Choosing between investing in career and downsizing

In my last post, I asked the question about what you would do in a situation where you need to invest in your career while keeping your children in private school. What I would do, and as a matter of fact, what I really did when I was in that situation was to send my children to public school in order to allow me finish my PhD. I know the discussion is a difficult one because it has emotional component to it. But, think about it this for a moment. Your ability to continue keeping or even increasing your standard of living depends on progression in your career. If you break that cycle, you will find yourself in a rat race. Getting out of the rat race is not easy. Suspending your children's private school temporarily will not prejudice their education. Secondly, there are good public schools where one can get quality education. Sometimes, people create myth over public education. On the other hand, not investing in your career can put you in a situation where you may never be able to pay for private education of your children. 
     The question arises because of my observation of executives I teach business English. Whenever there is a problem with the economy, the first thing they do is always to cancel the course while continuing with other aspects of their lifestyle. It is important to let people know that when they need to invest in their careers the most is when the economy is in a downturn. However, many do the contrary. Think about this!





   

Conflict between professional and personal life

As human beings, we sometimes find ourselves in a conflict involving professional and personal life. A typical example is the problem that arises when parents find themselves on the brink of losing their jobs and struggling to maintain their standard of living. The standard of living here refers to keeping their children in private school. The decision they have to make is between spending money to acquire new skills or updating existing ones and keeping their children in private school. What would you do in this situation? Would you invest in getting new skills and send your children to public school or keep them in private school and forget the skill thing.
     I would like to receive your input on this issue.

Benchmarking your career

You should benchmark your career if you really want to make progress.

factors affecting success: strong desire

In my first post, I listed the main factors which affect success. In that post, I mentioned awareness as the first factor because without awareness, one cannot make the correct assessment of the current situation. Secondly, awareness triggers the second factor which is desire. Knowing that my current situation is bad will force one to ask how this can be changed. The level of one's need for change is reflected on his level of desire. Therefore, the more one wants to make the change, the stronger is the desire. This is the reason why I call it strong desire. You can easily notice that many people want to change something, but do not have enough energy to do it. Why do we need strong desire in order to make a change?
     I can demonstrate it using the minimum energy concept used in science and engineering. Human beings are made of biological molecules and consequently, function through biochemical reactions. However, this issue is too technical and I will explain it in a different post. Just bear in mind in this post that we need higher energy in order to overcome barriers.
     Coming back to our discussion, many people cannot make changes because they do not have strong desire. Rather, they wish for something external to do the job for them. Although they want a better life, the low desire or weak message does not entre into the subconscious mind where problems are really solved. It could not get into the subconscious mind because their desire does not have enough force. No one can significantly achieve anything if he or she does not have strong desire for something. The burning force of desire is the power that activates the subconscious mind.
     How do you use your subconscious mind?              

Transforming your college degree into success

In my last post, I mentioned the fact that it is easier today to be successful than before. The reason is that we are in a knowledge economy. This means that what you have inside your brain is more powerful than what is in the factory. The second reason is that there are various social media platforms one can use. The social media platforms provide you with free entry point, especially, for those with limited financial resource. The question now is: how can you take advantage of these facilities to leverage your success? You have to transform your knowledge into product or service. In order to do that, you need to think on how you can give it to people so it will be useful to them. In order to be useful, you must think about how someone without education can understand or use your product or service. So, you must bring sophistication down to being simple. The more people you have buying your product, the more money you make. This is how late Steve Jobs conquered the world. How can anyone use the computer or any gadget without hassle? In order to answer this question, he provided a simple interface that is interactive. This is where many educated people get stuck. They cannot use simple language to expalin things. They use the same complex language used in the classroom. 
     Another thing to note is that you need to master the knowledge or product you want to offer. In other words, you have to be sure of what you are saying. This means you must constantly be updating yourself about the topic. Remember, you are not the only one with that information. The difference is that you want to make a difference with your knowledge. 
     When you want to go for success, you do not need to listen to your friends who will be telling you that nobody will buy that everyone knows about it. Let me use an example here. Imagine a medical doctor who wants to provide his expertise online by only giving tips about eating healthy food. Many people will say many people provide the same service and therefore, the market is saturated. This is not true because most people who talk about this subject are not doctors. But, the doctor should use real world examples to transform his sophisticated knowledge into a simple one and make people understand he or she is a doctor specialized in the subject. 
     I used a medical doctor in my example, but this same principle can be used for any college major. Now, think about this. Many people who make money in your area of expertise do not have college degree or are not specialist in that area! If someone without degree in my area of specialization is making money, why shouldn´t I make more than he does? Think about this!              







