THE ROWER

“My father was sick today. He is sick a lot. Sick and tired. I’m his only son, and I love him. He is so gifted and he doesn’t even know it. I help him in his work and I know how good he is. I’m going to make sure we invest our time and build a better plumbing system, to grow a beautiful garden.”

“I’m going to go home today and create a life where we attract the wealth we deserve, and the time we deserve. The time together, because there’s nothing more precious than time, and there’s nothing more valuable to me than the time I have with my Dad. It isn’t the biggest life but it’s my life and it’s going to be fantastic.”

“Great story! I can see that. Nice vision.”

“When the Gardener said ‘Can’t see the Wood for the trees’, I heard it the way I had always heard it.

The wood was the big picture – the vision.

And I know that it is, but I only just realized that the Wood also means what can be created from the trees.


That opportunities can be created out of every moment.”


 I’m not just going to DO better carpentry, I’m going to BE a better carpenter.

I will fix up your boat, and I can learn from you to build a better ladder to my new life with my father.”

“That sounds like a fair trade, and I will be happy to oblige.” replied the Fisherman.
“The going rate is $5 an hour and I have three boats.


 But I want you to be clear – the money you’re getting isn’t a money tap.

It’s a simple time-for-money exchange – a job.


“So your real investment here is in developing your learning.


 But don’t wait until you start. Now that you have a vision of sorts, focus on creating that money tap, and remember opportunities lie in every moment – present, future and past.”


“You look like a man in a hurry.”
Rich looked up at the Rower. “I am. I’ve got a lot of work to do. I’ve been learning, and now it’s time for action. To know, and not to do, is not yet to know, you know.”


“More pace, less haste,” the Rower remarked.

“What happened to you when you became a better rower?”

“Well, when I started rowing I learnt how to make my millions. When I became better, I learnt how to keep them.

If you are in too much of a hurry, you will come back to the same place no wealthier, but exhausted all the same.


There’s a rhythm to wealth.”

“When you first begin to see the wealth that is out there, you begin to see opportunities everywhere.

If you don’t follow a rhythm, you will either overwhelm yourself, frustrate yourself or exhaust yourself.”

“Soon after you see wealth, you discover this.”

“Leverage. Put in a small amount of effort, and get out a big result.

To create wealth, you need to learn how to leverage your efforts, your time and your money.

 You do this with other people’s efforts, other people’s time and other people’s money.”

 It was then that Richard realized the true importance of the Optometrist’s advice on levels of communication. Each of them had inspired the people that they met with their vision, and as a result they had created leverage. Rich wanted to leverage.

The Rower continued:
“But the key to leverage, like this oar, is that it isn’t worth much if you don’t know how to use it.


Used in the wrong way, you’ll just end up exhausting yourself with either too much or too little of the wrong people’s or the right people’s efforts, time and money.”


When I started rowing, I would be amazed at the power of this oar. But it’s also difficult to manage.

The harder I pulled, the more off-balance the boat became, and the slower I went. That made me try to pull even harder and spin the oar around faster to get it back in the water which, of course, wore me down even more without any results.”


“When I became a better rower a strange thing happened.
I found that what I was doing when the oar was out of the water was more important than when the oar was in the water.”
When I was rowing, I was wearing myself down with each stroke.”


“Now, when I became a better rower, I learnt that the more relaxed and balanced I was when the oar was out of the water, the more prepared I was for the next stroke. That’s why it’s called the recovery.

 
More importantly, the less time my oar was in the water, the faster I went. So I was spending twice as long out of the water, with half the effort, and going twice as fast.”


 When I apply myself, I apply myself fully. When I relax, I relax totally.
Any challenges, I am fully able to manage.
 I prepare, execute, review at specific times every week and every month.
 It’s a rhythm that makes my wealth sustainable.”


“So you’re saying that what we do when we’re not working is as important as what we do when we are?”

The Rower shook his head. “More important. When you have a vision and a focus, all your best work is done when you’re not working.

But remember, Rich, wealthy people don’t work. They simply follow their passion.”

Just by nurturing themselves, they were getting wealthier.
They were relaxing at a scale 20. They would return to invest time in their investments at a scale 20. They had 20/20 vision.