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kanene-yaaay · 5 years

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Double-Cosplay Challenge

Author’s note: Hello-ho-ho-ho!! My gosh, is it already 25th? I can’t believe in this, neither that the world is so small, @scribbly-gigs, after all I’m your Squealing Santa too!! I really hope you enjoy this gift, because your prompt was absolutely adorable! I fell in love for its and aaaaa! Best. Idea. Ever.

Okay, I got a little carried away! Enjoy the gift!

But, before the fanfic, I would like to give a specially thank to @ticklygiggles for hosting this wonderful event! It was an absolutely lovely experience, thanky you veryy much!! >w<)s2</i>

Warnings, fun facts, random things and stuff:

* This characters don’t belongs to me! Jeremy and Michael belongs to the musical Be More Chill.

* The song in the benning is Hide and Seek, a cover by Lizz Robinett

* This is a SFW Tickle-Fanfic, so, if you don’t appreciate this kind of content, please, look for another blog. There are a plenty of fabulous arts in this site!! ^w^)b

* Oneshot. Something around 4.500 words.(I REALLY got carried away xDD) -w-)b.

* Sorry for any spelling, pontuation and grammar mistakes! Any and every advice is very very welcome! \(-w-)/

* Portugese’s Version (Brazilian’s one) coming soon! Thankys for reading, my lollipops! Have a wonderful and incredible, festive or not, day! Take care with you gonna prank anyone (And only do if they’re okay with it) , they can get revenge. ~

[~*~]

Ding Dong I know you can hear me

Open up the door

I only wanna play a little.

- What the fu… – Opened his eyes, the song suddenly swallowing him from his dream. He blinked a few times, his hands going toward his cellphone, vision finally focusing in the middle of the dimly lit darkness by sunlight, which managed to passes through the small slits in the curtains successfully. The device was not turned on.

Ding Dong you can’t keep me waiting

It’s already too late

For you go and try to run away. ~

He turned to the closet, where, on the floor, a small device vibrated, its screen glooming and being entirely responsible for proliferation of the calm background melody, which for some unknown reason made a feeling of cold, gelid fear spread through every inch of his body, growing more and more stronger as the light brown-haired reeling approached. His mind still foggy by tiredness.

Whose phone was that?

I see you through the window

Our eyes are locked together

I can sense your horror

Though I’d like to see it closer.~~

He bent down to turn it off.

Wait…

He recognized this phone cover! It was from-

- DING DONG! – The door slammed open, almost as fast as the fall from the one who just had woken up, the light suddenly invading every particle from his room along with the excitedly extremely loud scream – HURRY UP AND RUUUUUN! LET’S PLAY A LITTLE GAME AND HAVE FUN!!

- MICHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!

It was crystal clear that Michael wanted to utter some words, something so easy to say by the way that small portions of sentences sought to slip through his lips. However, he was being completely hindered by his own (blood from his blood!!) uncontrollable laughter, needing a firm grip on the doorjamb to not collapse with the other’s fright. Jeremy placed his hand in his chest, feeling the heart skip some beats at a great speed and trying to control at least a small piece of his ragged breathing.

- I should have recorded this! My holy Pacman, why didn’t I record this??? – Wiped few tears that accumulated at the corner of his eyes. The onslaught of laughter threatening to come back again as he faced the poor, poor teenager with his pajamas, hair and appearance full of mess. The one who has the sad fate of being the target of his prank and now demonstrated his gratitude by showing a very specific finger to him.

- I will end with your existence, just give me a second. I-I need to recover my soul, I think it ran out the window. – Got up, finally succeeding in breath normally, his gaze was sharp, or the most close as possible with the sleep that still covered his features, but he couldn’t deny the smile, part vengeful and part because he have to give it to him: it was a good prank; that he struggled to doesn’t let its took over his face. – Why? Just… Why??

- Because today is the International Double-Cosplay Chaaaaaaaallenge day!! – Michael was literally bouncing excitedly, gesturing as if he presented the answer to a huge and attentive audience and not a young man slowly coming down the stairs, still yawning and rubbing the sleep from his eyes while leading the trail to the kitchen.

Oh, the Double-Cosplay Challenge.

It could even be seen as a tradition, a very ancient one, held of years without end. Not one of the seculars, though, that ones initiated in some trunk of time, which, if asked, No one would really know to explain from where it emerged. In fact, Jeremy almost remembered perfectly (‘perfectly, sure, it’s a hyperbole. Jeremy imagined his memory as a miniature of fish Dory. So, remembering more than six or five actions of a day that had gone years ago was a progress!) the way it all started.

Like most things in his friendship with Michael, of course it had began with teasing that led to a semi-fight where both sides argued, yet without really having any warm in their words. For this time, the focus of the discussion was the ease and speed that Jeremy could paint every square of himself with blush as the slightest instigation…

(...)

- Could you stop??? – Heere jerked away by impulse, his cheeks already beginning to flush in pink for the squeal he uttered due the light blow that Michael dumped on his ear. – We’re in the middle of the game!!!

- Do you mean that if we weren’t playing it wouldn’t be a problem, then? – Malefic smile. Jeremy felt the blush spread even more.

- Wha- Sure it would be!!!!

- Hmmm… I bet that would be okay if it was Christiiiiine doing that. – He mimicked a singing tone as he spoke her name, losing control over his car for a minute and being hit by a tortoise shell. – Damn, Bowser!! You were my favorite character, dude!!

- Yeah, yeah. Keep talking while I take the lead!- The light brown-haired smirked, his tongue sticking out as he dodged a few drivers and climbed some positions in the ranking.

- Ha! You couldn’t win this match even if you wanted to. – Jumped and hit one of the floating boxes with the question mark. Got the cannonball. – Just as you can’t stop to being a mess flushed even by the wind!

- Is that so? And what about the Pinkberry employee? - Michael’s car was out of control for a piece of moment and Jeremy allowed himself to take his eyes off the screen for a few seconds just to catch the other’s face now painted with a light blush and a wobbly smile. – See? We’re rotten apples from the same basket, compadre.

- Lucky shot.

- Ability. – He corrected, contradicting his words, his automobile went straight towards the water. The Player Two wrinkled his nose.

- The thing is, unlike you, I can control my blush. I would win from 10 to 1 if this were a competition.

- I bet. – It was the magic word. Michael paused the game immediately, both turning to stare each other, the glare full of dangerous burning in their eyes, a grin finding space in their faces.

- How much?

A brief silence spreaded across the room, barely finding space with all the adrenaline and electricity following Jeremy’s thoughtful glaze as he searched in his mind for an award up to the challenge.

- The one who be the most blushy, for most period of time or a greater amount of times, that is, who made the best tomato cosplay earn the right to try to survive for…

(...)

- …a week wearing a cosplay that the winner, and by this I mean I, - Michael gesticulated pompously, not even paying attention to the friend and opponent, who calmly hummed as setted the breakfast. – choose. At school, on the street, in home… With a break of five daily hours to wash and dry, as well as permission to get it off to sleep, BUT, that’s all. – Evil laugh. – I hope you are prepared, Heere. Because this year I choose the best cos-

His eyes finally went to find the breakfast table, setted with a blue and red tablecloth where the phrase ‘Best Player nº1’ was practically completely hidden by the delicacies deposited on it: Pacman-shaped Pancakes, some being stuffed with hazelnut cream; Some cups with iced coffee, a small bowl of fruit salad, the common eggs and bacons; waffles with cream and blueberry spreading their sweet scent along the Special Christmas Donuts, available only for one hour after the local bakery opens. That cost great hours of Jeremy’s sleep, which immediately worth it just in watching the utterly surprised and clumsy expression from the one who wears glasses.

