Sat, 17 Feb 2018 11:09:52 +0000
Choose your direction because change is inevitable
Sometimes I wonder why we human beings tend to put our destiny in other people’s hands. Is it that we fear being in control of our lives so much that we would rather just have someone else in charge?
It is common for children to get so used to their parents being there for them in every challenge or obstacle that they have ever faced in this life.
This protection by parents though well intended often creates the negative aspect of a culture of dependency, particularly if the parents continue to do it through adolescence into adulthood. The child sometimes can even grow up into an adult that cannot choose his/ her own direction, but instead always waits for the parents. This is when you know that parents did not do a good enough job.
The most common way of not choosing our direction happens when we put our financial wellbeing in the hands of our employer. We work. Very few of us actually save up to make meaningful investments because we feel our job will be available tomorrow.
When we enter formal employment for the first time, there’s this natural assumption that we will be employed for at least three decades before we retire.
However, history should have taught us by now that this is not always so. Hence, it is important to analyse all possible scenarios and begin to choose a direction of freedom which comes via investment.
Then there are those people that put their destiny in their spouse’s hands.
Some people have a tendency to not do anything productive in order to earn an income that can supplement that of the spouse.
Instead of developing themselves with an education, a job – part time or full time, or even a small business, they choose to root on their spouse to reach higher heights so as to increase the household income.
They choose to shelter in the comfort of a successful spouse without doing anything productive themselves. I think many of us have seen how this story can sometimes end in misery.
The question may be asked – what sort of culture is that where you want to rely entirely on someone else’s cognitive and physical ability as though you don’t have your own? Why must you push someone else who probably has his/ her own level of ambition to go so far? Why can’t you do it yourself?
Perhaps more importantly, why must you leave the direction that your life takes wholly in the hands of someone else? There are fewer things more dangerous than this kind of mindset.
In this life, what we attempt to do, what we accomplish and indeed what we ultimately become is simply a matter of choice. We get to choose the direction that we take. And if we don’t take deliberate steps to define our future, life will impose a future on us.
If there is one thing all of us human beings should have by now become accustomed to, it’s the fact that things change. And so for those that close their eyes living life as though tomorrow will pan out just as smoothly as today, let it be known that there is always the possibility of a rude shock.
Choose your direction. It makes no sense to me for one to live their life on autopilot taking a big chance that the plane will not eventually run out of fuel and crash.
When I think of those that put their life and future in the hands of another entity – individual or body corporate – my drifts to an audio book that I’ve repeatedly listened to over the years by Robert Kiyosaki where he talks about his dad embracing the sayings such as neither a borrower, nor a lender be; or a penny saved is a penny earned.
However, he noted in the book that inasmuch as his father refused to borrow money to invest in things that might have made him rich, he borrowed money to invest in things that definitely made him poor like his cars, the home he lived in and other such expenditure that does not regenerate the resources that you spend.
When you look around our society today, you see so many people that tell you every reason why each time you borrow money, you must buy a car, or get some nice suits or clothing to wear to work every day.
Few people will understand and give encouragement if you tell them that you are looking to invest the money in a business so as to begin to secure your future.
And whereas obtaining a car if you don’t already own one is important, and indeed changing your vehicle when your current one is wearing and tearing is equally important, what’s key to note is that an investment agenda is always a serious measure towards freedom not just for you but the generations to come after you.
And due to the scarce nature of resources, it may be wise to die a little and sacrifice your resources by channeling them towards investing. Choose your direction, choose freedom.
It makes no sense to me for one to spend his/ her money buying used luxury cars and the finest clothes only to be one of those citizens with absolutely no assets at the end of the day; that is not a good way to live.
It means you are probably in some comfort zone where you feel that it will always be so tomorrow.
This comfort zone more often than not is a decent high paying job. For how long however, do you think that you will ride on your employer’s back?
I know the relationship is symbiotic because of the skilled labour that you provide, but if you are not setting aside resources for an investment plan that will see you through when you have outlived your usefulness at your employer, then you are in for trouble.
I often tell people that when you are in formal employment and you lose your job, it is not the end of the world.
I have noticed that the biggest fear of people in formal employment, particularly those in huge and reputable entities is termination of employment.
The fear of termination so terrifies them that they cannot even stop to think that there is life after your job, that you can leave employment and blossom.
It’s up to you to choose the direction that you take. In the end, whether you like it or not, life will choose a direction for you because change is inevitable.
So rather than have unforeseen events define your life, why not take the bull by the horns and shape your future.
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