NFA Finance

I’ve spent a lot of my life thinking the answer was to do more.

Work more.

Build more.

Buy more.

Start another business. Take another phone call. Chase another opportunity. Add another project to the list.

And there’s nothing inherently wrong with any of that. I believe in work. I believe in ambition. I believe that momentum creates motivation.

But lately, I’ve realized something.

Sometimes the next level doesn’t require you to add anything.

Sometimes you need to start subtracting.

The Weight You Don’t Notice

This morning, I’m getting my house ready for an open house.

I’ve been cleaning. Organizing. Getting rid of things. Straightening rooms that were already pretty clean. Looking at clothes I haven’t worn and wondering why the hell I still own them.

And something happens every time I eliminate something.

The room feels bigger.

The house feels better.

My head feels clearer.

That’s when it hit me:

Physical clutter and mental clutter aren’t that different.

Every unfinished project takes a little piece of your attention.

Every unnecessary expense does too.

Every possession you have to maintain.

Every relationship that constantly requires energy but gives none back.

Every account, subscription, obligation, conversation and commitment that no longer belongs in the life you’re trying to build.

None of them individually seem like a big deal.

But stack enough of them together and eventually you can barely hear yourself think.

Busy Isn’t the Same as Moving Forward

This is something I’ve had to learn the hard way.

You can have an absolutely slammed day and accomplish almost nothing that changes your life.

Phone calls.

Emails.

Problems.

Errands.

People needing things.

Something breaks.

Something needs to be paid.

Something needs to be fixed.

Suddenly it’s nighttime and you’re exhausted.

You worked all day.

But did you actually move forward?

There’s a difference.

Activity can feel a lot like progress when you’re inside of it.

That’s dangerous.

Because the most important things in your life usually aren’t screaming for your attention.

Your vision doesn’t call you 14 times.

Your future doesn’t send you a past-due notice.

Your biggest opportunity usually isn’t standing in the kitchen demanding that you deal with it immediately.

It sits there quietly.

Waiting.

What Am I Actually Trying to Build?

That’s the question I keep coming back to.

Not:

What else can I do?

But:

What am I actually trying to build?

Once you can answer that question, decisions start getting easier.

Does this help me get there?

Keep it.

Does this constantly pull me away from it?

Maybe it has to go.

That applies to business.

Money.

Possessions.

Relationships.

Habits.

Even identity.

Sometimes we’re holding onto things simply because they’ve been part of our lives for a long time.

But longevity doesn’t automatically equal value.

Selling More Than a House

That’s part of what selling this house represents to me.

I love this place.

It’s beautiful.

It’s on the water.

I’ve put a tremendous amount of work into it.

But there comes a point where you have to ask whether something still serves the life you’re trying to create.

I’m not interested in maintaining a life simply because I already built it.

I’m interested in building the right life.

And I can see the next chapter more clearly than I have in a long time.

Cars.

Business.

Content.

Travel.

Building Modern Day Dealer.

Building 7101 Motors.

Taking the machine on the road.

Creating instead of maintaining.

Moving instead of waiting.

Doing.

And maybe that’s why cleaning out a closet suddenly feels bigger than cleaning out a closet.

I’m creating space.

Subtraction Is a Strategy

We talk constantly about what successful people add to their lives.

Another income stream.

Another investment.

Another employee.

Another property.

Another business.

Another habit.

But we don’t talk enough about what they eliminate.

Distractions.

Bad debt.

Unnecessary overhead.

Dead-end projects.

Toxic relationships.

Clutter.

Complexity.

Things that worked five years ago but don’t fit anymore.

Subtraction can be one of the most aggressive forms of growth.

Because every time you remove something that doesn’t matter, you create more capacity for something that does.

More time.

More money.

More attention.

More energy.

More freedom.

Protect Your Attention

I’ve said for a long time:

Attention is the new currency.

And I’m starting to understand that statement on another level.

Your attention isn’t just valuable to advertisers or social media companies.

It’s valuable to you.

You only have so much of it every day.

Where you put it determines what grows.

Put your attention into bullshit and bullshit grows.

Put your attention into your health, your business, your family, your craft and your future?

Those things grow.

Simple concept.

Hard execution.

Because the world is constantly trying to spend your attention for you.

Don’t let it.

Maybe You Don’t Need Another Productivity Hack

Maybe you don’t need another app.

Another planner.

Another morning routine.

Another podcast about getting more done.

Maybe you need to walk around your life and start asking:

Why is this still here?

Why am I paying for this?

Why am I maintaining this?

Why am I worried about this?

Why am I giving this person so much of my energy?

Why am I working on something I don’t even want anymore?

Why am I carrying something into my future that belongs in my past?

Those can be uncomfortable questions.

But uncomfortable questions have changed my life more than comfortable answers ever have.

Make Room

That’s what I’m doing right now.

Making room.

Not because I want an empty life.

Quite the opposite.

I want a life so full of the things that actually matter that there’s no room left for the things that don’t.

Today, that means cleaning a house and getting ready for an open house.

Tomorrow, it might mean something completely different.

But the principle stays the same.

You probably don’t need more time.

You have the same 24 hours everybody else has.

What you may need is fewer things competing for those hours.

Less clutter.

Less obligation.

Less complexity.

Less noise.

Because underneath all of that noise, you probably already know exactly what you’re supposed to be doing.

You just need enough silence to hear it.

Stack daily wins.

— Modern Day Dealer