What if Money were no object?

For the past few months since October, I've been feeling bit lost and almost forgot what it was I really wanted out of life.

I took some time each day to just reflect about how I was going to achieve what I wanted to get done. Then I started  realize that most of the time I just kept focusing on how I was going to pay the next months rent, bills, and grocery. When trying to find something to pick myself up I came across this video.

They funny thing about watching this video is that, I see people criticize it rather than try it out. And I guess that it what separates people who take risks and those who don't. Those who have a passion and those who just go along with the crowd. People who dream but never take action. 

This video seems to layout some pretty straight forward points.

• Find something that you really enjoy
• if you love it, it doesn't matter what it is, you will be happy to do it all the time
• become a master at it (something that most people don't care to work on)
• use it to help others to enjoy their lives
• Don't only value money as a means of happiness
• And don't get caught in the cycle of trying to pursue fame and fortune

I don't think this was a video meant to be a lesson on how to make money, but how to look back at life and say you have no regrets.

I'm probably the worst example to be using this view on life, but really thinking about it I don't know if I was meant for greatness or anything like that, but what I do know is, I know what I love doing and I don't mind if i spend my time doing it constantly.

An example that lots of people tend to overlook is that there have been interesting passions and something new always arises. Just a few years ago people would have never really considered computer gaming to be much of anything other than to be a leisurely activity meant for fun, but it turns out you can become a master at it and eventually bring you something in return. 

League of Legends tournament

I see it everyday at work that people tend to just say that sometimes people are lucky, or others were born into better situations. And sometimes people try to just blow things off and claim they are trying to be realistic. Being realistic all the time is just riding down the road to mediocrity. I'm not saying that you always have to be a go getter in every single thing in life, but why would you force yourself to believe that you will never gain anything from your efforts.  

Like I said, there will be people to criticize this view, but then again, those are the people who have never tried hard enough or understood what hard work is, or would rather just talk about how being realistic is how things should be and that there are only people lucky to be successful. 

Update to my current situation

It has been awhile since I've update, but I've been trying to readjust to a new living situation.

I had to leave my current home due to financial reasons, but was lucky enough to find someone to room with from work.

My new home starting from May 9

I was getting settled and found this to be a much more suitable place of living to appreciate where to take my next steps after.

And I have this little closet.

It doesn't even have a door. 

I decided to take this opportunity to build up, and start my workstation setup.

the start of my new workspace

Next I realized that there could be more to grow and finalize my work area.

My final setup, and a computer I was fixing for work

Everything was going well, until I had to move out of my new home. My landlord that I was living with had an emergency and needed to move back to Taiwan.

Luckily I found a place to live not too long after he told me the news.

A new "new" start on June 20

The new place I'm currently living at now is quite an upgrade to the previous house.

More than double the size of my last closet

• Better bathroom (much Larger and is attached to my room)
• much more bedroom space (155 square feet compared to only 115)
• A much bigger closet
• Half the distance to work from the last place
• the kitchen is much more well kept
• Restaurants and groceries are much closer

But with the change came a few small inconveniences.

• There are quite a few crickets that make their way into the house
• My upstairs roommate nags a lot 
• Most of the neighbors are relatively rude
• and it does cost more here

But all in all, this has really put into perspective how to better take care of myself and learn better planning. 

Here is a more updated look at my workspace. 

Messy and cluttered

So there you have it. A look at what I'm working with. 

The main thing I got out of all this and one thing I know that will really stick with me through all that has happened these past 6 months, is that once you have experienced being in a terrible situation, you know for sure that you don't even want to be in that place again. 

I had so many rants to myself, and wanted to give up, and just move back to Texas where my parents are, but that just leads to reverting back to where I was and holding back growth. I'm here trying to understand growth and learn to make better decisions. 

I always contemplate moving to California was a terrible decision, but I always remember that it's not about thinking it's a right or wrong choice, but putting in effort and the work, to make my decision turn out right.

Times can get tough and you can always turn back, or you can grit your teeth and see things through. 

Finding the Time

I've finally landed a job, and now I'm slowly making the payments off of what owe. 

I work a job that pays just enough to get by and enough to build up to invest toward my passions (fitness, technology, and music). 

