I was great at chasing. Anything I chased, I got. Go-getter as they called it.
I picked my best friend(s),
I picked my career in medicine,
I picked specialty and residency programs (as they also picked me),
I picked and got what I wanted in life.
Remember the saying, “Be careful what you wish for.” That’s the story of my life.
I want something, I chase it, I get it, and then frequently I proceed to regret it.
I am total workaholic and sleepaphobic, I’d work like a dog on top of medical school and residency if there’s endless lucrative demand for my time. That’s why I decrease the demand for my time by increasing my tutoring/consulting price to right about $400/hour. Supply and demand. Even by putting high premium on my time, I still had it wrong.
While it is quite easy to decrease the demand on my time by raising the price, it is not so easy to quit working for money all together. After all, that’s what I was taught. Go to school, get good grades, get a solid/secure job, pay bills, and save money.
Reading my hero Robert Kiyosaki’s book Rich Dad Poor Dad started a paradigm shift in my mind and my life. I learned that the path I’ve chosen professionally is a path of life-long learning at the extreme opportunity costs of becoming filthy rich. I have no doubt I would have already reached financial independence today, at age 32 if I dedicated the same amount of time, energy, and discipline to money rather than medicine.
So I stopped working for money.
I work to learn and to serve instead. That’s why I have not dropped out of residency or medicine all together. I am no longer trading my time in for money. I’m not waiting for future to enjoy the not-so-large-post-tax attending paycheck. I love and embrace today because I’m using my most precious assets, my time and my mind for more knowledge and for service to others.
As my focus switches from making money to pay bills and take care of family to finding ways to serve those around me better, either with medicine as a radiology resident or with money knowledge as a blogger and speaker, money started chasing after me.
I’ve made more money this year than I would have imagined from all the creative outlets I’ve developed from shear interest in others’ well-being, passion share to share, and my innate desire to reach out and collaborate. I didn’t make millions; I just made more than I’d ever thought, especially I didn’t give thought to how much I would make for what I did.
I work to serve and to learn.
As I continue to focus my limited energy and time (the most I can squeeze out is now 17 hours/day as I know sleep 6 hours/night and do half to 1 hour yoga/day) on service and knowledge. I feel at rest with a sense of conviction that my family and I are well taken care of with my simple passive investment principles. Doors of opportunities continue to open to me, and money just poor in without me trying.
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