When you make a decision about money you always want to think that the decision is based on careful and diligent reasoning. You want to think that due diligence has been the primary mover in your decision. We all want to think that we have reasoned it all out exhaustively and made the right decision.

But often fear takes over and becomes the dominant factor in many of the decisions we make about money. And fear, when unchecked, can be a killer of financial freedom. It can, of course, also be a protector against financial pain but sometimes financial pain is an essential part of moving forward.

A healthy smattering of fear can be useful if it makes us dig a little deeper or study a little more. But as the only driver in a decision, well, it's pretty terrible. Whilst you can be guided a little by it, never take advice from your fear because it can only draw on past failures or discomfort to arrive at its conclusion. 

As we do not have the ability to see into the future, fear has us over a barrel in many respects. You cannot look into the future and endorse it with fact whereas you can look back and almost endorse that with facts. That hurt, that didn't work, that was a disaster and I wish I hadn't done that are good reasons not to do it again. Mix in a little selective memory and you see how there could easily be a problem with backwards thinking.

But is what we are looking at now definitely going the same way this time? Are the circumstances the same? Am I the same person with the same needs now? If time has moved on isn't it also likely that your need for urgency has moved on with it? None of us know how much time we have ahead of us. How would knowing we had very little time left affect our decisions?

In the end, your mind, because you are human, will apply what it knows for sure to the probable end result of anything you are considering. If you could actually look into the future and see outcomes, wouldn't that be fantastic. But you can't, so how can you ever make decisions based on the future? You simply can't you just need to sometimes be brave and determined.

If you can picture your future properly in your mind, give it great shape, depth and emotion it is possible to take a stab at future-based decision making. Imagine something that requires a known and specific amount of money (or as close to specific as you can get when allowing for such forces as inflation). 

For example, security and comfort. Freedom of choice. Or maybe it is the house of your dreams, maybe it is something else but it has to be a big thing. It has to be something that you cannot easily attain in your current situation. How could you ever be motivated by something small that hardly changes how you live?

Put a target date on the achievement of when that precise amount of money must be in your life and you have the beginnings of a plan. Be very specific, I have this amount in my hands, in my bank by THIS date. Calculate in real terms, in NOW terms, how much that is and when you need it. And always assume that waiting another day is damaging your plan (because it definitely is).

Then you can start to action that plan in earnest. Without something that your mind can create some reality with, then no plan can easily be conceived and worked on. Without well drawn and detailed plans, dreams or visions of what could be simply cannot be. We can never hope to compete with the certainty of fear when trying to make good decisions because fear isn't ruled by logic.

If you take the view, as I always try to do, that any step forward toward the culmination of your plan is a good step. Every day you do something about it, even a small thing, is a good day. You may not get the entire pot of money in the end but if you got some way there have you not still improved your situation? Have you not succeeded in some way?

The purpose is to add a little to my progressive story. Specifically, I have just massively increased my holding in Yield Nodes. I have done this NOT because I know that they are future proof and as safe as houses. How could I? Yield Nodes are fundamentally based in Crypto and we all know that Crypto is still not regulated and can produce a choppy ride to say the least.

But they have just achieved something wonderful. In the worst month of cryptocurrency markets I have seen in 10 years, they have produced 6.5% growth on my money with them. Yes, that is one month and no it is not impossible. The best month I have had with them so far was February 2021 when they returned a staggering 19.2%. 

This (in case you wondered) is when the fear should hit home for you. How could this possibly go well? I can't see into the future. I can only tell you that 20 months after I began my Yield Nodes journey, I am closer to my ultimate financial goals than I was before I started and that is taking into account some other things along the way that are not going to plan.

I have made this additional commitment because I believe it is my best prospect of achieving a particular financial goal that I have. And that is the core of this matter. If we can avoid drowning in the soup of what can go wrong and stop focusing only on facts we know to be true through previous pain. And if we can move past our fear for just a moment then...

Maybe, just maybe, we can find it within ourselves to take some small action, some small step toward the improvement we seek. I always like to think in terms of replacement. How much money would I need to replace the money I earn right now if I could not continue to earn it? That is a good starting point.

And it is always enough to start with a small plan, with a small sum of money that does not create too much pain and conflict in your mind. With Yield Nodes, that starting position can be €500 (euros) it does not have to be a life-changing sum. You can build your plan over time. 

I am loving the Yield Nodes experience and I have a bunch of videos on my Passive Warrior site including 3 new "walkthrough" videos I just uploaded. You should take a look to see if this is something that suits you. After all, looking can't hurt you.

Here's the link one final time: YN PAGE

All the best

John

Ps: This is not financial advice, you have to always make your own decisions based on your own diligent research. This is just part of a story about my journey towards financial freedom.