New Year's Resolution: Vision in the next 365 days

Go to school, get a job and get a pay check. Does this sound familiar to you?

Because of the pandemic (and other unfortunate events that happened around the world in 2020), I see life in a different perspective now. I do not want to be in the rat race anymore. The idea of going to school, getting a job, working hard (even harder to score a promotion) and eventually buying a house (because most people think of it as an asset) is obsolete. When we get obsolete ideas, we get obsolete results.

I am not saying that these things are wrong to do. In fact, I regard education to be one of the most important assets to have. However, if we follow blindly what other people will tell you or what society's gold standard of ''living your life'', then that is where you will find yourself in the rat race.

Robert Kiyosaki said that a paycheck is the most damaging thing you can take in your life. He says that the moment you take a paycheck, you are an employee. ''That's the mindset'', he says. A paycheck isn't bad but he doesn't want us to be a slave of money. When you do not have a paycheck, you get hungrier and smarter. It becomes a test of character. It is a way to find out who you are if you do not have anything.

This resonated in me. I started unlearning the traditional mindset of ''if you work harder, your salary will increase and then afford the things that you want''. It implies that if I want more money then I have to exchange my time to do it. Time is a limited resource. It should be managed properly as we take note of the basic principle of Economics which is the opportunity cost concept.

It means that the world has unlimited wants but very limited means. There will always be a choice to be made. We need to give up one thing to have another. However, we must understand the value and cost of both choices and find out which one yields more fruitful.

A concrete example of this is when I moved to United Kingdom from the Philippines to work as a nurse because there is more opportunity (specifically the salary) than working at home. In exchange of this, I had to give up spending my time with family. I missed significant milestones because of this. Bottom-line, there will always be sacrifices to be made but you just have to choose which one is worth it.

For the past year, I overhauled my spending habits. It is a good step to work on the defense first before moving onto the offense. I have managed to reduce my monthly expenses to 30% of my income. Some people will say that it is impossible especially that I am living in one of the most expensive cities in the world but I say personally that it is possible. Common misconception about this is that I am not living my life. Some will say ''you only live once''.

Exactly, ''you only live once''. I do not want to live the rest of my life working through the unimaginable demands of the Nursing profession with endless staffing issues and power plays. I already know what I want and I am working towards it. That being said, I am living my life according to my terms and how I want it to be.

Today is the first day of the 365 days. With this in mind, I imagine my life as a tapestry and the goals I want to achieve are the colours. The commitment and the grit are my brushes. My long-term vision is Financial Freedom.

In the next 365 days I will:

• Set aside at least 40-50% of my salary into income-generating assets every month.

• Maintain a low expense monthly between 30-40%.

• Work on this vlog/blog project weekly in order to increase online presence.

• Work on selling products in Amazon, Lazada, Shopee and through social media channels using a more passive system.

• Work 3-4 shifts in the hospital per week.

I read a quote online which says ''You can only have one salary but you can have unlimited sources of income''. Because of this, I will commit myself to my 365 days challenge so that eventually, I will have the independence that I want in the near future where in I can:

• Spend more time with family.

• Travel more.

• Read more books.

• Do whatever I want.

• Let me repeat that. Do whatever I want.

So what's your vision for 2021?