6 Tips to Become A Millionaire

Tips by Chris Hogan, the author Retired Inspired.

1. Dream big.
Dreams can wake you up and become your motivation. Put the dreams on paper.

2. Really commit.
Deep commitment, not just lip-service of actions you want to take. Truly being focus. Other things have to be limited or even discarded. Remind yourself of that mission day in and day out.

3. Work a plan.
Talk with successful people. Take notes. Listen to what other people are doing. Learn the truth about money and how it works. Figure out if this something I want or something I need. You have to know what's coming in (income) and what's coming out (expenses). Learn how to count. Debt is a threat. Debt delays you from your dream, from your millionaire status. Stay allergic to debt. Know the importance of investing. Compound interest is huge. Starting early is the key! Diversify your investment. Use all available tools to help build your dreams.

4. Don't get distracted.
Stay focus. Keep your lifestyle in check. Don't worry about other people.

5. Don't fall for stupid.
Get smarter. Avoid car payments! Interest that you pay is penalty. Interest that you earn is reward. Instead of paying car payment, send that monthly payment to your 401(k). Make wiser choices for your jeans, phones, and laptops.

6. Don't forget the goal.
Know what you're trying to accomplish.

A Slice of Pie

It's less than a week before Thanksgiving. Mmmmm, Thanksgiving. A day to be thankful for everything we have. A day of a culinary feast! A day of roasted turkey, stuffing, honey-glazed yam, green bean casserole, cranberry jellies, and that famous dessert, pumpkin pie! I think pumpkin pie is the most food I'm looking forward in celebrating Thanksgiving. A slice of pumpkin pie with a whipped cream on top.... yummmmmm!

Our life can be dissected like pumpkin pies too. Some slices here, some slices there. There are so many moving part in our life that sometimes makes our life seems like a blur. But if we really think deep about this, each part of life it's like a chapter in a book, it has its own story, with its own people inside it. Just the same like a slice of pie.

Let's divide our lives into 3 huge slices of pie. Assuming we live to be a hundred, here's some mental picture of what our life could be. (Of course I know that some of us may not make it to a hundred, and there are some that will live over a hundred. This is just an average stats, a ceteris paribus).

1st slice : Age 0 - 33 years old: The learning period.
These are the most busiest years of our lives. We grow up from being a baby, toddler, child, pre-teen, teenager, young adult, into adulthood during the first pie of our lives. From learning how to talk and walk, to learning basic math and language, to learning how to drive a car and how to be successful in school.

Finish with school? Then the learning continues on how to survive on your first 7 days in your first job (or business, or any professional endeavor of your choosing). In these times, some of us got married, have children, and raising little kids into a wonderful human being. This is also the period that we are so eager to grab new experiences by travelling to anywhere, going to this new restaurants and those new bars, and have no fears in facing the uncertainty of the future. YOLO, right?

This is the most exciting part of our lives, where we create lots of photos and memories. This is where we're very vocal of what we want to do in life, and let no one determine the course of our actions. This is also the period where we face our first failures in life, and start wondering if we are still on the right path. But this is also the time where we learn to bounce back every time life knock us down.

2nd slice: Age 34 - 66 years old: The accumulation period.
These are the time when we accumulate everything. The possession time. From money, designer clothes (and bags for women!), jewelry, to big ticket items like TV, cars, and even houses. Some of us may already started the accumulation process when we were in the previous part of life. Some us don't stop the learning process. We continue to accumulate the education we want, either formally (master degree, doctorate degree, and so on) or non formally (learning what's the new make up trend, or how to be confident in public speaking).

This is also one of the most exciting period in our lives, because we could now see our hard work starting to pay off. We probably already finish paying some student loans or old credit card "mistakes" that we did in our twenty's. We see our children grow up into a mini version of ourselves. We are in the stage of being comfortable in life.

