“How to get rich?” is a very common question. Actually, there are a lot of opportunities out there to make money. If one makes the effort to go look for it, they can find tonnes of opportunities. One can sell watches, games, clothes, do freelance for design stuff, IT stuff, programming, give home tuition classes, write online reviews, etc. The list can go on and on and on, especially with the help of the internet.

But knowing the opportunities available is just the first step and perhaps the least important one if compared to the next step – soul-searching. Ask yourselves what do you really want to do? What are you passionate about and what are you interested in? Ignore the money factor for now. Concentrate on those questions. Because if you are not interested or passionate in something, don’t ever bother to start working on it. Money is important but money alone will not bring you far.

Let me give you an example, someone by the name of Bob wanted to get rich fast so he decided to start a business selling …say….popcorn. But his real interest was painting, not popcorn. For the first few weeks, he was quite motivated because he could see the money coming in (due to the high profit margin). But after a few months…and then a few years, his popcorn business started to slow down. Running the business now seems like more of a struggle than anything else. He could not bring himself to go to work everyday. He has lost interest in it. Yes, he has got the money and has even reinvested the money to grow the business. But his main interest was not popcorn, and definitely not attending to the stall. His motivation to earn money only managed to last him for a few months. Well, I’m sure you can guess the outcome. Another popcorn seller who was more passionate on selling popcorn appeared in the neighborhood and the new kid on the block stole all his customers from him. His small popcorn business was forced to close down soon after that.

Bob’s case is just 1 of the many small businesses which have very short life spans. One reason is due to the competition but the main reason is that the person is just not interested in the business itself. He/she just wants to earn money and that’s it.

So the next time you really want to start something, be it selling popcorn, starting a new job, or even pursuing a degree, please make sure that you’ve done some soul searching before embarking on the journey. Because the journey will not be a short one, and since it’s not a short one, you better make sure you will enjoy the journey and not giving up halfway.

p/s…. there’s no harm in trying things out to find out which really matter to you most. But do so in moderation. Investing and pouring too much effort into something you are not interested in can bring pretty bad consequences. So be careful.

p/s…. this post is mainly on starting something. Whether or not you can survive once you’ve started, will rely on your passion, planning and a lot of luck.

Just the other day, a friend of mine said to me “Alvin, you don’t sound curious enough for a technical guy”. That made wonder, maybe what he said is right…partially right. I am not curious enough for everything. I don’t like details on some stuff that I have no interest on, or to put it bluntly, stuff which I have no use of.

There are times when I feel that we tend to focus (or want to focus) on the details of all the things in the world. It’s not bad, but it’s not too good either especially if you are someone who cannot concentrate on something 100% for a longer period of time. Remember focusing on detail A for few hours, before turning to detail B. That can be pretty unhealthy since you might end up getting nothing done. Furthermore, by focusing on so much details, it might actually take your time and attention away from the details which really matter.

My advice is, leave the details to the experts – the reviewers, writers, mechanics, electricians, etc. You don’t have to focus on everything – we’re in the Information age, remember? Focus on the details which you are interested in – the details which seem interesting and MEANINGFUL to you. Improve your expertise on it and find out whatever information you can lay your hands on. And cut down on the time spent on things which don’t really matter to you (it’s good to know how to fix the pipe, but do you it’s necessary to drill down to the materials used, or how the pipe works, etc?).

Remember, it’s not wrong to know everything but due to the fact that each of us only have 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year (let me know if you have more than that), there is only so much details that we can focus on. You can always go back to those not-so-meaningful details once you have plenty of free time to spare.

p/s…. businesses are doing the same too. That’s why we have all types of business outsourcing models nowadays – finance, human resource, cleaning, etc. People prefer to focus on the details of the things which matter to them because it’s just too expensive to focus on every single detail.

Live a passionate life. This is what many motivational books have been telling me over and over again. Live with passions and you’ll enjoy it more.

But what is passion? How can we live a passionate life when we don’t even know what we are passionate about? When I asked my friends what are their passions or what matters to them most? They would say things like family, friends, money, etc. Amazingly…..money is in nearly everyone’s list, including myself.

There’s nothing wrong if you are passionate about money. Nothing wrong at all. But do you think you are really passionate about money………or you just want money to survive or to give your family a better life?

If that’s the case, what are your true passions then?

If you don’t know, then I advise you to spend some time to do some soul searching. It’s never too late to do that…but the earlier you do that, the better it is I believe.

Firstly, find out what do you like to do when you are free. Anything. It could be playing computer games, reading novels, writing stories, cooking, sleeping (not really relevant though), eating, etc. Things that you enjoy doing, and won’t feel tired about it. That’s your passion.

Also, it could be something that you like to do when you were a kid. Something which you’ve spent a lot of time doing it years ago. That could also be one of your passions.

Mmm, or it could also be something you are really good at and something which you are being praised for. People tend to do more of something they are good at because they feel they are recognized….than to do something which nobody really bother if he is doing it or not.

Those are the 3 basics one. I know that some of you will say that passions cannot bring you food. Well, right and wrong. Right because it cannot bring you food if your passion is sleeping or staring aimlessly at the sky. Wrong because you CAN make a living out of everything, including your passions. It’s just a matter of doing it in the right way. That, is the difficult part and also something which I am trying to find out myself.

But i always believe in one thing. If you are smart, money will come no matter what you do. And if you are doing it the right way, your passions will bring you a lot more fortune than something you don’t like at all.

So, have you found your passions yet?

The links below might help you a little

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/how-to-find-your-passion.html

http://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/homeofficemagcom/2001/march/38294.html