- …tume… – His mouth hang wide open and he blinked several times, as if it was all a mirage about to disappear at any second. Michael simply couldn’t believe all his favorites dishes were really gathered in a only table in a only one meal.

- To my faworite pewson. – The one in pajamas guides him to the chair; happily enjoying the blush consumes his friend’s cheeks.

Fun Fact: Michael is hardly embarrassed by usual teasing and/or flirting. The thing that can truly make him mirror the color of his hoodie was actions and true, sincere compliments. It was as if the boy really didn’t expected anyone to thought about him long enough to prepare a gift or perceive and admire his actions… That always reminded Jeremy why he liked this day so much.

- You play dirty, Heere. - The Mell finally managed to find words between his surprise, unable to look away and face the other with the dangerous smirk that was his mark.

- I need to get to your level. – His voice bathed itself in a (fake) sweet tune, the teasing being enough to successfully capture the attention from the one in hoodie, leading their eyes to meet. Jeremy blinked innocently.

- I just forgive you because of the donuts! They are like, an impossible legend, which I just heard being told and retold in all my years of life, waiting for the right moment when I finally could have it in my arms. – The light brown-haired rolled his eyes, smiling with the exaggerated description. – But don’t even think about getting used to my forgiveness! You won’t be so lucky ne-

His sentence and merciful act have been interrupted by a high pitch squeak from Jeremy, who jerked away instinctively from Michael’s finger that poked him, protecting his tummy defensively, a wobbly, unstable smile in his face.

Immediately thousands of memories and empirical data invaded the Mell’s mind, and, the more and more his brain reminded him, the more and more a predatory expression got strength and color in his face.

- Oh, never mind. – Jeremy gulped, all his instincts beating like a bright red ‘r u n’ signal shining in the middle of a desert road on a stormy dawn. He felt himself starting to increase the distance between both. – It seems like you are out of lucky right now.

And the race begin, this time out of the videogames’ screen.

(…)

- Oh Heeeere!~ - His tune could be described as ‘singing’ if it was not the panting voice due the attempts to still in maximum speed in pursuit of the Player Two. – Why do you keep running away from my love? This hurts. Sadface.

- I bet it didn’t hurt more than my fall for you! – Jeremy’s only relief was that Michael would rather to lock himself on the basement to play than exercise in his free time. His only sadness was that he also would rather lock himself on the basement with Michael to play videogames in their free time, which mean that neither of them had the slightest, and necessary, disposition to any sports.

However Michael at least was lucky, which uneven unfairly his chances. In the first opportunity he got, the one on the pajamas placed the coffe table between them.

- Naaah. – The prankster started to encircle the table, analyzing the friend and opponent do the same action, but in the opposite direction. – Easy peachy compared to the time you stole my heart.

- It was just to return the favor, since you stole mine first… - His gaze drifted to the stairs right behind the one who wears glasses. If he could dodge him and make to his room, he could lock himself there and spend the next hours on the safety and comfort of his computer and bed. His glare returned to Michael… All there was needed was a distraction. – No, wait, in truth, it was always yours.

- Not in the same way that I am yours. – Wink.

- But do you know what is just yours and you could give to me? – The dirty joke came and went away before it could be mentioned by the dark brown-haired, who failed in not burst out laughing. – Your hand!!

Jeremy took vantage of the small moment of carelessness to rush out.

Good Point?

He managed to dodge Michael!! Yeaah!! Phase one completed with praise!

Bad Point? (Suuuure that always it has to exists a bad one! It was too boring for your standards, wasn’t it, Universe?)

He couldn’t even research the stairs before being knocked down on the carpet. He turned himself over, fighting for a few minutes stuffed with laugh and pieces of phrases (‘Michael, don-‘; ‘Could you stop, Heere!?’; ‘Just if you let me go!’; ‘Ouch! Damn, my glasses!’; ‘Gyah! Sorr- Hey! No! Nonono!’), at least until Michael finally find a gap in his barrier, wasting no time in attacking his bare foot, pulling a squeal from the one on pajamas, which worked like a race start, being immediately followed by dozens of giggles as his fingers danced in a lively rhythm: poking, scratching and wriggling in each centimeter of available skin.

- MihihihihihihihihihihihichaACK- Michael never played any instruments for much in his life, but he assumed that this is how the musicians should feel. Wriggling: Squeal; Poking that exactly spot in the middle of his sole: Shriek; Each scratch could give him a different melodious sound depending on the spot he was attacking. - NOHOHOHOHOHOHOhohohohohOHOHO!!

- What did you said, Heere? Mind repeat? I can’t understand any word in the middle of your adorable giggles. – Jeremy rocked his arms from side to side without really managing to coordinate them to do something useful. The sensation took over his mind and all his nerves. However, he was still able to hear and understand another words beyond his own giggles, which automatically made a heat spread quickly through all his face. - Awwwn!! You already are blushiiiing. ~

- Shuhuhuhuhuhut UHUHUhuhp!! NononO! Nohohohoht thehehehere! – And then more uncontrollable laughter began to float from his lips as Michael’s nails found their way to the ticklish skin right under his toes.

- ‘There’, where? Did you mean… here? – One of his hands held his toes in order to unfold them while the other tickled without a single drop of mercy. Jeremy felt himself jump in a sit position, trying to focus his tearing eyes enough to stop the assault. It took just a few pokes in his tummy to make he lay down again.

- NAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHahahahahahaHAHA! – His eyes were closed and his nose wrinkled. His whole body shook with the loud, shrill laughs that spilled from his mouth without any barrier; only being interrupted by some squeak or yelp as the Player One decided to get bored with his toes and quickly changed the tickle attack to his knees. Started to switch from one to another in random patterns, squeezing his kneecaps or giving an especial attention to the extremely, unfairly ticklish skin under them.

That leading the laugh to grow even louder and the sensations more and more unbearable. Michael happily watched when Jeremy swung his legs up, seeking to curl in a protection ball, “obliging” him to retaliate with a series of kneads on his thighs, causing the light brown-haired to frantically kick, trying to free himself from the tickles, leading Michael to go back to his knees and restart the loop all over again.

- S-Sthohohohohohohop!! – He let out a frustration groan in the fifth time it happened. The Mell couldn’t help but evil crackle at that, also being helped by the fact that Jeremy’s laugh was extremely contagious.

- I don’t know what are you talking about, Heere! All I can ever hear is the victory sound of me winning the Double-Cosplay challenge this year!!

- YOHOHOHOHOHOHOU WIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHISH-nono! No, pleaSE! nHOHOHT THeherHEHEHEs!

- Is this your final answer, then? – Michael stared at him, the mischievous grin still very present, even though Jeremy didn’t saw it. The sunshine flooded the victim’s face, only further highlighting the freckles already favored by the blush, which literally cover his entire face, now. Jeremy shook his head side to side, as if denying the fate that was about to catch him, or as if answered the question from the other, Michael just shrugged and decided to ignore the act. – So, that’s it! Be prepared to the Ultimate Tickle Attack!!

He stopped.

And the Player Two used the opportunity of a break to take some sips of air, finally being able to shrunk in a defensive ball. The crackling laughter still bouncing gladly from his mouth that couldn’t at all undo the big bright smile going ear to ear in his features. It really seemed to illuminate the place.

His hand trembled a little as he wiped tears that managed to slide across his burning cheeks. The laughing now became giggling and finally starting to fade.

And then he realized.

Not even a whisper from Michael.

He opened his eyes, a little confused, and suddenly shivers ran thundering down his spine, spreading through each of his ticklish spots, making them tingle more, perhaps in the same amount of times that the Mell approached his fingers teasingly until they were a few inches above his calves.