While this may true to some people, unfortunately this is also the time period that stress might seep in and start conquering our lives. More money sometimes means more problems. Couples might getting into a disagreement about how to handle their finances, which could lead to resentment and grudges, and eventually leading them to divorce. Or maybe it's not money itself. Maybe it's the time problem. Wife start to blaming husband who prefer to spend time more with his friends watching football elsewhere rather than their home. Husband keep blaming wife for shopping without his permission. The feeling of betrayal keeps accumulated and creates more and bigger tension, leading to a death of marriage.

Some might experience something completely different. This is maybe the time when that company that you work for seventeen years, starts showing a sign of struggle, and later on have no way to keep the door open. Layoff happens. Some of us are forced to start job hunting again, knowing that mortgage need to be paid each month, and other responsibilities that start taking a comfortable nest in our shoulders. These could be the time period when we realize that life is not what we thought it was.

We longing for the olden days of our youth when we don't have to do this adulting things, instead we just focused on our studies, and game time after school. We daydream of our retirement days, eventhough that still another twenty years to go. Some of us who have teenage children start thinking ahead of their ongoing study in universities, and wondering where the money come from. Of course not everyone is unprepared. Some of us did a very good job setting up a college education plan when they still in diapers!

This is the time period, where diligence pays. If we smart and plan our life ahead in the first slice of pie period, we start seeing some results in this second slice of pie.  And if this is the time when we realize that we're getting behind at some stuff, this is also the time to correct our course and start planning some serious life roadmap for the last pie of life. This could be our wake-up call period.

But not everything is doom and gloom. Some of us will have the most successful time in our career or business than in any other period of our time. Some of us will make it to the top. Our business is booming, and we will amass so much wealth that we won't know what to do with it! Just kidding, I'm sure we will know what to do with it. This could be the glory days of our lives. And because of this success, some of us already entering early retirement and leaving the workforce for good.

This is the time to accumulate wealth, knowledge, and start building our life in shape.

3rd slice: Age 67 - 100 years old: The preservation period.
The last piece of the pie is usually the best. It's the final slice. Majority of folks in these group are retired and enjoying their ultimate vacation. It's like vacation every day, y'all! Just imagine this. Don't need to wake up to an alarm clock every Monday to Friday. No need to dress up every morning to go to work. And the best thing of all, no need to go to work at all! Work is done, school is done. Freedom!

The 3rd slice of pie means we have both things that we didn't have before: time and money. We have all the time in the world to do what we want to do (or to not do anything at all, perhaps?). And hopefully at this time, we already have a huge savings and retirement funds to ensure our quality of life is still at least the same of our previous lives, if not better.

Some of us going to enjoy the fruit of our labor for the rest of our lives, from this moment on. But unfortunately, some of us have life happens to us, like battling illness and sickness, and have to endure the health struggle. Or sometimes tragedy struck our families, crippling us into a moment of despair and hopelessness.

But those moments could happen in any other period of time, not necessarily this one.

Bottom line is, this is the period of time when we normally don't have too much demands in our life, and can just take it easy. Just relax, slow down, and enjoy our golden days. Till death do us part.

And that's our life, in 3 big slices of pies! :)

The Money Enigma

I can relate to Curious George.

There is a subject that always peek my curiosity.  This eventually become my passion. Other people pursue their passion of cooking, gardening, or crafting, while I pursue this thing since as long as I can remember.

This thing we call money. The finance matter.

As it turns out, in my twenty years journey demystifying the money history, I found out that it's not money itself that make it interesting, but the behavior on managing finances that make me want to learn mastering it.

I started with a book titled Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. From that book, I learned that there are 4 categories of how source of income being divided. I continue deepened his money philosophy by reading his next books, Cashflow Quadrant and The Business School.

Next, I read another money book titled The Richest Man in Babylon, by George S. Classon. A very interesting outlook about money. Old philosophy about savings and other important activities on how to win with money, with an interesting flair of another exotic and unique culture behind it.