 

Is college degree a guarantee of success 2?

The dream of all parents is to have their children have a college degree. College degree is also important for a country. The more graduates a country has, the more qualified its workforce is and consequently, the higher the productivity of the country. But, when it comes to success, college degree is not generally a guarantee. The reason is that success requires other skills or abilities. If college dgree is well used, it can bring success. Well-used college degree implies understanding how it can be transformed into an instrument of success. College degree can shorten the distance. With a college degree, the holder still needs to fulfill the factors that lead to success. These are awareness, strong desire, vision, and other qualities collectively called the execution phase. 
     The problem is that traditional education prepares their graduates to look for job. Parents also raise their children with the intention of finishing college and looking for job and have good salary. Because of these limitations, most of the college graduates do not have strong desire to go for more even if they may not be very comfortable with what they make. They are not keen to take risks. They are trained to play it safe. Going for success means taking risk. Success means going fo the unknown which your vision shows you, but which unfolds as you move along.          

Success means going for the unknown which your vision shows you, but which unfolds as you move along!

College degree can easily lead to success especially now that we are living in a knowledge economy. Knowledge economy is an economy based on knowledge. That means what you have in your brain is more important than factories and offices. It also means you can stay in your house and be successful. But, you should use a college degree as a stepping stone. The second requirement is to know how your knowledge can be turned into product or service or monetize it. There are many ways you can do that. No one can see with clarity how to reach success unless he or she starts. 

     What are the various ways one can use college degree to reach success? The discussion will continue in the next posts.     

Is college degree a guarantee of success?

Among the questions many people ask is whether college degree is a guarantee of future success. The question arises because of the number of years people spend on education and the amount of money invested. A lot of people compare other options such as using the money for college education to startup a business or even buy a home for rental purposes. Which argument can you use to convince these people that investing in college education is useful. Sometimes, you see many families incuring debt to educate their children. After graduation, some of their children still live with their parents because their income is too low to sustain them. Some graduates may not even get job. The second question is: why should I spend money and time and have no job after graduation. These arguments makes me look at education from a different perspective. If someone without a college degree can be successful, why should another with college degree or even with PhD just go by?
     This is the question a college student or college graduate should ask himself. Instead of this question, many college students think that having a college degree automatically means success. However, many become deceived after graduation when they realize that getting job is even difficult. It should be clear that education in general is very important and college degree is also important. The importance of college degree can be felt by different specialties, such as, medicine, dentistry, engineering, etc. 
     But, how then can knowledge lead to success? This discussion will continue in the next posts.   



    

Third solution to managing debt

This post is a continuation of solutions to managing debt. The third solution is about reducing family expenses. The first thing to change is eating out. Someone in this situation should avoid eating out if he or she wants to solve the problem. Always prepare your food and eat at home. Look for cheaper brands in the grocery or apparels, etc. You should really be on budget. It is a sacrifice worth making because it gives you the long-term financial freedom. The financial freedom comes immediately the student debt is paid for. Another part of family expenses that can help is transfering children from private to good public school. In this form, the tuition fees can be used to pay off the student debt faster. After paying the debt, the children can return to private school again. The most important part of the sacrifice for debt payment is the agreement of the whole family in doing it. In this way, everybody is on the same page. The force of family union is enormous. In order to succeed in anything, there must be sacrifice towards it. The pulling force is the end game which is free from debt and which ultimately leads to financial freedom. 
     Think about how you can apply these solutions to your problems.




