“Island” – the very word itself – opens my memory to a secret scrapbook of snapshots stored away deep in a vault where I keep images of the best times I’ve ever had. Places with names like Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Vancouver, the San Juans, Bora Bora, Moorea, Maui, Kauai, St. John’s, St. Thomas, French St. Martin and its Dutch Siamese twin St. Maarten, Cancun, Cozumel, Isla Mujeres, and now, for this past month, Key West.

The word “island” resonates with echoes of the sea, mother of us all, with suggestions of magic, mystery, solitude, surprise, danger, of a life lived at the edge of nature’s always dramatic, often tragic, clash of earth, sky, sun, water and wind.

Those of us who are compelled to islands are drawn to them for what we can discover about ourselves: Islands awaken dreams long asleep within to remind us that a life worth living is a life of adventure perceived by senses stimulated to sentience by the salt air carrying scents of vegetable decay and exotic spices, by the natural neon pink and purple blooms of bougainvillaea, jacaranda and hibiscus glowing phosphorescent in the starlight, by the sharp smells of café con leche and fresh bread baking in the ovens of Cuba town, the oldest patch of Key West where Castro’s aging exiles on bicycles dodge wild, reckless chickens wobbling like drunks down the narrow alleyways.

For the past month I’ve lived on this fabled little 1.4 x 4 mile mound of coral, Cayo Hueso, “Little Island of Bones,” Key West, the last stop on old U.S. 1, the tip of the tail of the junkyard dog that has become America, curving like a crescent moon 154 miles southwest of Miami, surrounded by a dying coral reef, shored by the Gulf of Mexico on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other, 90 miles south across the Gulf Stream to Cuba.

I came here on a personal crusade, a mission of adventure and discovery, or more accurately, a rediscovery of that part of myself, my lost creative heart, that had become buried under a refuse heap, the human landfill of the junkfood life most of us seem to be living these days, a life ruled by the two brutal bullies of the last Decade of the 20th Century: Never time or money to do what we really want. A life of 80-megabyte hard-drive information overload, of emotional gridlock, of a place where teenagers are inexplicably entertained by busty babes in bikinis setting their armpits on fire to the eurhythmic monotony of Rap music on MTV.

I came here to Key West, like so many of my heroes before me, to write a book in a place where shaping stories into words seems as natural and ordinary as the little Haitian girl in pigtails, sitting on the sagging stoop of her shotgun house, stringing beads and smiling at me while humming ancient Voodoo mantras.

I came to Key West to get jolted out of the torpid, boring, mundane, mindless sound-bite of a life that I suspect I, and most of us, end up living in a country whose single greatest contribution to world culture has been to make mediocrity not only acceptable, but respectable.

I came to Key West to see if I had another story left in me to tell.

I came to Key West to set my imagination on fire.

I came to Key West to explore the deepest, most mysterious of all seas, the ocean of imagination through which swim the brilliant phantasms of the unconscious, the rotting hulks of shipwrecked dreams, the lost memories of mermaids, the floating faces of the dead. This is the most difficult of all waters, the most dangerous of all deep water dives, but the treasures to be found in this silent darkness promise riches of the spirit more valuable than all the pieces of eight ever plundered by the pirates of lost centuries from the shifting bottoms out beyond this little island’s reef.

THE PATH TO ABUNDANCE:
TEN STEPS TO ACHIEVING FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE,
SECURITY & WEALTH

by Rich Crossland, President
The Crossland Company

STEP #1: DEFINE YOUR DREAM. Ask yourself, “If I had all the money I wanted, what would I do with it? What would I most like to accomplish with my money? How would I change my life? What is my idea of a perfect retirement?”

The first step in achieving financial security is to decide what you really want. The sad truth is most people don’t have a clue. But to succeed, you must have a specific and exciting desire or ambition imbedded deep in your daily thinking to motivate you. Without that belief, you don’t have a chance. The desire for financial rewards without a vividly imagined and concretely conceived idea behind it is empty and unsatisfying and will not be enough to motivate you over the long term.

Ironically, achieving financial independence begins with the motivation to achieve something else, something you truly want and believe is worth the effort. You have to have a near-obsessive drive to get it. Without that desire you won’t have the focus and discipline required to overcome the inevitable obstacles and setbacks, much less deny the constant barrage of distractions, pleasures, and comforts that can, and for so many people do, block their paths, waste their energy and assets, and stop them dead in their tracks!

Your goals must be a reflection of who you truly are — your history, education, talents and values—and be cast in the shape of the life you want to create. They can be private and humble, or public and bold, but they must be yours and yours alone, not someone else’s idea of what you should want, or do, or be. If you find yourself chasing someone else’s
idea of what they think you should achieve, you will always find ways to sabotage yourself! It’s your hearts way to tell you you’re on the wrong track. Always listen to your deepest self—it’s always right!

STEP #2: TAKE OWNERSHIP. Once you’re sure what your true goal is, buy it. Write it down and put your stamp on it. Make it yours. When you’ve taken ownership and embedded your goal into the core of your thinking, you will naturally strive to protect, nourish and grow your dream.

STEP #3: PAY YOURSELF FIRST. Every month invest in your own investment account before you pay anything else. Your future is your number one priority. Write that first check to yourself no matter what. Build a habit. Have an iron will. And never quit. There is no other way.

STEP #4: GET GOOD AT DELAYING GRATIFICATION. Cut non-essential spending. Every time you deny the urge, you’ll get stronger. Your goal will inspire you and give you courage. It’s your spiritual “power bar.” Before long you’ll stop craving the temporary pleasures you used to be addicted to, satisfied instead by your knowledge of the true and lasting abundance and rewards that will be yours in the days ahead.

STEP #5: INVEST, DON’T SAVE. Bank savings accounts don’t grow. After taxes and inflation, you’ll only end up with what you started with, and sometimes even less. The biggest risk is not taking risk. Be confident. Be bold. Use growth mutual funds to build wealth for long term goals. Improve your knowledge of basic investment strategies, economic trends and cycles, and global politics, all of which can effect your personal program. Train your mind to recognize opportunities.

STEP #6: STAY THE COURSE, EVEN WHEN THE MARKET IS IN A DOWN CYCLE. Work with an experienced investment advisor to create a sound plan, then stick with it. When the market goes down, don’t bail out, just make adjustments. Remember, you’re in it for the long term. Smart investors see declines as opportunities and take advantage of them. Much of the time, being smart means doing the opposite of what most people are doing, or what your false “fear instincts” are telling you to do.

STEP #7: REMEMBER, THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS, NO “GET RICH QUICK SCHEMES,” THAT WORK. If becoming financially secure were easy, then half of all retirees wouldn’t be living a subsistence level existence on social security alone. But you don’t have to be an investment genius, either. What you need most is persistence, fueled by your dreams.

STEP #10: HAVE FAITH! NOTHING CAN STOP YOU NOW THAT YOU HAVE THE “SPIRIT OF ABUNDANCE” BEHIND YOU, DRIVING YOU TOWARD YOUR DREAM, GIVING YOU EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO SUCCEED. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS START. NO MORE EXCUSES. YOUR TIME IS NOW! SEIZE IT!