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You probably heard that a recent Powerball jackpot reached an estimated $550 million dollars. Yes, a few people actually won over half a billion dollarsin a lottery game. Pretty cray, right?
I hate to admit this, but yes, I did buy a ticket. In fact, I bought 5 of them. I got sucked in, dreaming that the money could potentially be mine and hey, if I did win, then that was a easy way to earn extra money!
The silly thing is, I rarely play unless the jackpot becomes ridonkulous. There’s not a particular number where I start playing, but the lottery catches my attention when I notice it’s over $150 million. Why does a $550 million jackpot prompt me to waste my money when the lowly $20 million jackpotdoes not? Good question since my odds of winning are exactly the same. Yet, I’m willing to spend $10 to win $550 million when I won’t even waste $2 for a measly $20 million. Seriously, how much moneyis enough?
Trading Time to Make Money
Peeps, it is time that we hear this loud and clear: Time is the most valuable commodity that we have…yet we are more than willing to trade it away! Are we insane?
In his bookRich Dad, Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki examines this concept in great detail.Kiyosaki contends that our bosses pay usfor our time in order to make money for themselves.However, most employees do not realize how valuable their time is. They value money more than time, so here are some tips on how to make $500 a month without eating up too much of your valuale time! Therefore, they give it awaywithout much thoughtin order to make moneyfor themselves.
For those of us who are employees,the more we work, the more money we make. So, the more time we commit to our jobs, the more we are compensated for that time. But shouldn’t we ask ourselves whywe are working so hard in the first place? What are we working towards? Supporting our families? Sure. A comfortable retirement? Of course. Yet, we often get distracted and focus too much on the future. We forget to live in the now. We focus more on the sheer desire to make money, rather than on what that money can do for us, especially if we knew the best ways to save money more than throwing it away. If we were to stop and look around, we may realize that we already have the things that we are working so hard to get.
The Parable of the Mexican Fisherman and the Business Man
Many of you may already know the parable of the Mexican fisherman and the Harvard MBA. For those of you who don’t, here it is:
An American businessman was standing at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish.
“How long it took you to catch them?” The American asked.
“Only a little while.” The Mexican replied.
“Why don’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?” The American then asked.
“I have enough to support my family’s immediate needs.” The Mexican said.
“But,” The American then asked, “What do you do with the rest of your time?”
The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life, senor.”
The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds you buy a bigger boat, and with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats.”
“Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the consumers, eventually opening your own can factory. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise.”
The Mexican fisherman asked, “But senor, how long will this all take?”
To which the American replied, “15-20 years.”
“But what then, senor?”
The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO (Initial Public Offering) and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”
“Millions, senor? Then what?”
The American said slowly, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos…”
– Author Unknown
In our pursuit to increase our wealth, or even to become debt free, we sometimes lose sight of what really matters to us. We forget the reasons we work at all. What we really want may already be within our grasp…if we would only stop to remember what that is. How much is enough? Each of usmust decide thaton our own, trying to remember it isn’t just about the numbers. How much are you willing to give up to get to where you want to be? You might find that you already have all that you are working toward – and more.
Be a boss and check out these sweet posts!
- Quit Your Job: How to Know When It’s Time
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- Quit Your Day Job: How to Start a Blog
- A Career in Sales Isn’t For Everyone
- How to Get Anything You Want in Life
