51–60 of 89 posts
I can feel your pain, feeling of not getting what you deserve is a tough feeling to keep inside. By identifying ourselves as being smart we are getting into the trap of being hostages of this label. Lot of scenarios in our life require us to make mistakes. Mistake is something a smart person cannot afford and deliberately avoids. We are awarding ourselves with an achievement award of being smart without actually doin…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
For me, rich is someone who does not need to work. Someone who can retire at any given moment.
When I was in my twenties, I used to think about getting enough money in order to retire young. Then I realized that I actually enjoy working and I don't see myself sitting on my ass doing nothing. What I want is enough money to say no to work I don't really like, enough money for allowing me to choose what to do with more liberty.
Smart doesn't really get you that much. I compare it to height for a basketball player. Realistically, you're not gonna make NBA if you're not over 6' tall, but that's just the buy in. After that, it's just grueling hard work, and everyone else is 6'+ as well. So, as a first step, count intelligence as nothing more than a (very) rough constraint on what you might possibly accomplish, but nothing more. It covers the a…
Depending on your financial situation, you could Buy an old line company and digitize it. In the US, If you can get 500k from friends and family, you can buy a $5m company with a strong balance sheet and strong cash flow. It will give you a live Petri dish to test your ideas on how to do things better.
Smarts gets you to be upper middle class. Taking on a lot of risk, pushing yourself to the limit gets you to be rich.
But I agree that the main thing separating an employee from a founder is that one actually started a business. I disagree about the whole pushing yourself to the limit thing however. If you found a business or try to build a career, you are in it for the long haul. Sustained effort is what you need.
Generally when I see people complain about things they haven't achieved, I see two problems: posture and outlook. Posture is simple: if you want things to happen, you have to stop waiting for them to happen and actually take step to make them happen.
In my opinion, outlook is generally the main problem however. Just stop casting a bad light on what you have already done and put forward the good the part instead. Enjoy what you have achieved and start working on what you want to do next. What's done is done anyway. Also it's easier to convince people to do things with you when you have a positive outlook.
Anyway, if you are pondering why something didn't happen to you, unless you are looking for the reasons you failed in order to improve, you are most likely asking the wrong question. Start looking forward rather than backward.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, "sitting on your ass" was not the best way to describe what I wanted to say. I don't want to use all my time to do only what I want, I also want to make something valuable for other people.
"FIRE" people do something valuable too, totally up to their choice. I think a good example would be like ashton kutcher creating thorn.
But if you have to slog at boring jobs for a lot of years in order to accumulate that big pile of money allowing you to become FI you'll have to consider if it's worth it. Maybe after being FI you'll keep working but you'll have the privilege to choose only jobs or projects aligned with your needs and desires. If that's the case: is it worth it the years and years working at boring jobs? do you really need to be FI if you'll keep working after?
I'm not against having money on the bank, my approach is having enough to live several years without income, allowing me to reject things I really don't want. But I don't want to spend years just trying projects with no results, I want to do things valuable for other people and getting money in exchange is the way to be sure you're actually doing it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
When I was in my twenties, I used to think about getting enough money in order to retire young. Then I realized that I actually enjoy working and I don't see myself sitting on my ass doing nothing. What I want is enough money to say no to work I don't really like, enough money for allowing me to choose what to do with more liberty.
I realized in my twenties I hold my life too valuable to waste it sitting on my ass in an office doing bullshit work.
Smarts gets you to be upper middle class. Taking on a lot of risk, pushing yourself to the limit gets you to be rich.
Realistically being born rich get you to be rich. But I agree that the main thing separating an employee from a founder is that one actually started a business. I disagree about the whole pushing yourself to the limit thing however. If you found a business or try to build a career, you are in it for the long haul. Sustained effort is what you need. Generally when I see people complain about things they haven't achiev…
I think this is true, but not in the obvious "Your parents will give you money" or "Your social network will help you" but for (having grown up poor and now doing OK) it's the implicit safety net that allows you to take risks that allow you win (or lose!) big.
Here's some qualities or skills that can be key based on my experience: emotional intelligence, team building, strategy, understanding people, networking, solving real human problems, marketing, desire and determination, risk taking, timing, luck, commitment, likability, confidence, purpose, leadership, finance, understanding markets and trends, design, branding, execution (endless work and crazy hours), speed, connections to people with money... it goes on and on. You can't really have all of these so in the end, you have to work with people that do and figure out which you need to develop.
We all have ego. Ego tells us how smart and great we are to ourselves. It discounts other people, their qualities, blinds us to where we really need to improve, etc. It is the enemy of progress 80% of the time. We all really know a lot less than we think. The world is complex, changes, and moves fast. Starting out with average intelligence, but a commitment to learning aggressively and meeting people and treating them well is 1000X better place to start. Doors open for that person.
There are multiple ways to get rich. But most revolve around business. Businesses are almost never run or created by smart engineers or super technical people. It just so happens that most of us are in technology so it seems like it. But in reality, there's millions of businesses out there that make unbelievable money that have nothing to do with tech. Even tech companies need a lot of people with different qualities other than engineering or simply smart people.
Other ways to at least do well while working a regular job: investing, real estate, side hustles, saving money, etc. In the past 20 years, if I put more aside into stocks and real estate I would easily have $1.5M to $2M. Hitting base hits consistently is often the way to go.
I always have wanted to get rich to solve the money problem. It won't happen until I focus on adding real value to other people. It can't be about me. Which also means it can't really be about getting rich. That can only be one underlying motivating factor but primarily it has to shift into focusing on others.
Depending on your financial situation, you could Buy an old line company and digitize it. In the US, If you can get 500k from friends and family, you can buy a $5m company with a strong balance sheet and strong cash flow. It will give you a live Petri dish to test your ideas on how to do things better.
So no business or leadership experience just buy a company, will all go well?