       

The second solution to debts

Let me just give background information to those who are reading my blog for the first time. The topic of discussion here is how to manage debts arising from student loan, car loan, mortgage, and family expenses. In my last post, I said the first solution is to sell the car and buy a cheaper used car. You cannot spend more than 15% of your take home pay on vehicle. I used a worker on an annual salary of $50,000 with a $30,000 car loan. Someone on this income shouldn't buy a car of more than $8,000 and should pay it cash. After solving the problem of car, the second issue to tackle is the mortgage. The reason for the choice is that student loan is a constant which must be paid. There are two options as regards the mortgage problem. One option is to look for another job to increase your income so you can continue paying the mortgage. The second option is to sell it to another person or to return it to the seller so you can get out of the mortgage debt immediately. In the second case, you need to live with your parents until you can save enough money to make a bigger down payment. While saving money for the down payment, you should be paying the student loan. You must pay all the student loan before getting into the mortgage again.      The problem is not a difficult one if one is committed changing his or her lifestyle. The solutions I have been providing here are exactly what I would do in the same situation.
     I will give more tips in my next posts.

      

First solution to managing debts

In my last post, I mentioned the problems of different type of debts. Now, let me give some tips on how to reduce these debts. The first solution is to deal with the problem of car debt. One of the problems of the working class is buying expensive cars. They like using new cars. How can someone on an annual salary of $50,000 finance a car of $30,000. It is too expensive even when one is single and live with parents. So, the solution is to sell your new brand car and buy a used car of between $5,000 and $8,000. The difference you receive from the sale of a new car should be used to pay student debt or mortgage. This should be the first solution to the problem. Think about this and take action immediately. 
     In my next posts, I will provide more solutions.

      

How to manage student debt, mortgage, car loan, and family expenses

Many workers are currently struggling with student loan debt, mortgage payment, car loan, and family expenses. This problem makes me reflect on how these factors shape our lives. How can one manage these expenses? The student loan has been used and must be paid back. Mortgage payment should also be paid so one cannot sleep on the street while car is necessary for commuting and carrying stuff from the grocery. Family expenses involves education of children, grocery, utility bills, car maintenance, among others. There is also another potential expenses which may complicate the situation. The potential expenses is the one that should be dedicated to improving your career. Many people do not make progress in their careers as a result of these expenses. The problem is that we don't think about these complications at the time of choosing our college majors and careers. By the time people discover the problem, it is almost late. There is no more time to change the profession and the family has already been constituted. The object of this post is to alert those who are about to choose their careers so they don't make the same mistake as those of the present generation. 
     In the next post, I will suggest some ways this problem can be reduced.    

Take control of your career

Your career is in your hands. Do not make the mistake of leaving it into other people's hands or control. It is the only thing you have and through which you can make it in life. If it is left in the hands of others, then your life is in the hands of others. Consequently, others will dictate how your life should look like. Therefore, take care of it carefully!

Turn your wish into desire

It is interesting to hear many people say things they would like to have. Some even say they would not like to work if they had enough money. But, when you ask them why they think they cannot get what they want, the answer is always the same - if I had ............... We know that when we use the second and third conditional sentences, we mean the action is not possible to occur or was impossible to occur in the past, respectively. People make such statements because they only wish for something. They never desire for things. Wishing for something to happen means the same as keeping your fingers crossed. In a simple language, it means be waiting for something to happen or simply, no action. On the other hand, desiring for something means taking action so your vision is turned into reality. The major difference between those who make it and those who don't is simply action. Another disadvantage of wishing for something is the inability to take the advantage even when you accidentally meet what you want. Just take a look at people who make it easily and lost them all and went back into poverty from where they came. So, turn your wish into desire today!

