Our journey in life really begins as a teenager. This is where we start to become a true individual. We develop our own opinions from our own experiences and it's our first step into life on our own.

We begin this journey in Denial. Denial is many things, but I like to think of it simply as we don't know what we don't know. As we move through our later years we like to think we have worldly knowledge, little realizing how little we know. We stop looking to our parents for advice, we think we don't need it. And what would our parents know anyway, they're old!

Denial ends when we start to step up for ourselves and take full responsibility for looking after ourselves. We learn to clean, wash and cook (sometimes).

This normally begins when we leave home, or get kicked out of home by our parents, gently or strongly. Then when we enter the big wide world and get a bit of worldly experience we realize we don't know everything about everything. Denial is a state of fear. We deny what we fear. But fear is just the illusion painted by absence of knowledge. Three hundred years ago people "knew" if you sailed in one direction you fell off the earth. Now we laugh, but so will our children about us in 50 years.

So when we have more knowledge about life we usually (but not always) slip into the next phase of empowerment...

With our worldly experience we then become a sceptic! This is where people have opinions about many things, even the things they don't have experience about. I see scepticism as pre-judging an experience without having the experience.

A classic example is investment in real estate.

Those who have had a poor experience or none at all are often pessimistic about owning investment properties. Whereas those who have many properties, by their experience believe having investment properties is a great thing. Sceptics pre-judge having the property as a bad thing. Fear is what's really talking as logic says there are people who are successful and happy with owning many properties. Fear stops us from seeing the truth, it's denial expressed.

When people are sceptics they often want to "air" their own knowledge telling people what their opinion is. However when they do someone smarter can come along and shoot down the sceptics fear based opinion with facts and proof based on real life experience. This can mean the sceptic realizes they don't know everything and have a lot to learn. When this happens the sceptic slips into the next phase of empowerment, a very distinct phase called... Acceptance.

Acceptance is the phase of empowerment where you just "accept" information on your chosen subject and don't filter it through your own opinions (and fear). Acceptance is where you become a student of your chosen field. If someone asks you for an opinion or a question you answer with, "I don't know I'm just getting started".

Acceptance is a phase that lasts for a few years. You begin your journey with a goal in mind. Normally the goal is to be like someone you know who you consider already successful in your chosen field. It might be mechanical repairs, it could be sales, it could be running your own business, it doesn