Thanks in Advance - First Post

[Benjamin Sawyers]

Hello everybody,

Thanks in advance for just being here.

Perhaps introduction is only a formality, but I am hoping to take the next step into the awesome BP culture of interaction and learning. I am completely new to investing (in that I have never been a part of any deal), but I have been studying off and on for more than a year now and I have been able to soak up what feels like an immense body of knowledge, thanks almost entirely to the wonderful people in this community. I can't thank you all enough and I hope that in some way I can give back to at least one person.

If learning and helping others to learn the investing business was goal number one of this post, then documenting, tweaking, and analyzing my personal development is the second. Usually I am the type of person that has been chronically late, fickle about my interests and goals, prone to procrastination, and generally weak in matters of will power; and I realize that this admission might weaken my chance of working with those who read this should I not succeed in the near future, but I am posting this in part for those who might be or might have been in the same position. I struggled a lot with these bad habits from middle school until four important things  helped me manage my time, and my life better:

1. I got married - Nothing else in the world could have taught me so much, so quickly, so deeply about what life means and how priorities and perspectives should be valued.

2. I got suckered - I bought a program from Tai Lopez about real estate investing for more than I would to admit, but the spark from that sales pitch stayed imbedded in my mind and pushed me to explore financial freedom. I only wish I found Bigger Pockets sooner (there was nothing that I learned from that course that I couldn't learn 10x more about on the forums and blogs here... FOR FREE).

3. I read a book - "The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg fundamentally changed how I thought about my patterns of behavior and helped me understand systems *keyword here: systems* for identifying underlying motives and changing behavior. I highly recommend reading it if you have not.

4. I learned to fail - For some reason, the systems focused ideology stuck with me. I stopped being depressed and disappointed myself for failing to meet ridiculous goals by trying to rely entirely on my own overestimated, hopeful willpower, and I started making it my mission to just do something doable every day, something to tip over the next domino and make tomorrow's work easier.

I'm 23 years old, work a 40 hour full-time road construction job, dedicate at least 7 concentrated hours per week on real estate investing, listen to BP Podcasts and take spreadsheet skill development classes in my free time, and when I am not doing all that I am usually spending time with my lovely, awesome, how-did-I-get-this-lucky wife.

Thank you all again for your amazing support, you help more people than you know.