Towers Perrin, a large human resource consulting firm, just published
survey results revealing that most workers have strong negative emotions towards their work. I belonged to this group until several years ago when I decided to transcend my fear and transform my career from a wage earning software engineer to an entrepreneur.
This alchemy of professions has taught me a great lesson: Trading time for money is dumb thinking.
Most people grudgingly work at a job that they hate and become victims of their self-prophecy that they have to work to make money. The truth is shocking but you can quit that job you hate today and liberate your life to achieve the freedom that always eludes you.
Consider these five powerful reasons to manifest thoughts of freeing the precious time that you have been trading for a not-so-rewarding job.
- It's a never-ending cycle: Need for money forces you to work-eat-sleep, an endless loop. It's the craving for more rather than enough that victimizes your mind. We work hard to make more money to spend more money. It's a viral disease that spreads fast. Engaging in work that you hate only to buy a bigger house, Mercedes, cruises, jewelry, designer clothes makes you trade more of your time to buy more of same that you do not need.
- It's an earned income: You are not making what you've seen on your contract. Uncle Sam takes half of your paycheck before a tangible dime falls in your hand. Why? You are paying the federal, the state and social security taxes out of every dollar earned. Rich people work for themselves to build passive income that grows tax-free.
- Your goals are not yours: Individual freedom stems from the thoughts of making a determination about what matters most to you and your family. With freedom, you can work hard on your goals and achieve your dreams. However, when you trade time for money, your boss decides what you should achieve for the paltry raise. Selling your dreams for a meager pay raise is dumb thinking.
- It's risky: It's astounding to find that most people trade time for money with the fallacy of the myth that their job is safe. With the global economy at play, you'll see a pink slip someday. No matter how savvy you are, how adroit you are with skills unmatched by your fellow workers, somewhere in the world, someone will bid for the work that you do for less. There is no insurance for your job.
- Your income relies on you: This fable speaks volumes. You can be a powerful lawyer, doctor or an actor but your income grows linearly with the amount of sweat you trade for it. If you ever get disabled, chances are that your income will be disabled as well. No skill that requires time trading can replace the income to support the life-style that you once lived.
You can move inexorably toward freedom from this folly by starting now if you have the courage to take responsibility for your own future.
- Develop the habit to experience enough in life. By feeling you have enough food, house, car and clothes, you can repel thoughts of more to break the never-ending cycle that enslaves you to trade time for more money to sustain your life-style.
- Start investing 20 percent of your income into tax-free investments. For example, if you stash away 20 percent for investing in mutual funds, a Roth IRA, or real estate, you'll make your money work for you. With the law of compounding interest, someday you'll break the despair of the job you hate.
- When you work for yourself, you'll benefit from all your gains, and you'll suffer from all of your follies. You become the controller of your destiny rather than being controlled by your miseries. You'll experience energy and passion that you've never felt before.
- Risk is an abstract term. Nothing is riskier than to allow navigation of your lifeboat by someone who has their own interests at heart. Once you overcome the fear of shaping your own future, you'll find that your lifeboat needs you at the helm. There is no risk when no one can fire you.
- The apathy for quitting a job that you hate stems from the comfort that you feel every time you receive a paycheck from your employer. The fact is that, an apathy can be transmuted into an empathy by the cognizance that, you are working for money and with liberation soon in sight, money will work for you.
So what is your move? Are you content working for someone else?
译文:
用时间交换金钱，明智吗？
大型人力资源咨询公司Towers Perrin新近公布的调查结果表明，大部分人对他们的工作持有强烈的负面情绪。我曾经是其中一员，直到几年前我决定克服恐惧，把自己从一个拿死工资的软件工程师变成一个企业家。
这次职业变换给我上了很重要的一课：用时间交换金钱是愚蠢的。
大多数人虽心怀不满却仍从事着他们不喜欢的工作。他们认定工作是为了赚钱并由此沦为工作的奴隶。事实上，你今天就可以辞掉你讨厌的工作、解放你的生活并获得梦寐以求的自由，虽然这些听起来令人震惊。
下面五个原因足够说明你为什么应该解放宝贵的时间，停止用它来交换回报甚微的工作。仔细思考一下吧：
无休止的循环：对钱的需求迫使你工作——吃饭——睡觉，这是个永无止境的循环。你追求的不是“足够”，而是“更多”，这让你的心灵被桎梏。我们努力工作，赚更多的钱，然后花更多的钱。这就像迅速传播的病毒性疾病。为了买更大的房子、Mercedes、邮轮旅行、珠宝、名牌服装，你做着令你生厌的工作，而这只会让你用更多的时间来交换那些你并不需要的东西。
你拿的是劳动所得：你赚的钱并没有合同上写的多，那是因为政府攫取了你的一半工资，剩下的才是你实实在在拿到的。你在用辛辛苦苦赚来的钱支付联邦、州和社会保障税收，而为自己工作的富人们赚取的是被动收入并且无需交税。
你的目标并不是自己真正的目标：个人自由取决于你认为什么对你和你的家庭是最重要的。拥有了自由，你就可以为你的目标奋斗并实现理想。然而，当你用时间交换金钱的时候，你的老板决定你应该实现哪些目标，这样你才能得到微不足道的涨薪，而为此出卖你的梦想是非常愚蠢的。
用时间交换金钱存在风险：很多人相信他们的工作十分稳妥，他们带着这种荒谬的思想用时间交换金钱。这着实令人震惊。随着愈演愈烈的全球经济竞争，终有一天你会收到解雇通知书的。无论你多么精明能干，无论你的技艺多么娴熟、无人能敌，总会有某个人在世界的某个地方以更少的出价来竞争你的工作。你的工作并没有保险。
你的收入取决于你：这一点意义重大。你可能是权威的律师、医生或是演员，不过你的收入是随着你挥洒汗水的数量而线形增加的。如果你残疾了，那么你的收入也很可能随之“残疾”。没有哪种需要时间交换的技巧能够取代收入来支撑你曾经的生活方式。
如果你有勇气为自己的将来负责，那么你应该马上行动，绝然和这种愚蠢的做法说再见，向着自由进发。
* 知足常乐。时刻想着你有足够的食物、房子、汽车和衣服，这样你可以驱逐去追求“更多”的想法，打破那个奴役你、让你用时间交换金钱以维持现有生活方式的永无止境的循环。
* 从现在开始把你收入的20%投资到免税的项目中。举例来说，你可以拿20%的收入来投资共同基金、乐富IRA或者房地产，这样你的钱就会为你工作。钱生钱，利生利，终有一天你会走出工作带给你的绝望。
* 当你为自己工作的时候，你会从全部所得中获益，也会为所有愚蠢行为承担后果。你不再为自己的不幸而悲悯，而是成了自己命运的主宰。你将体验从未感受过的活力和热情。
* 风险是一个抽象的词语。没有什么比让一个心怀自我利益的人来驾驶你的救生艇更有风险的了。一旦你克服恐惧，敢于创造自己的未来，你就会发现你的救生艇需要你来掌舵。当别人不能炒你鱿鱼的时候就没有风险了。
* 虽然有辞职的想法，但你总是一拖再拖，这是因为每次从老板那儿接过工资单的时候你都会得到安慰。事实上，你应该认识到你现在为钱工作，而在你辞职得到解放后，钱会为你工作，这样就可以把惰性转化成付诸行动的热情了。