Butterflies & How to elevate yourself

THROWBACK NOTICE: I originally wrote this about a month and a half into my Korean Journey.  Somewhere in late September, or early October.

I’m reflecting on yet another lesson with the Korean kids I teach, and seeing an analogy.

To think I laughed when my mother said I’d learn so much from these kids.

Early this week in one of the elementary classes I teach we were discussing caterpillars and butterflies.  Previous to that it was bees.  I masquerade as a science teacher, too.

But first…

These past few weeks I’ve been laying low in Korea.  My weekends have been spent going to the gym, maybe a short adventure throughout my city or the surrounding area if it’s nice.  But the majority of the time has been spent at home writing, reading and working on this blog.  As well as self-studying a new topic of interest.

I keep remembering the benefits of doing this when I’m feeling a little bored or 10pm rolls around and I start feeling the FOMO – fear of missing out – tingle.

I know I’m saving money by not going out.  Money I can put towards a few special trips throughout my year here and/or in my portfolio to achieve the coveted early retirement.

But that FOMO can pull on a guy real strong at times.  I catch myself wondering if I am not making the most of my time here.

In these moments of weakness I must push myself to remember, that more than saving money what I am doing is hiding away to work on myself and become something more.  To change – to elevate – my situation.

Butterflies…

Allow me to bring this back to the caterpillar/butterfly analogy I began with.  Just as a caterpillar must build and hide away in a cocoon for a while to become a beautiful butterfly, so must you hide away if you want to elevate yourself.

Overnight success is a facade.  Sure, occasionally you see a ‘zero to hero overnight’ story because someone finally caught their lucky break.  But don’t think what lead up to that moment wasn’t a mountain of hard work.

As the Law of Gravity states what goes up must come down.  So does one of the many Laws of Success hold true nothing worthwhile comes easy.  You’ve got to clock the hours.

Similar to the fact ramping up the percentage of your income you save drastically cuts down on the time it will take for you to retire early.  You can cut down on the time it takes to get to where you want to go if you ramp up your efforts by hiding away.  Hiding away and using your time efficiently to sharpen your tools.  Improving on your skills.

My Situation…

This wasn’t actually my primary intention for coming to Korea.  I knew I wanted to see the world, test a new career path and I wanted to make a good chunk of cash while doing all that.

I’ve started to read Bold & Determined again occasionally since I’ve arrived in Korea.  While I don’t agree with all of Victor Pride’s ideas, most of them hold validity.  One aspect of his life and what allowed him to elevate his own success exponentially was moving to China.

He attributed the low cost of living and total absence of distraction to his success.

In one of his many articles he says something to the effect of:

“Every great man took some time to hide away in his own personal lab to build himself”

China was where Victor Pride did it.

I now realize South Korea is where I must do it.

I don’t think you necessarily need to plant yourself on the other side of the world to do it.  Though that seems to be a trend.  But I do believe if you feel like you are spinning your tires or do not feel in control, that hopping in your own proverbial cocoon or lab to lay low and work on yourself is an absolute necessity.

If you want to elevate yourself, don’t let FOMO control your destiny.  When you are committed to improvement, the best days are always yet to come.

Colby

Your Situation…

I am a firm believer that starting a blog, and writing about whatever you do is critical to elevate your own situation.  It pushes you to build a brand for yourself in the space you are working in or looking to break into.  It also forces you to drive further into your niche.

Step one is the hardest, but it doesn’t need to be.  Visit >> Web Hosting Hub << for all your hosting needs and get the WordPress plugin.  WordPress now uses a site building platform called Bold Grid that makes this stuff incredibly easy for non-techy folk like myself.

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