Maybe Working for your Dreams isn’t the Answer
We need money. So we go to work.
Image Credit: Pixabay
We work so we can get the money we need to live.
Then, if there is anything left over, we use that money to pursue our dreams. We need money to pursue our dreams, and we need work to get money. At least that’s what we often tell ourselves.
And many times, in the confusion of this cycle, the thing we do when we try to break out of it is we decide to pursue our dreams. And we pursue our dreams by making our dreams our work. We slam ourselves against the things that we love doing and we milk them for every cent that we can.
So that we can live.
Within this cycle, some of us make it. Some of us live very well while going to work for other people. Some of us live very well while going to work for our dreams.
But all the while, the people who are truly wealthy are laughing at us.
They tell us that working for money is one of the WORST ways to make money. But what do the majority of us do everyday? We go to work. Why? To make money.
Truly wealthy people, people who have demonstrated that they know how to make massive amounts of money, often say things like, You don’t go to work to make money. You go to work because you like going to work, because you enjoy what you are doing. You can make more money in your sleep than you can trading your time for wages. And what do we do when hear statements like this? Some of us listen, but the majority, I would say, balk at this. We simply reject it as nonsense.
And then we go back to work, trading our time for the money that others want to pay us for it. Selling our dreams for the pennies that passersby occasionally throw at us.
I haven’t discovered the secrets to making hundreds or thousands or millions of dollars a day while pursuing my passions, but I’m beginning to think that working for our dreams isn’t the way to break free of this wage slave cycle. I’m even beginning to think that working for our dreams isn’t a way to achieve success.
What I mean by that is this; doing the thing that you love shouldn’t employ you. Doing the thing that you love shouldn’t be responsible for providing you with the majority of your income.
It’s the other way around.
Build your assets. Create multiple sources of income. Choose daily fiscal habits that keep money in your pocket, and then use that money to create more money. Invest it. And when you get to the point where you can meet your basic needs without even going to work in the morning, then pursue your dreams. Pursue them with full force.
I have a feeling this approach will lead to higher levels of satisfaction and greater feelings of success for all who try it.
I was in a high pay high stress job, but in the end I had no option but to leave for my health. I ended up hating every day, and being exhausted all the time.
You are right about being sensible with how you spend, I could have easily blown my salary on stupid shit; but I knew that job wasnt going to last so I got myself financially secure as I could.
That's given me some breathing space to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life, and to be honest, I want to be lazy.
Let me put lazy in context. I don't want to be spending 3 hours a day commuting. I don't want to have to get up at 4AM to jump on a conference call with Asia. I don't want to be in a meeting at 10PM on a Friday with the Americas. I dont want to exceed expectations every year just to be rated as having acceptable performance. I dont want to give all my energy.
I do just want to trade my time for money, in at x time, out at y time. I'm ok with performing the job to a reasonable standard, no more.
Success isn't winning or having the most money or being top dog. Success is being happy.
Thanks for the great comment. I agree, success is very personal and involves happiness. One definition that I like of it paints success as having a goal and working toward it.
I can’t imagine having the type of job that it sounds like you had. But it sounds like you were fortunate enough to make a high wage in exchange for your time and effort and wise enough not to mismanage your money and so now you are in a position to choose to exchange your time for a smaller wage and less stress.
I work six days a week and often part-time two nights a week, but according to your comment, I would categorize myself as lazy (I don’t consider that bad). My longest commute is fifteen minutes. My full-time job schedule is 8:15 to 4:00, which gives me plenty of family time. And the responsibilities are not stressful in any way. To be honest, I’m pretty happy with the job(s) that I have.
I, personally, want to get ahead a little more than I am and wouldn’t mind doing something that was a little more stimulating. My children are still young, though, so I have to base a lot of my decisions on giving them stability (at least I think I do).
This piece is trying to explore the divide that some people straddle between doing what they really love to do and either just getting by, or failing to make it (as a business, as an artist, etc), and the alternative that is often portrayed as the only one: working a job one doesn’t like to make the money to pay the bills.
Im being a bit harsh with the lazy description, but it reminds me not to slip back into old habits. You arent lazy; having kids, a full time job and a part time job is no joke, just learn from my lesson and make sure you dont over commit.
