KnowHow founder Bushy Martin reveals the questions that aspirational and experienced investors should ask themselves to re-connect with their purpose in property investing and life.
Bushy says your ‘why’ is crucial in providing “a compass to assess every choice and decision you make consciously and subconsciously day to day, in terms of whether your choices will take you closer to or further away from your desired life”.
To help investors self-reflect and gain clarity, Bushy revealed a set of simple questions which revolve around one’s values on Property Hub’s Get Invested podcast.
Question: What are my core values?
Bushy explained that aligning your actions and decisions with your fundamental values will ensure you don’t make compromises.
“Core values are your fundamental beliefs to help you know what’s right from wrong. They can help you to determine if you’re on the right path in fulfilling your goals, and they’re your guiding principles dictate your behaviour and your actions. They create your unwavering and unchanging invisible guide. So ignore these at your peril, because your subconscious is already programmed to know what they are for you by nature and nurture. So if you’re not aware of your underlying beliefs and values, you’ll probably end up self-sabotaging yourself,” he said.
“So as an example, my personal core values are summed up in the word humility. For me, humility is unpretentious, respectful, unassuming and not seeking recognition. But then I break the word humility down into the following core values. H is for harmony, which is about feeling calm, peaceful, tranquil, serene, enjoying solitude, fun and freedom. U is for uniqueness, which is about being original, creative, clever, different, and stylish. The M is for being motivated and being optimistic, passionate, fit and healthy. The I is for integrity, the importance of honesty, being principled, staying true to my values, and having the courage to say no. L is for loyalty, being dependable, trustworthy, persistent, patient and determined, and being there when it really counts. The next I in humility stands for inspiration. This is continuous learning and constant curiosity and insight. The T is for thoroughness, which means being punctual, prepared and having attention to detail. And finally, the Y in humility stands for yes, which to me means acceptance without judgement or criticism.
“So what are your core values? Of course, there are no right or wrong answers to this. With this, you might have a handful of non-negotiable values or a lot of things that are fundamental to you. And you certainly don’t have to sum them up in the acronym I have. It is, however, important to stop and crystallise what’s important to you, so you can make choices, decisions and options against them so that you align with your personal integrity, which in turn affects your level of self esteem and your level of self-belief.”
Your ‘why’: What makes me happy?
Investors should consider when they are at their happiest, what their biggest achievement is and what they’re most passionate about.
“Think back to your childhood and all of those memorable times during your life when you felt really good. What were you doing? Who were you with? How did you feel? In my case, music really makes me come alive and moves me emotionally. I’m also at my most relaxed and content when I can soak in the quiet of a long-range natural view,” Bushy said.
Your ‘why’: How will I measure my life?
For Bushy, deciding how you want to measure your life means making a stand for something and then living your life in alignment with it.
“As the old saying goes, people who don’t stand for something can easily fall for anything…So in my own personal case, I’m going to measure my life by the quality of my relationships and the degree to which I’ve helped others improve their lives and achieve their goals. My goal is to leave everyone I meet feeling smarter and smiling,” he said.
“On the flip side, don’t measure your life by constantly comparing yourself to others. This is a never ending road to misery, as continuously growing expectations erode any opportunity for happiness, contentedness and peace. Work out how much is enough for you to live the way you want. Don’t allow expectation inflation to become your misery master.”
Your ‘why’: What’s most important to me in my life?
Investors need to be completely honest and not consider other people’s opinions when answering this question.
“Writing down what you really love doing can help to crystallise what’s important to you. Maybe what you love doing is spending time with friends and family, doing a particular hobby, your job or travelling. Your answers will be unique to you alone. This process is about finding out what you want to be doing, not what you feel you should be doing, because ‘should’ is a thief,” Bushy said.
Your ‘why’: If money were no object, what would I do?
Bushy recommended writing down your bucket list.
“After working out what’s most important to you, follow this with writing what your bucket list is. Next, clarify why they’re on your list and how you feel about each of them,” he said.
Your ‘why’: How do I really want to live?
Finally, investors should visualise their perfect day, week, month and year.
“Write what you’ve imagined down like a diary journal, as if you were describing your perfect day in ten year’s time. How do you feel? What are you doing with food? Where and why? Describe your feelings and thoughts along with the sounds, tastes and smells. Make it vivid and detailed and compelling. Focus on, how does all of this make me feel?” Bushy said.
“Now, if you’re a visual person like myself, you can then convert your Perfect Day diary into a photo collage of images and words that bring your values, goals and bucket list to life. Once your vision board is complete, print off multiple colour copies, laminate them and stick them all over the house in places that you’re likely to see them.”
Listen to the full interview here.
Want to Know How you can build wealth and optimise your property finance with the help of leading, qualified experts? Check us out and talk to the team, now.
