One of the hardest concepts for most people to grasp is this: You are completely in charge of your future.
This is especially evident for those who put their trust, and in turn reliance, in the government.
Let me rewind just a bit – let’s look back in time to the 2008 financial crisis. We all know what happened. The housing market crashed, big corporations got bailed out and CEOs got paid multi-million dollar bonuses (paid for by our tax dollars).
Then, the mighty government stepped in and saved us! Shortly after, they created the Dodd-Frank Act to prevent any financial crisis from ever happening again.
I’m not going to even attempt to explain the Dodd-Frank Act to you. It’s pages and pages AND PAGES of new regulations.
You can check out a ‘cheat sheet’ here. It’s 28 pages of confusing information. AND over 25% of the proposed regulations still haven’t been enforced.
In fact, there are so many regulations and reporting requirements for financial operations that our economy (here in the US) is actually being held back. The reporting requirements and obstacles that new businesses must overcome are so complicated that many startups have failed or moved to different countries.
Furthermore, there have been numerous movements to repeal the entire Act itself. Trump has even said that he will do away with the Dodd-Frank Act all together.
But what the heck is Dodd-Frank anyway? I mean, literally, what is Dodd-Frank?
Originally, it was called, “The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009.” Then an internal vote changed the name to the “Dodd-Frank Act” to recognize the two co-architects of the bill – Chris Dodd and Barney Frank.
So, you might think, “Wow, these two guys must be super smart! They reformed Wall Street and knew all of the right steps to fight against the evil bankers and businessmen!”
Well… Let’s look at these two guys…
Chris Dodd – Went to university, served two years in the Peace Corps, then went to law school where he was also an Army Reservist. After that, he immediately entered politics and now has the title of “longest-serving senator in Connecticut’s history.”
Barney Frank – Went to university, then law school, then immediately into politics.
Both of these guys got a nice education with a pretty law degree.
And… both of these guys never worked on Wall Street. They never worked for a private company. They never worked as an entrepreneur. They never even left politics once they were elected.
Dood and Frank never worked in the industry in which they wrote legislation to regulate.
Think about that.
This isn’t an anti-government rant. Instead, the point here is to realize that your future relies on yourself. If you think that others know better than you, especially those who can ‘regulate’ your life, then you’re sorely mistaken.
That is why it is so incredibly important to be creative about how you pursue success, freedom and happiness in your life. Following a path that has been traveled many times will often lead to somewhere you don’t want to be.
Making your own path – which is extremely scary – is how you ultimately reach your destination.
