability in Sydney. Non-Shuffler 3: The government has to build more infrastructure to make getting to work quicker and easier for those that live further from the city.

Scenario 2: Internal Locus of Control

As an example of someone in the “I have choices and control of my situation” crowd, when it comes optimising commutes out of their life.

Pat: Wow, commuting is costing you a fortune, if you can eliminate that you will shave years off your retirement date. How about you walk or bike ride to work? Shuffler 1: I can move closer to work or change jobs to somewhere closer to where I live. Shuffler 2: I can move to a different city or town that has more favourable living conditions and more affordable housing. I know other friends that may follow me if I take the lead. I will work to form new relationships when I am there and keep my existing relationships strong. Shuffler 3: I can change jobs, fields or industries to something where I am not forced to work in the city. I can get extra training or on the job experience to make this happen. Shuffler 4: I can downgrade to a 2 or 3 bedroom apartment closer to work. I can then take my kids to the park on weekends and in the afternoon.

So let’s stop and point out that I am not fundamentally disagreeing with what is said by the Non-Shuffler. I agree, the government should improve housing affordability and infrastructure.Nor am I suggesting that you shouldn’t weigh up all the pros and cons of a decision.

But I notice a pattern emerging and I hope you do too. As far as this Non-Shuffler is concerned, their problems are caused by other people. They believe that this aspect of their life that they admittedly hate is out of their control! These are the whiny excuse makers. They are absolutely no fun to talk to and are often very hard to reason with due to their defeatist, ‘nothing is my fault‘ attitude. You will notice them in the comments section and twitter responses of every smashed avocado and property article in Australia. They also often find it very offensive that you suggest any of it is within their control.

The Shuffler on the other hand has all these options open to them and knows they are in control of their life. They realise excuse making relinquishes control and responsibility of their lives away from themselves. Moreover, making excuses takes away precious time and energy that your brain could otherwise use being productive.

At the risk of appearing very basic, I present to you all of the science and opinion above, summarised in a concise, cheesy action movie one-liner.

So next time, when things haven’t quite gone to plan, a mistake is made or you are feeling held back in some way, remember:

Everytime an excuse is made, a baby Shuffler cries

Instead, think about what you can do to improve the situation, what you can change to not make the mistake again, or the choices you can make to overcome those barriers. By accepting more responsibility for your life, you will assume more control to make changes in your life. This will have the inevitable consequence of leading to you becoming wealthy and retiring at a surprisingly young age.

Keep Shuffling

Pat the Shuffler

*Acknowledging this is true for the vast majority of individuals living in rich, developed countries like Australia and the US, who are largely in control of their future.

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