The Day I Decided To Be Rich
On January 1st 2001 I was sitting alone in my room at the University of the Bundeswehr in Hamburg. I had woken up early and studied most of the day when it realized something had changed. I felt slightly depressed - it dawned on me that I was a poor bastard. It was a few days prior to my 24th birthday and I had just spent the entire Christmas holidays and new year's eve alone at the university in order to prepare for the exams of my first trimester. The perspective to also spend my birthday in solitude did not brighten the perspective. Since I had not made any new friends in Hamburg yet I didn't have a lot of tempting distractions that kept me from studying. However none of those facts were the reason why I felt a rupture. The last three months I had spent either in lecture halls or at my desk and was entirely dedicated to passing my first exams. My preparations were running well and I was confident to pass all three tests. But the statistics told a different story: on average only less than half of the first trimesters would pass all three exams in the very first attempt. Then suddenly I realized my failure: I had overcommitted to my studies. Assuming that only passing the tests without any instant incentives to repeat the process trimester after trimester I concluded would not cut it - I would lose motivation. Worse than that: In case I failed at the tests I would have to admit to myself that I could not really ramp up my efforts significantly, as I had already been almost entirely focused on studying. I had neglected most of my social and sports habits for the past three months. In a typical 'new year's resolutions' manner I impulsively layed out a 12 weeks plan to improve my situation: I would sign up for a sports team and keep in touch with friends and family in various remote locations. To put some rubber to the road I eventually donned my running gear.
Running in the dark in complete silence was my thing. I had discovered two main running routes: one around a small lake nearby and one that was a few blocks away in an industrial area near the Elbe river. Since the lake had no lights I opted for the latter. I instantly fell in love with the calm of the streets, the cold air, the darkness, the shipyards and the smell of coffee roast in the docks at the Elbe river. Everything was new and exciting. It was like a runner's high from the very first step. On the run I analyzed my situation: I knew nobody in Hamburg. My mission to successfully acquire my university degree would take approximately three and a half years. The Bundeswehr provided me with decent accomodation and a full salary. All I had to do in return to justify this privilege was to get my university degree. Apart from some rare military obligations I was pretty much left to do as I wished on a daily basis. As long as I could regularly produce the certifications of passed exams I would not be bothered by any superior along the chain of command. That was the moment the poor bastard decided to be the rich bastard.
After I finished the run I went back to my desk when the complete epiphany struck me: I had suddenly become rich without even realizing it. I had not become rich because something in my situation had changed, but because I realized the magnitude of this 3.5 years long once in a lifetime opportunity.
86.4k: Your Daily Budget
Upon realizing that I only had 3.5 years to do whatever the hell I wanted a strong sense of urgency set in. I joined a local swimming club and even took up triathlon. Although I studied a lot I still had plenty of time as there was no daily schedule that I had to abide by. At the Air Force Academy my schedule was pretty much stuffed from Monday through Friday, sometimes even the weekends. The time as a student at the Bundeswehruniverstät was a complete catharsis from the experiences at the 'Offizierschule der Luftwaffe (OSLw)'. It was the first time I felt a deep sense of responsibility and the stakes of my decision to join the military for 12 years. Therefore I was all fired up to squeeze this superb opportunity to the maximum. I decided to treat my time at the university as if I was on a 24-hour mission every day, regardless how soon it may be over.
Why am I telling you this all? Because I want you to realize that no matter what you think of yourself in terms of wealth, you are already rich. You are just as rich as anyone on earth. You have a daily budget of 24 hours; that's a total of 1440 minutes or 86,400 seconds. You may have obligations that you have to fulfill. Your most important obligation is to be happy. Find your purpose and find a way to live a happy life. I bet you can make more time than you actually do without any radical changes. Imagine you'd have 84k Euro to spend each day for the rest of your life. But you can only spend your entire budget once each day and you can not carry an excess budget over to the next day or accumulate it in any other way. What would you do? Dedicate more time to yourself or your loved ones? Work harder? Quit your job? Clear some clutter? Start a new hobby? Do it. Start today. Don't wait for some miraculous event to happen. Planning and long term views are fine for safety. But your life happens on a daily basis. Therefore you have to take actions on a daily basis. Be the miracle and start to think and act like the rich guy you already are. This is not a carpe diem call. This is a carpe your entire life call. You don't know how much is left of it and you certainly don't know what challenges you will have to face along the way. The best time to begin is always the same: it is now.
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