WE LIVE IN A BUCKET-CARRYING WORLD
Who are you? A bucket-carrier............ or a pipeline builder? Do you get paid only when you get up for work like Bruno the Bucket Carrier?
Or do you do the work once and get paid over and over again like Pablo the Pipeline Builder?
If you're like most people, you're working the bucket-carrying plan. It's the time-for-money-trap.
The problem with bucket carrying is that the money stops when the bucket-carrying stops. Which means the concept of a "secure job" or "dream job" is an illusion. The inherent danger of carrying buckets is that the income is temporary instead of ongoing.
If Bruno woke up one morning with a stiff back and couldn't get out of bed, how much money would he earn that day? ZERO! No Work-No Money!
The same goes for any bucket-carrying job. Once bucket-carriers stop carry buckets for any reason, they won't continue to get a paycheck.
A friend shared this real-life True Story:
My previous dentist was the best dentist I ever had. A complete professional. Great personality. Great technician. Every visit was virtually pain-free. She loved what she did and set her own hours. She was only open three days a week so she could spend four-day weekends with her family.
She pulled down more than $100,000 a year working three days a week at a job she loved. This was a bucket-carriers dream job if there ever was one!
One problem. Before the age of 40 she developed arthritis in her hands and couldn't work anymore. Today she teaches at a university earning one-third the income she earned as a dentist.
Hey!
There's no such thing as a secure bucket-carrying job no matter how great it seems.
The problem with the time-for-money trap is that if you can no longer trade-the-time, you no longer get the money!
Most people mistake bucket-carrying for pipeline building. We observe 99% of the people in the world are carrying buckets, so we assume bucket carrying is the way to get what we want in life.
We grow up surrounded by bucket-carriers, so we figure that's the way-of-the-world. It reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw recently: 100,000 lemmings can't be wrong!
People think the same way about bucket-carriers. 100 million bucket-carriers can't be wrong. Well yes they can!.
Let's face it. There are a lot more bucket-carriers in this world than pipeline builders.
Why?
Because bucket-carrying is the model that our parents followed and the one that they taught us to follow. The bucket-carrying model tells you here's what you do to get ahead:
Go to school and learn how to carry buckets.
Work really hard.
Earn the right to carry bigger buckets. (get promoted)
Resign from "Bucket Company A" to work for "Bucket Company B" which lets you carry even bigger buckets.
Work longer hours so you can carry more buckets.
Put the kids through bucket-carrying college.
Try to get promoted from carrying metal buckets....... to carrying plastic buckets............ to carrying digital buckets.
Dream of the day you can retire from bucket carrying after 30-40 years.
Until then, keep carrying those buckets....................... or, the bucket-carriers dream comes true.
What do all those bucket-carriers earn for their efforts?
Surprisingly little. According to Parade magazine's "What People Earn" survey, the average worker in America earns $28,500 a year. Subtract almost 20% for taxes, and that leaves $22,500 take-homepay.
Let's face it, that's not enough for most people to live on.
What do bucket-carriers do when they need more money?
Because they have a bucket-carrying mentality, they come up with a bucket-carrying solution............ if you need more money you've got to carry more buckets!
"I’ll get a second job carrying buckets in the evenings and on weekends," Daddy Bucket Carrier decides.
"I can go back to the bucket-carrying job I had before the kids were born," Mommy Bucket Carrier says.
"The kids can get bucket-carrying jobs after school and in the summer," they both say.
The Results?
Today North Americans work the longest hours in the world. Yes, even more than the work-obsessed Japanese. Is the earn-more-money-by-carrying-more-buckets plan working?
No. Here are the facts.
Consumer debt is at a record high. The average household has 95 cents worth of debt for every dollar earned.
The proportion of women working to support their families more than doubled over the past 20 years.
More people are taking second and third mortgages on their single biggest asset............ their homes............. to pay the bills.
Hello! What's wrong with this picture?
It's the fallacy of carrying bigger buckets. Bucket carriers tell themselves everything would be okay if they could just carry bigger buckets.
Bucket carriers are forever wondering how much money other bucket carriers earn. True, the doctor’s bucket is a lot bigger than the cook's bucket............. about ten times bigger! But that doesn't mean the doctor is financially independent. He's just as dependent on his bucket carrying job as the cook.
Why?
They spend more! Truth is, the doctors and lawyers making six-figures are spending most of their income to support their lifestyles.
a. The average worker drive a $5,000 used car. The doctor drives a $45,000 Lexus.
b. The average worker sends his kids to free public school. The doctor sends his kids to private school............ and on and on and on.
The doctor spends just as much of a percentage of his income than all other bucket carriers. All are living paycheck-to paycheck. If you don't believe check the bankruptcy records. You'll see every kind of bucket carrier listed in there!
All Buckets Eventually Dry Up
All buckets dry up no matter how big they are. Pipelines, on the other hand, are self-sustaining. But pipelines require sacrifice. Pipelines don't build themselves. You have to be willing to put in the time and effort to build them.
A Bigger Bucket Won't Solve The Problem. Why?
Carry as big a bucket as you can but build a pipeline on the side, because as long as you carry buckets, you have to show-up to get paid, and no matter how big the bucket is... it will dry-up.
Many a person has gone from the "Millionaire Next Door" to the "Bankrupt Person Next Door".