My journey continues. I read The Millionaire Next Door, by Thomas J Stanley, which provides a refreshing take on how millionaires behave. Surprisingly, unlike the common perception, average millionaires do not flaunt their wealth. They live modestly, drive a two-year old paid off car, and living below their means. I guess that's why they are millionaires!

My husband knows that I love these finance stuff, so he gave me a book titled The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. This is one of the book that I would say change my life drastically. Thanks to Mr. Ramsey, I learn to do his seven baby steps to be financially happy!

Since I'm still ongoing on my financial quest to conquer money, I read the next book titled Retired Inspired, by Chris Hogan. I love how motivational this book can be! He lays out a game plan to have an HD (high definition) retirement dream. He detailed some obstacles preventing us having a dream retirement, along with the solutions to achieve a great retirement goal, so we all can retired with dignity!

Knowledge is like thirst. The more you drink, the more you become thirsty. So, not satisfied with all these money books I've read, now I land on the next best seller book, Love Your Life Not Theirs, by Rachel Cruze. I'm still in the middle of the book, so I can't tell you the conclusion yet. So far I learn that comparison is a killjoy, so no longer I want to compare my life with anybody else!

Understanding money and the behavior behind it is my passion. I love learning about these things. It's like unlocking a puzzle. It's like peeling an onion, layer by layer. The more I found the truth about money, the more I understand what to do with it. It's affecting all aspect of our life. The decision making we do impacting to our finances, the desire we need to limit while knowing we still have other obligations to meet, it makes us become a responsible adult.

I want to express my thanks to all the financial guru in the world who shares their wisdom about money and finance, and how it can directly touch our lives. Thank you for your financial education. Your insights and experience are so valuable, guiding us basic simple principle on how to master our money habits. And please, do continue to share this with the world! One day we all will be financially literate and able to pass along the wisdom to the next generation. And the next. And the next!

If you have great money books to read, please do share that with me! I would love to learn more!

Santa's Toy Factory

Once upon a time, there's an young bright elf name Hugo who works in Santa's toy factory. He has been working there for eight months and he likes his work. Hugo's job is to put the assembled toys into boxes, and lift the boxes into the factory's gigantic inventory room. This way, on the night of Christmas Eve, Hugo and his elves team can just move the boxes from the piling room into Santa's sleigh. Considering there are 1.9 billion children in the world, Hugo has to ensure that he does it fast and accurate, so this way he can meet his quota while not sacrificing quality of the work. After all, we don't want a disappointed children not getting their toys right.

One day while working, Hugo found that the quality of the toys were not up to standard. One of the dolls is missing one of the eyes. One of the mini trains has not being painted yet, looks all metallic. One of the children's oven does not have a functioning light bulb. One of the toy car has only three wheels. And he realized that at least there were twenty toys that are missing at least something important.

Hugo understood that these imperfections must be happening from the other department that is sending him the toys for the final assembly, so he went next door and meet the elf responsible for making the toys. He saw elf George is assembling a teddy bear. George has been working in Santa's toy factory for the last 20 years of his life, so he's definitely not a newcomer.

"Hi, George!"

"Hello young Hugo."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure." George still attaching the teddy bear's leg to its body.

"I've noticed that there are about twenty toys that are not finished, but they are in the last batch that got send to my table to put into boxes. Could you repair them before we move these to Santa's sleigh?" Hugo put down a box full of the twenty malfunctioning toys.

George just shrugged his shoulder and said,"Well, we don't have enough material to cover all that, so they just need to make do. I haven't receive new shipment yet from the supplier department. And I have a quota to finish if we want to ensure 1.9 billion children get their toys."

Hugo wrinkles his nose. "Hmmmm, but this is not the right toy. They are ... broken toys. Not only it's not up to the standard, but these toys are far from done. Sally Dolly here is missing an eye. Train choo choo doesn't have a colorful paint all over. Mini bake oven doesn't have a light bulb inside, so a child won't know when a cake done being bake. And this cool Indy 500 race car doesn't even have the fourth wheel. No child would like to play with these unfinished toys."