I took no offense to it. I was just rolling with your perspective and thinking that I’ve got something pretty good going. For now anyway. My main job offers absolutely no room for growth. There are no promotions and no raises. I can always continue my part-time work and other activities like Steemit though, and make my own bonuses in that way. I’m just trying to protect myself from being too comfortable and not having enough of a financial cushion for the future (should I suddenly lose my job for some reason, or some other catastrophe). Opposites are interesting, aren’t they?
Good read. Designing income is one of the things we have to work on. I have some writing work (trading my time for wages with good learning such as crypto/blockchain/fintech), projects (I expect some of them scales without me), and Steemit as an experiment. And I started a blog to see Google AdSense yesterday. What a coincidence to find this post :)
Well, this is just a new line of thinking that I’m pursuing and trying to figure out how to pursue. It sounds like you’re well on your way to pursuing multiple strings of income too. That’s great!
Let me know how the AdSense works out for you.
The rich dad/ poor dad guy says that it is the work that you do when you are not being paid for it that will eventually make you wealthy.
What is it Kiyosaki says, Focus on your work? Or something like that. Sometimes I think that gets turned into Focus on your hustle by other inspirational speakers. Or, focus on the hours between 6 PM and 2 AM.
It’s true, that is the stuff that makes a difference, but it can burn you out too. I definitely don’t know what the answer is, but rather than put all the pressure on your dreams, it seems to me that there must be another way, one that involves a regular job, a dream, and smart fiscal decisions. Having a good plan might be a better way to say it.
buy real estate. ;)
That’s what they all say, right? That will take a little studying first in order to do it right.
Yes, there are ways to screw it up. A fellow I talked to a while back said the trick with rental property was to not pay more than $50,000 a unit. That was some years ago so I figure maybe you could bump that to $60,000. Right before the real estate market tanked last time people were speculating and buying multi unit rental properties for more money than the rent rolls would cover the expenses and debt service, in other words they had investment property that they had to pay into! Their plan was to make it into condos and then sell the condos for a profit. Sometimes that works, if they are actually apartments that people really want to buy. I did see something saying the condo market in Boston was hot the other day so maybe another collapse is near but if you buy a building and you pay a price where it makes money it will make money all the time, people always need a place to live, in down economies even more people need to rent and in up economies you can raise the rents.
I did a really half-assed job of reading up on rental property in Japan last year. From all that I read, it made Japan sound like an ideal place to be a renter because troublesome tenants tend to be rare here. Unfortunately, I didn’t think it was something that was possible for me to get into so I brushed it off pretty quickly and never really figured out what it takes to make a go of it. It wouldn’t hurt to look back into how to buy rental property here with fresh eyes and a new mindset.
Are you in Japan or America right now? A lot about Japanese culture would make them pretty great tenants. I feel acquiring property there especially as a foreigner may be weird, difficult and/or complicated.
I’m back in Japan. Yeah, the language barrier makes real estate a little more intimidating over here. It can be done, though. I think the key would be finding another foreigner over here who is doing it, or has done it, and get has much help as possible.
I think you are indeed right! It is a hard hamster wheel to get off of!
Just gotta get that piece of cheese that’s right in front of my nose. Almost got it. Erghhhh ... 😉
To a degree, it isn't our fault. Unfortunately, we are not taught early enough about finance, economics, and money. By the time we learn about those things we are already in debt, married and have kids. By then it is very difficult to break out of the rat race. It can be done, but it takes serious willpower and focus, like you said, manage your daily spending habits. Drop the Starbucks a day routine and of course, buy bitcoin.
While I am happy doing what I do, I would be much happier on the side of a mountain by day, digging out gemstones and exploring the city by night. I do those things often, but the cost still outweighs the profit.
Children are our last hope. Someday one of our spawn will strike it rich and we can relax for the rest of our lives, doing what we love. Right?
I’m putting my hope in the third way strategy now. If that fails me, then I’ll cross my fingers and hope that my kids can pull it off. With what we’ve learned, though, at 20, our kids should be in a much better position than we are now, so long as we take the time to talk to them about these things and they care to listen.
Some people say you have to burn the bridges back to shore in order to win; you have to give yourself no option other than not to fail. That seems pretty extreme to me though, even though I like the sentiment.
I have all my hopes and finances riding on bitcoin. If it doesn't succeed life is going to be very hard.
Well, it only takes one good wave, like last year, to change your circumstances in a big way. As long as you can support yourself in the mean time, it seems like a reasonable bet to make.