Delayed Gratification Mindset

It has been a while since I blogged. I have been extremely busy for the past few weeks and I hardly find time to relax. It’s like having multiple jobs at the same time, I have to work, teach guitar, do up a video trailer, design a website and create a web application. With all this work that I have to handle, I feel like I am wearing out. Every day is the same routine…

But, the thing that kept me moving on is this mindset: Delayed Gratification.

What is delayed gratification?
It is the ability to wait in order to obtain something that he or she wants, aka 先苦后甜 in Chinese. A simple illustration is, say a man strike 4d and won $1 million. He decided not to spend all the money on things that he wanted immediately, but instead, he invest it into bonds and shares and wait a few years before tapping into it. On the contrary, if he spends all his money, that is called “instant gratification.”

With this mindset of delayed gratification, I have learned to work hard now and not enjoying all of the rewards immediately. But instead, using the rewards to reap even more rewards. There is no doubt that the main reason I am working on multiple projects are for the sake of money. And with the different stream of income coming in, I could have spent more on my wants. But I did not. Instead, I choose to save the additional amount of money that came in. That does not mean I don’t enjoy at all, but I kept it at a minimum.

So why do I want to do that? By saving up first, I can build up a substantial amount of money that acts as my opportunity fund that I can use to invest. It’s like building up my army (capital) to fight and to defend when the time comes (market crash). Imagine not having enough soldiers when your enemy is weak, you miss the opportunity!

Read on how you can do that and apply delayed gratification

Don’t be short sighted, look far ahead and plan beforehand. This will ensure a better future for you and your family.

One of my Short Term Financial Goal

That is to start earning $4000 every month by 30 June 2011 (Excluding my investments.)

I bet you must be wondering what my income is right now. Honestly, it is quite far from my target. Are you ready to find out? Yes? No? Whatever… I am going to tell you anyway.

At the time of writing, my current income is around $1000. Laughing out Loud eh? Mind you, I am still a full-student and I do part time to earn that amount.

So how on earth am I going to make $4000 a month? The answer is simple, prepare to work hard and work smart! With my qualification and experience, I don’t think I am able to find a job that will pay that amount. My solution? Simple! Work for myself! There are advantages and disadvantages in working for yourself, read my other post on the Pros and Cons of Self-Employment.

Currently, I teach tuition and guitar as part time. The idea is to leverage my time by having more students in a class, (instead of one student per class which is what I am doing right now.) I can multiply how much I earn in one lesson even if I charge a lower fee.

Also, another idea is to start an online business which I will not reveal now. I hope that in this online business, I am able to generate passive income.

The reason why I want to quadruple my income (from $1000) is because I choose not to limit my vision and to dream big. Seriously, I really don’t know if I am able to achieve it, but I am going to trust God for whatever He has planned for me. Nevertheless, I am all geared up to work hard for my goal. Even if I couldn’t achieve it, I am contented – because I’ve tried my best.

Also, recently I read a book “Secrets of Millionaire Students” by Stuart Tan. There is two other co-writer and both of them are YOUNG. And from the book, I read that their highest income per month can hit up to 5 to 6 figure.

And I listened to a this audio CD given to me at Invest Fair 2010, from the CD, this guy, at the age of 16 years old, he can earn up to $15,000 in 3 days by setting up workshop in schools. And the guy is none other than Adam Khoo.

When I listen to all this stories, this really got me inspired. I asked myself, If they can do it, I do it as well!