{"id":103846,"date":"2019-11-21T09:00:28","date_gmt":"2019-11-21T16:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/renewsblog\/?p=103846"},"modified":"2023-08-08T14:53:35","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T20:53:35","slug":"tragedy-borrowed-goals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/tragedy-borrowed-goals","title":{"rendered":"Inspirational Success Stories Are Great\u2014Unless They Lead to Goals You Never Wanted"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n      <iframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/playlist.megaphone.fm?e=BIGPOC7056912483&#038;light=false\" width=\"100%\"><\/iframe>  \n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The original thesis of marketing was: find a need and fill it. You need to wash your laundry, so a dozen brands of detergent fill that need at your nearest supermarket. However, in a wealthy country like the United States, those essential needs are already filled for the majority of the population. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The problem is businesses <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">still<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> need to sell their products and services. So, how do they accomplish that in a landscape where essential needs have already been met? <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One way they do that is to identify <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">new<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> needs that emerge once as you climb higher in the Maslowian hierarchy. They\u2019ve been whimsically called \u201crich people problems.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The other way they get you to buy their wares is to <em>create<\/em> the need where there is none. That&#8217;s how you end up keeping up with the Joneses (or the Kardashians). You currently live in a 3,000-square-foot home, but you suddenly need to upgrade to 4,000 square feet because you need that dedicated theater room and the additional guest room no one ever sleeps in. Your car is practically brand new, but you need to purchase a new one that looks like a two-bedroom apartment, because your kids and their friends are a little cramped on that once-a-week trip to soccer practice. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-84055\" src=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/setting-goals.jpg\" alt=\"setting-goals\" width=\"702\" height=\"336\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/setting-goals.jpg 702w, https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/setting-goals-300x144.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 702px) 100vw, 702px\" \/><br \/><em><br \/><strong>Related:<\/strong> <a href=\"\/renewsblog\/2015\/12\/17\/actionable-steps-reach-investing-goals\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">5 Highly Actionable Steps to Make REAL Progress Towards Your Investing Goals<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<h2>Why Do We Fall for It?<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Because envy has a way of making us feel inadequate. <\/span>Nowhere is this more glaringly apparent than in the financial and investing space.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oh, you make a great income at your job of which you save a good portion to retire, pay your student loan debt, and invest for the future? That\u2019s great, but look at these YouTubers making millions in their spare time in between yacht parties. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What\u2019s that, you say? You\u2019ve acquired three great <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/2013\/01\/04\/how-to-rent-your-house\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">rental properties<\/a> in the last 18 months and they\u2019re all doing well? Fantastic\u2014but look at this guy who went from zero to 200 doors in 90 days with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/2015\/07\/29\/invest-real-estate-bad-credit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">no money or credit<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You started a small business that is profitable and that allows you time flexibility to build a life you love? I\u2019m afraid you\u2019re playing small\u2014you should wake up at 3:00 a.m., work 18 hours on your side hustle, work out for two hours, read a book a day, and change the world by building the next Facebook or Uber. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You actually love your profession and serve your clients well with a smile on your face every day? What a sucker\u2014you must quit your job at once, retire, and support yourself by writing a blog about how you quit your job and retired.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>The Tragedy of Borrowed Goals<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I believe that one of the biggest afflictions in modern life is the tragedy of borrowed goals. <\/span>Imagine spending precious time on the pursuit of goals that aren\u2019t your own.<\/p>\n<p>Picture striving for and building a life you never wanted in the first place. Envision substituting self awareness with an out-of-the-box template of a successful life. How tragic!<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The purpose of this article is to encourage you to become self aware and figure out what makes you tick. I want you to know that you <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">can<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> build a life that serves <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">you<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and I want to offer you permission to completely ignore someone else\u2019s goals, strategies, and path if they don\u2019t serve you. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-102727\" src=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/adult-attractive-contemplating-269334.jpg\" alt=\"man resting chin on hand looking as though he&#039;s deep in thought\" width=\"702\" height=\"336\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/adult-attractive-contemplating-269334.jpg 702w, https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/adult-attractive-contemplating-269334-300x144.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 702px) 100vw, 702px\" \/><br \/><em><br \/><strong>Related:<\/strong> <a href=\"\/renewsblog\/american-dream-is-false\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Why Following the American Dream Will Rob You of Financial Control<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re happy doing your job, do your job and enjoy it. Don\u2019t let anyone make you feel less than because they\u2019re miserable at their job. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re happy building a small practice that serves the local community and helps you live the life you want in the process, do THAT with excellence. That\u2019s not settling for less\u2014it\u2019s knowing what you really want. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you want to build a small portfolio of rental properties to create a passive income stream, go for it. Ignore the voices that insist you must \u201cbuild an empire\u201d (whatever that means) or you\u2019re playing small. If you\u2019re building your real estate investment portfolio for income, then choose the simplest, most elegant solution to help you achieve that. That\u2019s usually a smaller, boring, uneventful, plain vanilla portfolio of residential properties. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If instead you\u2019re building your portfolio for ego, then the door count in your portfolio starts to matter. Neither of those options is \u201cright\u201d or \u201cwrong\u201d\u2014you just have to figure out your lane and stay in it. Don\u2019t get your head turned by rags to riches stories that lead to where you don\u2019t want to end up in the first place. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The most important mantra in investing and life has just two words: Know thyself. Simple but not easy. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s especially challenging in modern life when we busy ourselves with the pursuit of income to pay bills. There\u2019s no space to become self-aware and figure out what we really want. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But we must make the space and begin to know ourselves, because if we don\u2019t, we will fall prey to the tragedy of borrowed goals. We will end up pursuing someone else\u2019s dream only to achieve it and find out it\u2019s actually an unhappy nightmare.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/biggerpockets-business-podcast\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-119124\" src=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/business-podcast-ad-for-blog.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"706\" height=\"125\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/business-podcast-ad-for-blog.jpg 706w, https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/business-podcast-ad-for-blog-300x53.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/business-podcast-ad-for-blog-702x125.jpg 702w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 100vw, 706px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>How do you ensure you stay focused on your personal goals?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Weigh in with a comment!<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The purpose of this article is to encourage you to become self-aware and figure out what makes you tick. I want you to know that you can build a life that serves you, and I want to offer you permission to completely ignore someone else\u2019s goals, strategies, and path if they don\u2019t serve you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":800,"featured_media":119442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,7119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-personal-development","category-biggerpockets-daily"],"acf":[],"comment_count":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/800"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}