How Do I Do It?!?

Almost on a daily basis, one or two people always ask me:

"Are you still working two full-time jobs?"

"Yes...."

"I can't believe it, how do you do it?!?!"

When I first started a year ago, most people gave me two or three months. To be honest, I gave myself a month top. It was more like a surreal challenge than reality. Now, I am pretty sure that this is my reality. I can no longer remember a time when I worked only one job, and I don't know what free time is anymore. Often, I find myself living vicariously through other people's stories about weekend gateaways, having the time to comparison shop, sit-down dinners, family disputes, etc, etc....

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So how do I do it?

Sheer Will Power
I have a financial goal of accruing $1,000,000 in 10 years, and I am going to reach it. On average, I sleep 2-4 hours a day. Getting up in the morning is the hardest thing. At the beginning, it was a struggle and my body was telling me that this is a stupid idea. I pretty much dragged myself out of bed everyday and get to work. Now, it is just automatic.

The Best Indication of Future Behavior is Past Behavior
Dr. Phil is right! I have a past history of over-doing everything. It takes four years to finish university, I did it in two, overloading my schedule every semester. Most people sang in choirs, but I had to go and join the most prestigious. Some people play the piano, but I had to go and learn more than 10 different instruments. When I was young and my parents wanted me to become a doctor, I said "when I become a doctor, I will have a second part-time job!". So, it is only natural that if most people want to retire at 55, I want to do it at 36.

My Attitude
My attitude is that if you have a dream or goal, why talk about it, think about it, and sleep on it? Just do it. Everything else is a waste of time. One of my biggest pet peeves is wasting time. Ten years ago, I was sixteen. I remember saying to myself that by the time I am 26, I would be set for life! AlthoughI was very young, and this was very unrealistic, I also did not do anything to make this reality. The bottom line is I wasted 10 years, and I will not waste another 10.

Stop Lying To Yourself
You will not attain any goals by lying to yourself. Unless you have done the numbers for your retirement, you are not ready and you will be in a lot of trouble. If you are trusting someone else to do the numbers for you, you will also be in a lot of trouble. Similarily, if you have any goals of any kind, you have to approach them truthfully and realistically with yourself bearing the entire responsibility

Visualizing Achieving My Goal
I constantly visualize the day I reach my goal. I create a fairly realistic fantasy of that day and the days after. The most important thing is to not lose track of what I want my future reality to be.

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There is a few positive side-effects of working two full-time jobs.

I am forced to value every free minute.

I am actually a lot more productive outside of work.

I do more things during down time, such as working on my online sites, watching movies, reading books, making crafts, etc.

Most importantly, I am not wasting time.