“Wealth eludes most people because they are preoccupied with events while disregarding process. Without process, there is no event.”
― M.J. DeMarco, The Millionaire Fastlane
PARADIGM SHIFT
A True Asset Sets Time Free
“Every day, people sacrifice their time for tiny nuggets of wealth, where time is the liability and not the asset. Anything that steals time and doesn’t have the power to free time is a liability.”
-MJ DeMarco (self-made millionaire and author of The Millionaire Fastlane)
I admire this definition of an asset.
Because this expands the definition even beyond the investment world.
A major point that DeMarco makes in his book is that self-education is an extraordinary way to eventually set yourself free. At our fingertips today, we have access to any information ever produced and preserved by the human race. And that means we can learn any skill, any knowledge, at any time!
Four excellent places to start are LinkedIn Learning, Coursera, Udemy and Skillshare.
But by no means are you limited to these! There are far more niche skills which can be learned from independent creators and other professionals.
We live in the age of information, but so often we take it for granted. We have so many options that we often forget the value of ongoing education.
For a time, this may be used to climb the corporate ladder.
But with the right type of targeted learning, you can eventually gain the knowledge that will be the greatest asset you may have ever owned. And that asset can set you free into either an early retirement or an entrepreneurial endeavor that sets your time free.
Famed investor Warren Buffett echoed these thoughts in an interview with Forbes:
“Ultimately, there’s one investment that supersedes all others: Invest in yourself. Nobody can take away what you’ve got in yourself, and everybody has potential they haven’t used yet.”