Is Debt Servitude Killing Our Dreams And How To Overcome

Debt Servitude

There is a major economic epidemic going on across the world and it involves debt servitude.

Students take out loans so they can obtain what they have been indoctrinated into believing is the only way to make a living.

What is that only way?

To obtain a college degree so that they can walk across that stage with that diploma in their hand and off to the working world where their dream job awaits.

In a perfect world that would be great.

We do not live in a perfect world.

The reality

The reality is there is an ever-increasing amount of students graduating from colleges and universities here in the United States who cannot find a job.

I will continue to bring up network marketing here on rundreamachieve because it is a profession I wish someone would have told me about back when I was graduating high school and college.

I heard about it but never took it seriously.

I never fully understood the positive opportunities the profession could give to those who were open-minded about it.

The alternative I chose was to go to college, take out college loans and be five-figures in undergraduate debt

My involvement in sports started back in 1992 when I was a freshmen at Indian Creek High School in Wintersville, Ohio.

There was something about going to school that I didn't feel at ease with.

You can’t—or you don’t want to? I’ll accept the second. It’s quite possible that you don’t want to. It’s possible that making this commitment is too scary or too much work…Perhaps you don’t want to because it feels financially irresponsible. I think that’s an error in judgment on your part, since becoming a linchpin is in fact the most financially responsible choice you can make. – Seth Godin

I have always valued education and please do not misunderstand my post but I have always wondered how some people without a college education could be millionaires.

I was a teenager then so I wasn't really concerned at the time with having leverage of my time.

Enjoying life, going to classes and competing in track and field meets were my focus.

People would do better, if they knew better – Jim Rohn

Self education vs. formal education

Every citizen should seek education and if at all possible, go to college if that is in your heart.

What I stress is being absolutely certain you have options available that help fund your education so that you will not spend 12 years after graduation paying back undergraduate loans like I did.

The military is wonderful in that if your education can be funded by way of the Post 911 GI Bill this offsets financial concerns that military members have.

My viewpoints of the armed services is one of respect albeit my wish is that the military profession was cease to even need to exist in our world.

There is only a small percentage of the American population who serve in the military (less then 1%) so the options for civilians to have their education payed for is not always available.

The remaining 99% are choosing to take out debt in order to fund their education and then graduate with many having to work dead end jobs that do not meet their educational experience or that they are over qualified for.

Some simply cannot find a job at all and have to move back home.

Athletic scholarship

I was a 9:46 2-miler in high school and had 4:25 (1600m) and 2:00 (800m) personal bests upon graduation.

The luxury of a full-ride academic scholarship wasn't in the cards for me.

I needed 9:10, 4:15 and 1:53 or better, respectfully, to get a full athletic scholarship to a major university.

I was picked up by a small college (now university) in Canton, Ohio (Malone University) with a partial athletic scholarship that helped fund my education by 15%.

I was over $34,000 in undergraduate debt upon graduation with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Physical Education.

My reality after graduation was working as a substitute teacher as I could not find a good job at the time in Canton.

I was barely making ends meet and my loans, although deferred, were accruing interest and needed to be payed back.

This is a vicious cycle that far too many people put themselves in.

We all get told one way of earning a living and never consider professions such as network marketing that involve extremely low start up costs.

Spend $49 to begin an online health and nutrition business that will help one earn residual (reoccurring) income or take $50,000 in loans to pay for 3 or 4 years of institutionalized education?

When exactly were you brainwashed into believing that the best way to earn a living is to have a job? – Seth Godin

The alternative is spending 4 to 5 years of our lives chasing a piece of paper that doesn't even guarantee us a job when we graduate.

Civilian or Military

My father was a career military man. He served for over 21 years in the Army.

He has also been an employee his entire life and what is most disconcerting for me is the fact that someone else had control of his time rather than himself.

His choice was to be an employee rather than an entrepreneur.

An entrepreneur gets payed while they sleep whereas the hourly or salaried worker gets payed every two weeks.

The employee work model revolves around 5 days of time trade for 2 days of freedom.

This is indentured time and a negative 60% return on investment is not a good investment yet the majority of people have accepted this in their lives.

Why?

Is it not because we have been taught to be consumers and employees rather then producers and entrepreneurs?

Formal education will make you a living, self-education will make you a fortune – Jim Rohn

What is the best choice?

I have been surrounded by the military my entire life so joining the Army was the choice I took at the time to help offset my college debt and build some working experience to put on my resume.

Substitute teaching is an honorable ‘job' but earning $70 a day for 3 days a week wasn't cutting the cake for the thousands of dollars of college loans debt I accrued.

Our choices takes us where we do or don't want to be.

In hindsight, I do not regret the decision I made but at the same time was 12 years of debt servitude and a trip to Afghanistan the only option I had?

The answer is no, it wasn't.

I could have chosen a network marketing company like Max International that has it's focus on helping people live healthier and wealthier lives.

A man who was fired from numerous jobs upon his own graduation from college and told he would never succeed in marketing.

Network Marketing

If I could talk to that 18-year high school graduate I was back in 1995 I would have told him to strongly consider network marketing.

Established companies such as Mary Kay and Herbalife have been around for decades.

People have been told that taking prescription drugs is the only way to combat diseases and other well-known medical conditions such as Cancer, Autism and Attention Deficit Disorder.

The majority of world citizens have no idea what glutathione is or just how effective increasing ones knowledge of antioxidants is.

Herbalife is a unique business opportunity, especially for individuals already interested in fitness, health and endurance sports.

The fact that there are self-made millionaires who are network marketing professionals and chose that profession without holding a college degree should ring the alarm bell for all of us who have chosen to be employees and work for someone else.

What I want for run-dream-achieve

I have no intention of making rundreamachieve just another site specifically about running.

