Shawn has been working his tail off lately and I’ve noticed an uptick in the publishing on his personal site.

So often, I wonder if he’s speaking to me directly. Obviously he’s not — that would be incredibly self-centered of me. But I feel like the little stumblingblocks he touches on having an impact on my life as well.

“Once I get my black belt, then I’ll finally be a real martial artist.”
“Once I get out of school, then I can finally do something meaningful.”
“Once I get married, then I’ll finally be happy.”
“Once I buy a nice house, then I’ll finally be settled.”
“Once I get my dream car, then I’ll finally be able to have fun.”
”Once my website has 10,000 readers, then I’ll finally feel validated as a writer.”
No you won’t.

I can’t even say “Bingo!”, because I’m 100% guilty of thinking the above. I’m ashamed to admit it.

On another note, I’m a huge fan of Shawn noting the expensive reality of owning a home:

Once you buy that nice house, you’ll see that the new mortgage payment is double what your old rent used to be.

Renting a home in my area carries a negative stigma. The general perception is if you rent, you’re either too dumb or too lazy to buy your own home.

This is so utterly wrong. In fact, depending on the situation, it may actually be the opposite: If you rent, you’re smart enough to have done the math ahead of time and you realize the incredible amount of money spent which doesn’t turn into equity.

I’m glad to see Shawn did the math before making such a claim.