NINE-TO-FIVE employee?

Welcome to the rat race!!!

Like most of us you’re probably one of the following:

• Thinking hard of any opportunity to put up your own business and get out of the daily work grind
• Dreaming of a promotion and a nice fat raise, or just just a nice fat salary increase period
• Scanning the newspapers and surfing the net for new job opportunities
• Trying hard to make ends meet
• Slowly sinking in credit card debts and any other form of debts
• Drifting aimlessly from day-to-day
• Dreaming of the what might have beens and the what ifs!
• Or just plain dreaming, period!

You may be one of the lucky few who is drifting quite happily from day-to-day.   But my dear friend, life is too short to let each day pass and we’re just ambling along with it.

It’s nice to entertain thoughts of better things, better opportunities, better job, better pay but sometimes we are caught so much in the the what ifs scenario that we forget that today is our real life.   No matter how long we are going to live our life each year would still be broken down  into days and each day – today – is your life – no matter how hard you dream of the future or a someday that you’re not even sure of.

Money, more often than not, is the very thing that factors in our “someday life”. Sad but very true  when our income gets better our expenses too somehow increases and the pattern repeats itself and your someday life just gets buried deeply in the future.

If we do not live our life in the present but rather dwell so much in the future then for the most of us someday could very well be an untouchable dream.

You can enjoy that someday life now.  The key is you and your attitude towards your money no matter how little or how plenty you have in your pocket this very moment. And yes, even if you do not have a cent and you are buried in debt you could still live the life you wanted.   That is, if you’re willing to break out of the prison of living from paycheck to paycheck.

There are only three very simple things to consider:

• YOU. What would give you utmost freedom, joy and pleasure, true peace of mind and deep satisfaction all at the same time?
• YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS MONEY. How do you spend your money? The less that we have the more focused we should be on spending only on things that matter to us the most. The more that we have then the better we should enjoy the life we want for ourselves. We can’t really have everything that we want or afford everything we fancy in this world. Even corporate magnates have money worries.   The important thing is knowing when and where to spend our money on, when to save and when to splurge.
• YOUR DAILY HABIT. It’s so easy to get distracted by all the media bombardments around us. Always remember that anywhere you look are temptations concocted by companies and corporations big or small with the only aim of relieving you of your money by all and any means. There’s really nothing wrong with wanting to indulge specially on something that is important to you but you must know when to keep your wallet firmly shut and when to open it wide.

Make it a daily habit to visit this blog and I’ll take along with me in my journey towards living every day the someday of our future.

We often thought that the more money we have the better our life would but it is so far from the truth. I f we can not learn to live our dream today with the little money we have then chances are we wouldn’t be satisfied even when our station in life gets better.

My dear friend, like you I have to work to bring food on the table and some little extra. It is true that I get paid better now than five or ten years ago but my expenses are a lot different. I now have three kids to take care of and house payment every month. A few years back, with the same money I’m earning now but with only two kids to raise and only a minimum monthly house rental to consider my financial situation was a lot worst.

I have an officemate who earns the minimum wage but I never once encounter a time she is short of money. She lives very simply and without pretentions.

Let’s look at our work as the source of our bread and butter as it really is. Then let’s look at work beyond that and be thankful we are blessed with a job that allows us to use something of our talent and get to know interesting people some of whom we form deep friendship with for life.

Most importantly let’s give the great respect ourselves deserved for we are part of the millions of workers that help keep our country and world move forward through the tax we pay and money we spend. We are important, each one of  us. Without us, the nine-to-five workers, the economy may very well stop to a halt and the lives of many along with it.

Then finally, let’s give the respect our hard-earned money deserved. Let us us not abuse our money by spending it on things that would have no real value to us in the long term. Let’s save some for emergencies, invest something for the future and spend more in the present for the life we wanted. This way our life would be a series of mini-dreams lived in the present.

And when someday comes it is no longer in pursuit of a far away dream but rather a reminiscence of a life well-lived.