Damn! Cursed be these years of friendship and all the tickle fights in their childhood that give him the knowledge about this particular spot.

- Mihihihichael! – His giggles came back strident, his smile threatened to widen further. Jeremy bitted softly the tip of his tongue, trying to do at least a threatening expression, yet too much excitedly for it. The one in hoodie quickly lowered his hand, stopping before he could research the place, leading the other to jump and release a pinched scream would never admitted being his in the future. Butterflies danced in his stomach. – NohohoHOT eVEn thIHIHIhihnk abohohohut th-

- Not touchin you, dude! – The prankster laughed starting to wiggle his fingers, and, even though they didn’t have touched him yet, Jeremy could already feel it. Feel the uncontrolled laughter in his chest, the nerves tingling eagerly, the eyes closing reflexively and… - If I knew it was so easy to make you blush just with that I already would won this tournament years ago!! – His face was going to melt, he was absolutely sure of that. It was going to melt and he would be obligated to wear the stupid mask of whatever cosplay Michael chose for him for the rest of his life!! – And I’m not even doing anything, literally!

- Shuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuht uhuhuhuhuhuhuhp, youhohohor sadihihihistic!! – The heat just spread stronger, arriving to the tip of his ears. He attempted to shrink more in defense; however, the Player One held his leg, his other hand resting on his chest, as if he were truly offended.

- Jeremy! – He faked another attack, almost losing control of his dramatic pose and laughing when the Heere snorted. – Now, that was not the manners I gave you! I’m not even doing anything and a puddle of adorable giggles offends me! Humpf… – He wander lightly his index finger through all the extension of his calf, each inch releasing a new squeal tone.

- Sohohorry!! Sohohohohohohohohohohrrehehehey! – He pushed his leg, trying to free himself from the deadly grip. Michael didn’t even bother into pretending to ponder about his apologies, and then the light brown-haired knew he was screwed up in the exact moment he find that glint the other’s eye.

- Nah. I would rather return the favor. – And, as he said, started to ruthlessly knead his calves.

Jeremy never had fought that much in his life. All of his muscles squirmed; reacting to the warning signals they received from his nerves, which probably were all very confused when they heard his laughter. Powerful, loud and fully stuffed with screams, laughter. His mind went in a total collapse and he could only focus on the tickling, finding his synapses unable to form a single coherent word, neither a sentence.

Michael stopped. Half because he had pity to see the tears began to wash the friend’s cheeks and the other half because he was afraid that some neighbor would call the police with the screams from the shorter; and also because he couldn’t control his own laughter anymore. Grateful to be seated, he leaned against the outsider arm of the couch, his voice mingling with the remained giggles from the other. Both flying in the air.

For a moment, the duo stayed just like this: Laughing.

- Yohohohohou ahahahahare the worhohohohost! – Wiped his tears, finally managing to remove the sensations rubbing the spot that, probably, was the most ticklish and unlikely to have. Thanked to the pure, fresh air entering his lungs, which seemed to give him strength to sit and stare the shape who still laughing.

An awesome idea crossed by his brain and camped there. A little cliché, that is true, but he felt deserving this privilege.

His hands met the armpits of the Player One, without moving, who instinctively downed his arms, an uncharacteristic squeak now running from his lips. Jeremy enjoyed the sense of power he had when the opponent, in the videogames and for this day, faced him with wide eyes, struggling with a smile in his face.

- Je-jeremy… Come on, pal, dude, friend... – The one on pajamas just smiled in response, turning softly his head, like a puppy staring you doubtfully about your despair as hold your only short in their mouth, paws flexed and about to run through the beach, to anywhere as long is far from you (Long and funny story, ask Mr Heere to show you the video later.) and wasted no time before start the attack.

Michael held his breath. His lips suppressed in a arc as they were pressed strongly, refusing to let out a single giggle from the thousands that already stirred in his throat.

- What the matter? – Jeremy chuckled, noticing the not-so-subtly effort from the newer victim to control himself, just getting even clear when his legs began to squirm. The light brown-haired positioned himself on his right, already knowing what was coming, his face approached further. – Wouldn’t you happen to be… too ticklish for that, right?

He started to slowly scribble in the other’s armpits, the glint in his eyes glowing as watched him jumping with the touch and hugging his sides, fighting more with the waterfall of giggles trying to pour from his lips and this struggle seeming about to make him explode, due how much his cheeks puffed and blushed. The Mell shook his head.

- Phew, what a relief. – The Player Two faked a relieved sigh, as if heavy chains were removed from his back. His face got closer, Michael stared at him, fear and expectation shining mingled up in his expression, red beginning to grew stronger in his face. S c o r e. – So you won’t mind if I get a itty bitty revenge, right?

And started to blow right on that spot behind his ear, something that the friend did almost daily and now tasted what he so gladly distributed. Michael squealed, the barriers finally giving in and being quickly subdued by the snorts and giggles as fingers skillfully poked and wriggled in his armpits, taking more speed and strength, just as Michael’s fight to escape from his fate.

- JEHEHEHEHEHEheheheheHEHEHEHEHEREMYY!!! NOHOHOHOHOHO!!

- Michael! We are in a serious competition here! I would like to see a little more compromising from your side!! – His head moved away as he stopped in order to teasing the other’s neck. Changing his tactics to verbal teasing and, even though he didn’t threatened back to his neck anymore, the ‘victim’ still kept his shoulders up, as if by precaution.

- FUHUHUHUHUHUACK!! – The light brown-haired was able to release his hands from the friend’s gasp, giving him some free seconds before immediately tickle his sides. – PLEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHhahahahahahahAHAHAHA! – His tune got a fewer octaves higher, flinching a little as Jeremy alternated between kneading his left, squeeze his right and then attack both at the same time.

Fun fact: Michael did not squirmed, he trashed his body side to side in a mad dance ruled by the melody of his own deep, frenetic and uncontrollable belly laughter that fled without any permission from his mouth. Therefore, tickle his legs or even sit on them to try pinning him down was practically impossible. His upper body, on the other hands, due his fear of tossing away his glasses, were easier to deal.

- Wait… Oh no, Michael! I discovered! – His eyes even attempted to meet with the other’s, but these were tightly closed, tears starting to welling up in the corner. The Heere forced himself to slow the attack, noticing the crackling laugh and shrieks that started to took over Michael’s loud, and completely contagious, laughter. He drank a little of air, still letting squeals and giggles escape from his lips for the soft tracing in his tummy, one of the Mell’s hand holding his wrist, but didn’t doing nothing to really stop the tickle. – You are not able to command your laughter!

- Nohohohoho shi- A lightly squeezing in his hips was enough to make a yelp interrupt the rest of his sarcastic sentence.

- This is extremely serious! But do not fear, as your best friend, I will help you! I am almost sure that I find a Resert Buttom!!

The one who wears glasses felt his smile grow wider, more for the nonsense from the other than anything else. He tried to ignore the rising heat spreading now across his neck.

A finger poked his navel and the jump Mell did nearly broke the ceiling, together with a squeal that Jeremy definitely would remind him later. The Player Two used all his willpower to not fall on the floor laughing with the other’s reaction, especially when this one actually began to really try to remove his hands from anywhere closer of his most ticklish spot, miserably failing when Jeremy suddenly started to give quick tickles in any and every where to distract him.

-Heere, dohohohohon’t you dahahahahahare! – His hands were in a total uncontrolled frenzy, just as his euphoric giggles.

- I-I’m just- Their laugh were now mixed as danced through the room, especially when in an act of pure despair Michael attacked his ribs, making him really start laughing for real. Oh no!! He wouldn’t win this one!! – I’m juhuhuhuhuhst trying tohohoho hehehehehehelp, yohohohour ungreatuful!!! Boop!

