“Is freedom anything else than the right to live as we wish? Nothing else.”
— Epictetus
Invest In Freedom
My definition of freedom is to have the power to choose what I want to do, where I want to live, and whom I want to spend my time with.
By investing in freedom now, I can clearly identify my financial needs and...
“The secret of happiness is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.”
― Socrates
Create Your Definition of Minimalism
One of the biggest status indicators in society is the things I have.
Society taught and conditioned me to believe the path to success and happiness is to accumulate things. But to afford fancy clothes, a fast car, or...
“The things you own end up owning you.”
― Joshua Fields Millburn
Own Less and Live More
Back in 2015, I discovered minimalism. Ever since then, my life has been much simpler living only with the essentials.
This translated to moving into a smaller place and removing things that no longer add value to my life. They included:
Dining table
Television
...
“I must be willing to give up what I am in order to become what I will be.”
― Albert Einstein
Start with a Strong Purpose
Imagine two men's goals are to lose weight. Let’s call them Tom and Joe.
Tom’s reason is to have an aesthetic body while Joe wants to feel energetic and prolong his life.
Two months later, Tom gives up...
“Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.”
― Henry David Thoreau
The First Indication of Wealth
When I began working at my first engineering job after graduation, I dedicated my whole life to it. To make a positive first impression, I went to work at 8 a.m. and didn’t leave until well after 6 p.m. Many days, I would skip lunch just...
"Opportunities don't happen. You create them."
― Chris Grosser
You Are Dispensable
Throughout my professional career, I have experienced major structural changes in two separate companies. Both times, the shift in the organization’s direction caused a dramatic reduction in cost. This meant cutting their staff members.
And fortunately both times, I was retained. However, it was difficult to see my colleagues with who...
“Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
– Steve Jobs
Follow Your Heart
Back in 2016, I was lost.
Although life was good working as a chemical engineer with a high-paying...
“Academic qualifications are important and so is financial education. They're both important and schools are forgetting one of them.”
― Robert Kiyosaki
Money in modern society is a unit of trade.
And having money allows you to make purchases you need for survival and wants for enjoyment.
Because of those reasons, money plays an important role in your life. It is also one...
“Your choices are made in a moment, and yet their consequences transcend a lifetime.”
― M.J. DeMarco
The Law of Effection
There’s nothing inherently wrong with having a job and working for one company to create money. However, by doing so, my scale of impact will be limited.
Providing service for a single organization, my quantity of magnitude is fixed to one....
“Reading puts perspective on any challenge I was facing and made me see that extraordinary people usually had extraordinary pain, difficulties or injustices. That's part of why they have the drive and hunger to do good in the world, to make something happen.”
– Tony Robbins
Become a Lifelong Learner
In my early 20s, I had only one goal in mind:
To make...