George got defensive. "Look Hugo, do you know how much quota I have to fill to finish all these toys? I have to complete at least 500 toys every day. If out of 500 toys, there are 20 not so perfect ones, so what? They just got to deal with it. Me and my team need to finish these as fast as we could. So what is it's missing some stuff here and there? It's just a toy, it's not a real thing."

Hugo also has his own quota to finish. He has to move about 2000 boxes every day to the inventory room. But Hugo is not satisfied. He then went to the floor supervisor who oversees all the factory's operations. Another elf name Paul.

"Hi Paul!"

"Hey Hugo!"

"Paul, I'd like to report something to you. I think it's important for you to know this before we sending the gifts out to the children. I've found that there are about 20 toys that are not up to standard. You see all these toys in this box? Every single one of them are missing something. Looks incomplete to me. I spoke to elf George earlier, but he doesn't want to hear me out. He..."

"Whoa whoa whoa, you confronted George? You know he's very senior among all of us here."

"Well, I didn't really confronted him. I want to pointed out the imperfections so he can fix it. We don't want to sacrifice quality, do we? This way he will understand and ..."

"You told him that? You pointed out the missing things? That's harsh. You should not talk that way to George. You should soften your approach a bit to him. He's old you know. He can't just take direct feedback like that. You young people should always respect your elf elders. You can't just barge in and start pointing out flaws here and there. Have some elf manners there, boy."

Hugo looked astonished. He can't believe that instead of getting Paul involved to try to fix the issue, he got a feedback of his speech delivery! Unbelievable! Is this fixing the real issues?

"Look Hugo, I know you meant well. It is good that you notice these things. I will let you work with George together to fix this problem. I know you can do it. Just smooth it out. Nobody like being scolded like a toddler, right? You got this."

Poor Hugo.

This young elf thought that by involving George the toy maker, he could get the toys being fixed. Instead, George tuned him out and got busy with his own quota. Hugo went to Paul hoping a resolution to fix the problem George caused, but instead, Paul kept cutting him short and not listening to the whole story.   He was hoping that by getting George's and Paul's attention, he could at least get less broken toys in the next batch, or none at all. He is now thinking if he should just move to the reindeer maintenance department. At least Rudolph won't mind a broken carrot.

But Hugo didn't give up.

He finally went to the big boss, Santa, to report all this. He doesn't mention names, he just proposed that if he found broken toys, he would like to get Santa's permission to just discard the toys and not including those in for the next assembly. Santa agrees and will look into this matter deeply, because Santa doesn't like to waste resources as well.

So what's the moral of the story?
1. Never make a conclusion without having all facts on the table. 
If Paul could just hear Hugo out completely, Paul might be able to see Hugo's point pass the "speech delivery flaw". Hugo could choose to not bring the issue to Paul's attention, but he chose to do the right thing.

2. Don't miss the big picture.
What's the point of making toys? It is for the children, right? George the elf toy maker should be happy to get a feedback from Hugo, because that would make him be able to increase the quality of his work. 500 perfect toys are still better than 480 perfect toys, especially if you're going to allocate the same amount of time of working them.

3. Be resourceful and creative.
Hugo didn't give up. He came up with a solution that Santa agrees (for now), until the next better resolution is made up. Hugo did try to escalate things to the toy maker and floor supervisor, but their responses are not within Hugo's control at all. He thinks outside the box and he delivers a way out.

With time, Hugo, George, and Paul made up. And they live happily ever after. Making 1.9 billion toys for 1.9 billion children in the world.

The end.

Natal Keempat

Ini adalah Natal keempat tanpa hadiah-hadiah mewah. Ini adalah Natal yang tidak sarat dengan materialisme. Ini adalah Natal lagi yang akan membawa kesejahteraan untuk hidup keluargaku kelak.

