Making more money is one of the best ways to retire early. Not as easy as it sounds, right? Wrong. Most people don't make the most of their biggest source of income when they want to make more money. What is this thing? The straightforward answer is, themselves.
Most people don't like their jobs or "careers," though. They go to work not because they want to, but because they have to. Because they don't want to go to work, they don't do the things that would help them make more money, which makes sense. For the first nine years of my career, I was one of these people. I always said that I wanted to do something I liked, but I never did. After ten hours of doing a job I didn't like, I would come home mentally exhausted. When I got home, I didn't want to think about work at all. I know the pattern that most people follow.
How do you make a change? First, you have to want to change it enough to be willing to do something about it. I talked about it for years but didn't do anything about it until I finally couldn't take it anymore. I now make three times as much money as I did at my last job. I'm not even doing it for the money; I'm just happy to be doing something I enjoy. Putting in a few extra hours is no longer work for me, like it used to be. I no longer have a grey cubicle wall to hide behind. I don't have to do things I don't agree with just because my boss told me to. I'm no longer being told I'm not a team player because I didn't go to a work event after hours.
Let me compare it to something else. Let's say a carpenter has only a screwdriver and is starting to frame a house. He can drive the nails in with a screwdriver, no problem. It will take a lot more work and won't work as well, but it will get done in the end. Once he picks up the hammer, or even better, an air hammer, he will be much more productive and happy. If you go to your job (the screwdriver) because it's all you have, you might make a good living, pay your bills, and retire someday, but if you find your perfect job (the hammer), you'll be much happier, more productive, and get much more out of life than if you stay where you are now.
Most people don't realise that their own minds are usually the biggest thing standing in the way of their success. Many people didn't get enough help from their parents when they were growing up, or they have bad managers at work who beat them up mentally, or something like that. People often fail in life because they don't like themselves. They were told they couldn't do something, so they didn't even try. They just keep things as they are and hope for a 3% raise every year, which makes them happy when they get it.
If you want to improve your life, you should read "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill and "See You at the Top" by Zig Ziglar. These two books show you why people fail and what you need to do to succeed. You have hope, which is the best news. If you read at least one of these books, you could improve your life and your ability to make money in a few weeks. Is it time for you to start doing something different?
