When traveling from one city to another, taking a bus ride is simple. We need to do a fair bit of research on what buses get to the destination we want to go, we need to find out when and where to get on such a bus and how much it will cost us to do so. But once we have purchased that ticket and turn up on time at the pick up point, we can then rest assured that we will reach the destination we intend to as advertised.
If we are to drive to that place instead, we need to find ourselves a map of the route, we need to have a car that can last the journey, we need to have cash and tools for refueling and repairs along the way as needed (if needed). And most important, we need to constantly make decisions to ensure we are on the right track, course correct if we are not, track back if we make mistakes, pay attention to the traffic around us and make decisions to speed up and slow down accordingly, so on and so on.
While taking a bus ride is a passive way to get to our destination, driving a car is definitely more active.
We have similar options when we are traveling on holiday - we can entrust a travel agent to organize and take care of our complete itinerary and just turn up and do what we're told, or we can book our own flights and hotels and decide what we want to do and for how long every step of the way.
Passive or active.
We can do the same with our money. We can pay a financial advisor to manage our money and not worry about it, or we can understand the intricacies of investing for returns and make our own investment decisions.
Passive or active.
And we make conscious decisions to either take the passive route or the active route in all these scenarios. In some cases, taking the passive route reduces overhead and saves us time while in others, it enhances our experience and gives us more control when we take the active route.
But, when the time scale grows longer and spans years to a lifetime, like our career or our relationships or our health and fitness, we have a tendency to take the bus ride.
We do our initial research, we purchase a ticket and then we expect to reach the destination without having to do anything more.
But the reality is, there are no operators operating such a bus service. Which is why there is a constant need for learning throughout our lives.
Stop taking the bus ride and take control of the wheel.
If we are to drive to that place instead, we need to find ourselves a map of the route, we need to have a car that can last the journey, we need to have cash and tools for refueling and repairs along the way as needed (if needed). And most important, we need to constantly make decisions to ensure we are on the right track, course correct if we are not, track back if we make mistakes, pay attention to the traffic around us and make decisions to speed up and slow down accordingly, so on and so on.
While taking a bus ride is a passive way to get to our destination, driving a car is definitely more active.
We have similar options when we are traveling on holiday - we can entrust a travel agent to organize and take care of our complete itinerary and just turn up and do what we're told, or we can book our own flights and hotels and decide what we want to do and for how long every step of the way.
Passive or active.
We can do the same with our money. We can pay a financial advisor to manage our money and not worry about it, or we can understand the intricacies of investing for returns and make our own investment decisions.
Passive or active.
And we make conscious decisions to either take the passive route or the active route in all these scenarios. In some cases, taking the passive route reduces overhead and saves us time while in others, it enhances our experience and gives us more control when we take the active route.
But, when the time scale grows longer and spans years to a lifetime, like our career or our relationships or our health and fitness, we have a tendency to take the bus ride.
We do our initial research, we purchase a ticket and then we expect to reach the destination without having to do anything more.
But the reality is, there are no operators operating such a bus service. Which is why there is a constant need for learning throughout our lives.
Stop taking the bus ride and take control of the wheel.
CONVERSATION