Di musim panas tahun 2014, aku membaca suatu buku konsep keuangan yang betul-betul membantu untuk merubah perilakuku terhadap uang. Buku itu tidak bilang untuk tunda Natal. Buku itu hanya membantu memberikan saran-saran atas persepsi dan tingkah laku seseorang jika orang itu mau menang dengan uang.

Uang, bukan berarti mau kaya atau bikin orang jadi kikir. Tapi maksudnya adalah kita harus bisa menguasai uang, supaya uang tidak mengendalikan hidup kita. Istilah orang dulu adalah untuk bisa menghindari "besar pasak daripada tiang."

Bukunya berjudul Total Money Makeover, karangan Dave Ramsey. Aku tidak tahu apakah buku ini dijual atau tidak di Indonesia, tapi kalau tidak dijual di sana, coba saja cek Amazon, siapa tahu ada.

Nah, sejak tahun 2014, keluarga kami memutuskan untuk tidak memberi hadiah satu sama lain untuk tiap Natal. Kalau kamu tinggal di Amerika Serikat, kamu akan mengerti kenapa ini adalah satu hal aneh. Di negeri bule sini nih, kamu akan dicap macem2x kalau kamu nggak ngasih hadiah2x Natal. Aku tahu itu karena sejak aku "skip" Natal, banyak orang2x yang melihat aku seolah2x aku ini makhluk asing dari planet Mars.

Contohnya, pada bulan Desember tahun 2014 di kantorku, mereka mau mengadakan "White Elephant". Istilah white elephant (atau gajah putih) artinya tiap orang akan memberikan satu hadiah Natal bagi satu (atau lebih) orang lain, dimana hadiah itu biasanya mahal dan ekspensif. Ini berasal dari legenda Raja Siam memberi hadiah gajah albino yang langka untuk orang yang tidak menyenangkan hatinya, supaya orang itu jadi bangkrut karena pembiayaan gajah yang sangat tinggi.

Tahun 2015, perayaan Natal di rumah tetap sederhana. Berhubung ini adalah masa transisi dari kerjaan lama ke kerjaan baru, kita tidak dibebani oleh kantor untuk acara tukar-menukar hadiah Natal.  Tidak bela beli hadiah lagi, melainkan tetap menghabiskan waktu bersama keluarga dan memberi perhatian satu sama lain.

Tahun 2016, kantor baruku merayakan Natal dan lagi-lagi aku "terpaksa" ikut berpartisipasi dalam program "Secret Santa". Konsep yang mirip dengan "White Elephant", tapi bedanya, ini tiap minggu kita harus ngasih hadiah pada salah satu orang yang namanya diundi untuk kita. Berarti 3 minggu berturut2 ngasih paling tidak 3 hadiah total, dan di minggu keempat kita "diharapkan" memberikan satu hadiah bergengsi. Ya okelah, kuturuti dengan hati berat, walaupun sebetulnya nggak mau.

Tahun 2017, tahun ini, aku narik garis batas. Sama seperti tahun lalu, program Secret Santa kembali datang menghampiri. Tapi bedanya, kali ini aku bilang tidak. Aku menolak untuk berpartisipasi. Bukannya karena aku pelit, tapi aku ini punya keuangan yang terbatas. Dalam arti kata aku masih punya hutang hipotek untuk dilunasi untuk rumah kami, mesti juga terus menambah tabungan dana pensiun untuk hari tua kelak (apalagi aku kan nggak punya anak, nggak bisa mengharapkan anak akan menjagaku kalau nanti aku tua renta, lah anaknya aja nggak ada!). Dan masih punya segudang keperluan lain yang harus dipersiapkan seperti dana keadaan darurat, tagihan kanan kiri untuk hidup, dan lain sebagainya.

