Dare we dream of a better, brighter future? Dare you? If you aren’t sure, keep reading.
Are you trapped in a job you barely tolerate or even detest? If so, you aren’t alone. There are millions like you in this country, and I estimate more than a billion such frustrated individuals worldwide! To me that’s a tragic, monumental waste of potential.
Let’s face it: Our lives on Earth are short — 65 to 85 years on average with some dying even before 50 and too few of us making it beyond a century. Right now, out of 7.4 billion living people, only an estimated 450,000 are over one hundred years of age.
In truth, even if we make it beyond 100, our lives are still just a nano slice of cosmic time.
Cosmologists tell us the universe was birthed in the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago, while geologists reckon Earth is about 4.5 billion years old. The oldest tree today is believed to be a 9,500-year-old Norwegian spruce in Sweden; and you probably know of sequoias or mighty redwoods in California’s Yosemite National Park that are estimated to be 2,000 years old! Against such vast periods, our lifespans are mere vapour!
It would be a pity if we squandered a big chunk of our short lives toiling at what we detest. It would be more sensible, satisfying and significant for us to restructure our lives today to escape the stultifying, debilitating Rat Race for greener pastures tomorrow.
You deserve to be happy. Toward that end, securing an economically prosperous future is one element of holistic human happiness.
Three tangible areas we should focus on to be happier tomorrow than we are today would be elevating our self-esteem, our self-efficacy and our self-direction.
SELF-ESTEEM
In his book Bull’s-Eye — The Power of Focus, Brian Tracy defines self-esteem as how much we like ourselves. He states categorically that how much we like ourselves determines the quality of our lives:
“The more you like yourself, the bigger the goals you will set and the longer you will persist. The more you like yourself, the healthier and happier you will be — physically, mentally, and emotionally.”
Raising your own salary, if you are conventionally employed, is not something you can accomplish in the short-term. Thankfully elevating your self-esteem is something you can achieve almost immediately!
At the risk of sounding simplistic, the way you boost your self-esteem is by choosing right now to be happy instead of sad. It’s your choice.
A smart way to boost self-esteem is to wrest back control of your internal monologue. Keep repeating, perhaps 100 times a day, to yourself: “I like myself; I like myself; I like myself...”
I learnt this at one of Tracy’s live seminars. I initially thought it was a puerile exercise until I realised I had nothing to lose by trying it out but a lot to gain. I discovered Tracy was right: As your self-esteem rises, good things will happen around you.
SELF-EFFICACY
This refers to how good you are at your job or business. It makes perfect sense that the better we are at our work, the greater our sense of leaving a positive imprint on the world around us.
I therefore think that each of us should scrutinise our work and identify a tiny niche that we think we might dominate through skyrocketing expertise.
The Rule of 10,000 hours refers to the years of focused study and application needed to become the top person in your field. Your goals may start off modestly, perhaps just being recognised as the best ______ (please fill in the blank yourself) in your taman or office! Then, as you gain expertise and experience, you can progressively build a reputation as the best at what you do in your town or city or state or country or continent. Your ultimate goal is to become the best person in the world in your self-selected professional niche, be it running a large company or 100 metres; scaling mountains or teeth; or writing wills or novels!
Sadly, most people lack the tenacious, dogged focus to commit, say a decade of life, to rise to the pinnacle of their respective professions. The few who do, though... do!
SELF-DIRECTION
You will need financial muscle to be able to chart your own course. If you hate your present job, you probably are still there because you don’t dare walk away from it owing to the beguiling handcuffs of a fixed salary. But there’s no quick fix here.
However if you manage your money well by spending less than you earn while saving and investing the difference, in time you can build a diversified portfolio that spins out passive income in the form of interest, dividends, distributions and rental. That stream of money will grow very steadily if you tenaciously exercise delayed gratification.
Eventually, the existence of your passive income stream should allow you to leave a hated job for one better suited to your interests and your psyche. The day that happens will be the day you celebrate your permanent escape from the Rat Race!
So, as you boost your self-esteem, elevate your self-efficacy, and fund your exploration of self-direction, I hope you enjoy many decades of joy, significance and freedom.
© 2017 Rajen Devadason
Read his free articles at www.FreeCoolArticles.com. Connect on rajen@rajenDevadason.com, www.linkedin.com/in/rajendevadason, and Twitter @RajenDevadason