The Value of Freedom

One way to measure the value of freedom is to look at what people are willing to sacrifice in order to obtain it. While it sometimes happens where someone who has freedom takes it for granted because of ignorance to its price, taking the time to look at history and even the present is evidence enough that freedom is not overrated. If anything, there's more of a danger of cheapening the concept, which is a tragedy in itself. Ignorance is also a poor excuse when information is available now more than ever.

There are many types of freedom as well as degrees of it. It's also important to realize that people may have a freedom but not use it to its full potential. With political freedom as an example, a person may have the right to vote but for whatever reason not use it. This is why some freedoms do have a responsibility side to them, including to honor the people who served and died for us to have it.

Economic freedom is an interesting concept in the United States that the more you learn about it, the more successful you can become financially. Through high school and college, I was never really taught how our economic system worked from a practical standpoint. Having an interest in business however, I've learned through books and experience that it's more beneficial to build a small business in the U.S. than be an employee.

The school system as a whole really doesn't teach a lot about our economic freedom, but children in other countries are taught how to make the best of our system of economics. This is why many people have been able to immigrate here with little capital and become successful business owners seemingly overnight. There's still work involved for them, but it also has a lot to do with how a person thinks. The great thing is the same economic rules apply to all citizens, and sometimes just the knowledge of a freedom will make you pursue it.

Spiritual and religious freedoms are extremely important as well. Something that's been incredibly interesting to me is researching the Christian history of our country, mainly because I got annoyed with all the people trying to suppress it for whatever reason. I didn't start going to church on a regular basis until I was 19 years old, and it honestly took me some time to discover the realities of what faith can really do.

After growing up in public schools and seeing a lot of teen depression and violence happen even in a rural area, I honestly believe that taking the majority of religious freedom out of schools has been a sad mistake. There has to be a better solutions where students can respect each other and still grow up with that freedom. I think part of the problem is that religious freedom has been treated in such a way where children get the message that it's not important to their school or their teachers. At best that's unintentional, but it's sad how that aspect is ignored when researchers try to analyze social problems in school systems.

Overall, a person's appreciation of freedom comes down to awareness and the willingness to make it part of their everyday life. It's important to educate yourself on your freedoms, and often it does require going out of your way. It's worth doing however, not just for yourself but to help future generations.

How to Escape the Rat Race

The main key to escaping the rat race is that your thought process determines how successful you become in life, including financially. This is why some lottery winners end up more in debt 5 years after they win than they were originally, and also why many millionaires could lose all the money they have and get it back within 5 years. If you want to change your financial circumstances long-term, it has to be from the inside-out.

Thinking like a wealthy person is not something that comes overnight. You have to work at it. If you want a great place to start, here are a few ideas that personally helped me:

1) Read Practical Financial and Business Books

These are not necessarily books you'll have suggested to you in high school or college, but they should be. A few authors to start with would be Dave Ramsey, Robert Kiyosaki, Dan Miller, John Maxwell, Napoleon Hill, and Og Mandino. In addition to this, it's helpful to know that millionaires read a lot more than the average adult-about 1 non-fiction book a month.

2) Develop a Plan

The majority of people out there who are living week-to-week and paycheck-to-paycheck are in that position because they don't have a long-term plan. Getting yourself out of debt (freeing up more of your money on a monthly basis) and building wealth does not just happen by accident. There are small changes and sacrifices you can make earlier in life that will pay off later, but you need to do it with focus and with purpose. Business books will not only show you how to make more money but to get more of your time back long-term, which is far more valuable.

3) Find Good Mentors

I can't stress the importance enough of having people in life that pull you forward instead of pull you down. You may find someone in your own career field that will help you learn, or it may be a group of people. What matters is that they challenge you in a good way and care about your future.

4) Do the Work

Success in life takes effort, and sometimes you end up getting pushed out of your comfort zone to really win in life. One of the biggest challenges I think is out there is this idea of the typical 40-hour work week and then people shut their mind down outside of that. Sometimes being successful just requires you to watch less TV and work on something outside your job that will help your future. Right now I work closer to 80 hours a week-40 for someone else and 40 for myself. The payoff to that is I'm doing what I love to do in both arenas and will have the ability to retiring younger compared to most people.

5) Do What You Enjoy

When you're doing something you don't like for the sake of money, it drains your energy and you're not as able to get as much done. When you find something in life that makes you look forward to getting up every day, in your mind it doesn't even seem like work. It may take you awhile to eventually get to that point, but it's worth pursuing.

I hope these tips have been helpful to you. Good luck and best wishes!

Reducing Stress in Life

When it comes to business or a job, stress can sometimes motivate you to do better than if you weren't under pressure. Taken to the extremes however, it can paralyze your decision-making and be very unhealthy over long periods of time. In these cases, unhealthy stress definitely needs to be reduced.

Over the past couple of years, I've learned a lot about handling stress that I think could be helpful to a lot of people. Everyone is going to have personal things that help them, but these are just a few that stand out in my mind:

1) Develop a positive attitude about life in general.

This doesn't happen overnight but is something you have to put effort into on a daily basis until it becomes habit. Ways you can do this include reading books, hanging around other people who have good attitudes, and avoiding people and situations that drag your mood down. Doing this won't make you become exempt from having challenging situations coming into your life, but if you gain maturity in this you'll know how to handle things better.

2) Have a place you can go for at least 15 minutes quiet time during your day.

This could be at work or your home, depending on which is less hectic. Sometimes when a lot of things are going on, you just need a place to rest and clear your head for a moment. If you can, it helps to do this more than once, especially on busy days. Though it seems to take away time where you could be doing something, you'll find you're more efficient and organized when you get focused. Some days I just come home from work and take a short 15 minute nap so I can shift from what I was working on earlier in the day to something totally different.

3) Laugh on a daily basis.

There is some truth to the saying, "Laughter is the best medicine." Ever notice when you get done laughing with a group of friends or after a funny movie that you usually feel really good for a long time afterward? Your body physically reacts to laughter, and it's a great way to reduce stress.

4) If you have the money, splurge on a back massage or trip to the spa.

I honestly grew up near the poverty level, so my mom never got the opportunity to do stuff like this. About a year ago however I was invited to go to a spa with a group of friends. It's not something I can afford to do a whole lot right now, but I was surprised that the cost to go to one wasn't as much as I thought it would be. I don't think I've ever been so relaxed, and it was worth it.

An alternative that's little less draining on the budget is to take a warm bath with relaxing music playing. In either case, be prepared to likely fall asleep.

5) Exercise.

Exercise is really good for getting the tension from stress out of your system. I like to exercises in general, but as far as stress relief it seems to be the most helpful when you're frustrated about something.

6) Work toward doing things that you really like as far as your career.

I think jobs are the top stress producers for a lot of people, especially for people who are in a career for the wrong reasons. I've found over time that if I enjoy what I'm doing, any challenges are worth overcoming. Work doesn't have to be such a terrible thing, but people can let it take over their lives and overpower other parts of their lives.

We've had to be extremely careful about that in our situation, but for the past few years my husband and I have been working on businesses together in addition to our jobs. In that way, it's not been a whole lot different than spending time together in any other activity. We're just making money at the same time, and we have fun.

7) Keep your priorities in check.

I think this idea encompasses all of the previous ones. Life is very rarely free of any stress, so you have to set priorities on what matters to you most. In this way, you can get through a lot of obstacles that would have bothered you a lot more otherwise. I think this cuts down on the stress that a lot of us tend to generate from our own thinking that's not necessarily as bad as it appears to us.

I hope you've found these tips helpful. Good luck and best wishes to you!