I accidentally came across a way to tell whether someone is broke. It works every time.

Why would you want to know - whether someone's broke - in the first place?

Most people can easily think of a situation or two. Usually we only find out who’s swimming naked when the tide goes out. With my accidental method, no need to wait for the tide to change.

It works real simple, too. Everybody conveniently falls into one of two groups of people. You live your life either inside or outside of your comfort zone. For anyone living inside their comfort zone - the overwhelming majority of us - all you have to find out is whether the person is comfortable with his or her life.

Most people are not ... but "would like to be".  This is your hint. Anyone uncomfortable with the money in their life, yet merely wishing to be comfortable,  is broke.

It never fails. Because the truth is, success in business is not a stroll in the park.

Merely wanting to be comfortable ain't enough. Even if at first you get a head start - it won't last. If you are willing to live only inside your comfort zone, your life will be uncomfortable. Sooner or later. I know ... only too well :-)

But if you're willing to do what's uncomfortable, life will be easy.

Successful people live in fear just like everybody else, but they don't let that stop them. They don't base their decisions on what's comfortable, easy and convenient. Successful people make it a habit to "get over" their comfort zone. How else to discover what you hardly know the limits of? Successful people have learned that not doing the thing that you’re afraid will hurt you, will in the long run hurt infinitely worse than doing it.

Venturing outside your comfort zone sounds more difficult than it is. You already know this. The first time you embark on something new it usually feels uncomfortable. Correct or right? Then the more you do it, the more comfortable it becomes and your comfort zone expands. Just the way it is.

Sometimes it involves having to learn something new. If it does, keep in mind you don’t learn so that you can then do. That’s an anxiety reaction and an avoidance behavior. You learn by doing, or you’ll never learn at all. Or worse.

You're a baby boomer with more time than money. You dream of being debt-free again, and financially robust. Throughout your life you followed trends - from jeans to long hair to disco to investing in the stock market - but  now you realize it's not about trends and fashions anymore, it's serious business. Your money is decreasing at the rate your predicted longevity is increasing. Every other day science is adding another five years to your predicted life span. You need to be making money again. Not just for a month or two, but for many years. But the landscape has changed. What you've learned is nearly worthless, and what you must learn seems like a mountain. You worry. You Can Do Better Than That!

Many of the things you now take for granted were once impossible. Luckily, your mind didn't conceive of impossible back then. Learning - your very survival depended on it - occurred naturally rather than memorably. It's what allowed you to upgrade yourself from the sippy cup to the cocktail glass.

Therein lies your answer to today's challenges. Simply return to your roots. Reclaim your right and freedom to learn the way you were meant to, by trial and error, or as I like to call it, by the awesome power of zigzagging.

Learn From Kids. It's Easy. You Once Were One Yourself.

The best minds for learning are the minds of children. When kids are beginners at anything they ask questions at the beginner level. They make mistakes - not deliberately, but naturally as part of the process. They don't mind not knowing, they only mind not learning. Always looking for people who already know what they are in the process of learning, they spend time around them and ask them questions. Kids instinctively know there's no need to (re-)invent the wheel each time a wheel is needed. If a child were to build a telescope, s/he would look for some with telescopes, hopefully someone who understands people love to learn much better than being taught. Kids, like grown-ups, can make much progress when mistakes are made, best in rapid succession. Kids just know, anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you learn to do it well. Why, they even learn to dance before they learn there is anything that isn't music.

You don’t learn so that you can then do. That’s an anxiety reaction and an avoidance behavior. You can't get wet from the word "water." The doer alone learns. Birds are given wings by falling. You, too, learn by jumping, or you’ll never learn at all. Or worse, you’ll abandon your calling altogether. When you learn, if you "fail," you cannot learn less.

Something very, very uncomfortable just happened. All of a sudden - or so it seems - you're miles outside of your comfort zone in unfamiliar territory. Gulp! You know the feeling. Everybody does. Maybe from when as a teenager you found yourself face to face with the person of your dreams and s/he smiled at you! Maybe from when you lost your job, left staring into the abyss of unemployment. Or when you found yourself in a relationship gone bad, faced with love that had transmuted into resentment and hate. In your heart of hearts you knew then as you know now, the time had come to break through - to break through your inner child's fears, insecurities, worries, concerns and excuses - and make an adult decision that moves you back in the direction of your dreams. But how to actually do it?! Unfreeze, unstuckify, act in spite of fear, get over it, just do it - it sounds simple on paper, yet is never quite that simple in real life, isn't it?

Well, you have two options. Option 1, decide right now to develop your anti-fear muscles with a view of being prepared for next time fear comes around. (It will, no need to be impatient!). Option 2, wait for life to serve you with a likely bigger kick, where you least appreciate it, then take another look at Option 1.

If you choose Option 1 - to make you a stronger person - you can hire a coach or self-coach. If you decide to work with a coach, I would feel no fear and wouldn't gulp once in recommending myself. Should you decide to self-coach, I wouldn't hesitate a sec to suggest two books which, each in its own right, have the potential not only to help you build your personal power muscles, but to change your life forever.

Susan Jeffer's "Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway"
Gabriella Goddard's "Gulp!"

(Clicking on the authors' names will get you to their and Penguin Books' website. Clicking on the books cover will take you to my Amazon store).

Happy reading. Use the comment section here to let me know how the breaking through goes, and how it feels on the other side.