The only problem I'm reaching right now is how to go about managing my time. I only work part-time (30 hours a week), and the drive to my work is mostly spent in traffic for about an hour to an hour fifteen. I'm trying to make the most of the time I have to workout, cook, and learn a program for a potential construction position. 

Below is an old computer that I picked up for free, that the owner couldn't get running again and didn't want to bother with it anymore. 

I was able to restore it with the Windows COA and now have a simple workstation to work with. The computer is very dated and is an old HP from 2007.

The computer when it wasn't working.

After I cleaned the dust out and rearranged the cables.

After purchasing a GT 620 to support my Dell and the monitor it came with

There are people still telling me that I'm making terrible choices, but like Elliot Hulse said, "You make your decision right."

This is finally becoming a reality to a new start, and finally reaching full independence. 

The struggle I've been going through lately (though nowhere near as great as others) has shown me true appreciation for whats it's like to earn your keep.

Feeling Lost

Coming to a point in my life where I feel that I wasn't meant for anything great.

I am now unemployed, and struggling to find odd jobs to make a means just to pay off the necessities. I've also fallen to ask for money from my parents, and in the process start to feel more depressed with each minute that passes by.

I'm 25, with a bachelor's of science degree in Kinesiology, but with low opportunity to actually finding a job.

At this point in my life, I feel that I have already lost all that I can, and in reality have nothing to lose.

My passions still stand, and have never left me.

I still care about fitness and health. I've come to the realization that I enjoy it so much that I am willing to take at chance at competing. I'm willing to devote my being into something I truly find value in.

I get a lot of negative feedback about what people think about my first passion, but in the end, I've always wanted to be able to transform my body, but not for the sake of others, but for the desire to constantly strive to better myself, physically and mentally through fitness.

People would tell me its a waste, that it won't amount to anything, but like Louis C.K said, "But why do they care?"

I've found a lot out of trying to gain muscle and better health, and that alone has bled into other aspects of my life.

I hope to one day make a name for myself, not because was hoping to find fame, but because I decided to focus on the things I truly loved.

Follow your Initial Goal

Coming back to pour out a bit more of what's going on in my head.

So many times have I always felt that listening to what my parents said would lead me to a happy future. Don't get me wrong, they teach lessons to help you stay safe, in this comfort zone, but they have never really taught me to really find out what I love to do.

Lately, all I've been getting from them are demands of going back to school, even though I have already received my bachelors degree in exercise science. As much as I find college important, I feel that it's more important to realize what it is that you want.

Elliot Hulse with more on following what you feel is right.

Don't focus on what others say leads to happiness. 

Find out for yourself, what makes you happy.

This is all I have for now, and in a few hours, I will be heading out to something that I had always kept stuck in the back of my mind when I was in college, but never acted on it due to the fact that I cared too much of what my entire family thought of it.

Just remember you will be happy knowing that you had tried, rather than thought of "what if."

Speech is Valuable Part 2

The more and more I spend time with the new friends I've made after moving to California, the more and more I see that people only live life through their phones and other forms of social media.

I have mentioned in a previous post that people take communication for granted.

Louis C.K. and his thoughts on twitter

I just feel that we are losing the human factor in our lives and care too much of what others want to think and do.

Live life by doing, and not by viewing. It's so cliche to say it, but you really get a better sense of appreciation through experience.

• Seeing nature at its finest is great through pictures is fun, but it pales in comparison to the actual feel of taking hikes and biking long trails.
• There is great eye candy to be seen with all the food posts people put up of what they've eaten, but why not learn the beauty that is cooking.
• Getting laughs from e-cards from friends is entertaining, but what about actually spending time with friends rather than artificially through social media.

I don't mean in anyway to drop any form of social media you have, but rather take time to venture and experience life.

Technology advancements were made to help make life simpler and help give us more of what we want. Time.

Go out and do more, and live life.

Define Your Passion: Technology

Linus Sebastian and one of his tech videos

Getting to my next passion, I will talk about the reasons for why I love technology.

Technology plays a major part of my life, not because of the things I do with it, but mainly with how it will contribute to the future.

