I guess a lot of us dream about suddenly striking it rich, so instantly, we never have to worry about money again. Admitted or not, money concerns weigh on most of our minds and affect large pieces of our lives detrimentally, and if we could remove the issue altogether, most of us would. Yet, overnight financial security is rare enough, that we really shouldn't entertain it as an option at all, but we do. However, with the right preparation and a good dose of luck, financial situations can change, in the same way that a band gets discovered and finds fame and fortune.
It is never overnight though.
It is a piece at a time, and it takes a lot of investment, in time, effort, attention, activity. From the outside looking in, it happens fast, but from the inside, it crawls along, offering suffering setbacks, discomfort, pain and plenty of going without.
There is an interesting conflict to consider here, where for instance, people will justify the financial outcomes of sports stars due to the amount of work they did to get there, but if someone has financial success through business or investing, they must have got lucky, or done something wrong. Success in any form has a healthy dose of luck involved. So does a lot of failure. Though, success generally requires doing the work beforehand, whilst failure can be because the work was never done in the first place.
Over the last seven years, I have been trying to change my habits from spending the little bits I get my hand son, to investing them in some way instead. I haven't taken it to an extreme by any means, but what I have done has been to look for ways to add more little bits here and there when I can, including getting steady. full-time work, trying to add more clients to my own business, and of course daily Hive activity. This has been disrupted in many ways like Covid protocols destroying much of my client sessions, and plenty of unexpected costs that arose, especially in regards to my daughter's health, but all in all, the progress has been positive.
At this rate, by the time I retire in about 23 years (official retirement age as of today), I should be okay. Nothing glamorous, nothing over the top, but comfortable, if relatively careful.
But, I am still dreaming of that big score, the overnight success, and I have one chance for it - crypto. While it wouldn't be an overnight change, I have been diligently working to have some irons in the fire, and if there is a decent run, things can change quickly.
Perhaps it is hard to understand for many people, how much work can actually go into this approach, unless they have been doing it themselves. There is a cost to it and 95% of the time or more, the time spent isn't directly worth it. From a financial perspective, what makes it worth it is the potential future value of the work done now.
It is like a teen working hard to improve at a sport, not knowing if they will ever turn pro or not. But, if they want a chance at turning pro, they are going to have to make sacrifices to do so, early mornings, reduced social life, hard work at gym and studying strategy . If they are lucky though, they get a contract that represents what they have accomplished over the years. The income is paid as an adult, but they needed to do the work before getting paid.
And of course, they had to be lucky, that what they trained and studied worked, and that as they are playing, they don't get injured, and when they are playing well, a talent scout happens to be in the audience, and they find a decent manager, and their couch supports their development, and their team mates are capable... and hundreds of other things that will impact on their outcomes.
Skills that get paid well, aren't built overnight, they can take years to develop. Yes, some natural talent is likely required too, but talent alone isn't enough. Similarly, investment positions aren't built overnight either, because they require capital, which is something that I didn't have much of when I started, but was glad I got introduced to Hive and was able to use the resources I have, and build up a position from zero.
Over the years though, I have been heavily criticized by some people, as if this has been easy for me, or that I have done something wrong to be here. Perhaps in their eyes I have, because I have worked my ass off, in a culture that seems to have forgotten what hard work is. At least for most of us, working hard eight or nine hours a day is what is needed to make ends meet, but if we want to meet more than ends and instead build capital, it probably takes extra.
Many are looking for more "free time" in their lives, without actually considering how much free time they have and what the value of free time is. It isn't free. Time has an opportunity cost and that means that the way we use our time has value attached to it. Flipping burgers might get $10 dollars an hour, or that hour could be used earning $1 dollar on Hive, or $30 an hour in another field - or $0 watching Netflix or on a Playstation.
We all value time differently.
The time we have now and the time we will have in the future. For me, how I spend at least some of my time now is in a way that I think will make that hour spent, more valuable in the future. Earn a dollar worth of a token that in five years goes to 20 dollars, the value gets backdated. Build a position that can earn compounding interest along the way, it gets an additional multiplier. Develop a supporter base that enjoys what is offered, it multiplies again.
Enjoy the process and journey too, and it is time well spent.
Little trickles here and there, little lessons learned, new skills practiced and perfected - it all adds up and it is a good life. Not an easy life. Nor a life filled with a lot of free time sitting about doing nothing. But, a good life where daily activity at least feels like it is valuable, because it adds a drop into the bucket of the future where family, friends and hopefully a community full of strangers, will have a slightly better life.
Too much of what we do these days seems to go against having a strong society in the future, but what does it feel like when we get there, and society has fallen apart? I think that is the way we are heading, with a large part of the reason being that we want quick results, everything on-demand, immediate feedback. Patience has been lost and without it, we aren't willing to invest into building the skills that will get us paid, and give us the capital to invest. We are living more hand to mouth.
A little more each day.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