Dan ajaibnya, aku tidak merasa bersalah untuk kembali lagi dalam situasi Natal tanpa hadiah. Malah aku pikir, arti Natal yang sebetulnya kan bukan hadiah. Yesus lahir di bumi justru dalam keadaan yang sangat jauh dari kemewahan dan keagungan. Malahan Yesus mengambil bentuk yang sesederhana mungkin, sebagai hamba yang lahir di palungan hewan. Natal yang sesungguhnya adalah memahami contoh yang diberikan Yesus, untuk semakin sederhana dan rendah hati. Bukannya pesta sana sini dan bikin orang jadi bangkrut!

Bilang tidak adalah sesuatu yang tidak gampang dilakukan. Tapi kadang kita harus bilang tidak kalau kita mau sukses dalam bidang apapun itu. Sama aza kan kayak bilang tidak untuk kue-kue dan donat-donat berkalori tinggi kalau kita mau serius nurunin berat badan. Ya keuangan juga sama. Kadang kita harus berani menyangkal diri sendiri kalau kita mau maju. Kalau nanti kita sudah punya banyak berlebih-lebih uang sampai nggak tau mau diapain tuh uang, boleh deh kita bilang iya ke hadiah Natal. Mau pilih mana? Sejahtera di hari tua karena rajin menabung, atau foya-foya sekarang dan kere kemudian?

Berakit-rakit ke hulu,
berenang-renang ke tepian.
Bersakit-sakit dahulu,
Bersenang-senang kemudian.

The Alphabet Problem

Is D better than F?

(academically speaking).

Technically yes, D is better than F. But if the standard passing grade in school is C, then is it really better? If C means pass, anything below C means not pass, then basically D is not better than F.

One day when I was a naive young student, I came home with my report card. I passed for majority of my classes, even getting some As and Bs. But, there is one subject that I didn't pass. I got a D on PE (Physical Education). I guess I prefer being a brainiac than being physically fit? Anyway, I got home and remember being so scared to face my dad. So I "strategize" myself in presenting my report card to him.

"Pa, D is better than F, ya?" asked this silly little girl.

He looked at me with a knowing look. Then he simply said,"Well B is better than D."

I guess I can't fool him. Wise dad after all.

Long story short, I grew up with a conviction, that anything below par is not acceptable. It doesn't mean that I have to be on top of everything, got As in every single subject, but I know I can't afford to be below the minimum grade requirement, not even a D. Don't mention F too me, really.

This attitude stay with me for all my adult life. I strive to be the best, as best as I can. I don't accept "mediocre" thinking, a philosophy that good enough is better than nothing. Well, sometimes the enemy of best is not worst, but "good".

"It's good for me to have this C, at least it's not a D."

If that's the best you can do, okay, that's great. But you know that you don't give it your all, when you delay studying because you need to finish this level on that awesome video game. When you delay studying because you have to talk to your boyfriend about this important decision of life called shoe shopping. You know you didn't give it your best shot, when you keep procrastinating on studying your books for watching just one more episode of your favorite TV show. You know that. I know that, because I was guilty of all those charges before! :)

So, if you did give it your all, and you still got a C, then is that means good? Ok, that means you pass.

But if you give it all and you still got a D, that means you have work to do. Maybe you can reach out to a tutor or mentor to coach you and help you to understand the subject. Maybe you need to look at it from different perspective. It'll push you to be creative and resourceful. Or that simply means, you just need to pay attention 100% and not get distracted with your game, boyfriend (or girlfriend), or TV shows. Or anything that preventing you to focus on your study material!

It's your attitude in life that will carry you far far away above the mediocrity of our society. Change your thinking and you'll change your life.

D is not better than F. Go get an A!

Next

I'm a kid who can't wait to grow up.

I think about college when I was in third grade.

I daydreamed about being a thirty-five year old housewife with two kids when I was fifteen years old.

I charted a three years road map of college classes I need to took when I was in my second semester of being a college freshman, on my first year, to ensure I finished my bachelor degree in less than four years.

When I was a direct sales representative, I cannot stop thinking what my career would be like if I work super hard in order to be promoted to the next level, the Personal Financial Consultant in Retail Banking.

