Starting Strong

You know how surfers catch a wave at just the right moment to ride all the way to the shore? Opportunities in life are just like those waves.

If you’re alert and ready, they can take you towards a beach filled with riches. Like a surfer catching the best wave, there are moments in life that can take us straight to success.

That’s like getting the high score in your favorite game on the first try!

The Path to Prosperity

If you want to be successful, you have to work hard, and be involved in your work. Just like a farmer who wants a good harvest, they can’t just sit back; they have to either plow the field themselves or direct someone to do it.

The way to prosper in life is similar to doing your chores or homework. To get it done right, you need to either do it yourself or guide someone else properly.

The Magic of Money Management

Save your money when you can, because the sun doesn’t shine brightly all day. There are always rainy days. What you earn, you should hold onto and wisely use. Treat your money like a magic stone that can turn everything into gold.

Remember, it’s essential to save for the future. Just like you store up extra lives or points in a game for more challenging levels, you need to save money for unexpected expenses.

Time: The Superpower You Have

We’re all familiar with the saying, ‘Time is money.’ Imagine you are making $15 an hour. If you’ve scrolled for four hours on TikTok, Instagram, or watched online cats videos. You’ve forfeited  the $60 you could have earned. Furthermore, let’s not forget that amusing yet costly cat T-shirt you have bought while watching , whose charm may fade in a few days, but the dent in your wallet will last.

Earning Trust: The Bonus Points of Life

Remember, having a good credit score is like having extra money. If someone trusts you to pay back a loan in time because they believe in your reliability, they’re giving you the opportunity to make more money with that loan.

Let’s imagine your friend Alex trusts you to return the $100 he lent you on time. He believes in your ability to repay, which is like giving you extra cash. It’s like Alex just handed you a golden ticket to the money-making Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory!

Just like getting bonus points in a game, if someone lets you borrow their money and you return it on time, you earn their trust. That trust is as valuable as the highest game score.

Grow Your Money Tree

Money can grow like a tree. Imagine you plant a small seed (your saved dollar). With time and care, that seed grows into a big tree, and that tree produces more seeds. Each dollar can grow into more dollars if you use it wisely.

This is how investing works: if you turn $10 into $12 by investing it, and then turn $12 into $15, you’re growing your money. The more money you invest, the more it grows, and even faster with each turn. So, if you waste $1 now, you’re actually throwing away all the potential money it could have made in the future.

Here’s a fun fact: money can make more money. It’s like when you play Minecraft. You start with a simple wooden pickaxe, then mine for iron, and before you know it, you’ve got a diamond pickaxe! This is what investing does to your money. The more money you invest, the more it grows, and it gets faster with each turn.

Reliability: A Key Player’s Trait

Being reliable with money is like being the best player in a team game. If you’re known for your skill and reliability, your teammates (or in this case, lenders) will trust you to lead the way to victory (or in this case, wealth).

Keep this in mind: a person who always pays back their debts on time is in control. If people know you’re reliable and punctual in paying back your loans, they’ll be more willing to lend you money in the future. This can be very useful. So, never delay paying back money you’ve borrowed, or else you risk losing trust and potential future loans.

Even little things can affect how people see your financial reliability. For example, if a person who lent you money knows that you’re working hard, they’ll feel more comfortable. But, if they see or hear about you wasting time when you should be working, they might demand their money back sooner than planned.

Tracking Your Financial Score

You remember the candy store from when you were a kid? It was so easy to spend all your pocket money there. But what if you had saved that money instead of buying every candy bar you saw? That’s what you need to do now with your earnings – resist the temptation to spend it all. Keep a track of your money, just like keeping score in a game, and you’ll be amazed at how much you can save and grow.

Be careful about treating all your money as spending money. Many people fall into this trap. To avoid this, keep a detailed daily record of your expenses and earnings. This will show you how small expenses can add up over time, and how much you can save in the future.

Don’t spend all your money thinking it’s all yours to enjoy. Keep track of your income and expenses like your game scores. This way, you can clearly see your financial wins and losses, and strategize better for future success.

Planning Your Goals: The Minecraft Strategy

Planning is key. Remember how you used to plan your Minecraft buildings before you started? That made things easier, right? Same goes for your work. If you lay out your plan well, it’s like you’re halfway there already. Don’t waste time, because like lost LEGO pieces, lost time is hard to get back.

Planning your goals is as crucial as planning a complex Minecraft build. With a good plan, you’re already halfway towards your goal.

