A Mind of My Own

Money problems plague everyone. When you have too much money, you find yourself surrounded by people who get close to you because they have something to gain. When you have too little money, you find yourself surrounded by bills that keep piling up no matter how hard you try.

I have chosen a new path. A path that many may shun because of personal perceptions. It is a road filled with obstacles that I have to overcome and those who have encountered the very same obstacles have now reached a stage where they have planned to be. At the very place called Freedom.

I have no one to blame if I fail to take the correct path of action. Positive attitudes are now rare especially during this hard time when the recession doesn’t seem to let up. With so many people losing jobs, there is one thing that I have found over the years.

I have no control over who will hire me but I have control over which company I choose to join.

I have no control over the economy drastic changes but I have control over how I save and spend.

I have no control over how people think but I have control over how I think.

I have no control over how the company operates but I have control over how I operate.

For many years, many people have struggled to find their financial freedom and quitted before they even got there. Many factors contribute to this case and often, countless rejections have made people fear rejections. This is when negative thoughts start filling up the heads.

I have seen how people around me struggle and complain about how their Mondays suck. I have yet to see any action taken to rectify the situation. I have seen how some have done something but still struggling with what they have decided to do. Sometimes, they don’t know where to find mentors since it can be tough to find someone who is willing to share their experiences. Life has made people into eggs; hard on the outside, soft on the inside.

I choose this path because I want to control where my money is flowing.

I choose this path because I want to fulfill my dreams and goals.

I choose this path because I want to help others.

I choose this path because I believe I will succeed.

I choose this path because I have seen how the death of my grandfathers affected the family.

I choose this path because I want to enjoy the luxury of having time on my hands without always worrying about what my parents are always worrying about.

I choose this path because I can control more of what I previously never had control over before.

I choose this path because I want my parents to be able really enjoy life.

Pandas are cuddly creatures and no matter what size. Amazing animals.

Bento lunch by luckysundae

Uploaded by GarfieldTheLazyCat

Uploaded by A Pandographer

Uploaded by A Pandographer (Cassie)

I hope that the conservation programme will succeed since their natural habitats are even rare nowadays. Aren’t pandas cute?

Hope your Monday goes well!

This volunteering took me some time because I couldn’t join the earlier batches. It is a hot service because everyone would want to take part but on the day itself, I was rather shocked at the no-show. I am not sure what happened but it is unfair to those who are available on that day being unable to take part because the no-show were taking advantage of the slots and not informing the NLB about their last minute changes.

That aside, I spent a day at the Central Lending Library registering books for BookCrossing. The task is pretty simple, just make sure that books are still in good condition and with the relevant stickers pasted. Finally, register online and the book is released into the wild for your reading pleasure.

I have yet to come across books that are part of this programme. Perhaps, I haven’t looked hard enough and I really wanted to keep all those books for myself first before releasing them into the wild. Such sinful thoughts. However, I didn’t bring an empty luggage bag along. That would have been great.

If you have the spare time, try registering here to volunteer at NLB. For your time spent there, you get to borrow twice the amount of your current allocation after completing the required number of voluteering hours. That was my initial intention

However, having spent some time there, I realised that I was happy to assist in any small way I could. So, if you like to mix around, the NLB has lots of activities that require the boisterious ones to mix around with strangers too. Register as a volunteer now!

The economic crisis has hit quite hard and this time, many are now scrambling to earn some money quick and easy. How many have actually succeeded in sustaining the flow of income when they can’t work any more? How many have been buying some “Earn Money using my system! You will see $1000 each day!”, only to find out that the money was actually going to the bank of the person who had marketed the product very well.

I don’t know about you but I do like the fact that I will be rewarded for my performance. Having worked in a number of companies, my performance didn’t matter when it came to quotas to be fulfilled for the annual promotion. It was the immediate superior, the superior of my superior and many other superiors to convince that I am the one who should be promoted.

Favourism doesn’t exist? Think again. It all boils down to relationships and networking. If you are friends with the sister or brother or father of that ultimate decision maker, you are promoted. Nothing else matters. When passed over for a promotion that you really need because of money issues, you start to take desperate measures of looking for sidelines and hoping the money will pour in the very next day.

How long does it take for a business to grow? How long does it take for a baby to learn how to talk? Time. I don’t know how long it took me to learn how to talk but I do know that it took a course in touch typing that my dear mother was convinced of that we needed that for our future and speed up my typing skills. I think chatting online hastened the speed.

All I can say is that perseverance and patience are needed for money to grow. When time is a factor, it’s always a good idea to start early. Insurance agents love to tell you that. However, you can’t take the money out from your insurance any time unlike your bank savings account. Extra money each month helps but until that works as a good replacement for your current job, you still have to work for the steady pay cheque until they decided that it’s time for you to be retrenched or other reasons.

Waiting for retrenchment and not doing anything about it is asking for trouble.

I like folding papers, it’s called origami. However, folding papers doesn’t make me super rich, so I had to give it up for too long. I discovered that I still like folding papers into something useful. See what the following crafters have made with their paper.

Absolutely beautiful, aren’t they? By windtwirler.

Decorative tulips that don’t need watering. By LiliesbyLisa.

Can be used as bookmarks or gift tag. By BunchOfKisses.

A wish crane whereby half of the proceeds from this sale will go to ALS research. By Meekiyua.