And then his finger finally was able to tickle his belly button, wriggling, poking an causing a real scream to leave the other’s lips, as a small signal before the loud, mad and extremely frenetic laughter exploded from his mouth. He jostled and babbled non-ended words that even he had no idea with what they were supposed to mean.

He was getting crazy. Michael was absolutely sure. His head was thrown back with the strength of the laughter and for a moment everything, even the tickles that spread through every little inch in his body as unbearable and hilarious shivers, disappeared.

A piece of rationality, the last one, made him attack and scribble his fingers in some unprotected skin from his opponent. It didn’t mattered where it was, and yes that seconds later Jeremy’s laughter started to go along his owns, showing that retaliation was working.

Both rolled out on the floor, laughing, snorting, yelping, squealing, squeaking, giggling and equally trying to make the friend released the same sounds as himself. Their members shuffled, seeking to tickle any and all minimally reachable tickle spots, both unwilling to give up and both waiting to the other give in first.

Maybe it was the so-called ‘friendly telepathy’, the same one which allowed them to chat just with glares and always know what and when the other needed something. However, the duo slowly begun decreasing their attack almost simultaneously. The squeezes and kneads becoming pokes before turning into scratching and scribbles until they finally broke apart, staring the opponent for a few hesitant seconds (not that they really could properly see each other through all their tears happily spilling down their cheeks ) before laying on the floor. The remaint laughter being the only thing filling the silence, along with the panting breaths.

For a while they just stayed like that: laughing.

The sun’s rays started to heat the room, showing it wasn’t that early anymore and probably the donuts were already cold by this moment. Cars were passing outside and some dog somewhere barked desperately, the sound not echoing louder than their hearts, which stilled seeking to calm down themselves after the strange and high dose of adrenaline.

Jeremy was the first to speak, raising his arm and waving as it like a white flag.

- Draw?

- Keep dreaming. – Michael’s voice was slightly hoarse. He cleared his throat while the one on pajamas rolled his eyes, none of them really succeeding in removes the bright smile in their faces. – Truce for breakfast?

They sat, not taking too long to get up as hear the angry protests from their stomachs, they shook their hands, sealing the quick agreement. Their eyes met and, for a piece of moment both ignored how much redder they were, their minds now just focusing on the eagerly awaited meal.

- Truce for breakfast.

21 notes · View notes

ificanwriteiscannon · 6 years

Photo

Dynasty –Ferdia Walsh-Peelo Imagine

Pictures are not mine, just got them on google and put them together.

This came to me when wacthing a brazilian soap opera and mathoning Vikings after. Hope it doesnt sucks

ps: english is not my first language so sorry if you find any mistake <3

Warning: talk about reincarnation, past lives and things like that but not too much tho

-x-

It started like a feeling, small butterflies in her stomach. She still remembered the first day she felt it, it was just her first day on set.

“I still can’t believe I’m here Alex” Y\N whispered excitedly to her old friend “That WE are here. It’s what we dreamed, remember?!”

The actor laughed and hugged his friend by his side “Of course I remember Y\N! Who would had thought that we’d be here”

She was the camera assistant and he the actor. It was the begging of their journey and they were at the tv show of the moment.

The scene was to be filmed in the insides of a castle. A scene where Ivar played chess with prince Alfred. The whole situation gave Y\N a sense of familiarity. ‘You’ve been here before. You lived this..’ Something yelled inside her. But still she wasn’t prepared to listen.

It wasn’t until the young actor entered. Her eyes searched for him, but when she localized him she felt disappointed. ‘It is not him’ the same small voice said.

The camera girl played with the book in her hands, the next time it happened.

When she was hired to work at the show something ignited inside her and her curiosity and passion for those old times consumed almost all of her free time. But still, a character seemed to be the point of most interest…

“Lunch break my lady?” Alex. The actor bowed in front of her still in his Ivar clothes. She chuckled. It was amazing how he could go from scary bloody Viking to the small puppy she called friend.

“Sure” Y\N closed her book and left with her belongs getting up from the common area they had for the crew. “So,..” She started while they walked to get their lunch “Have you meet the new addictions to the cast?”

“Why do I always get a feeling you’re waiting for someone?” Alex raised an eyebrow and the girl rolled her eyes

“Well, you know I’ve always been a sucker for Jonathan Rhys Meyers” She shrugged but he still gave her a suspicious look.

“Why I don’t…” Alex’s voice disappeared from her ears when she found him in the middle of the people. It was a time stopping moment. His gaze was fixed in another actor at his side while the other said something that made him laugh. His laughter died as soon as he found her eyes.. Both trapped in each other, unable to move.

‘Forever and Always, my love’

He broke the trance as he got up, her eyes had gone wild and when he moved to approach, she ran on the opposite direction. Something in him scared her, but still every cell in her body begged that she stayed.

After that encounter she learned that he was the actor that would be playing Alfred, The great. Only her biggest obsession. Alex tried to ask Y\N why she ran without an explanation, but she couldn’t explain. It was just her messed up head, she said.

‘He came back to me’.

A few days passed and Y\N had managed to avoid the actor as far as she could. Still, watching him work proved one of the hardest tasks she had to do. The camera assistant got 3 advertences from her superiors for almost ruining some scenes. His scenes. One of those times, she swore she saw Jennie nudge him and whisper something to Ferdia, and he just blushed. His eyes never left hers.

The next time it happened it came at night at a dream. She had those kind of dreams before but none had felt that real. It was a walk down a garden, or a ride in a horse, but not like this. She could still feel the sweet texture of the white and golden dress between her fingers, her long hair falling in her shoulders and the veil in her head.

“You look beautiful, my love. Not even the brightest star could make you justice” His voice filled her ears while his hands held her against his body. The room was filled with their presence and only the candles illuminated them. His eyes sparkled and the blue pulled and hypnotised her and she felt like falling. But if this was falling, she would do it gladly.

“I love you my king” She half moaned when his lips touched her neck.

“And I you my queen. I shall love until my dying day and beyond..”

Y\N woke up with a gasp and her hand had gone to her chest. Her heart beating at an alarming pace. She didn’t sleep that night.

The next morning she called Rita. An college friend that she remembered talking about reincarnation and stuff like that.. According to her, Y\N was having regressions. Something like reviving something she lived in a past life.

“Well, for all that seems to me Y\N, you and this colleague of yours were married. You should totally talk to him, he is your past life great love. He can be your soulmate! This is totally destiny.. Oh this is so cute, please tell me more!” Y\N rolled her eyes while Rita let out little giggles already planning their spring wedding

“I have to go Rita, thank you for the help, see yaa” Ignoring her old college friend’s protests, she hang up her phone. “Soulmate, my ass” A small knock on the door alarmed her and she jumped in her seat

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you” Y\N opened her mouth but her voice kept stuck on her throat “Alex couldn’t make it so he asked me to make you company for lunch. I mean, you d-don’t have to go.. He just said you didn’t like to eat alone and I thought.. I mean,..”

While hearing him stutter Y\N couldn’t help but smile. He was just as nervous around her as she was around him. In that moment she wondered if he also had the strange feelings and dreams she had.

“I would love to have lunch with you Ferdia” She smiled and he accompanied her while extending his hand to help her stand.

