Why I Don’t Want to Buy A House… Just Yet
Owing a house is a big “investment” people make now a days without, knowing the true cost of owing one.
I am not talking about monetary value but, rather the cost of opportunities.
Opportunity
You don’t take an opportunity, you make an opportunity.
When I look at a door I don’t see a door, I see an opportunity. For example, when I open the door to my Taxation of Business Entities class, I am making the opportunity to further extend my knowledge to understand the role of taxation in economic decision making. Same goes when applying this ideology in anything that you want to do.
The goal is to open as many doors as possible.
Let me ask you a question I asked myself one week ago. How many times have you opened the front door of the house you currently live in? 1,000 times 4,000 times 11,000 times? I opened that same door 6,570 times in nine years.
The same door I open every day has the same opportunity every time I will open that door. The next time you open your door, I want you to think about what you are opening. For the most part, you are opening the same door you opened yesterday and the day before that.
For Example: say you work Monday-Friday every week. That’s five days attached to the same door.
How about the other two days? Are you opening a different door? Do you want to open a different door?
Use those two days wisely. Push yourself to do something that you always wanted to do and see how far you can go. Maybe you always wanted to learn how to play the piano or learn another language. Find something that will make you happy, motivate you, and strengthens you. Keep doing it until, you find a different path of happiness then you’d open another door.
Nothing will change unless you change the door. Change is good, change brings new opportunities in your life. Therefore, I don’t want to keep opening the same door anymore, I want to open different doors each time.
The Three Stages In Opening The Door
I know it’s cliché to say “life is too short” but, it is true. True enough that I will break it down into only three main stages.
Life is this amazing journey where you get to overcome the many challenges it puts on your plate. Those challenges are what you will achieve at the end of your journey.
Stage 1: The Opening of The Door
Don’t get me wrong but, great challenges have happened during those 6,570 times.
Here are some highlights of those 6,570 times…
I graduated middle school, got my drivers license, accomplished my goal of losing 50 pounds of weight, graduated high school, and got accepted to my dream college.
In this stage the overall objective is to be prepared for stage two. The best way to do so, is by learning and understanding how society functions.
First, you learn physical abilities such as walking and speaking. Then you learn general abilities that are taught by parents and teachers.
For example, moral and ethical behaviors are taught throughout stage 1.
You are put into a group as early as 5 years old when you start school. Once, you are put in a group you will start learning how other people’s behavior influences your behaviors. That same group you started with at age 5 will be the same group at age 18. Nothing changes other than the environment around you.
Stage 1 is very much like a traditional economy. Traditional economy is a system in which customs, beliefs, and traditions support the goods and services that are produced in the economy. Also, traditional economy is commanded by norms and values that have no changes in the way the economy operates.
Your parents went through the same stage 1 as you did. Nothing was different other than the environment (generation) they experienced.
Everyone goes through a similar stage 1 experience. In this stage, you are doing nothing other then learning the fundamental basics of everyday processes.
You are not worried about buying a house anytime soon during stage 1.
Stage 2: Closing Doors For Opening Newer Doors (Transition From Stage 1 To Stage 2)
So, you opened your first door in stage 1 but, also closed it.
Stage 2 is all about discovering yourself and what challenges you set up. It is the first time in your life where you get to make your own decisions. You have total control of your life. No one is stopping you from being you other then yourself. Also, it is the start of your legacy.
This is the most exciting time of your life but, also the scariest. It is the time where you set goals and crush them. It is the time where you find what you love to do and the passion it brings upon you. Also, it is the time where many doors are opened. Most people fail stage 2 for not taking the risk to do what makes them happy.
“The biggest risk is not taking any risk. In a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.”
— Mark Zuckerberg
My stage 2 went something like this…
I started college not knowing what I wanted to major in. I picked pharmacy as my major because it promised financial security. I remember my counselor giving me four pages of all the courses required for Doctor of Pharmacy and how he made a joke about me wanting to be a “drug dealer.”
The first day of class, I ended up dropping all my courses for my major and adding courses for a business major. I realized it wasn’t the major for me and the rest was history.
Two years ago, I founded a tech startup company which, is still in its early stages. This opportunity was the biggest door I opened and it keeps opening more doors within it.
I call my stage 2, the pursuit of happiness, that is all I want from life is to be happy and if I see myself not happy I change it rapidly. Doing what makes you happy should always be the goal within a goal. I have many goals I want to accomplish and working 9–5 isn’t one of them. Repetition is the word I completely despise. I don’t like repeating the same day twice, just a waste of opportunity and it is like opening the same door repeatedly. I wasn’t born just to work all my life.
You should always have many goals but, ultimately you should have a main goal. My main goal is to travel the world for the rest of my life. Unexplored territories are what I am after and I hope I’ll like what I find.
Knowing where you are in stage 2 is the best advice I can give. Planning, starting, and setting due dates for your goals are necessary. Doing this three-check list for your goals and having consistency, will yield tremendous likelihood of achieving your goals. Finding motivation will keep your mind on the prize.
At the very beginning of the startup company, when all I had was an idea and dedication. I took the biggest goal I wanted to reach at the time and wrote it on a blank paper and taped it on my ceiling wall, leveled in front of my head so that every time I wake up it’s the first words I read and when I sleep it’s the last words I read. Once I reached my goal, I quickly replaced it with a bigger goal.
Lastly, stage 2 is still not quite the time to buy a house, although some people during this stage end up buying a house.
Stage 3: The Final Door
Stage 2 is the longest stage of them all for a reason, it’s where the most important events take place.
Stage 3 is where you crossed the finish line and have no more strength left because you put up a great performance during stage 2. It’s time to rest and look back at the great achievements you accomplished.
That’s when you buy a house. When simply there is nothing else to do because you accomplished most of your goals and you are happy you made it this far in life. All you can do now is smile and enjoy your remaining time with the people who helped you along the way (i.e., family, friends) or the activity you still love doing (i.e. running, reading, poker)
Be Happy
The three stages of life are to show you where you have been, are, and will be throughout your life. Life only guarantees death. Find your true purpose before it is to late.
