Time
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Society blankets us with the idea that to obtain success, one must attend a university, work a 9-5, buy a home and rely on our 401k to live off of after we have worked for 35+ years. I can admit that I have fallen victim to this idea for many years and after we purchased our home to raise our kids in, I thought life had completed itself. I worked to pay the bills and any amount that was left was basically our ‘play’ money. To supplement that, I created a wedding photography business and would often times find myself working 6 days a week and not having enough energy on Sunday to do much. At the time, I thought I was doing it right--making enough to support our family (yet barely being around). As a country, this is the lifestyle that is ingrained in our brains and sadly, our minds become wrapped into the misconception that this is the way of life.
We all view our life differently and we all value certain aspects of it more than others. The vast majority is content with living in the rat race, while others enjoy working 2-3 jobs just to make ends meet. While I was stuck in that same mentality, I was missing out on my kids growing up. I missed my daughter’s Christmas ballet recital, I missed my son’s first game in a soccer tournament and many more in between. These are moments I can’t get back. As business began to remain at a halt and I was able to enjoy my weekends much more. The more I was present, my thoughts wandered about how to passively generate income to continue providing for my family. It wasn’t until mid 2019 when I read Rich Dad Poor Dad where things began to click. I rejected the idea that I was destined to work a 9-5 until I was in my 60s. I refused to be in the rat race and began to take actions. I realized that the vehicle towards escaping the rat race was real estate.
One aspect of life that we all have in common is time. We are all given the same amount of time in a day to reach our goals and be a badass at work. We have a choice on what we do with our time and sadly, a lot of our time is tied to our jobs and employers. Being financially independent frees us from the rat race and gives us more time to create memories with our loved ones. Your loved ones won’t remember the commas and 0’s in your income statement, they’ll remember the time spent with them.