I’m not a motivational, go get ‘em, punch the air, you-can-do-it-bloke. I’m an average guy, and unlike Tony Robbins, I’m not a knob. I don’t believe that everyone can achieve fortune by running their own business, inventing the next big thing or standing in a room surrounded by 200 other people all doing Zumba. But I do believe that the vast majority of people can attain financial freedom, and faster than you would think is possible.

I paid off my first mortgage by the age of 27, and recently there has been some interest shown in how I did it. I’m not going to give you a full blow-by-blow description here, just a plug for my website where I give you the tools you need to pay off your own mortgage or get yourself on the right financial track. But what I will tell you is a bit of detail that I don’t include in my site.

I bought my first place, a 3 bedroom townhouse in an outer Canberra suburb when I was 22. I was single and lived without a flatmate. I earned about $32,000 a year, give or take a bit of overtime, and over those years I saved my arse off. I’ve never smoked, never been a big drinker and drove my first car, a second hand Ford Laser for 9 years. It has meant some sacrifices over the years, all of which were worth it to live a life free from financial burden.

In the year I paid that first mortgage off I got married and spent 3 months unemployed. Like so many others, my first marriage didn’t work and the divorce was a big hit to both my confidence and finances.

Since then I have remarried, become a dad, travelled overseas a number of times for holidays and moved from the first townhouse to another, then more recently into a house. Our house is reasonably sparsely furnished and the telly is so old it won’t work without a set top box by mid next year. My wife balances study with being a stay at home mum.

I’ve changed jobs a number of times, but I don’t work in finance and still earn an average to slightly above average wage.

I’m an average bloke.

There will always be some people who will not have enough money as they rely on a government pension. And there will be others who struggle due to their own or a family member’s disablement, illness or problem like a litigation loss. But I reckon upwards of 80% of people could do what I’ve done, and by that I mean attaining financial freedom. You only need 2 things; the know-how and the discipline.

I can help with the know-how, you have to provide your own discipline. If it’s motivation you’re after go watch a bunch of Tony Robbins DVDs.