How a “Normal Person” to Escape the “Rat Race”?

Normal people live comfortable, normal lives. They like it that way. There’s nothing wrong with normal.

Except when it pertains to the “rat race”.

What is Rat race?

The term usually has a negative connotation. A rat race is analogous to rats in a maze that compete against one another to be the first to get the cheese. ... When one refers to the rat race, one envisions harried, unhappy people working long hours for little pay and little recognition.

If you’re a normal person who’s tired of getting one raise a year (if that), tired of sitting under-utilized at your cubicle, tired of sitting over-utilized at your cubicle, tired of being tired, normal isn’t going to save you.

You only have three options at this point:

1.   Marry someone rich.

2.   Inherit a bunch of money.

3.   Sell your organs.

If you want build your own career away from the rat race, free from the cubicle-prison, without the office drab, you need to be an outlier. You even need to be a tad weird to pull it off.

So no, normal people don’t escape the rat race. Only the outliers do.

Now, you don’t need to be Gary Vaynerchuk,

Basil Joseph or Sunayana Chatrapathy, to hustle your way out of a steady job and build your own career. These are is an extreme outlier. Here are five ways to be slightly weirder than a normal person to help you escape the rat race.

1. Live like you don’t know when (and where) your next pay check will come from

When you don’t have the luxury of steady cash flow, paying bills and feeding yourself becomes a little bit harder.

Before escaping the rat race, you’ll want to audit all your spending habits to see where you can cut back. And I mean really cut back. If you have a partner/spouse, make sure they are on board because this will affect them too.

When I used to tell normal people I don’t have a television, I’m out casted as the weird one (I’m sometimes even labeled ‘Millennial’).

Weird people make sacrifices willingly. Here are some areas you can consider cutting back:

·       Insurance — shop around for better offers

·       Bank loans —look to refinance if it’s in your best interest .

·       Cable/Internet — cut the cable, keep the internet (you’re going to need it)

·       Subscriptions — cut them all (worst case scenario split a Netflix account with a friend or two)

·       Food — eating out costs more than cooking for yourself (and no, you don’t need Blue Apron, look up cooking instructions on YouTube!)

·      Rent — no shame in moving back with mom and dad

On top of cutting the luxuries from your life, you need to save up some cash in case hard times hit. Minimum 3 months saved. Put it into an account and don’t touch it!

2. Believe you can actually make money on your own without having to show up and sit in a cubicle for 40 hours a week

This is difficult for normal people to grasp. It’s something I didn’t believe until I got my first payment from the business that I started with just AED 200 in my bank account. I didn’t invest but I started my journey as if I have invested and started selling. With just my concept I sold and got paid to setup my business. 

Not bad. That was the first (and last) time I thought I would make it or break it.

It’s not easy, but it’s possible to make money on your own. For most of us rat racers, trading 40 hours a week of our time for a paycheck is the only way we’ve been told to make a living.

We’ve been told a lie.

However, most of us stick to the rat race not because it’s the only way we know, but because we think the alternative just isn’t feasible.

The average household brings anything between USD 15,000 to 30,000 per year depending on where you are based.

That’s $1,250 a month or $42 a day.

Have you ever tried making $42 in one day outside the rat race? This weekend try to make $100 on your own. Hundred bucks is not enough to survive off of, but the purpose here is to prove a point:

When you break it down, making a living isn’t as grand and majestic as you think.

It takes hard work and relentlessness. Again, only weird people understand.

Ambassador of failure

It is easy to talk about failure when you have become successful. There are 90% of us who are still struggling even though we went through many or most such situations in life. Here in my blog, I want to tell you my side of being a failure.

Most time in my life I didn't know how to fail until I was in my mid to late 30's. There was no challenge hard enough for me. But since 2010 my success began to take a deep dive. Within no time things began to change in my life. Once I was a consultant to many start-ups and suddenly everything I knew about business does not work on my own businesses.  My advice works for others though. It's like, if I touch a gold, it turns to ashes immediately.

In most people's lives, when S**** hit the ceiling, no one can do anything for you anymore. Everyone once admired you will stay away from you. In those moment most people are left lonely to enjoy the silent depression. But some fights through to survive. Most of us turn to many things such as hidden secret of success, spirituality and so on. In my case, I was in debt beyond my imaginations. I had lost everything including my family life. I had no reason to carry on with this pain. One fine day at the early stage of my struggle, someone came and convinced me to join him in a very old but a historic site of Dubai, where most retired elders sit around to pass their time. When I met few people there and heard their stories, I begin to rethink about everything. In fact, some of them had worst situation in life and yet they lived to see today. I realized life with money problem is not really a problem. Yes, it is a little bit of a struggle in life without money but it is curable. What is not curable is your permanent health problem, family, betrayal etc.

