Where will I be in 10 years - Essay Example

? 10 Years from Now Ten years from now, I see myself as a businessman in the first stages of my career. I will continue my parents’ legacy and system of values, as well as their coal mining, hotel, restaurant and real estate businesses. At present, they have these businesses based in Indonesia and so it is in Indonesia that I would want to assume management of my parents’ businesses. I would particularly like to venture in coal mining and real estate first as they are the most promising among Southeast Asian countries nowadays, but for the sake of income and security, it is best to diversify. Therefore, I will put equal effort and emphasis on all of my parents’ businesses – hotel, coal mining, restaurant and real estate. I will be hiring the best employees and will give them the best possible treatment and welfare benefits while they are helping me with the business. My parents’ legacy when it comes to their business is the fair treatment of employees, and so I will continue that legacy. Just like my parents, I strongly believe that the efficiency of every business does not only depend on the knowledge and skills of the people behind it but also on how much the employees would love to work for the company and how much they would want to see the business expand and develop. Ten to fifteen years from now, I see myself making efforts to expand my parents’ businesses in order to make them international companies. I would particularly like to put up branches of these companies in well-developed countries like those of the European Union and the United States, and in developing countries as well like China, India and Brazil. They say there are even more opportunities for business growth in developing countries. Whatever happens, however, I will try to keep improving myself and my knowledge of business. I will seek professional advice and assistance from those who have already achieved much in their lives, and I would continue reading books of Warren Buffet, who is one of the men in this world whose achievements have always inspired me. I will also try to find means to develop my skills in accountancy, finance and management, in order to be able to know everything that is going on in my future businesses, as well as to avoid becoming too dependent on some of my employees. As a future CEO of my parents’ companies, I envision myself as someone who knows everything that every employee of mine does. I strongly believe that the key to achieving my goals in business is hard work and study. While I am studying in university now, I am planning to delve deeper into the basics and technicalities of business particularly the businesses that my parents own. I would not want to make a mistake in handling business affairs. I would not only seek the advice of my parents but I will also do studies of my own in order to hone my management skills even this early in my life. I believe excellence is all about being prepared and I am not going to waste any time when it comes to that. Excellence in business cannot just stem from a sense of originality. I have seen many businesses fail and when I tried to study some of them, they failed because they wanted to be too different from others. However, just like people who get rich by following the footsteps of Warren Buffet or Bill Gates, I would want to study more the structures of the most successful businesses in order to apply these in my own businesses someday. I would also want to study more about the attitudes of the most successful businessmen, and hopefully be able to emulate them. More importantly, I would never stop studying those companies that failed or went bankrupt because I believe I can learn so much from other people’s mistakes. Whatever happens, I will do everything now in order to become the successful businessman that I have envisioned myself to be ten years from now. Ten years from now I also actually see myself doing stock market trading and investing for an additional income. The stock market in Indonesia is one of the best performers in Asia nowadays just like the Philippines. Ten years from now, definitely I see myself working closely with the Indonesian and Philippine Stock Markets, which I believe I will begin exploring even as early as now. Even at the young age of 19, I believe I am already adept at financial fixed odds trading as well as day trading in the stock market, like putting stops and either buying or selling currencies using a particular online interface. Unlike other young people my age who would just spend their time clubbing and playing games during the weekend, I have decided to spend it studying the stock market and formulating strategies for my FOREX and commodities trading platforms. I then get to test them during weeknights and surprisingly, many of my secret methods in day trading and financial fixed odds trading are giving me more money than I thought. However, this is just virtual money since I am not yet officially affiliated with any of these trading companies. Nevertheless, ten years from now, I see myself already an expert of FOREX or FX and commodities trading, and I can almost already predict the movement of a particular currency pair just by merely looking at its graph. However, as for investing in the stock market and in mutual fund companies, I am planning to start them out very soon, perhaps even this year. The reason is that if I have to start them next year, then I would be wasting time. I have learned from my own readings and research on stock market investing that timing is no good and that the best thing to do is to invest now and to do it regularly in order to minimize losses in the long run. Moreover, I am planning to invest in a variety of mutual funds as early as now, because ten years from now, I want to see myself already making millions out of what I have started investing now. The best sectors to invest in, both in Indonesia and the Philippines, is the food sector as well as the banking, telecommunications and mining sectors. Ten years from now I imagine myself already a major shareholder of numerous shares in various companies that offer the best stocks. Ten years from now, I imagine myself without any more problems when it comes to my finances, and I should focus only on the businesses I would inherit from my parents and on my wife and children. Most people my age who are just wasting their time now might end up working much