(originally published April 7th, 2005)

I want to share something with you; I don’t have to, but I want to. In four years, I will be generating $50,000 a year in passive income.

That looks like a very bold statement, but there’s reasons for it, and how I’ve said it.

One, I’ve calculated how much I want to have coming in where I’m not doing much work, if any at all. If I can generate at least that much, it’ll leave me lots of time to do many of the other things I want to do. I could have set a higher goal, but this one is fine; I still expect to be making money doing many other things.

Two, when you set a goal, you have to put a time frame on it, otherwise you have no impetus to even begin working towards it. Once you have the goal, you can put plans into place to get to that goal.

Three, as Yoda said, “Don’t try, do.” When you say “I’ll try to do it”, you’re already giving yourself an “out” if you don’t achieve what you want to achieve. America isn’t the kind of country that honors “try” all that much. If you believe it is, who remembers all the second place finishers in most sports or other contests, other than the participants and their fans? This isn’t saying that if you don’t reach your ultimate goals that you’re not a success; it says that if your mindset is totally positive, you have a much better chance of succeeding than if you hold onto those doubts as to whether you can achieve them or not.

Everyone wants something. Sometimes it’s easy; sometimes, it takes some serious thought. Once you decide what you want, you need to make plans on how to achieve it. Once you’ve done that, you must believe you will do it. It helps to have others believe you also, but if you don’t believe it fully yourself, it’s meaningless.