Focusing on what it does for me just helps to make living a whole lot more enjoyable:

• You can be more efficient
• Organized (no more paper files)
• Ways of keeping in touch
• Creates more ways of entertainment
• but mainly to simplify living

These are a few of the smaller views of why technology is something I've grown to love. 

But truly what it is that makes technology important to me that I think others should see, is that it is a very important part of living because it is always advancing. I try my best to keep up with the latest and greatest, not because of it being the hottest thing out there, but because I don't ever want to find myself left behind.

How often do you see people slowing down or have a disruption in their workflow all because they didn't know how to use a particular piece of equipment or what something does. My parents for one are always having difficulty with payments because they refuse to learn how to do online payments. In no way is it bad, but from time to time, they find themselves sadden at the fact they do not know how to work a new blu-ray player.

Linus Sebastian

This man has incredible understanding of how several pieces of computer hardware work and the in's and out's of almost every component that I've wished to handle. And I don't mean like those youtube reviewer such as Marques Brownlee, John from TLDtoday, or those people who just talk about why they like a particular product but don't really understand how it works. I'm talking about legitimately knowing how something runs and what makes it tick.

For me technology runs most of what we do and what we have to use. 

I favor technology and learning more on it because of the fact that it is becoming more of a necessity each day.

I've built a few machines in the past, but the one I only took pictures of was the one I had build for my dad.

A simple microATX case

A quad-core AMD processor

BIOstar Motherboard

Noctua Heatsink

The heatsink and fans help keep temps at an all time low

2 solid state drives for ultra fast boot times and access

All components installed

The main reason behind even bothering to make this for him was because, I disliked the fact that he was always given a hand me down computer from his work. I wanted to give him something future proof and would run extremely fast while staying cool and quiet. He deserved something better than just outdated machines.

I love technology and what they have given us. I will strive to continue working hard so that I can keep building and keep learning about all there will be to know on tech.

Visualize Your Goals

A lot of times we tend to make goals in our minds, but never really get around to accomplishing them because we lose sight of what we wanted.

Find a way for you to see what it is you wish to accomplish so you can continue to remind yourself what it is you wanted to do.

I'm not saying its for the sake of getting tasks done, but more importantly to burn it into your mind that you have a goal to reach, and that one day you will look back at that reminder and say "I set out and did what I wanted to do."

For me, I took use of what a friend had mentioned and decided to get a dry erase board. A large one that I would pass by every morning, so I would visualize what would be in my future.

For some they might put down becoming the CEO of a company. 

Others may wish to be the next biggest thing in the music industry. 

And some may just want to live in a vineyard with a big family.

What you can take from this, is that you never want to lose sight of what is important to you. Find a way to motivate yourself to do what it is that you love.

I placed this board by the entrance to my bathroom, because I walk by it every morning and every night. It's close to my head board because I will look at it right before I go to sleep, so that I will never lose focus of my Goal.

Just remember you write what you want to achieve:

• Your Goals represent your passions
• They give you motivation to work for something
• Build you into who you want to be
• And in the end make you happy

You can use what ever you want to write on. Be sure to have it in sight so you will always be reminded that you have something to accomplish and that you will one day reach it.

Find Inspiration to Do What You Love

www.alvinkclee.com

Here is someone that I can say I truly admire. Not because of all the great photos he takes, but how they tie to me emotionally.

I don't know him personally, but already after just exchanging a few messages, I felt he never had intentions of trying to be boastful but to be genuinely sincere.

He doesn't focus his life around his hobbies, but it clearly shows his interests and how he builds around his values. He enjoys photography but also holds a career outside of photo-shoots.

He is gifted in several aspects and yet finds time to have fun and do the things he enjoys.

His ability to take the simplest ideas, and create an image where you find yourself staring, really opens your eyes to appreciate art.

He also has a knack for building a connection through his photos. Giving the viewer a chance to live in that moment.

Thank you Alvin for helping me to dig deeper into my goals and look forward to the future.

Define Your Passion: Health

Frank Yang and Determination

In a previous post I had mentioned my three main passions.

To start things off, I make health and fitness a key foundation to life. To live a better life.

