Why?
Why is a question that is hard for me to answer.
There were no clear defining moments for me unlike most rags to riches stories out there.
Instead, like most people probably, I have a small collection of moments. I’ll list out some of them here.
I was in primary school - and I remember this hot stab of jealousy because Russell could buy sunday fudge once a week while I could have ice cream once a blue moon.
I was maybe 14 or 15 years old when I suddenly realised my dad earned around $40 an hour and asking him for a $45 book was essentially 1 hour of his life that he was never getting back. I blame Robert Kiyosaki for that.
I was 15 turning 16. Working popeyes at Changi Airport during the school holidays. My operations manager Gary (fuck you Gary) came in, singled me out and said, “Hey, you’re working overtime today. You go home at 9am”. Bear in mind - I was nearing the end of a 12 hour shift. I had no reason to fucking do this. So I said “No.” He grilled me for what I was going to do at home. I refused to answer. 15 minutes go by, he comes into the kitchens and tells me not to return the next day. Later on, he tries to shortchange my pay by “forgetting I had OT and extra hours logged on the back of my time card” - a practise he forced the team to adopt.
Opening my eyes on Monday, and randomly tearing because I had to go back to work for $1600 a month. I was doing F&B back then. My legs hurt so badly from standing/fast-walking throughout 12 hour shifts that I could feel the bones in my leg screaming as I walked. I was 17. Working between holidays.
Coming out of the train station realising I had no money left in my travel card and I had $3.57 for dinner. I was 19. Money management was NOT a thing for me at all.
Constantly being aware that I had less than $200 in my savings account. I was about 20 or 21.
Constantly finding it difficult to eat what I wanted when I wanted because (1) I tend to eat more (2) I tend to eat foods maybe 10-20% above average prices. I don’t spend much on frivolous things and food is a giant emotional hot button for me, so this was…painful. I was 23? Maybe 24.
My girlfriend (now wife) was graduating. I couldn’t pull together enough funds to (1) buy her a giant shark plushie (2) go down via cab (3) return via cab (4) take her out to a fancy meal she would remember.
To be fair - the people involved above may have their own opinions. What I’ve provided is simply my own points of views. Moments in time that reflect what it felt like to me.
My experiences taught me many important lessons:
Life is not fair. There’s no point crying about it. Work and get over it.
Life is about incentives. None of the people who fucked me over or terminated me or felt disappointed in me had anything but their own incentives at heart. As good as people can be - everyone is driven by the incentives that matter most to them.
There were many more. But these were some of the few that really cut to the quick. These are the ones that drive me.
This is my why.