My Dad Brainwashed Me

The title of this letter is a little misleading… but let me explain.
Growing up, one of my favourite things to do was go with Dad to train his racing pigeons.

Every week or two we’d jump in the car, hook up the trailer full of pigeons and drive for about an hour before releasing them. I loved those days, but what stayed with me most weren’t the pigeons.

It was the conversations.

As far back as I can remember, Dad repeated the same two things over and over again.

“Nothing is impossible.”
“A problem is only a problem, until the problem is solved.”

He said them so often that, looking back, I sometimes joke he brainwashed me.

Years later, when I was 20 and told Dad I wanted to start my own financial planning business, he smiled and simply said, “You’ve got nothing to lose, and now is the best time to make it happen.”

Looking back, I don’t think that conversation changed my life. The brainwashing had already worked.
I never found myself asking, “That’ll never happen.” Instead, almost without thinking, I’d ask myself, “How could I make this happen?”

The older I’ve become, the more I’ve realised that we all have an inner voice. The question is, who gave it to us?
Whether we realise it or not, the conversations we hear growing up become the voice we carry into adulthood. They shape the questions we ask ourselves, the decisions we make and, ultimately, the life we build.

Today, I catch myself doing exactly what Dad did with me. I’m constantly reminding my boys that nothing is impossible, and that a problem is only a problem until it’s solved.

Maybe one day they’ll joke that I brainwashed them too.

I hope they do.

Have a great week,

John Cachia
Founder & CEO of Thriving Wealth™