It is to be a place of motivation for those willing to hear the call.

There are numerous websites that get far more traffic than I do that talk specifically about running but outside of that do nothing in freeing my visitors time or assisting them in entrepreneurial dreams.

The last time I checked Galen Rupp's 5000m performance in Brussels didn't change my reality nor will it change yours.

It simply distracts and entertains us briefly but for us to change our reality we have to be willing to put in the work these world-class athletes are putting in.

That doesn't mean we have to have as our goal to run a fast as Galen but how fast people run doesn't change our reality.

How fast Bernard Lagat ran his mile at the Prefontaine Classic never did anything for my bank account nor did it help a cancer patient who has been told that the only way to treat it is by way of chemotherapy.

Do I have your attention yet?

I don't know about you but I would like to have the time to travel to Eldoret or Iten, Kenya and have the luxury to train for a year in the training camps with the world's best runners.

What is stopping us?

Someone else owning our available time?

I share with everyone who is tired of the rabbit hole, this matrix we all who have agreed to accept, are stuck in.

Change is tough, it doesn't come easy but the choice to continue in the same patterns we have always followed is our choice.

It was my choice to continue to train after I failed over and over again trying to break the 2.22.00 marathon barrier.

There were times I wanted to quit, marathoning wasn't for me and perhaps wasn't my best distance.

We second guess ourselves believing that just because we fail at something that we have no chance at real success.

Our choices dictate our direction

We listen to others who tell us what they think we are capable of.

Why?

I have no interest in changing people but I do hope that some of what I write will resonate in your life because everyone goes through trials sometimes.

It is always beneficial to know that someone understands us, knows the fears we have and has acted on those fears.

I've heard the concerns about network marketing over the years but because I chose to follow my own heart and give it a try, have seen the returns from a very small investment.

Our reality will only change when we act on our fears and for many people starting an online fitness and nutrition business is a fear.

It won't work.

I am not good at sales.

This is a pyramid scheme where those at the top make the buck.

This is not true in network marketing.

Those at lower levels, if they perform and are driven, can make more then those at the top.

My awakening

I haven't discussed this a lot on my site but while I was in Afghanistan, the base I was staying at, came within about 100 yards from being attacked by mortar fire from insurgents.

It shook the building I was staying in and very well could have landed on it has they been lucky that night.

Now, my view of military life is very in-depth and would probably shock many of you and will not discuss my true feelings but I will say this.

I wish the military profession did not need to even exist and that people from all around the world could love each other like they love their own families.

Poor people from one country go and fight poor people in another country and ironically the people we fight, we have more in common with then those who send us to war.

People are going to make their own choices about starting a business or choose to continue being employees.

My wake up call was that night.

I knew I had to start working on creating change in my life where I had more control of the time I have on this earth.

If I would have died that night, who would have really known?

Of course, my family and some friends would but at the end of the day, having experienced that, I simply have chosen to not to think as I once did.

Everyone is different

Some people enjoy their jobs.

They'll gladly trade five days of work for 2 days of freedom over the weekend and I certainly believe there are people who are content with their lives.

We live in a world where nothing is certain, no one guarantees us a tomorrow yet we play with our lives and time and let others dictate our time as if it doesn't mean anything as long as we are earning money to pay our bills.

I would take control of my time over any amount of money, period.

The 25-year dental student who graduates with $300,000 in dental school debt has a problem.

His or her job owns them until those loans are payed back.

Does a homeless person have more leverage?

How come some of the poorest people in the world can be the happiest, whereas some of the most highly payed, professional and skilled individuals can be the saddest?

The object of life is not to be on the side of the masses, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. ~ Marcus Aurelius

These are questions I don't think any of us are asking ourselves often enough.

It reminds me of people who think getting vaccinated and will gladly do so without ever having researched where the vaccines came from or what is actually in them, is perfectly legitimate.

Running and business

I once heard a business professional say that business owners are much like long distance runners.

You have to be savvy and have a desire for what you want because if you don't someone else who is willing to put in the work that you won't will live the life you dream about.

They will invest the capital to try.

Trying and failing is better then never knowing in the first place.

I can tell people until I am blue in the face that they can run faster then they think they are capable of.

The truth is action must be in the formula.

I didn't break the 2.20 marathon barrier by listening to 2.16.00 marathoners who told me I wasn't good enough when I was still a 2.43.36 marathoner, respectively.

I did it because I believed in myself and believed that what I wanted would occur prior to it becoming reality.

This is a critical aspect of training many runners miss.

Thinking.

The use of your words and what you say to yourself on a daily basis are essential.

Normal is not something to aspire to, it’s something to get away from. ~ Jodie Foster

I don't place worth on how fast an individual runs as long as that person is willing to think outside of the box.

Do not place limitations on yourself

Some of the best distance runners I have ever worked or trained with were those that did not place limitations on themselves.

When was the last time you ever saw a child that had limiting thoughts?

What happened to us as adults?

Did ‘reality' set in or were we taught by someone else what our reality was supposed to be.

What happened to the dreams we had when we were kids?

Children are innocent, they do not know hatred or greed.

Children care not if someone is Muslim or Christian, Jewish or Gentile but there are adults, people of power and prestige who have been taught down through the ages that if you do not fall in their category, your worth is less than theirs.

I would rather adhere to the leadership of a child than some of these adults.

What is debt servitude

Debt servitude is a choice.

The next time you buy on credit consider is that material thing something you want or truly need.

Furthermore, how much indentured time are you willing to give up by purchasing that suit with your credit card.

Debt servitude keeps us from living the lives we dreamed of as kids, where everything was possible.

Bosses telling you where to go, how to think and dress we're not in our dreams growing up.

Traveling to far off places, being able to do and think whatever we please was.

It was for me at least.

Military life can change a man in more ways than most realize.

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