    

Input and output

Whatever the output you want in your career, there should be a corresponding input into it. This is very important because there is no miracle if you are not well-prepared. You should ask yourself what you can put into your career so you can reach your target. If your input is low, it is impossible for you to have a higher output. There is no need to complain. Everything in life works in the same way. You must plant before you harvest. We know what happens when one tries to harvest where he or she did not plant. 
     Think about this!

How can you get what you want from others?

The goal of everything we do in life is to provide good service or product for people to buy and pay us. This means that the end game of our knowledge and skills is providing something to others. We have to give others what they want before getting what we want. In other words, your success depends on others giving you what you want. If this concept is correct, then, there are two questions you should ask yourself. These are: 

• what can I give to people in order to get what I desire and?;
• how can I give it to them so they can give me what I desire?

The objective of everything you do or you are going to do in life is summarized in these two questions above. Think about what you can do and how can do it so others can pay you without hesitation. Remember, you may have the product or a good service you can provide, but you may not know hot to do it so others will pay you adequately. This is the problem may people have. They think that having a product or service is enough. The "how" side of the equation is even the most important part. If you can answer these two questions, your success is half way gone. This concept is applicable to both entrepreneurs and employees. These questions help you shape your choice of professions and college education. They also help your career in any organization you find yourself in. Think seriously about these two questions!!

Dream and Action

Dreams are good, but only action can take to where you want to be. The subconscious mind is a powerful tool to give you whatever you strongly desire. However, only action can make it tangible. Taking action starts with taking decision and having committment to it. The difference between those who make it and those who don't is the action. You may have the best knowledge or best intention in this world, but if it is not transformed through action, your result will remain the same. Then, what comes next is complaint. The person who complains will never accept responsibility for his or her fault, but will always blame others for his failure. Take action and stop complaining!

The conflict betwen investing in your career and spending

The post today is about investing in your career and spending, and the conflicts arising from the decision as to which way to go. 
     Many people are in trouble today because of the bad financial decision they made regarding investing in their careers or spending money on things that give them immediate pleasure. We know capitalist economy offers the opportunity for people to advertise their products and services. In this way, they can attract you to buy them. This is a known fact and we all are subjected to that. The problem lies on how you make your priorities, especially, for those on low income. Do you buy things just to impress people or be in fashion, or do you buy things because you really need them? If you belong to the first group, then think twice. It is very important to know that the decision we make ultimately determines our end game. If the decision is a good one, the end game has to be good. If the decision is bad, the result will also be bad. Many people will always give the excuse of poverty as a justification for not making progress in life. However, a closer look at their spending habit will show you that they are not saying the truth. Their main problem is that they are trading their future for the present. That is, the spending side of the conflict is winning the investing side. They overspend their income on things that give them immediate pleasure. As a result, they can never make progress in their career. This will eventually lead them to enter into a rat race or catch 22 phenomenon. A rat race is a situation whereby a person does not make enough living because He or she does not have the necessary skill. On the other hand, the person does not have the necessary skill to progress in career because he does not make enough money to pay for the skills. The problem gets worse when one is married and has children. Therefore, you should only buy only what you need so you can invest in your career now. There is no need of complaining later because that will not change your situation even if someone may sympathize by listening to you. Take action today!

Wealth and paid employment

The word success or wealth is most often seen as restricted to entrepreneurs. This is not true since entrepreneurs depend on talented people to manage their businesses. The people they trust their businesses to should also be wealthy. The members of the C-suite of large organizations are also rich because their compensation are in the millions of dollars. Another point to consider is that not everybody can be an entrepreneur. Therefore, employees can also be wealthy. It is interesting to note that many employees think that they cannot be wealthy. It turns out that they can be. The problem is that many make wrong decisions. They consider themselves as workers who do their 9 to 5 job. This concept leads to mediocrity. No one can get to the top if he or she is a mediocre. These don't have strong desire for success and don't invest in their career.
     In summary, anyone can be wealthy if he or she follows some guiding principles. These are applicable in any situation, whether in entrepreneurship or in paid employment. The main deciding factors are strong desire, decision, and committment. Think about these factors and how they apply to you. How committed are you to your job? Make that decision today!