#21: The Skill Most People Lack

I’ve always had a belief system. Here it is:

Vision + Systematic Patience = Anything You Want

That’s it.

I formed that sentence when I was 25 years old.

What I didn’t realize at the time is that I stumbled onto manifestation. I stumbled on to how to Try Life On.

For everything I’ve accomplished, somehow my younger self knew to never quit and just keep going. My younger self knew to find the resource, or the person, or the SYSTEM that I could operate within, for years, that would give me that thing, that would help bring that vision to life. And if there was no system, I somehow knew to create one (see financial freedom plan below).

My older self now understands I was walking in faith (following the feeling in my gut), trusting my journey, that I would somehow get where I was going. I was always following my gut, and I still do.

And that thing in your GUT is the universe talking to you (GOD, Faith, Law of Attraction, Subconscious, etc. - whatever you choose to call it).

Note: Try Life On podcast episode 42 goes in depth.

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This is what happened:

1990 - age 15, 30-day trip across France opened my inner-city eyes. The world is bigger than Boston, Massachusetts, where I grew up. I understood after the trip there’s more culture out there than my own Haitian one. There are beautiful people in the world to meet, to explore with, to learn from, and give back to. I developed a passion for more worldwide experience, constantly thinking, “What’s out there?”

1997 - age 21, found the book Personal Finance for Dummies. I was trying to learn about money. In that process, I learned about passive income. That’s money generated without need to physically be somewhere (i.e. real estate, dividend stocks, cash flow businesses). And when you have passive income, what you really have is time. You’ve created time. And time is what we need to thrive and truly plug into life and the planet as intended.

2002 - age 25, a vision came to my mind, and I started to create it. I developed a financial freedom plan to earn time and geographic freedom. My thought was if I could create passive income somehow, I’d have ability to visit the world more and have more experiences like when I was 15. I wanted to see and experience more life. Status quo wasn’t working for me. So, I had a thought, and started writing.

I created a SYSTEM to manifest my vision. I wanted to do what I want, when I want, how I want… I just didn’t realize what was happening to me in the moment. Here's what I came up with...

1. Give yourself a why…. (i.e. family, lifestyle)
2. Stop buying unneeded stuff forcing you to work.
3. Pay yourself first. The “Future You” is the #1 bill.
4. Store money vs. saving money. Stay broke (not poor).
5. Build up enough in storage to buy an asset.
6. Buy/create assets that pay you (stocks, real estate).
7. When it pays, store that income and add your paycheck.
8. Buy another asset.
9. Press repeat.
10. Press repeat again.

It took 7 years to create enough income for basic needs (2008).
It took 14 to generate more than I was getting from work (2014).
It’s year 26, my assets buy assets.

I’ve got outright time, geographic, and financial freedom. I prefer experiences vs. buying stuff
My journey was and has never been about money.

It’s been about experiencing more life with beautiful people.

I had a vision as a kid. I made a systematic plan as adult. And I executed for years.

98 countries, 350 times later… I’ve met people and seen things I am so grateful for. I made my extraordinary, ordinary (a Try Life On principle). Today, I’ll fly 8000 miles to go to a birthday party and come back. We can. We should.

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I now use this approach to manifest everything in my life.

1. I envision what I want or feel.

2. I find a system to work within or create one to get that vision.

3. And I faithfully execute within that system for years. Years and years.

I have systematic patience, a skill missing in much of society.
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Here are a few examples of things I’ve manifested in my life, the system I used to do it and how long it took until I realized I got there:

I wanted to make it to the NFL. 4 years high school, 4 years college. System was ASC Pro Tryout Camp. Tried out for 8 teams when I was 21. Didn’t make the cut. Went to grad school at 26 to play football again and give it another shot. ASC Pro Tryout Camp kept my name in the list. Didn’t make it again. Doesn’t matter. I fulfilled my NFL dream by trying. I never gave up.

It took me 15 years to get a speaking role on an HBO Series, 4 years to be in a Disney movie. My ‘system’ was a wonderful person by the name of Linda. She had connections in the industry. I just stayed connected to her for years, took acting classes, and told her when the right opportunity comes, I’ll be ready. I don’t know how many commercials and billboards I was on, but it was a lot. The pinnacle for me was being on HBO series 2 years ago called WE OWN THIS CITY. I’m not a heavy actor. I just enjoy the process.

I had the idea to be a police officer in 2004. I graduated academy in 2009 while being a full time executive. Here’s the story. When I got back from a military deployment as a federal agent in 2003, I didn’t like the idea of just going back to corporate. So, I created a vision of how I could help people in my neighborhood. I decided to be a midnight police officer. My system was something called “Job Share” at the police department, as well as my boss at my corporate work. Combined, those two things helped me work magic and I was a midnight police officer for 15 years while being a full time corporate executive during the day.

I saw Matt Damon as Jason Bourne surface in the Mediterranean Sea as a secret agent in the 2002 movie. The idea of doing unique things in unique places to help people stuck with me.

I became a Federal Agent and ran my first field office in Washington, D.C. in 2004. I became my own ‘Jason Bourne’ when I ran a field office on the Aegean Sea (Izmir, Turkey) and Red Sea (Djibouti, Africa) in 2015 and 2016. It took a long time, but I never stopped working on it. My system was the U.S. Air Force Reserve. They had a little know program called IMA – Individual Mobilization Augmentee.

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I hope this makes sense to you. If it doesn’t, and you want to understand more, I highly recommend the book “The Power of Your Subconscious Mind” by Joseph Murphy, the 1963 edition.

 I didn’t know I was manifesting in my life before. I didn’t know I was walking in faith. I came to that realization while reading Power of the Subconscious Mind over the past few months, as well as having a tough year in 2023 which led me to do a lot of inner work with therapist and friends.

 Everything from $250M in real estate to living in my favorite country, Lebanon. I had a vision of life, created or found a system that made sense, and I faithfully executed within that system for years - decades even.

You must be patient to Try Life On. You must find the system that makes sense. And you must walk in faith knowing it will be.

You got this.

Maurice