Beat the Rat Race!

Two Roads Diverged In A Wood And I – I Took The One Less Traveled By, And That Has Made All The Difference

— Robert Frost.

Rushing from class to class, trying to understand what that professor is mumbling about, preparing for exams, meeting deadlines and juggling all these with a part-time job to support yourself through college. Most students can identify with this. Striving to achieve good grades and in the midst of it all, wishing for graduation sooner rather than later to be done with all these stress and hectic school life. But often, graduates find themselves disillusioned after entering the workforce.

They have schedules that are longer than school hours, do not have as much flexibility as to when they were students. If they thought dealing with unenthusiastic teammates on a project with a looming deadline is bad, they have not seen the working world where they have to deal with nasty bosses who determines your “future”(bonuses, leave approvals, promotions) and backstabbing, pretentious colleagues. Worst of all, unlike school with graduation as the end to look forward to, there is no end in sight for workers! Work-life is perpetual and you have to keep going at it to survive. Please do not get me wrong, not all work experiences are like that but a majority of workers do not enjoy their work and are disengaged (Clifton, 2017)

Dragging your feet to work every day, dealing with office politics, tirelessly competing to get ahead and wishing to call it quits but not being able to because you have bills to pay, loans to repay, and in time possibly a family to feed. This is the Rat Race. It is so-called because workers find themselves caught in an endless cycle of working, eating and sleeping, repeating it continuously, like the mouse or hamster running on the wheel with no end. The future sounds pretty gloomy and demoralizing, doesn’t it? It doesn’t have to be this way! There is an alternative pathway to traditional work that most people do. A less trodden path, a path that requires more sacrifices and more hard work. However, this path that is less taken will lead you to freedom – Freedom from working for other people’s dreams, endlessly competing with backstabbing colleagues and working for a paycheck, freedom to pursue your dreams, do things that matter to you in life, and spend more time with people you love!

This alternate pathway is the pathway to financial freedom or financial independence. What do you all think about this concept? What is worth it to you, to pursue the less trodden pathway of financial freedom? For me, it is having the time to spend it with my family and travel the world. I would love to hear from you. Leave me comments below.

ps. If you found this valuable, please share it with others! 🙂

References:

Clifton, J. (2017, Jun 13). The World’s Broken Workplace. Retrieved from Gallup: https://news.gallup.com/opinion/chairman/212045/world-broken-workplace.aspx?g_source=position1&g_medium=related&g_campaign=tiles