Are you always working or are you living?

If you weren’t lucky in winning the lottery or to have grown up with rich parents then you probably are working more than you are living. Today working devours a greater part of our time, – eight hours plus the commuter time, and any overtime we put in for five days of the week. In addition to those hours working there all of the other duties such as food shopping, cleaning, laundry and taking care of family. There is hardly time leftover on the weekends for oneself and actually living, for being with friends and pursuing hobbies. Perhaps you must also have to take care of parents and take children to school and help them with homework or you’re a single parent. Then there is even less time for living. We are running within a hamster wheel that is constantly getting faster and faster and that more and more takes over our lives. It is no wonder then when the day comes that we suffer burnout or worse a heart attack. Even if we can keep it together there is always the question as to how long we can keep it up. Our ability to retire becomes unsure, on the contrary it is sure that it comes later and our pension smaller and that to ensure our survival we will have to work into the later years of our life.

Then we have spent our whole life in the hamster wheel of school, trainings, our career and second jobs and then, only to bid our farewells. There then remains the question as to the actual meaning of our lives. Is it to work? There necessarily, comes another question. Whether we can get off the hamster wheel or at least if we can limit the dizziness so that we can have more freedom and quality of life?

Here it is worth questioning at the earliest possible moment the benefits of costly education and a traditional career path. To become aware of different options and to become creative in life. Since the traditional way of seeking a career path and a pricey and long educational process doesn’t seem to always work out in today’s world. Now, imagine to yourself you are a medical doctor and you work a lot and have lots of responsibility. Your income is not so impressive after costs of running an office, insurance etc. You have invested many years in your education and training and slowly doubt if it was all worth it. Then a tradesman comes in for treatment and in conversation tells you how much he earns. He is paid very well since his skills are very much in demand and it turns out to be three times what you make with fewer years in training, fewer costs and less responsibility. What do you do? You close your practice and using your intelligence acquire skills and establish yourself in the trades. That has in fact happened in England where a doctor had become a tile setter and installer. Now another example. Imagine you are a student and that to support yourself and pay for university on the side you sell clothing on Ebay. After seven years of study you are employed as an engineer and work in an office full time, but you made more money selling clothes part time. What do we say to that? It shows clearly that a degree is not necessarily worth it and that selling products on the side can be very lucrative. This case is also real.

In principle it’s about earning money wisely more than completing a highly regarded degree or reaching a high status position bringing recognition that really only brings stress and less than the sought after income. The easier, faster yet better way in which we earn money the more we can enjoy life, the more we have freedom, the more we can remove ourselves from the blessed hamster wheel. So is expressed the business formula “the least cost outlay in order to realize the highest returns.” In addition to this is if the business is fun and if is an interesting niche, and if you are providing the best products, then it is perfect. Thanks to the internet and other technical developments it’s possible to establish a business with minimal effort and costs and to concentrate on the essentials. Sometimes it is even possible to earn a greater income this way. Many internet businesses function by the principle of outsourcing whereby the warehousing and shipping is done by others. There are really those who are able to “work” only a few hours and spend the rest of their time with their projects or pursuing hobbies. You could call also call this “passive” income since there is minimal activity to produce the income. The domain of further education or specialized training can be very lucrative. In the meantime there have arisen E-Learning Platforms that can reach as many people as possible and that can realize the positive business formula of “profit maximization”. Generally it is important to pay attention that the product and that the business concept in the long term conforms to the ideal of win-win for all parties concerned. That means quality for the customers and positive relations with one another where everybody wins. Such a product celebrates a worldwide triumph and everyone can partake of additional monthly income or higher income through corresponding higher numbers of personal involvement and commitment. So many have freed themselves from the hamster wheel or at least improved and bettered their life. Also, they can make more of their lives – enjoy more freedom, more ease, more well-being, free time, happiness and security. Sometimes it demands only to think things through and to seize opportunities that present themselves.

Life is more than work. Begin to live again! Make the best of your life! Now! Seize opportunities! Use your abilities! Become free of your hamster wheel. Follow your true calling. Then you can fully unfold and bloom.

PS: If you like to discuss possibilities for business or to meet other likeminded fellows, then join me on facebook. If you would like to experience a product and learn about how to get into this opportunity please let me know. We all can find alternatives to the hamster wheel or at least to slow it down.

(Big thanks again to Bill Cranstoun for his translation!)