harder ten years from now. I would not dare waste my time on clubbing and playing games that I believe would never be able to help in my financial independence in the long run. Clubbing and playing games are both easy for me to do later on when I am already financially stable. The point is that I believe many people think that they still have plenty of time now and that they will still have plenty of time in the future. In fact, I believe the opposite. The future has no guarantees for us except those we give ourselves. In the future, I might simply just get tired of everything I am doing now and I might not have any more strength to keep going. In case that happens, one thing is sure, the feeling is awful and, if I choose neither to work nor to do business out of laziness, I doubt my businesses would be able to flourish. Nevertheless, if I had already saved money by that time, then I’m sure I would not have to worry about temporary financial setbacks. I would then have peace of mind and, more importantly, a contingency fund from which I would be able to dip in just in case the worst happens. Preparedness is the key here as well as time management. Ten years from now, the money I will be earning from my FX account and day trading at the stock market will then be either deposited in a more secure mutual fund account or transferred into a bank account of any of the reputable banks in Indonesia. As I continue raking in money from my trades and investments from now on up to ten years from now, I would not have to rely too much on my creditors. I would then be able to support myself financially and independently. My international affiliations when it comes to the stock market as well as FX include accounts with the stock markets in Japan, Korea, Indonesia and China. These are, however, only merely hypothetical by this time, because as I do not have yet the exact amount or money needed to open a legal investment. Nevertheless, the most important thing is that ten years from now, I will be reaping the fruits of my labor and I will have met several people in the countries with which I am planning to have investments in. The point is that that one should not waste time even while he is young, for youth is but temporary. What stays permanently after youth is gone is mere financial wealth. So far, I have mentioned China as one of the countries whose stock market I am going to invest in. Ten years from now, I see myself having a master’s degree in business and I see myself exploring China not only for its rich history and culture but also for exposure to Mandarin. I believe that a master’s degree in business and a good knowledge of Mandarin will definitely help me in all my communications with prominent Chinese businessmen all over China and the world. Learning how to speak Mandarin will definitely be a great bridge to establishing not only a successful business in China but also good friendships among the Chinese. Besides, the Chinese are the most creative in their endeavors and the most knowledgeable in terms of business. I would therefore be able to learn so much from the Chinese with whom I will build strong friendships through Mandarin. Moreover, ten years from now, I see myself expressing myself well, proudly and articulately through the Chinese language. The mastery of such a difficult language will definitely add more to the integrity of my character and to the trust that people have for my name. Aside from my plans for a master’s degree in business and my plan to master Mandarin, I will also get married to my beautiful girlfriend, who is an Indonesian model. I would also love to have my very own family and children. The specifics would be one wife and more or less three children. The purpose of all my financial endeavors is not just for my own personal development but for the growth, education and development of children who will live to carry my name and legacy someday. I would prefer all three sons for my children as I would want my family name to live on through many generations. Moreover, three children would be perfectly manageable both in matters of time and financial support. Ten years from now, I see myself having my very first son and having a family of five living in a medium-sized house in a private village. The medium-sized house should not be mistaken as an indication that I am being stingy to my own family. Expanding the house or buying and bigger and better house someday would be better, but as of now and even 10 years from now, I am certain that I would not be as rich as I would want myself to be, and so it would be better to economize by reducing the residential space for the moment, and simply expanding it later as my family and income source gets bigger and as my stock market investments bring me higher yield. Moreover, perhaps I can just purchase a much bigger and much better house even around 15 years from now, but everything must depend on what my finances would dictate me. Ten years from now, I see myself having a wife whose qualities are everything I desire. She is someone who is coy and loving, and someone who is basically supportive of me and our children. My wife is someone who is very much familiar with my businesses because I foresee that always act as my substitute. My wife knows the ins and outs of our businesses, and she has also mastered the temper of our clients. My wife also has very good public relations and she basically gets along with not only every one of our clients in business, but with every one of our employees. Everyone loves my wife and admires her strength and dedication both as businesswoman and as a loving wife to me and mother to her children. My wife is also a very intelligent and very much dependable when it comes to mathematics, business management and accountancy. She basically knows whether the business is running well or not, and she basically understands what should be changed in a business in order to improve it, and what should be retained. My children, as I am hoping to see them, are ones who not only have my skills in business and the Chinese language but also have the personal relations skills of my wife. Ten years from now, I imagine having my first son with my wife. I foresee that this son of mine is very intelligent in mathematics and business. Everyone sees him as someone with a great potential to excel in his academics and extra-curricular activities. My son is also someone who has a balanced life