Every morning the alarm ring before the sun really come up, and honestly sometimes I hate that sound. My hand searching the phone half sleeping, sometimes I press snooze two or three times even if I know it will not change anything. Then I force my body to wake up because responsibility never waiting for mood. I take shower quickly, drink coffee sometimes without even tasting it, and sometimes the coffee already cold because I thinking too much. Then go outside fighting traffic, rain, or very hot sun. Last week I was stuck almost two hours in traffic under heavy rain, and I just sit there looking at red brake lights everywhere, asking myself, “Is this really the life?” On the road people stuck in bus, on motorcycle, inside car with endless horn sound like orchestra of stress. But actually our mind already arrive in office first, thinking about deadline, target, boss message at 11 PM last night, unfinished report that still waiting. Eight to ten hours we sit in front of computer, or stand in project site, or dealing with customer who complain again and again about same thing. We look at clock many times, maybe every 20 minutes, waiting for time to go home. Night come, body very tired but brain still thinking about tomorrow. Then end of month salary coming, notification sound make us feel safe for few minutes, like small victory. But after paying house installment, vehicle credit, electricity bill, school fee, internet, and some unexpected expense, the number in bank become small again. And life repeating like loop. Same Monday. Same tired face. Same promise, “Next year will be better.”
documentationSometimes we never stop and ask what we really exchange every day. We exchange our time. And time is the only thing we cannot refill or buy back, no matter how much money we have. Warren Buffett once said if you don’t find way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die. When I first read that, I feel it was too dramatic. But the more I see real life, the more I understand it is not dramatic, it is realistic. When we sick and cannot go to work, income also stop. When company doing efficiency and suddenly rumor about layoff spreading in office, everybody become quiet and nervous, checking email again and again. When our children ask us to play more but we say, “Wait, I must finish work first,” and that “wait” become every day, that is also the price we pay. As long as our income depend only on our physical presence and working hours, our life controlled by energy, age, and other people decision. It look stable from outside, but actually very fragile because it stand only on one leg. One problem, and everything shaking.
documentationNow imagine different structure of life, even if it start very small. Not only salary, but also asset that working slowly behind the scene. Maybe small business that still running even when we not always there. Maybe simple investment that give dividend, not big but consistent. Maybe property that generate rent every month, even if the rent not luxury amount. It doesn’t mean we must resign tomorrow and become millionaire next year, no, that is fantasy. But we must change mindset first. Job can be foundation, but not the only pillar. From salary we try to save little by little, sometimes very painful because it mean we cannot buy what we want. Not only for spending, but to buy asset that produce something. Maybe at beginning result very small and almost invisible, and sometimes we feel like giving up because progress so slow. I also think like that many times, honestly. But step by step it growing, even if we don’t realize immediately. One day we realize we have option. Small option, but still option. We can take rest without too much panic. We can take break without zero income. We can say “no” not because we angry, but because we prepared.
documentationAnd maybe the most scary moment is not when we fail, but when we realize many years already gone without building anything for ourself. We busy building other people company, helping other people dream become bigger, but our own dream still waiting in silence like old plan inside drawer. Weekend coming and we feel too tired to start something new, so we just scroll phone for hours and say we deserve rest. Monday coming and the cycle start again. Slowly we accept this as normal life, even if inside we feel something missing but cannot explain clearly. The question is simple but heavy: if nothing change in next five or ten years, will our life become different? Or just same routine with older body, more white hair, bigger responsibility, and maybe bigger fear? I don’t know the perfect answer. But maybe the first step is not big action, maybe just small awareness that time is running anyway. And if time running anyway, maybe it is better we try build something that one day can give us back our time.