I hope yur Monday goes well!

As humans, we know how contradicting we can be. We hate to work but only go to the office because of the money. We seem to be living just to work our asses off just to be able to put 3 meals in front of us until the day we breathe our last.

However, when presented with an opportunity, we hesitate. The leap of faith wasn’t taken and eventually, we die without knowing what a great person we might have been. Why? That’s because we keep listening to our fears more than our dreams.

We know that we want better lives and yet, we still stick to what we know best. That isn’t a bad thing but is it a great thing? Aren’t we at the learning plateau whereby everything doesn’t feel exciting anymore? That life is starting to feel sucky?

How boring it is to go to the office. Switch on the computer. Key in the data. Check the data. Time to go home. Spend some time with the family. Anticipate the weekends to bring the kids out. Dread Mondays. Still wishing for the money to drop down from the sky but sitting down there doing the cycle all over again each week.

Life is boring because we stop making it fun. To get out of the rut, we have to help ourselves first. Have you helped yourself yet?

I have heard this phrase over the years and have realised that it’s the one that limits me. When I ask myself, “Is it possible?” I hear all the “No” instead of “What if I try” That’s how I got frustrated in my job and the endless unhappiness of searching for that perfect job.

No such perfect job exists in real life. I have dreams, dreams that I want to be fulfilled. Having worked long enough to realise that even being a self-employed, I will not be able to have those fulfilled because I will not be able to go backpacking in Europe for even 5 days.

How long do I have to work in order to fulfill just that dream? 6 years certainly isn’t enough. Just the flight from Singapore to UK is enough to deplete my savings. Needless to say, I gave up on that dream when I was stuck in the job routine. A job is no longer secure.

Even that iron rice bowl isn’t secure either. You don’t get promoted based on your great performance at work, do you? You get promoted because someone in that position has decided to leave; finally after 15 years of hoping. When the economy is down, what are you doing? Still praying to God or looking for opportunities or simply self-reject the possibilities?

The human mind is the most powerful weapon. Once a belief has set in, it takes a long time to reach into our minds to take hold of us and eventually, we do it. Such as believing that we will never be a manager in a certain company even if we do know that we are the right one for it.

So many negatives since young. Remember when our parents said, “STOP ASKING WHY!” And we did stop after that? Rejection at that early age has taken root. Rejection is a painful thing but have we used that as a direction?

Is it remotely possible? How many years do you have left?

Times are tough and many of us are tightening out belts and only buying what we need. I have been doing that all these years and still, it doesn’t seem enough. The savings plans are not working the way I had imagined them to be and I have no idea when they will actually improve the interest rates. Perhaps 100 years from now.

I have listened to insurance agents out there in the streets trying to get more policies being signed up and most of them have failed to engaged me. Only 2 have been successful with me and I am still with the policies. Want to know why they succeeded while the other 8 have failed engage my interest? Let me show you.

1. Approach me asking a few standard questions.
2. I answer them.
3. Sit down an introduce the policy while filling in the application forms as I go along answering.
4. I refuse to answer more intimate contact question like full home address and full name.
5. Keep asking for the NRIC despite my refusals in an attempt to sign me up.
6. Eventually I leave without signing up for the policy.
7. Refuse to give more than anything else other than asking for their contact number and making no promises of contacting them to buy or not.

See where it’s going? How many of us actually sign up with the above methods used? Did they even managed to know where I am staying at exactly? When assumptions are used just because a potential customer sit down to listen, you have immediately lost the customer’s interest in even listening to you saying how fantastic your policy is compared to the bank’s savings plans.

I don’t like to fill in forms immediately without being given enough time to think about it. I am not a child. I am not a robot either. Neither are you. You are also human and you would also like to be given the space and choice too, right?

I’m late, I know. Must do something about this. Another rainy Monday. I wonder why. Below are those adorable puppies!

Anything that’s tiny, often are cute.

This puppy looks like he is begging to be taken to a lovely home!

Pawing for attention.

Listening to something.

Aren’t they cute? How’s you Monday so far?

We have dreams. Goals that we want to be fulfilled, be it money, travel or even recognition for good things. Whenever we do something, we want or hope for repayment. When we go to the office, we will be paid our monthly dues and eventually, get promoted got clinching that particular deal. However, how many of us have really managed to get promoted?

This world is surrounded by people. Humans who make the decisions, not money. When bribery occurs, it means that the person simply has a need for it and accepts it. Did money make the decision? The kind of lifestyle that we have in mind is also our decision. No one else is responsible for making that for us. They are influences but not the decision makers.

The kind of lifestyle that I wanted to have is:

• To be able to be a good mother and wife. A mother like what my mother did. She simply gave her support to my father all these years in his business and didn’t complain about his late nights because he was out working hard to feed the family.
• To be able to spend time with my family. What my parents tried to do every weekend. Until now, they will ask us out for breakfast.
• To be able to teach my children values that mine have taught us.
• To be able to go for holidays without worrying about money all the time.
• To be able to have enough money for my children’s education in future without worrying about money.
• To be able to help others who have dreams to be fulfilled.
• To be able to afford to buy any item without paying in installments.
• To be able to give my mind peace when I am one day unable to work actively, I don’t have to worry about money.
• To be able to gain this kind of freedom that I have been craving for.

What kind of lifestyle do you have in mind?