in that he studies his lessons very hard and that he has enough time for sports and fine arts. I myself am interested in sports and fine arts but my only regret is that I do not have much time to focus on these things, and so I want my first child to have this life of balanced academics, sports and the arts. Ten years from now, I imagine myself living a good, happy and abundant life with my wife and my first child. Most of the time, we stay at home and we all enjoy breakfast and dinner together, and we watch TV together and we sometimes have interesting topics to talk about during mealtimes. I make it a point that at an early age my son becomes familiar with politics, business, economics and personal relations. This is the content of our discussions during mealtimes, and my wife is equally supportive of what I want for our son. However, if it is a daughter that we are going to have, then I am still sure that I will be the same kind of father to her. However, I will be expecting her to be as tough as I want my child to be. It means that I would want any child of mine to develop strength of will and character and the skills necessary for business, as well as versatility and excellence in both academics and sports. This is a personal dream of mine as a father, and if many years from now this is what I see, then I can say I am a happy and fulfilled man. Whether I have a son or daughter as my first child, I see us traveling together during vacations and I see me and my wife giving our child all the love, care and attention he or she needs in this world. The reason for this is that we do not want her to seek this love from someone else or from some kind of vice or from anything else that is not good. Strength of character and a strong conscience are two things that my wife and I would want to instill in all our children, because I believe that if they possess these values, I think that there is no reason for me and wife to worry. I myself strongly believe that children who have been exposed to the values that give them a strong character will always make the right choices in life whether or not their parents are around. Only the misguided youth will make the wrong choices in life and something that they will regret sooner or later. I do not want my children to end up like that. Therefore, one of the things I would consider as one of my greatest achievements someday is to have children who have a strong will, a strong conscience and a strong sense of responsibility. Going back to my own personal preferences, beginning ten years from now, perhaps my only selfish dream is to buy a lot of cars. I admit I am a car guy and I love exotic cars. For the basics, I would want to have for myself at least one sedan like a Chevrolet Cruze or an Audi A8. I would also like to have some sports cars like a Porsche Cayman, a BMW M6, or a Ford Mustang, and this is actually not enough. I would also love to have an SUV like a Subaru Forester or a Kia Sorento, and any of the latest convertibles which are more or less similar to a Jaguar F-Type or a Mercedes Benz SLS-Class. I would drive each one of my cars in my car collection every night after work. I would also love to take my son along with me whenever I drive these cars. Even if it is a daughter I will have as a first child, I would still ask her if she would learn how to drive a car. Nevertheless, my future car collection which I believe I could begin ten years from now represents my own personal space. It is my own personal way of experiencing movement in my life whenever I feel things are getting more or less stagnant. It is my own way of expressing progress in a world where one has to be extremely patient. Moreover, my car represents my own personal desire for success and excellence in all aspects of my life. The car may be a mere means of transportation to some people who lack life and imagination, but for me, my car is a symbol of own success. When I will be driving my own car someday, it means that I am showing the world that I am the one who controls and handles my own life and success. A personal philosophy is what I want to keep developing now so that ten years from now, I would want to see it bear fruit. Life can be transitory and nothing is permanent or certain as goals may change and people may change either for the better or for the worse. What is important then is to have something constant in me, and that is not myself for I surely will change and evolve as the years pass. What does not change is a personal philosophy or a set of principles that I myself promise to uphold. Ten years from now, what I am expecting is a good life and something I want to be proud of achieving. However, ten years from now, life might just give me the opposite. Therefore, above all my desires, what I want to have ten years from now and what I have been working on lately is the development of a strong sense of self and a strong self-esteem and self-confidence. If I had these things, then ten years from now, I will be as strong as I have imagined myself to be. I will be a man who is prouder of what he has become as a human being than what material things he has acquired. I will be proud of what level of maturity and degree of intelligence and sensibility I will have acquired by that time, rather than all the material and financial achievements I will have had. I personally believe that it is only one’s maturity, intelligence, sensibility, self-esteem and sense of responsibility – all these non-material aspects – that can eventually save me from any form of trouble in the end. No amount of love from family or affection and care from loved ones will be able to uplift the spirit of a man who possesses low self-esteem and a low regard for himself and his capabilities. Ten years from now, I want to become a symbol of strength and stability not only for myself but for my family and for all the people whose lives I want to touch. What is also more important is that I want to teach my children all these things so that they can also teach these to their children and other people someday. Every man wants to be remembered for what he has achieved in life. I also want that for myself. However, aside from that I also want to be remembered for what I have become as a human being. This is an intangible, which cannot be seen nor measured, but this is something I would want me and some people to remember about me someday. Top of Form Bottom of Form Read More