1) Don't get into debt for things you can live without - Every time you want to spend money on a thing you cannot pay cash for, ask yourself this important question: Can I still breathe, eat, drink and have sex if I don't buy this thing? If the answer is YES, then don't take a loan to have it. Remember this: CREDIT CARDS are EVIL - they lull you in thinking you can afford something you don't need.
2) Don't get a job - getting a job means you put yourself in a false sense of security. You think all you have to do in life is breathe, eat, drink and have sex, then you poke your ATM card in the ATM machine and voila!! You have money to continue to breathe, eat, drink and have sex for another month. Create jobs and encourage your staff to be entrepreneurs. Don't just be a consumer. Be the supplier.
3) Don't worry about the future - you can't do anything about the future. In this age of the internet, things change faster than they did 20 years ago. Nobody knows what will happen in the next decade. Just a little over two decades ago, who would have thought that today we can carry our computer, our camera, our phone, our radio, our TV, our diary and our mail in our pocket all at the same time? You can even have them on your wrist. So, if some "wise old people" give you advice on what you should do or shouldn't do, so you will secure a job in the future, politely nod your head, but know that they only spoke based on their own obsolete experience.
4) Don't prepare yourself for death - we must prepare ourselves for the NEXT LIFE. But, for most of us today, we are eating healthier foods, we have access to healthcare, and (again, thanks to the invention of the internet) we are more informed about what is good and what is bad for us. The fastest-growing age group is the 65+ age group. When we hear that someone died at the age of 60, we say, "still young". Living past 90 is no longer a rarity; it is now a common occurrence. Death will come, sooner or later. But do all you can to make your life on this earth as comfortable as possible. If you need surgery to replace your knees, so you can walk and run, do it; if you need to get new teeth, so you can eat your favourite food, do it; if you want to travel the world, climb Mount Kinabalu, or go into business, no matter how old you are... if you can afford it... Just do it.
5) Don't wait for miracles - there are no more miracles. God has already provided us with the last miracle. We are the people of the end of the world... "umat akhir zaman". Don't look for signs from God that will mean something good or bad will happen. Stop thinking that when your right palm is itchy, money will come, or if it's on the left, money will go. Stop thinking that some strange thing that happened today is a sign of something that will happen tomorrow. Stop reading horoscopes, it's bullshit. We have to get off our asses to get the things we want. Our rezeki, our death, our jodoh may have been preordained for us upon our conception, but we need to go find our wealth (not necessarily being rich), we should take all precautions to avoid death, and we have to go out to find our life partner. This is the law of the universe (sunatullah): you put in the effort, you will get the reward.
6) Don't burden your children - they owe you nothing, and you owe them nothing. When they were small, all the time and money you spent on them belonged to them. Children are not your asset, nor are they your liability. They are a trust. You are just a caretaker, entrusted to bring them up to be proper human beings. Once they've grown, if they turn out to be good human beings, you've done your job. If they became lousy human beings, you've also done your job. You can't turn back time. If they grow up and remain grateful to you for your time and effort, then you've done a great job. If they cast you aside, and wish you were dead, or continue to become a burden to you even when they've grown bigger than you ... perhaps you should have done better. But don't put them on a guilt trip if they don't give you money every month or visit you every weekend... They have their own lives now, and their lives are nothing like ours.
7) Don't burden your parents - please. Grow up and get off your asses. Most parents could have done many things in their lives, such as travelling around the world, climbing Mount Kinabalu, or going into business when they were younger, but no, they had to have you. And, even if your parents are billionaires, don't ask them for money; instead, give them a monthly allowance. Even if it's just RM50 a month. They don't need it, but they will cherish it more than anything else. Make their lives as comfortable as you can. If they need surgery to replace their knees, get it done. If they need new teeth so they can enjoy their favourite food, get it done. If they make you feel guilty because you never give them money every month or come visit them every weekend... well, you deserve it. What kind of ungrateful human being are you?
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