Since that lunch the two became incredibly close, to a point where Alex had a best friend\ big brother talk with his colleague. Y\N rolled her eyes at that and repeated the ‘we’re just friends’ excuse that became like a second nature to them. They walked hand in hand, Y\N helped Ferdia with his lines, they messed around in set and Alex even captured a precious moment while they cuddled in one of the sofas in the common area, using the picture as a proof to his point. Jennie declared that her biggest ship was the two of them, making Ferdia’s cheeks rosy while he lowered his gaze. ‘We’re just friends, guys’

“What are we going to watch?” The actor asked coming from his kitchen with a bowl with popcorn in his hands

“Ghost” Y\N replied getting a handful of popcorn

“Oh c’mon Y\N, we need to upgrade our standards here. It’s the third movie night with a cheesy romantic movie”

“Hey!” She punched him in the shoulder and they laughed “I love that movie, ok?”

“I like it too, but you promised a scary movie night” He arched his eyebrow, letting go of the bowl, he tickled her

“OK, OK, OK WE CAN WATCH SOMETHING ELSEE” Y\N moved trying to escape from his arms. Their laughter died slowly and she found herself under him, trapped. His blue eyes consuming her. “Do you believe in past lives?” Ferdia chuckled sitting back

“From all the things I prepared for to answer you, that was not one of them”

“Sorry, never mind.., let’s just choose another movie ok? How about Nightmare on Elm street?” She tried to get up from the sofa but Ferdia held her wrist

“Can we talk about us?” He seemed unsure, almost as if he was scared to speak

“Us?”

“Look, I know you see me just as a friend, but I..”

“I don’t “ Y\N whispered with her eyes on the ground

“W-what?” The actor closed the small distance between them. He sat closely at her side, his orbs fixed on her, his knees touching hers’.

“I-I don’t see you just as a friend. I never did, I guess.. I just never gave too much thought about it. We do work together after all.. Things could get complicated and..” She could feel her heart beating so fast that hurt her chest. But before she could finish her sentence, Ferdia moved. His hands turned her face to him and caressed her cheeks. Her words died and none came from him either. When the tip of his finger touched her lower lip dedicatedly, she closed her eyes. It felt so familiar. His touch calmed her in a way nothing ever did. She missed this her whole life.

‘You lived this. You loved him. You still love him’

His lips touched hers and what started as an innocent unsure kiss, became heated and passionate. It was like coming home after a long journey.

“I love you my king” Y\N said when they rested their foreheads against each other after the kiss. Ferdia smiled giving her a small peck on her lips

“And I you my queen”

#ferdia walsh peelo x reader #ferdia walsh peeloxreader #ferdia walsh peelo imagine #ferdia walsh peelo imagines #alfred vikings x reader #king alfred imagine #king alfred imagines

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bettydgunter90 · 4 years

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069: Do You Really Need to Be a Millionaire?

How important is it to be fabulously wealthy? Is it possible to live a successful life without making gobs of money along the way?

In this episode, Seth and Jaren talk about the purpose that money does and doesn’t serve in the life of an entrepreneur.

Links and Resources

The Surprising Truth About ‘Success’ and What it Means for You by Seth Williams

The Story of the Fisherman and the Businessman

Breaking Bad

Thou Shall Prosper by Daniel Lapin

Joe Rogan Experience #1208 – Jordan Peterson

048: Investing in Belize Real Estate w/ Will Mitchell

066: Real Estate Investing in Portugal and Uganda – Nathan Amaral Explains How it Works

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Thanks again for joining me this week. Until next time!

Right-click here and “Save As” to download this episode to your computer.

Episode 69 Transcription

Seth: Hey everybody, what’s up? This is Seth Williams and Jaren Barnes and you’re listening to the REtipster podcast. Today we’re not interviewing anybody. We’re just going to sit back and talk about an interesting topic. It’s really just the whole question of “How important is it to be rich?” Do you really need to become a millionaire from real estate or whatever your business of choice happens to be? How much does this really matter in the grand scheme of things?

I think everybody sort of has their own number at which, “Okay, that’s enough. Now I can stop or now I’ve made it”. But I think it’s important to question some of those assumptions sometimes. A lot of times we spend our lives chasing after goals that we haven’t actually thought through that much. Or maybe there is a reason for why we’re doing that, but there may be other more important reasons that argue otherwise that we haven’t thought a whole lot about.

We just kind of wanted to jam a little bit and go back and forth about this idea of how important is money and how much do you really need in order to be considered a success and how do you define success in the first place.

Jaren: I love that you call this a jam because that’s totally what it is. It’s just like we’re just getting together and…

Seth: And just riffing man.

Jaren: Yeah, I love it.

Seth: There is actually a parable of the fishermen and the businessman. Maybe you’ve heard this before, but I thought it was an interesting thing for us to read here because it’s highly relevant to this discussion. What do you think Jaren, should I read it?

Jaren: Yeah, man. Storytime with Seth Williams. This is great.

Seth: It’s not too long. Hopefully, you can deal with me.

Jaren: Everybody just decided to hit 2X on their audio device.

Seth: Did you know the audible app? I think you can listen to it at 3.5X or some ridiculously fast speed.

Jaren: You have to train your ear for that.

Seth: I don’t remember what it was, maybe it’s 3.5 but I was trying to deal with it the other day and it was nuts. Like I couldn’t understand anything that was being said, but I don’t know. I guess there’s a time and a place. Okay. So, here it goes.

There once was a businessman who was sitting by the beach in a small Brazilian village. As he sat, he saw a Brazilian fisherman rowing a small boat toward the shore, having caught quite a few big fish. The businessman was impressed and asked the fishermen, “How long does it take you to catch so many fish?” Then the fishermen replied, “Oh, just a short while”. “Then, why don’t you stay longer at sea and catch even more?”, the businessman was astonished. “This is enough to feed my whole family”, the fishermen said. The businessmen asked, “So, what do you do for the rest of the day?” And the fishermen reply, “Well, I usually wake up early in the morning, go out to sea to catch a few fish and then go back and play with my kids. In the afternoon, I’d take a nap with my wife. And when evening comes, I join my buddies in the village for a drink. We play guitar and sing and dance throughout the night”.

The businessmen offered a suggestion to the fishermen, “Well, I am a Ph.D. in business management. I could help you to become a more successful person. From now on, you should spend more time at sea and try to catch as many fish as possible. When you’ve saved enough money, you can buy a bigger boat and catch even more fish. Soon you’ll be able to afford to buy more boats, set up your own company, your own production plant for canned food, and distribution network. By then, you’ll have moved out of this village to São Paulo where you can set up a headquarter to manage your other branches”.

And the fishermen continued, “And after that?” And the businessman laughed heartedly, “Well after that, you can live like a King in the comfort of your own house. And when the time is right, you can go public and float your shares in the stock exchange and you’ll be rich”. And the fishermen asked, “And after that?” The businessman says, “After that you can finally retire, you can move to a house by the fishing village, wake up early in the morning, catch a few fish, and then return home to play with your kids. Have a nice afternoon nap with your wife, and when evening comes you can join your buddies for a drink. Play the guitar singing dance throughout the night”. And the fisherman was puzzled, “Isn’t that what I’m doing right now?” he thought.

Jaren: Wow. Yeah, I’ll tell you. I think he found a new career, so that was very good. There’s a lot to impact with that story. I think I read it in a book somewhere, but it’s one of the most profound stories, little parables that I’ve read.

Seth: Yeah, I know. The story kind of just says it all. I don’t know what else there is to unpack after that, but just this whole idea of “What really makes you happy?” What is it you want out of life? What’s going to make you feel as though, “Okay, I’ve made it, I’ve done what I was born to do?” How important is masses of wealth to do that? I don’t know, it’s a tough thing because I totally understand the draw to want to make money. Why else would I be a real estate investor if I didn’t understand that?

