What if I do Nothing?

I was recently turned on to entrepreneur/writer/speaker Jonathan Fields. He is a former private equity attorney turned lifestyle-entrepreneur and wrote a book in 2009 called Career Renegade: How to Make a Great Living Doing What You Love. Check out his website and read his blog at www.JonathanFields.com.

Obviously Jonathan Fields focuses on entrepreneurship, which I think is cool – but you might be asking yourself what does that have to do with personal finance? A lot actually! You are all entrepreneurs with your finances, think of your financial situation as a small business!

Fields spoke last week at TEDx - Carnegie Mellon University, on turning fear into fuel. Pay close attention to the section where he answers the question “What if I do nothing?” Here is the video of his presentation:

What if you doing nothing about your financial future? It will be a disaster! I love Fields’ quote: “Life applies friction, there is no sideways; there is up and down.”

Project out what life will be like if you do nothing with your finances for 5, 10, and 15 years. Is that scary? You bet it is!

Don’t let your fear of failure, or even your fear of success paralyze you from getting started. Take the first step and start making changes with your personal finances!