So, a couple of Youtube Commentators I watch recently went on about happiness in their work, and it got me thinking. Obviously, everyone has to do something for their money. Everyone does something different, but for most of us, we work.
There are two main schools of through when it comes to working. One is that it is a necessary evil, a means to an end. That end being money to spend on things we want and need. The other is work can be enjoyable and it is possible to not only survive, but thrive doing what you love. Obviously, no one is 100% happy with their job, there's always something that they would change if they could, or someone they don't get along with at the office.
But how does a person actually find happiness at work? And I'm not talking about the corporate initiatives to improve employee morale to get more out of them. I'm talking about doing what you love while making money to live. The answer is hard work.
There are people making good money just uploading videos to Youtube, and they make it look easy, but it's not. Sure, they may have a lot of fun doing it, and love the content they're putting out, but it takes a lot of time and effort to get the most out of it. The biggest and hardest part is the beginning, just getting content that people want to see, and even after that, getting people to actually see it. After that, it takes planning for future content, demographic analysis, and timing.
There are a lot of other dream jobs that have similar hurdles, like game development, blogging, or even graphic design. Working in the industry in a larger corporation could help get you closer to the job you actually want, but whatever your dream job is, remember that it may be possible if you're willing to put in enough work.
What about you? What do you wish you could do and how can you get where you want to be?
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012
My Financial Past
So, I've alluded to this a little in previous posts, but I figure I should give you guys a rundown on what has brought me to where I am now. I have worked for as long as I can remember. My parents were avid sci-fi fans and we went to conventions to sell merchandise in the dealers rooms, and many times I'd be left in charge of the table. Outside of that, I had a paper route and in my off time I would help my mother collect UPCs and coupons.
We were a very thrifty family. My mother had coupons for everything, she would trade with people through the mail even. We had filing cabinets full of UPCs saved in case there was a future rebate. I was taught at an early age the value of a dollar and how to stretch your money, but it never really sunk in.
At around 10 years old, my family moved down to Georgia. Things worked differently here, kids didn't have paper routes. It wasn't until I was 15 that I really started working again. I would go and help out at the local comic book store in exchange for credit I could use to buy comics with. It was good work, I loved the people and had a great time.
A little while later, when I got my own car, I had bills to pay, so I needed real money. After that I worked a few different jobs; I worked at a few fast food restaurants and even did a stint in retail. After high school, it was time for me to move out on my own, and like every other grown-up, I got credit!
That was a bad idea. Eventually, I was maxed out on all my credit cards and overdrafting my checking account all the time. In the end, at age 21, I was near bankruptcy, although somehow I never quite got there. I defaulted on 3 or 4 different credit cards, and eventually had no credit and only lived off what I made each paycheck.
You'd think I would have learned from that, but it wasn't until 2-3 years ago that I finally changed my life. I found Quickenonline, and it saved me. The feature that let you put in recurring bills and estimate your bank account on any given day was all it took for me to stop overdrafting. I would estimate that over the course of 10 years, I paid at least $9,000 in overdraft fees. Not to mention all the other fees on credit cards for being over the limit and only paying minimum payments.
But my story doesn't end there, because eventually, those defaulted credit cards drop off your credit report. And what happens then? You can get more credit cards. And I did, and I wasn't smart the second time either. I never let the cards go over the limit, but I carried balances, for a long time. And I'm sure I've paid my fair share of interest these past few years. But then something changed, I got to claim a dependent on my taxes, and my return was HUGE! And I paid off my credit cards! And now I barely carry any balance from month to month, and pay off most of my cards each month.
This all goes to show that no matter how bad you are financially now, there's always hope. You just have to be willing to make changes. I could have fixed all my problems sooner, if I had only tried. All it took was being able to estimate my bills and see where all my money was going for me to realize how to fix it. If I had just started keeping a paper ledger so many years ago and actually kept on top of it, I would have been fine. But I was lazy, and didn't do it. But now I check my bank accounts every few days, watch my bills and make sure they're all paid on time, and you can too.
We were a very thrifty family. My mother had coupons for everything, she would trade with people through the mail even. We had filing cabinets full of UPCs saved in case there was a future rebate. I was taught at an early age the value of a dollar and how to stretch your money, but it never really sunk in.
At around 10 years old, my family moved down to Georgia. Things worked differently here, kids didn't have paper routes. It wasn't until I was 15 that I really started working again. I would go and help out at the local comic book store in exchange for credit I could use to buy comics with. It was good work, I loved the people and had a great time.
A little while later, when I got my own car, I had bills to pay, so I needed real money. After that I worked a few different jobs; I worked at a few fast food restaurants and even did a stint in retail. After high school, it was time for me to move out on my own, and like every other grown-up, I got credit!
That was a bad idea. Eventually, I was maxed out on all my credit cards and overdrafting my checking account all the time. In the end, at age 21, I was near bankruptcy, although somehow I never quite got there. I defaulted on 3 or 4 different credit cards, and eventually had no credit and only lived off what I made each paycheck.
You'd think I would have learned from that, but it wasn't until 2-3 years ago that I finally changed my life. I found Quickenonline, and it saved me. The feature that let you put in recurring bills and estimate your bank account on any given day was all it took for me to stop overdrafting. I would estimate that over the course of 10 years, I paid at least $9,000 in overdraft fees. Not to mention all the other fees on credit cards for being over the limit and only paying minimum payments.
But my story doesn't end there, because eventually, those defaulted credit cards drop off your credit report. And what happens then? You can get more credit cards. And I did, and I wasn't smart the second time either. I never let the cards go over the limit, but I carried balances, for a long time. And I'm sure I've paid my fair share of interest these past few years. But then something changed, I got to claim a dependent on my taxes, and my return was HUGE! And I paid off my credit cards! And now I barely carry any balance from month to month, and pay off most of my cards each month.
This all goes to show that no matter how bad you are financially now, there's always hope. You just have to be willing to make changes. I could have fixed all my problems sooner, if I had only tried. All it took was being able to estimate my bills and see where all my money was going for me to realize how to fix it. If I had just started keeping a paper ledger so many years ago and actually kept on top of it, I would have been fine. But I was lazy, and didn't do it. But now I check my bank accounts every few days, watch my bills and make sure they're all paid on time, and you can too.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)