I was so amazed at different stories from the elders there. I went for few weeks to meet them and this gave me the courage to stand again. By this time I had no more luxury of life. I was on my foot. I borrowed a little money from my brother to buy a trolly bag and a city bus card. I started my journey to get back again in the market. In the matters of 2 years, I managed to sort 90% of my problems and financial issues which were around USD 600K. I couldn't believe it how everything changed in my life. But strange thing is, in past, I used to achieve impossible with less or no effort. But now to achieve half or less of what I had, my efforts are endless. I was constantly on the go. I was caught up with this question. Why? What am I doing differently now? I had re-started my business with different investments in sectors of my event industry. Every time the investment keeps failing. Since 2011, until now I have invested in around 7 businesses in different cities and countries. Besides my very first business setup, which is eventually paying for all other failed businesses, all other business had failed. Someone told me, why don't I stick to one business since I am failing every time? After 2009 recession, I had lost certainty that if this business would ever survive in a long run. Keeping in mind this is only 6-7 months revenue generating business per year. As the age grows, the energy level to run day & night would be compromised. The thing is, I have a goal. I have a dream ever since I started my business. I implied every tactic I came across in books, from a business coach but nothing works. I begin to search for answers and till now I am looking.

I am sure I will find the answer. As a failure, I want to tell everyone who is in similar situations, don't worry about the failures of your life. No matter what you face in life, the life will go on. When your life will end, you won't know it anyway. I was told by a wise guy when you feel you have reached the end of your effort, don't give up. You might be close to your destiny.

Recently, someone told me, No matter what you do in life, you will only have what you meant to have in your current position of life. If you want to change things in your life, you must change your current life. Means, get out of the comfort zone. This reminds me of my time when I started to get back in the business. That time I had lost my life comfort. I was in a condition I could never imagine. But that struggle brought me to here. I learned a lot along the way. I sometimes wish, I had these lessons earlier. My current comfort zone is my family. That's why it is a tough decision to make. In fact, I have to find another way around my family. Cause no matter what, family comes first. Cause my financial success is not just for me.

Just Remember..

JUST REMEMBER...

You are a truly unique person: you can tell this simply by taking a moment or two to look at your thumb print. Do that now – go on, humor me – take a look at your thumb print and know this: you are the only person who has ever lived who has had that thumb print! Isn‟t that truly amazing? In fact, it is even more amazing than that because, as it turns out, you are the only person who will ever have that thumb print.

So you already know, in your heart that you are unique. But also know that this uniqueness extends to your purpose in life: you are called to achieve something significant with your life! Do not make the mistake of believing that life holds no purpose for you. Remember that you are here only once. This is your life - right now! So make sure you live the life you were born to live.


Imran Shah 

Little that I understood about life

In three words I can sum up everything that I learned about life, "It goes on." When the going gets tough, make yourself realize that no matter what your problem is, someone is and always will be fighting a harder battle. 

Tears don't help problems and whining won't make things better. Have faith but understand that faith makes things possible, not easier. Have hope but understand without doing anything nothing gets done.

Be there when people need you because in order to have friends you must first be one. Make the impossible, possible. Never give up! You only fail when you fail to try. Keep an open mind; you never know what you may learn.

Never compromise your standards for anyone, do it for you. Remember that laughter makes the world go round.

Beware of the person who has nothing to lose, see through the problem to find the solution. Don't make promises that you can't keep. If you fail to keep a promise that you made a long time ago, do everything to keep it or make it up with something and until then keep apologizing. Keep in mind, those who gossip to you will gossip about you. Say only what you mean, and don't believe everything that you hear because some day the story will be about you.

Every day is a gift, even if it sucks. Count your blessings, not your troubles. Never waste an opportunity to tell someone that you love them because you never know what tomorrow has in store for you. Give people a second chance, because no one is perfect. Love all that you can, give all that you have, smile away your days, and dream away your nights. 

Life, what a wonderful thing! If you keep it light you will have lots of light in it...

Imran Shah :-)

Good VS Evil

You are good when you love yourself and your brothers. Yet you are not evil when you feel separated. God needs the confused for the aware to teach what they know, the sick for the healers to heal those who need them, the tormentors for the meek to grow up as heroes, the rain for the rainbow to lift up your heart.

You are good when you offer your true gifts to the world and help everyone grow. Yet you are not evil when you are trying to get rich all alone. When you are giving you are the fruit of the world, when you are taking you are the root of the world. To the fruit giving is its need, to the root taking is its need, to the tree giving and taking are both needs, for without taking it cannot give. The fruit cannot say “be like me unselfish and giving” for without the roots the fruit can never grow.

You are good when you are conscious of your words. Yet you are not evil when you speak without thinking. God speaks through each of us and every word you say serves a purpose somewhere in space and time. For the words that are cruel does not make you evil, they are only memories action you will carry within you. It is your own duty to bring about balance, for every word of cruelty there will be ten words of compassion. God speaks through each of us, yet we choose from infinite possibilities.

You are good when you seek to become the best. Yet you are not evil when you are lazy and unmotivated.

You are good when you feel compassion for your brothers. Yet you are not evil when you are blinded by your ego. Remember a ship lost in the ocean can survive many months without sinking to the bottom - it is simply lost at the moment. Awakening happens at the blink of an eye.

You are good when you speak of love. Yet you are not evil when you speak of hate. It is by rejecting something completely that you are able to accept it wholeheartedly. It is by carrying the heavy stones of hatred you are able to appreciate the freedom of forgiveness.

You are good because you were born that way. You cannot be evil because in a world that is controlled by God, there cannot be any evil. Darkness is not energy - it is simply void waiting to be filled with light. Fear is not real - it is simply a confusion of space and time.

You are good because you are. You are good because you are divine!

By Imran Shah