That’s a huge driver behind a lot of stuff that I do, but it’s not just about that. I think I’ve figured this out more and more. I think it earlier on in my life it was kind of just like “Make money, make money, make money”. Like somehow figure out how to make money. I don’t care what kind of business it is, as long as it’s not hurting people, just make money. And kind of as I’ve gotten further in life though, maybe it’s wisdom somehow, I have attained or something, but just realizing that if the goal is happiness or fulfillment, money is not necessarily the thing that’s going to make that possible. I think it definitely makes life easier in some respects, but it also makes life harder too.

Jaren: Yeah. I would give a little pushback there because I’ve seen studies, I think you’re right to a point, but I’ve seen some studies that say that the threshold of income that produces the ability to have a euphoric sense of fulfillment or you’ve arrived in life or you’re okay is about $70,000 per year.

Seth: I think it does depend on what country you’re in. But yeah, I think that’s right for the U.S. for the most part.

Jaren: For the U.S. Yes. And I think that there’s something to that as well, right? I think that you have to make at least some kind of money, like a certain standard of money to not be worrying and not being fear because knowing where my wife’s come from and her back story, there is a point where poverty just sucks. It’s just constant scrounging just to survive. And I do think that there’s that sweet spot where it’s like, okay, there is a point where it’s enough but it’s hard to identify that once you’re there. Because “Well, if I had just a little bit more if I just had a little bit more” and then your “At $70,000” becomes $100,000 and $150,000 and $250,000. And then, “Oh, as long as I’m a millionaire, I’ll finally get there”. And when you’re a millionaire, “I just need to get 10 million. If I got 10 million, I’d be good”. And you’re on this hamster wheel that continues to grow and grow.

Seth: Why do you think people keep because I think it’s a very common thing. I know some very entrepreneurial people, people who do not by any means need to continue working. Like it’s just totally unnecessary. Like they have more money than they’ll ever know how to spend, but they keep going for some reason. Like why? Is it because it’s fun? It’s like a game to them? Like, it’s just that’s how they entertain themselves or I don’t know. What do you think is going on there?

Jaren: Yeah, man. I think it depends on the person for sure. We’re way overgeneralizing.

Seth: For sure.

Jaren: But I think that if you’ve been an entrepreneur your whole life like I think of Gary Vaynerchuk. Like the guy is made for business. The guy doesn’t have to work. He could totally go read books all day, hang out with his family. But he loves it. It’s the game for him. And that’s his version of catching a few fish every day. For me, I don’t know if I’m there to be honest. I have to do things and a lot of it that I don’t really necessarily want to do because I’m kind of in that point where I’m like trying to reach a certain threshold of income every month and set up systems. I’m trying to generate cash to buy cash flow assets so that whether I’m in a beach in Belize hanging out with our friend Will Mitchell or maybe hanging out with Nathan in the Azores, I have to build those things up first. That’s where I’m at in my evolution of entrepreneurship.

But for me, when I’m at a point where I don’t have to worry about money anymore, I promise you my day is going to look totally different. I’m going to be reading a whole lot more, a lot more. I probably would still do some version of blogging or podcasting or giving back. Because again, I feel like, as I said in the interview with you, I feel like this medium is the best for impact and that’s something that’s really important to me. But I definitely would not be taking motivated seller calls. I will bet you money that will not be happening.

Seth: I know, man, I think about that too. Like, I don’t know, if I woke up tomorrow with enough passive real estate to just like dump millions into my bank account every month. Like way more money than I could ever spend. Definitely, the fire would not be burning quite as hot, I guess. Put it that way. But I’d probably shift my attention towards like giving a bunch of money away because that’s a lot of fun when you can really make a big difference with a good mission or organization that’s trying to do things and all they need is the money. I’m not the kind who’s just going to like bust my button until the day I die. Like if I’m able to make it to a certain point, basically I’ll be done doing anything for the purpose of making money. It’ll be more for the purpose of like enjoyments or helping others.

Jaren: Or having a higher mission. Yeah. Let’s explore that a little bit man. Because you said even in your example just a minute ago, you said if I had cash flow that was making me millions, millions of dollars a month, that’s when you would shift gears. But the big thesis of today’s conversation is “Do you need millions and millions to start running an organization that gives money away and stuff like that?” Like when do you know, “Okay, enough is enough. I’ve made enough. I’m good. It’s time for me to get off the hamster wheel.”

Seth: Yeah. I don’t know why this is coming to mind right now. It is relevant, but have you ever seen the show “Breaking Bad”?

Jaren: I’ve seen some episodes, yeah. My mom and my stepdad were totally obsessed with that show.

Seth: Yeah. There is a season two episode one, the episode is called “Seven Thirty-Seven”. The reason it’s called that is that Walter White, the main character who through a series of unfortunate events ended up in the drug business manufacturing and trying to sell meth. If you haven’t seen the show, this guy is a high school science teacher, respectable guy. Like, not the kind of person you would ever think would somehow end up making and selling drugs. But he is a trained chemist and he happens to be able to make the highest quality meth anybody has ever seen. He realizes he has this skill. And it was all motivated by the fact that he was diagnosed with lung cancer and he didn’t have a lot of money and he needs to make money fast somehow so that his family is taken care of and his kids can go to college and all this stuff.

And this episode “Seven Thirty-Seven”, he arrives on this number. He needs $737,000 to afford to do everything that he wants his family to be able to have when he’s gone. Like pay for college, pay off their house, all this stuff. That is his number. And as you can imagine, the show goes on for five total seasons and he gets to that number through a lot of very difficult, horrible things that he has to do. And then he just keeps going. Because he realizes like “I’m good at this”. Like this is kind of fun and he sort of enjoys the power and the pride and the manipulation. And I think in the show he ends up making like $80 million or something like that.

But it makes sense in a way. If you sacrifice everything that you have to sacrifice and put the time and effort into learning how to make money. Like it’s not an easy road for most people. Money is kind of hard to make. I think some people are blessed with really good salesmanship skills and it comes fairly easy to them. But most people aren’t that lucky. They have to really, like for me, it has been anything but easy to figure out how to make money in life. And when you finally figure out something that works, it’s like you kind of want to squeeze everything you can out of that because it’s like, “Hey, this was a lot of work to get here”.

And it doesn’t hurt to realize on this Earth anyway, money, it gives you power in certain ways. There are opportunities you would never otherwise have and things you can do. I think it’s probably fairly easy for most people to do the math and figure out what do they really want, what are the biggest expenses is going to be in the next 20 to 40 to whatever years of their life. It’s like the math of it probably isn’t that hard, but the emotion of it is probably what’s harder to keep in check and actually sticking to your goal. I think everybody probably has aspirations of coming up with that number, but when you get into it as any entrepreneur knows, there’s something almost kind of addictive about it. I don’t know if that’s the right word.

Jaren: No, I think that’s a great word, man. Yeah, because I’ve been talking to my wife and I’ve been kind of feeling some of that. I miss the excitement of the simple wholesaling day sometimes where it’s like literally every single month was either going to be the best month ever or the worst month ever. There are so many months where it was like to the last day of the month we were going to see if we were going to make it or break it.

Seth: That would be a living hell for me. I would not enjoy that.

Jaren: I mean it’s so intense, but man is it a rush. There is an addictive aspect to it where it’s like, I’m sure if we got Tyler Hazel on here who is the Head of Acquisitions at Simple Wholesaling at the time that I was the Head of Dispositions, he would a hundred percent affirm of what I’m saying. There is an aspect of it that’s intoxicating.

Seth: When you were asking me in the last episode about what would be so bad about going back to a job, I think maybe that’s part of it. It just seemed so monotonous. Like when you’ve seen the other side or seen what can be, like closing a deal that makes you $40,000 – $50,000 in one shot. I mean contrasting that with like, “Yep, another paycheck of couple thousand bucks”. It’s so boring. Yeah, definitely, it’s thrilling when you figure out how to make money.

