How about we talk about the sensation that is known to everyone? The daily grind which includes waking up, hurrying to the office, grinding your work all day, getting paid, paying the bills, sleeping, and repeating the cycle. This is the rat race and the majority of us are tired of running in loops.
There is a silver lining to this thing, people manage to get out of this cycle and you have to be the next Elon Musk to achieve this. Getting out of the cycle just means to create enough freedom of choice so that you are the one who decides your time, not the other way around.
The rat race is not only about being employed; it is much more than that. It is a system in which your entire financial life is reliant upon exchanging your time for money. Your bills seem to increase as if by magic at the same rate as your income, and the promotions that give you the feeling of advancement are most of the time just a pair of golden handcuffs that keep you attached to the same wheel.
Most of the time people are stuck for some very plausible reasons. That regular paycheck, even if it keeps you locked up, still feels safe. After that, there is the lifestyle inflation trap; you get a raise, and suddenly you are upgrading your wardrobe or buying the newest iPhone. The extra money is gone before you even notice. In addition, most of us never learned real financial skills in school. We learned how to earn money, but no one talked about the concept of money working for us.
You can separate yourself from the crowd only through a different approach. Rather than just going after a higher paycheck, you become a bit more entrepreneurial and think about building systems that make you money even when you are sleeping. It can be what you want, like stocks, real estate, online businesses, and digital products, as long as they are income-generating activities without your involvement.
It is a must to live within your means. Just because you can, doesn't mean you have to. The difference between your income and your expenditure is your passport to liberty. It is the seed money for your getaway plan.
Smart people turn their attention towards creating several streams of income. It could be to start a side hustle, investing part of your money in stocks that will pay you dividends, buying a rental property, or starting an online business. Every income stream may be very small, but bringing them together means that you will have a huge income which is not dependent on your daily presence.
Moreover, one of the most important points on the puzzle will be to acquire some valuable skills. No matter if it is tech, design, sales or entrepreneurship, these capabilities turn into the bridge that connects dependency with independence. They are the instruments with which you create your own way out.
Leaving the rat race behind is not about becoming an extremely rich person. It means having the power to wake up and decide by yourself how to spend your day. It is about having options. Even though the system is designed in such a way to keep you running, you can get off the wheel by building assets, taking money mastery courses and generating new income streams.
Keep in mind that more money is not the essence of the matter; it is the existence of more choices. When you have choices, you have freedom. And that is more valuable than any salary.