How To Get Ahead of “Life”

Most people who work “full time” (35-40 HRs per week) likely wonder why they feel like they’re “stuck” and “not getting ahead” in life..

The explanation is very simple; the fixed+variable weekly costs are almost equal to the weekly income generated (like going forward 4 steps with paychecks, but going backwards 4 steps with expenses).

The solutions are comparably simple;
1) work more hours [this gets you ahead]
2) increase the value of your time [this improves your living standard]

Let’s break down what a typical work week @ minimum wage in Australia (where I currently live) goes;

Income:
40 HRS @ $20/HR = $800 weekly income

Expenses:
10 HRS = $200 housing (25% variable)
10 HRS = $200 income tax (25% mostly fixed)
5 HRS = $100 food/needs (essential things)
5 HRS = $100 savings (min savings or other needs)
A 40HR work week leaves 10HRS = $200 remaining for discretionary spend

If you look closely, about 85% of weekly income just goes towards weekly “operations” of existing (not getting ahead). These are essentially fixed/required costs that I call “Weekly Existence Costs”. Each hour you get ahead of your WEC, you get “ahead” in life.

*Society has engineered a pricing equilibrium for houses, cars, etc so that their repayments fit just inside your 40HR work week*.. But luxuries are priced for those who breakout and achieve/earn above a baseline education and typical work week.

This also explains why I work at least 60 hours a week, because each week brings me ~20 hours ahead of my “Weekly Existence Costs”, or bring forward 4x weeks of future “advancement” within each 1x week! Imagine doing this every week for a year — yay! Or 5x years — wow!!

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In conclusion, my advice to “getting ahead” of your current position is simply to;
1) invest more time into increasing the *hours* of income generation
-going from 40HR/week to 50HR/week; bringing forward an additional 10HRS of savings each week ahead of your “Weekly Existence Costs”
–increasing your income hours gets you ahead of your current position, by bringing future weekly savings into the current week
2) invest more time into increasing the *value* of your time
-the skill/tools related to your income, so you can go from $20/hr in production value to $25/hr in production value, etc
–increasing the value of your time improves the quality of your 85% WEC spend, such as better housing or a better car

BONUS) realise that most jobs are going to get replaced by technology/automation every single year .. Odds are, your job wont exist in 10-20 years (look at self checkout in retail, or robots in manufacturing, etc), so right now is the best time to bring forward that future income!