Jaren: Again, to play devil’s advocate a little bit, I’m definitely somebody who never wants to retire ever. I think that getting to a point where you have enough money where I can just sit around and watch TV all day like that lifestyle just does not appeal to me. I would much rather when it’s my time to be taken out, I want to be on a stage or on a mission trip or doing something significant with my time. I don’t want to just like get old and watch TV until I die. That’s so repulsive to me. And so, how do you figure this thing out? Because it is a question that I ask myself a lot. Like, okay, if I loosely have an idea of like I want to own X amount of rental units that should generate this range of cash flow every month for us to live off of or not only live off of but to give wealth away or use for purposes or whatever.

Once I’m there, how am I going to be able to walk from it and what am I going to be walking towards? Do you think that it’s wise for entrepreneurs to early on in their entrepreneurial pursuits to really lay this out and really have a meeting with themselves and like, “All right, when you reach $20,000 a month, no under any circumstances we’re walking away and we’re doing something different”. Or do you think that it’s okay to just be like, “Hey, I’m at 20 I want to go to 50. I want to go to a 100”. And how do you know when you need to stop versus when it’s okay to keep going?

Seth: I guess it sort of depends on what drives you. If you can answer the question, “Why do you do what you do?” It’s a very open-ended question, but I don’t know, everybody has something that motivates them. Some underlying reason that they’re doing anything that they’re doing right now. I think it also helps to be honest about that. I think sometimes people almost like tell themselves lies or they come up with the reasons that sound good on the surface, but really there’s something like going back to Breaking Bad. He spends all five seasons talking about “I’m doing this for my family. I want to be able to provide for my family”. And in the process totally destroys his family. I mean everything just goes caput. Like in the last episode, one of the last scenes, he’s talking with his estranged wife and she’s like, “Don’t tell me one more time that you did this for the family”. And he says, “I didn’t do this for the family. I did this for me because I was good at it”. That’s one of the things I got. If he had been honest with that all along. I don’t know. I don’t know if that would have changed his direction or just if it would have helped them have more clarity about his motivations for everything. But it took him till the end to be honest about it in that fictional story.

Jaren: Yeah, I think that’s really solid, man. Because something that I really tried to do like I’ve said, I think when you interviewed me, something that I brought up for good or for worse, my personality is achievement-oriented. I draw my sense of fulfillment from what I accomplish and I can use that as a superpower. But that also is my biggest weakness in my Achilles heel in who I am as a person. If you negatively attack that sense of my security is wrapped up in what I do, that is a huge character flaw. But it’s also what gets me to do things that other people aren’t willing to do. It’s what drives me and it is what fuels my success. So, I think that it’s being honest with yourself and just being okay with flaws and all, what you have in your DNA. Honesty is the first step to be able to capitalize on it because you can set up things to protect you from the worst parts of the manifestation of how you are and you then can capitalize on the good parts and double down on.

Seth: Yeah, it actually reminds me, there was an article I wrote for Inc this past year that kind of talks directly about a lot of this stuff. Maybe I can play the narrator again and read some of this for you because actually I spent a lot of time trying to organize my thoughts when I put this together. So, if I just read it, it’ll probably come out better. By the way, I’ll link to this in the show notes. This is retipster.com/69. But the article is called “The Surprising Truth About ‘Success’ and What it Means for You”.

Every time I hear somebody talking about what it takes to be “successful”, I cringe. Success is one of those catchall words people use to describe everything good in life. But the problem is that it’s impossible for everybody to agree on what success really means. Merriam-Webster gave it a shot and they came up with a definition of the attainment of wealth, favor or eminence. It’s like, what do you think? Is it fair to sum up every successful person based on their wealth, favor, or eminence? The problem with that definition, I think, or any definition of success is that success is very subjective. Not every successful person sets out to attain wealth, favor, or eminence. Some folks are looking for things like freedom or spiritual enlightenment or self-discipline or relationships with great people.

There are different ways to measure when a person has found success and ultimately success has to be defined by you. This next section starts with “Are you climbing the wrong ladder?” In the entrepreneurial world, a lot of people go into business for themselves because they’re looking for freedom from a boss. Freedom from the 09:00 to 05:00 or the ability to live life on their terms.

But many successful entrepreneurs will inevitably start following Merriam-Webster’s definition of success instead of their own. They start going after the money, the house, the car, things like that. And there’s nothing inherently wrong with those things. But I’ve found that most entrepreneurs want to be remembered by more than just wealth and fame. That’s not really what it all boils down to. Yet somehow that’s the path they end up on. And eventually, I think we realized like it doesn’t take us where we want to go. It’s like spending years climbing up a ladder only to look down and realize the ladder was leaning up against the wrong wall. So why do so many people end up chasing after achievements that don’t make them happy? And I believe it happens because when an entrepreneur never intentionally sets their own definition of what success looks like.

And the article goes on and on from there. But kind of what we were saying, I mean it is really important to really think this through, like what matters to you. And sometimes that you have to ask yourself some tough questions and challenge your assumptions and also acknowledge that there’s a lot of beliefs that are infused into our heads from a very early age that are not correct or not healthy. They’re not going to bring us to where we want to go. I feel like the older I get, the more and more I realize that kind of stuff. Things I’ve just always thought that isn’t right. It’s important to be able to take a step back and challenge what you thought you’ve known all along.

Jaren: Yeah, that’s super deep man. I think I’m actually going to take on a homework assignment for myself because I am seeing the significance of this conversation. I’m going to take some time and define, really quantify what success looks like from a dollar perspective. Like how much money should I be making every month from real estate. But more importantly, what are the things that I truly define as success. Because for me success looks a lot more like being faithful to self-discipline than anything else. Like, even if I didn’t ever accomplish the financial numbers that I want, being the kind of person who is in shape.

That’s something that I’ve personally struggled with a lot in my life and continue to do so, unfortunately, is like, I want to be a lot healthier and a lot more fit than I am currently. And I want to be able to be the kind of person that works out every day or at least five, six times a week. And I want to be somebody who has spiritual disciplines and is faithful to them and has the ability to govern oneself as it were. And other people might not care about that stuff. But that’s the kind of stuff for me that I really just need to get honest with.

I love what you said about honesty and I really want to reemphasize that because it’s okay if it looks ugly. If your motivation is grit, start with it being that your motivation is grit and own it. There are pros and cons to that and you’re going to have to explore that. But if that’s honestly, you just want to make a buttload of money, start there and be like, “Okay, I just want to make a buttload of money. Why do I want to make a buttload of money?” And then go from there.

Seth: It’s the “Five Whys” exercise. Whatever your answer is, ask yourself “Why?” again. And whatever your answer is to that, ask yourself “Why?” again. Why do you need a million dollars? Why do you want to make a buttload of money? Why the answer to that? And again, and again. Eventually, you’ll probably drill down to what actually matters and what’s really going on beneath the surface.

In that article, actually, I came up with a few questions that people might want to just think about if they’re not sure what they really value. I’ll just proceed to read these questions exactly as they’re written in the article here.

The first time I tried this, I found it was surprisingly difficult to think outside the established norms of seeking wealth, status and admiration from others. If you’re struggling to come up with your own unique definition of success, try asking yourself some of these questions.

“When in your life have you felt genuinely happy? Who were you with? What were you doing? What circumstances led to your happiness? What would it take for you to recreate those moments?” That’s one thing to think about. And then “When was the last time you felt content, satisfied and fulfilled? If ever. Assuming you even know what that feels like. “What made you feel this way? Which of your needs, wants, and desires were being met at that moment?” And then, “What do you value most in life?” Come up with a shortlist of things that matter most to you. “Which items on this list matter more than the others?”