Health is important to me because of the obvious:

• To maintain a fully functional body without a need for outside support
• no more medicine
• no need for a walker as an elder
• to just feel good
• To look aesthetic. With a great appearance you tend to:
• feel better about yourself
• help build confidence in ways you didn't feel possible

To dig more into why I value health is because of how it can define who I am. I see so many people always saying they want to lose weight or be more athletic, but usually end up giving up because it's too much work. I feel with the one body you are given, why not try to progress. I would even go as far as saying evolve into a more perfect individual.

Development of my body bleeds into other aspects of my life. One thing I focus on is muscular development (bodybuilding), because I like the idea of being able to sculpt my image. Bodybuilding takes time and has no short cuts or a single instant solution. Even with steroids or HGH, you have to put work in regardless.

Bodybuilding has helped to teach me how to apply:

• Patience. Bodybuilding doesn't happen over night
• Dedication. You have to put the effort in to see muscles grow
• Knowledge. You have to truly understand why it works to be effective

My health has given me more insight as to how I want to live my life and has also shown me that if I truly wanted something I would work for it until I obtained it. If I wanted to lift this certain weight, I would get there. If i wanted to have the best sculpted physique, I would continue training. You learn to build better desire.

Working on my health defines my:

• Desire to understand my body and myself better
• Desire to never give up
• Desire to keep moving forward
• Desire to continue living so I can keep doing the things I love

Be determined to reach what you truly want

Speech is Valuable Part 1

Something people tend to take for granted these days is actuyourconversations. We find ourselves wanting to type or text things out rather than living each moment. Eventually we see more and more people losing the ability to be social among others.

It begins to separate bonds between people and we start to lose the human factor in us.

Finally it leads to dependence of only being able to communicate through a device. It doesn't seem like a big issue, but it also carries over into other actions we do.

What I've noticed is this strongly affects:

• our confidence 
• want for attention
• social skills

People tend to feel that its easy to just keep things electronic and hide behind a phone or a computer. At times they pretend to be a completely different person but in reality are completely opposite.

Finding a constant need to have people look at you. 

Using different or fake terms to come off as witty or interesting.

It can't be said that social media doesn't give its form of entertainment, but when it begins to pollute ways of thinking as well as social development, its hard to justify what people try to do through social media.

Where it comes into play

People are finding it harder to see why communication is an important factor in everyday life.

Just as an example, in the job market, strong communication skill:

• builds your value
• gathers respect from others
• and creates higher opportunities just by how you can converse

Better confidence can go a long way. Being able to begin with your social skills can greatly improve ones overall value.

Admitting Weakness

There are a lot of things about me that have really held me back from achieving much. The one main flaw that I can admit to is my lack of dedication.

To be able to accomplish anything, is to focus on what you want. 

My passions in life have been 3 things:

• Health
• Technology
• Music

The only problem that I have come across would be that I lack the ability to put complete focus which I want to advance in first.

Another cousin of mine had told me, "You work well in all different aspects, but you aren't truly good in one thing. Its nice to be a jack-of-all-trades, but it's better to be a master in one."

This started to force things into perspective and now I find that I have wasted time scattering my attention. 

In order for me to reach success, I have targeted my health and physical well being first.

This was taken August 22,  2013

Though many people would ask why don't you focus on your career, or your financial situation. I feel it necessary to focus on the values I care about and fit my work around that. I take health into consideration only because of the possibilities of how it can affect the way you perform and how people perceive you.

My focus on health and fitness provide:

• more energy
• stress relief
• aesthetics
• and a way to track self progress through my own body

One way I look at it is even with the best car, home, job, and even friends, most of them wouldn't be worth while if poor health was keeping from enjoying it.

If everything you had was to be taken from you, the last thing you would have for yourself would be your health.

My next focus and my next passion would be technology. Not only because I enjoy the reward of building computers or working with software, but because its one thing in life that continues to advance. If you don't follow along, you will just be left behind.

One of the many computers I've built. This one was for my dad

My final passion and focus is music. Simply because it is something I enjoy, as well as find a means to express myself.

My cousin's studio setup. He was the one who told me to master a skill. 

Focus on my current setup

Added a 21" monitor to help with productivity.

"For me life is continuously being hungry. The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive, but to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer."

-Arnold Schwarzenegger