ryanhyde

On my drive home today from work I was listening to the news. Every story began with the phrase “Because of the Economy”. I hate to break it to you but the economy did not get us into this mess and it definitely will not get us out of it.

What did get us into this?

I’ll tell you the truth no one has yet admitted to, it’s all . . . “Because of the Jones’s”.

It’s “Because of the Jones’s” that we bought more then we could afford.

It’s “Because of the Jones’s” that we just had to have a mansion.

It’s “Because of the Jones’s” that we bought the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S.

Now that we have a name for the culprit of our down economy, we can move on. They did this. With there nice house and there fancy cars. If they can have it, why can’t we?

The problem is we wanted the American dream without the working for it. By looking for the next “get rich quick” scheme. We saw all the easy money to be made buying and selling homes. We saw how much money traders and investors made in the stock market. We were looking for an easy way to make money, a way where we wouldn’t have to work.

It is time to stop cutting corners and to get to work. I don’t mean working later or staying up all night searching the internet. I’m saying we “Do Less” not more. Stop avoiding the tough decisions in your life and decide today to face them head on. That’s hard work.

We also need to stop defining success by what we wear, what we drive and where we live. Start doing things because it is something you are passionate about. Success is the completion of a worthy goal. Have you ever accomplished something that really meant something to you? That’s success. That’s the real American dream.

The story that our parents told us “go to school, get good grades and work at a large company, you’ll be safe”, is false. There is no security at a large company. The world will pay what you are worth, period. You can’t hide from your responsibility at a big company.

I graduated college two years ago and life has been tough. However, I stopped looking for the easy way out because it doesn’t exist. My goal is not to get rich quick but to work my way out of this challenge. It is not easy learning a new skill that you need in order to accomplish your goals and reach your potential. But if your passionate about change, about making a difference, about accomplishing something that matters to you, then the hard work isn’t work anymore. The journey becomes as rewarding as the end goal, if not more rewarding. Somewhere along the way you’ll find something you love and the world will start paying you for it. Instead of taking, we now have something to give.

We need to stop “blaming the economy” and start taking action for our own futures. We can start innovating as a country. We wouldn’t need to “bail out” the big companies that stop innovating in order to maintain the status quo, who are afraid to make the tough decisions that comes with change and risk.

There is no easy way out of this. The sooner you admit that to yourself the sooner we can get on with changing the world.