"How do you know when you are truly wealthy? When you have complete control over how you spend your day.... So few people understand that basic truth. No matter how much money you make, unless your days are spent doing the things the really make you happy - the things that you enjoy so much that you would pay to do them - and you have control over your time, you aren't wealthy." --
Joshua KennonI'm focused on things like going to the Philippines and learning about the language, culture, and martial arts of a part of my heritage that interests me. Going to church a little more often. Building a home suitable to raise a family and eventually die in. Fine-tuning a compost heap so it can recycle
all my organic trash, not just the yard waste. Working with circuit boards and wiring because I really like doing that, they've fascinated me since I was a child and it's been a hobby for years. Stopping to investigate and explore whenever I encounter something new which piques my interest.
I also understand the harsh reality that the world doesn't owe me, you, or anyone else a living. It's a lesson I learned the hard way, and it nearly cost me my life. To grow my resources, whether they're money, apples, knowledge, or time, I have to take charge of my situation, and perform effectively, to the best of my ability. Burying my head in the sand and citing self esteem as the reason I don't have to listen to or think about this truth isn't going to change it. I wish someone had had the nerve and the tough love to take me aside and explain this to me in a blunt, no-bullshit way back when I just entering my teen years. I'd have nearly a 20-year head start compared to now.
I don't work for my boss, and I don't study for a professor or a grade. I work and I study for
me. The goal is to use my work income as seed money to invest, get myself into a position where I make a few thousand dollars a month (adjusted for inflation) as passive income from interest and dividends, and then never worry about money again. Never let money or the lack of it get in the way of doing the things I really care about. But if I don't produce results at my job and in my studies now, I'll blow my chances, and then I won't get to work or study at all. "Make hay while the sun shines." Do what you need to when you can, so you don't find yourself in a situation where you no longer can, and it's still undone.
I don't want to be homeless and broke again. I don't want to hit 50 years old having done nothing that's really important to me, and still lack the resources to do them. I don't want to start a family, and then fail as a provider.
I want to wake up every day with joy and enthusiasm about the things I can do, not despair about the things I have to do. I can have that, I think we all can. But to get there from here doesn't happen on its own, we have to apply ourselves and make it happen, even when it's hard, or when we can't muster up much enthusiasm for the tasks in front of us. And we must remember that when we apply ourselves, the results are what matter, to the people around us, to our projects, and ultimately to ourselves.