Banjo Smyth

The Wikipedia definition of the Rat Race

“A rat race is a term used for an endless, self-defeating or pointless pursuit. It conjures up the image of the futile efforts of a lab rat trying to escape whilst running around a maze or in a wheel. The rat race is a term often used to describe work, particularly excessive work; in general terms, if one works too much, one is in the rat race”.

Whilst the above definition seems to make sense, the best description of the ‘Rat Race’ that I have ever seen was in a short Video by Warren Borsje. This is one of my all time favorite youtube clips. It shows Warren Borsje telling the story of a young man who has just got his first job and is about to enter the ‘Rat Race’ or the ‘9-5 treadmill’ as he likes to call it. As always he effortlessly combines entertainment, education and comedy - Absolutely Brilliant!

Thanks Warren. What a great clip!

I believe you are in the Rat Race when. . . .

- You come home after work and only have enough energy to watch the TV.

- You get the feeling that life is slipping you by and there is nothing you can do about it

- That horrible feeling enters your stomach on Sunday afternoon (otherwise know as ‘Sundayitess’)

- You know you should have done something (like get your car serviced) but you say to yourself “I just didn’t have time this week”.

- You see someone achieve something and saying “I could do that” but then don’t because you get distracted by life

- You let your dreams remain dreams.

Surely everybody has felt this way at some stage?  So what IS the answer?

Whilst there might not be a ‘definitive’ answer to this question - there are definitely better and worse places to begin your quest towards financial freedom.

Robert Kiyosaki (the author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad) talks about the three main vehicles that the rich use to create wealth.  They are as follows

Stock Market

The stock market allows you to ‘buy in’ to a company and in turn receive a ‘share’ of the company’s profits or losses.  Professional Investors generally use the stock market to create cash flow.

Real Estate

Buying Real Estate can be less scary for the novice investor as you are buying a ‘physical thing’.  The ability to ‘leverage’ your money is one of the best features of Property Investing.  Professional Investors generally use Real Estate for long term capital gain

Business

Business can include everything from owning your own business to being employed by someone else.  If you think about it having a job is just like running a business but rather than selling a product you are selling ‘your time’.  Wealthy people use their ‘business’ to help fund their Stock Market & Real Estate investments.

I would like to add a fourth category 

Mindset/Education

Whilst you don’t physically ‘make money’ from this category, there is no way that you can create any amount of wealth without having a strong mindset and knowledge base.

So where should you start?

The first and most important thing you need to do is ask yourself “why do I want to be rich’?  Everyone ‘thinks’ they want to be rich but not many people take the time to explore what they would actually do if money wasn’t an obstacle.  Remember being Wealthy isn’t just about having lots of money.  There are plenty of people who earn millions of dollars a year but don’t have any spare time to see their family or who aren’t actually happy with their life.  To be truly wealthy I believe you need to have abundance and choice in four main areas

1. Financial – have enough money to do everything you dream of
2. Time – be able to spend your time how YOU want
3. Family/Love – have great relationships and a group of people you care about
4. Achievement/Contribution – be proud of who you are and what you have done

So when you ask yourself ‘why do I want to be rich’ make sure your answer includes all of these areas in some way. 

The next thing I would do is ‘Surround yourself with people who have what you want’.

Or in other words educate yourself.  There is plenty of great Wealth Creation information out there and the best part is that a great deal of it is Free.  A little Warning – once you begin learning new investment strategies and Wealth Creation ideas you will no doubt begin to feel liberated and excited.  DON’T let yourself be scared or put off by uniformed people who know less about the subject than you.  Jamie McIntyre talks about the ‘law of opposites’.  In short he is saying “If you want to succeed, you need to figure out what most Australians are doing and do the exact opposite”.  Remember, ‘Surround yourself with people who have what you want’ NOT ‘people who have what you already have’.

The next step is to decide what your first strategy is going to be.  Will you use the Share Market, Real Estate or your Business?  Always remember to start small, don’t try to ‘bite off more than you can chew’ and definitely don’t get too far ahead of yourself.  If you try and go too fast you can end up having a bad experience and it might turn you off Investing for life.  Once you find a strategy that works then repeat it and start looking for  a different strategy to learn.  As Robert Kiyosaki says the Stock market, Real Estate and Business will create the best results when they are employed in unison BUT you need to walk before you can run.  One strategy at a time is definitely the best option.

The final step and by far the hardest and most horrible part of this whole process is to reward yourself!  Celebrating your successes will encourage you to continue your good work and always remember there is much more to being wealthy than having lots of money.  So what are you waiting for?  Take action now, quite simply just  ‘Do Something’.  

Remember “A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step” - Lao Tsu