This is what we learn: Get a college degree, buy a house, build a family, take two weeks vacation every year, then around the age of 65 retire. Then, after retirement you can party for 10 years before you die. Sixty-five years of our life goes by, then we get 10 years to live it up. Does that make sense to you? This is ingrained in our heads as the traditional lifestyle. Sad, isn't it?

Here are 3 Questions to ask to see if your job has robbed you of your lifestyle:

1. Do you wake up in the middle of the night thinking about work?

2. Do you go on vacation and worry about work?

3. What would you rather do instead of work? -go to the beach -play a round of golf -take a drive up the coast -see a movie -[fill in the blank]

If you answered yes to just one of those questions, or would rather do something else than go to work, your job has gotten in the way of your lifestyle.

Your job robbed you the day you received that very first paycheck. After that, seeing past the paycheck became more and more difficult year after year. Sure, the job contributes to the lifestyle you want; who doesn't need more money right? But if you are working 8+ hours a day, and you wish you could do something else, then yes, your job has robbed you of your lifestyle; basically, your job is your lifestyle because your life revolves around your job.

Your job determines: when you can take a day off, when you can go on vacation, when and if you can leave early, and of course, when and how much you get paid. Your life revolves around all of that.

For most, we would rather do something else rather than go to work. But we are in the same position as those that love their jobs; our job doesn't just "sometimes"get in the way of our lifestyle; our job is our lifestyle because we have to be there.

So why do we do it?

That's obvious: because we need the money - yet there tends to me more month at the end of the month then there is money.

There is another side to this. Treat your job as temporary and find opportunity to build a lifestyle where you do not need your job. Look past the paycheck and build financial freedom so you can work till age 40 or 50, be semi-retired, and party for 30 or 40 years before you die instead of the 10 years after retirement.

Is this possible? Yes. But it takes commitment and a deep down personal reason "why."

"The reason so many people never get anywhere in life is because when opportunity knocks, they are out in the backyard looking for 4-leaf clovers." - Walter Chrysler

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