The Rat Race
Do you find yourself struggling with money? The answer to that for most people would be absolutely yes. I myself struggle. Hard to pay bills, pay for the unexpected, buy gifts, keep up with social outings, etc. You may find yourself constantly ending the month with little to no money let alone money being saved or invested into something. This seems to be a common theme for a lot of people and I don’t think there is one person or thing to blame for this. I honestly think the lack of education on the topic of money during our schooling and stigma around money is why most people are like this.
Do you remember growing up, going to school, and learning about money? Retirement, 401K’s, IRA’s, or investing? The answer most likely is no. The information on these topics were never discussed and most likely your parents didn’t talk much about it either. So now this leaves you at present day, with little to no retirement, and no real understanding on how to get out of this so called “Rat Race”.
I was fortunate enough to get some basic understanding about money, retirement, and investing. I took extra classes to learn about it as well as did some education on my own after school to learn about the topic of money, investing, and real estate.
The first book that really opened my eyes up to money, investing, and real estate was “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki. When I was listening to this book, I was addicted. I can remember all I wanted to do was talk about this book non-stop and the principles within it. This was that light bulb moment I had which really allowed me to evaluate where I was with finances, jobs, and retirement and stop to formulate a plan to get myself out of the “Rat Race”.
The Rat Race can be defined as a way of life in which people are caught up in a fiercely competitive struggle with wealth or power. In simple terms, one tries to get out of doubt or a financially unstable situation, but fail to do so time and time again due to present circumstances in their life.
I don’t think I need to explain how at the end of the month, you have just a little bit of money in your checking account let alone your savings account. Paying for bills, food, events, gifts, etc leaves you with little to nothing. You say to yourself next month I’m not going to do xyz but then the following month, you’re exactly in the same position. Whether you like to realize it or not, if you keep doing this same pattern for the next 40 years, you will have nothing for yourself. And let’s be honest, are you really going to bank on social security to be around then? I don’t think so.
So, you might be thinking, how do you get out of the “Rat Race” then? Well, my first advice to you would be to read that book. There is not one correct answer to that question. One can take many different actions to get out of the race. The actions one should take are very situation per that person’s life.
The one main thing you must understand and take away here is you need to be 100% completely intentional in your daily actions in order for you to have a chance to get out of this “Rat Race”. Being intentional in your day to day will move you one step closer into reaching financial freedom or whatever your monetary goal is. Most people I would say have a 9-5 job. They go to work on Monday and hate it, come home, have a couple of drinks or maybe watch their favorite Netflix show and then stay up to late, wake up the next day tired, and then do the same thing all over until Friday. Friday rolls around and you’re pumped for the weekend! You go out Friday night, spend way too much money, and then continue to live life over the weekend. Sunday night comes rolling around and you have that same feeling again, you have to wake up on Monday and go to work. Fast-forward 40 years down the road, you’re doing the same thing you did 40 years earlier except now your health is deteriorating and you have no money.
If you’re able to be conscious of this hamster wheel effect, you’re half way there to getting out of the “Rat Race”. Self-awareness is a huge tool someone can possess that not everyone has. This gives you the ability to look at yourself or your life from a distance and judge if what you’re doing makes sense.
The first steps to get out of the “Rat Race” is to become educated on your options. Do you want to quit your job? How would you make enough money on your own to be able to do that? What would you learn in order to do that? How long would it take to save money in order to buy that dream item. What daily things can you do that pushes you in that direction to become financially independent? There are so many questions to be asked and so many daily steps you can take that will lead you out of this hamster cycle of life. This is really what gets me fired up because I don’t think many people realize that if they continue on this path, they will be extremely unhappy with their lives. I love working towards my goals to get out of the “Rat Race” on a daily basis. This is what keeps me fired up and optimistic. By completing daily actions, it keeps me motivated for a better future and ultimately my goals.
If you resonated with this post and feel trapped at all, my advice would be to read that book and see what you think after reading it. If you still don’t know what direction to take, I would encourage you to look at what makes you the happiest in life. I would urge you to do something that revolves around that topic. If you want to brainstorm some ideas, feel free to email me at operations.jeremyjanese@gmail.com and I’d be happy to talk some things over with you.