When I was engaged to my fiancee in Indonesia, I continuously imagined my new marriage life will look like in United States.

During our first three years renting apartment, I think about buying a dream house every single day.

Six month before our second car being paid off, I counted the weeks of that final payment day.

I can't wait for our mortgage to be paid off, even though technically we still have thirteen years to go.

And now, I imagine retirement every waking moment, although I still have twenty-one years left in the workforce.

I simply always thinking what's next.

I don't know why I always think what's next.

Sometimes I wonder, if I get to be an eighty year old woman one day, will I think about coffin, cremation, or if I won't wake up forever?

For now, I'll just think of the next blogpost that I will write.

TINGGAL LANDAS

**Izin diberikan oleh pengarangnya, Mich John Igna**

Dua Puluh Tahun Pertama,
habiskan waktu untuk belajar banyak hal,
habiskan banyak uang dan waktu orangtua,
dunia berputar lambat karena cita-cita yang tampak jauh.

Dua Puluh Tahun Kedua,
habiskan uang untuk bekerja dan menabung,
habiskan hasil kerja untuk diri sendiri dan anak-anak,
dunia berputar lebih cepat dari duapuluh tahun pertama,

Dua Puluh Tahun Ketiga,
habiskan uang untuk investasi dan persiapan pensiun,
habiskan banyak uang dan waktu untuk anak,
dunia berputar sangat-sangat cepat, sampai kurang istirahat

Di awal Dua Puluh Tahun Ketiga,
bersiap lepas landas untuk terbang lebih tinggi,
LEPAS LANDAS menuju ketidakpastian langit,
namun mengarah satu yang pasti di bumi.

#syukur40
#mefam
#michlegacy

Cutthroat Kitchen

Have you ever seen Cutthroat Kitchen? It's a cooking game show where all the four contestants are given $25,000 each to compete with each other, where they can use the money for their own advancement, or to sabotage their competitions. They have to cook their way out, and despite of any challenges they have to face, their dish will be judged while the judge has no idea what kind of adversity they've been through. It's really entertaining, and definitely full of life lessons.

What makes this cooking competition unique, is the situation they're being throw into. It's not going to be a perfect cooking stage. Not only the chef must have the ability to cook, but they also have to outwit and sabotage their opponents to win. The last standing chef will win his/her leftover money.

The money itself, they can spend it at auctions to get things that could help them, like buying exclusive ingredients, or hinder their foe, like make them cook with one hand while the other hand is tied up. Or have one chef go walk in a treadmill while preparing their dish. Or make one chef bake in a children's oven. Very creative challenges and the best one I've ever seen!!

It's the show where you gotta play with the hands you've dealt. Accept it, deal it, and make the most of the current situation or circumstances, to make use of that which one is afforded or has available. Simply put, do the best with what you have.

Isn't that concept so similar with life? Despite of our circumstances, we are being expected to deliver our best. Despite of our adversity, we are expected to get up and face whatever we need to face. To be professional. To not only finish the job, but to do it so well, although our worlds crumbling down around us. While we battle our own challenges, we still need to wake up in the morning and go to work. To perform 120% and give it all.

Do you think our customers, superiors, shareholders, and whoever we need to give answer and accountability care how difficult our life was? No. They expect results. And they will reward those who work hard and deliver progressive results, despite of our emotions and situations that day.

I'm not saying they are heartless. But life is life. You still need to do your job. You still need to pay the bills. You still need to pickup your axe and swing at that tree if you want to survive. You must go on. Stop the pity party and work your way up.

You will be so proud of yourself of your accomplishment. Of all the rewards that you reap although you're crying inside. You are a survivor, and you will need to do anything to survive (thru legal means though, no cheat mode!). You are strong, you are smart, you will have the ability to figure it out, whatever "it" is. Always think that you're a winner, and you'll think like a winner.

And that's what Cutthroat Kitchen had taught me all these years watching them.

Survival of the fittest.