According to US statistics, between 4 to 11 people a year die from spider bites and between 3% to 15% suffer from arachnophobia.
So, using the highest number of deaths from spider bites, 11 and using the lowest number of people who suffer with arachnophobia (3%) or 9,870,00 (9.8 million) Americans; the odds of just those afraid of spiders, dying from a spider bite are about 0.0001%.
Why am I telling you this? Am I trying to make people feel bad for having arachnophobia? NO. ‘Cause I’ll be honest, when I see a spider… I call my wife.
The reason I want to share this little tidbit of information is because I want you to know and remember (and I have to remind myself) that some fears are not based in reality.
This is important when working on your Z to A plan. (By the way how’s that going?) Sure, you can fear the future and come up with worst case scenarios, but you can also come up with solutions.
Back in the days when I used to do martial arts, my senseis (teachers) used to call me “What-if”. Why? Because every time they showed us a new move or choke hold or anything, I would always ask, what if. What if I did this when you did that? Lucky for me anytime they wanted to hurt someone, I got chosen.
The good news is that being the “what if” guy built up my pain tolerance and my knowledge base and my skill set.
Why am I telling you this? Because I want you to become a “What if” too. Come up with problems that you think may come up and find a solution. Build your fear factor into your retirement plan.
When I talk to people about my Z to A plan system, I get plenty of what ifs. And I tell them what my strategy is for dealing with those what ifs.
Usually people ask, what if the market crashes (as it’s doing that right now in Jan to May of 2022). I tell them I have 3 years of living expenses outside the market or ‘liquid’) to keep me going through a crash.
Eventually I get the, “What if the market has a complete collapse and you lose all your money?”
I say, “If the market collapses and I lose all my money, we have much bigger problems in the world than money issues. I probably need to find myself a gun. And if the collapse hasn’t started a world where anarchy is running wild, I’ll go get a job and start over.”
And I’ve had a few people say to me, “Ya, but then all that work would have been a waste of time.”
My response is always the same. “If I said that you could take three years off work and do whatever it is that you want to do, but at the end of those three years you have to go back to work – you won’t be further behind, you’ll still have everything you have right now, no, debt, no mortgage, just your everyday bills – would you take it?”
I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t.
My main point for you today is to plan for the worst and hope for the best. Point your GPS to the right address and move forward.
If you have a destination you will find a way to get there or die trying. Set your goals, write them down, focus on them, think about them, talk about them, dream about them. Ask for help to get there, ask for advice from people who’ve done it or are working on it. Go, go, go.
Whether you like it or not, if you continually try to reach your goal, if you spend all your time working on the happy life you want, you will get there. The only thing that can stop you is time. That is death.
But let me say this, the journey to your happy life – your goal, your dream, your destination whatever it is, that life you live on the way – will be a life that is constantly improving. Little by little, step by step.
Do not fear happiness.
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Love ya, Chip.