Put the items in order of priority and be honest with yourself again, as you do this. And whatever your answers are, you’ll probably find there’s a lot more to the story than just money, power and influence as it’s defined in the dictionary. When you know what’s going on beneath the surface, you’ll be able to develop a better understanding of your values and your own definition of success, whatever that is.

Jaren: This is really good, man. For the listeners out there, if you take this as a challenge and you sit down and you really go through these questions and you get clear answers on these, I think it’s going to really help you navigate through the waters of becoming financially independent. Because real estate, if you employ what we teach at REtipster and know what the guests say here, eventually you are going to start making really good money.

And money is an amplifier. If you have insecurities or you got issues in your heart right now, when you throw money at it, it’s just going to get 5,000 times louder. But if you got this stuff worked out on the get-go, then when you throw money at it, then you’re just going to be able to amplify really good stuff that the world needs.

Seth: Yeah, totally. I think it was Will Smith who said, “Money doesn’t change people. It just amplifies what’s already there”.

Jaren: Oh, nice. I didn’t know he said that. That’s awesome.

Seth: Well, probably several people have said that, and somehow, I can attribute that to Will Smith. I think it’s true though. It’s a lot of truth to that. So, anything else we want to explore this topic?

Jaren: I don’t know man. I think we kind of hit it right on the head. I think that it’s just something to think about. I don’t think we have a very clear answer to the question because I don’t know, it might be the right decision for this fisherman to scale. Because then all of a sudden, he can not only provide for his immediate family, maybe he can provide jobs for his entire village and some people are called to do that stuff. And that’s important. Creating jobs is really, really important. But you just really need to know why. If your goal is to provide for your family and fish a little bit in the morning and have a drink with your buddies at night and you’re already doing that, well, then why reinvent the wheel? Money is not going to change that.

Seth: It is interesting. I know this is sort of varying down a different road in the conversation, but I know plenty of people in my life who straight up believe that the attainment of wealth like to be rich, I guess for lack of a better term is wrong. There’s something wrong with that. When somebody has excessive wealth or they’re in the dreaded 1% so to speak in some way those people are like corrupt or somehow, they got there from bad motives or taking advantage of people. This is a huge thing in a lot of different online realms where people charge money for courses. For some reason that gets pigeonholed as like those people are bad because they’re charging a lot of money for a course, which I mean the whole conversation is just nuts.

I mean all kinds of crazy assumptions are wrapped into that, but a lot of times people won’t necessarily come out and say, “I think it’s wrong”, but that’s really what they’re getting at. That’s the underlying assumption behind everything, all their beliefs about people who are wealthy. The funny thing about that, I was listening to Jordan Peterson one time talking about this. I think he was being interviewed on maybe Joe Rogan or something, but anyway, they were talking about this whole issue of being in the 1%. The 1% richest people in America.

He said it’s actually interesting, if you make more than $32,000 a year, you’re in the top 1% of the world. Why is it that being in the 1% of America somehow makes you bad but the 1% of the world is okay? Because most people make over $32,000 a year. I thought it was just an interesting point in terms of how people define good or bad or acceptable versus unacceptable.

I think that book “Thou Shall Prosper” by Daniel Lapin has a ton to say about that whole subject. And one of the things that he gets at is he’s sort of talking about how a lot of entrepreneurs, like say if they give a lot of money to a local nonprofit and they are on the news because of it, the news will say something like “Local businessman gives back to the community”, ignoring the fact that you already gave back to the community in a huge way by employing tons and tons of people and giving people the livelihood, like how is that not giving back? But when you actually give cash to somebody, then you’ve officially started to do a good thing. I thought that was a really good point. I had never even thought of it that way, but it’s totally true.

Jaren: That book really changed my life because of this topic. I was kind of growing up as a troubled kid and then kind of getting into what I call the missionary mentality. There was a lot that I almost like glorified poverty. Like I grew up in an upper-middle-class family, but for whatever reason, I associated with drug addicts and I legitimately as crazy as this is probably going to sound for the audience members, as a kid, my aspiration was to be nomadic. Like I wanted to be homeless. And my mom used to actually drop me off in Santa Cruz, California and I used to go hang out with a bunch of homeless people. And I actually had a guy tell me that, “Hey, as long as you graduate high school, you can come out here on the streets and I’ll teach you how to be homeless and how to survive”. And that was like legitimately the direction that I was wanting to go with my life.

I really had this like the anti-rich, anti-wealth thing. Like all the problems in the world are related to money and all this stuff. But that book like just sold it. It just settled it in my heart that “No, no, no. You can do far better for the world if you can create jobs and you have money”. The more money you have, the better you can make an impact on the world for the positive. And my wife really taught me that too because growing up in real poverty, you talked to anybody that grew up in real poverty, they say, “No, no, no. Money is an amazing thing. Money is a very, very, very, very, very good thing because money means food. Money is a good thing”. I really encourage it to everybody. That’s why I always listed as one of my most recommended books.

Seth: There were a bunch of things he said in that book that I had stopped the audiobook and write it down because it was just so impactful. One of the things he said was that, “Most of the good things that you are is a reason to blow other people’s horns rather than your own”. It’s really true. Any good attribute of myself is either like nature or nurture. I was born with it because of who my parents are and who their parents were or somebody taught me to do the good thing that I do. I just emulated what they did.

It’s almost kind of like the question of “Is there even such thing as real true creativity or is everything just a reiterated version of what somebody else has done?” I don’t know. Sometimes it’s very easy to glorify oneself and think of like, “Wow, I’m an amazing person. Look at this awesome thing I did for the world”.

Jaren: Especially if you look like Seth.

Seth: I know. It’s very easy. Like I said, that’s a good book. Obviously, Jaren has talked about it a lot. I’ve talked about it a little bit, but if you ever want to get an audiobook or a book to read, go check it out. Cool. Well, I think that’s all I’ve got to say on the subject. You, Jaren, you got anything else?

Jaren: No, I think that’s it and I hope you guys are enjoying us. Switching up the format a little bit here, I know that these last couple of episodes have been a little different and I think we’re going to be continuing down the same vein. I think moving forward we’ll touch back on more real estate specific topics and things of that sort, but I think we’re going to mix up interviews and then just having it be me and Seth to explore a topic. So, if you guys have any topic ideas that you’d like me and Seth to explore, reach out to one of us. Maybe we can do in Facebook or if you want to reach out to me, [email protected]. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Seth: Not Jared, but Jaren with an N.

Jaren: Yeah. Or Darren like everyone. My name is, it’s funny, I have to be very articulate when I say Jaren because some people think I say Sharon, like I’m a girl. It’s terrible.

Seth: I’ve been present several times when people have called you Jared, which I guess, Jaren is an unusual name. I haven’t known many Jaren’s so I sort of get it, but still, it’s like, come on man, pay attention.

Jaren: I’m used to it.

Seth: Well folks, if you enjoyed this episode or even if you didn’t, if you want to follow along with what we’ve got coming up next, you can do so from your phone if you text the word “FREE”, F-R-E-E to the number 33777.

I hope you guys enjoyed this. I hope everybody is doing okay out there in the world. And if you want to check out the show notes from this episode, again, that’s retipster.com/69. We’ll talk to you guys next time.

Jaren: Later guys.

The post 069: Do You Really Need to Be a Millionaire? appeared first on REtipster.

from Real Estate Tips https://retipster.com/069-do-you-need-to-be-a-millionaire/

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ouraidengray4 · 7 years

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