Remember, the road to wealth is like the road to the supermarket – it’s clear and straightforward. All it takes is hard work and saving. Make sure you make the best use of your time and money every day. If you take care of your time and money, your weeks, months and years will also take care of themselves.

Skills and Professions: Your Super Weapons

Having a skill or a profession is like having a super weapon in a game. But remember, you need to use it effectively. Just as a weapon needs to be wielded, a skill or profession needs to be practiced.

Experience shows that planning your work well is half the battle. Don’t waste time, because lost time is hard to get back. Keep in mind, the more time you waste, the harder things get, while hard work makes things easier.

The Work-Play Balance

If you start your day late, you’ll have to rush all day and may not get all your work done by nightfall. This is because laziness is slow and often leads to poverty. Don’t let your work control you; instead, you control your work. Going to bed early and waking up early is a sure way to stay healthy, wealthy, and wise.

Laziness and success don’t mix. Think about it, if you start your day late, you end up rushing around all day and might not finish your tasks. But if you’re up early, just like The Rock, you control your day and your tasks. It’s like following the age-old wisdom in video games: grind early, get epic loot.

You know how in games you should complete quests as soon as you get them? Apply that rule to your life too. Don’t put off till tomorrow what you can do today. Lost time is like lost internet connection, you can’t get it back.

Hard work brings good luck. Just like a well-played game brings victory, diligence and persistence in real life bring wealth and success.

Nurture Your Business Like a Tamagotchi

Hard work is your superpower. With effort, persistence, and your own version of Spiderman’s “With great power comes great responsibility,” you can build a life of abundance and respect. Take care of your business or your work, just like caring for a Tamagotchi, and it’ll take care of you in return.

Ever seen a game streamer who plays games for a living? It’s because they grind, plan, and prepare, and so should you. Hard work brings comfort, abundance, and respect.
Keep track of your work or business. If you care for it and nurture it like a Tamagotchi, it’ll grow and bring you wealth and success.

The Wise Investment

Finally, avoid spending your money on things that offer only temporary happiness. Just like in a game where you shouldn’t waste your resources on things that don’t help you win, in life, you should spend your money wisely on things that matter in the long run.

For example, think of your money as health points in a game. Every time you spend on something unnecessary, you lose HP. Too many careless purchases, and before you know it, ‘Game Over’. But, if you spend wisely and save often, you’re leveling up your life wealth points!

Life: The Ultimate Game

Remember, life is the most exciting game you’ll ever play. Just like in Fortnite or Minecraft, you have resources at your disposal – your time, your energy, your skills, your money. Using these wisely is the key to winning. You wouldn’t run into a Fortnite battle without first gathering materials and planning your strategy, would you? Similarly, in life, plan your moves. Consider each decision carefully, whether it’s choosing a hobby, making friends, or spending money.

Hard work and smart spending are the cheat codes to growing your wealth and enjoying your life. Just like beating a challenging level in your favorite game, it’s tough but oh so rewarding! You’ve got this, Player 1!

Trust Your Instincts

Trust your instincts, too. You know when a jump in Super Mario feels just right, or when a solution to a puzzle in The Legend of Zelda suddenly clicks. It’s the same with life. Your instincts, your gut feelings, are a powerful tool that can guide you through the game of life.

Dealing with Life’s Twists and Turns

However, don’t be disheartened if you lose a round or two. Just like you respawn in games to try again, you always have opportunities for a do-over in life. Mistakes are simply lessons to learn from, power-ups to level up your life game.

A Wise Lesson from Zen Master Hakuin

Now, to conclude, let’s delve into an ancient Zen story, the tale of a wise teacher named Hakuin.

Hakuin lived in a small village, known by all as a wise and enlightened man. One day, a young girl in the village became pregnant. Scared and cornered by her angry parents, she named Hakuin as the father. The furious parents confronted Hakuin, who simply replied, “Interesting…So be it,”

When the child was born, it was given to Hakuin to raise. He took on this responsibility without complaint, still only saying, “Interesting…So be it,” He took great care of the child.

After a year, the young girl could no longer live with the guilt. She confessed that the real father was a young man who worked in the fish market. The parents, deeply embarrassed, went to Hakuin to apologize and take the baby back. Hakuin, handing over the baby, only replied, “Interesting…So be it,”

The Final Message

This story reminds us to accept life’s turns, good and bad, without losing our peace, just like Hakuin did. In the game of life, there will be victories, and there will be losses. There will be power-ups and obstacles. But in the end, it’s not just about winning. It’s about how you play the game. It’s about finding peace, joy, and growth in every moment, every move, every decision. So gear up, players! You’ve got a fantastic game to play. Life awaits!