The country is beaming with pride as we have the first and
the country’s sole representative to the Winter Olympics. He is no less than
Michael Martinez. Ever since he held our flag in the opening ceremonies, he has
been making waves in the country, in Southeast Asia and even the world. International
media organization from the United States and Canada are also interested in
Michael’s life story. After all, he was the youngest in the free skating men’s
division and even more the Philippines was able to have one representative to the
said Olympics even if we don’t have snow here.
Because of Michael I slept late last night. Ok, I’m
definitely not blaming him. Seeing him in the ice brought tears to my eyes. And
wow it rhymes. I am simply proud of this little lad. He has more potential, he
can offer more in the ice skating ring on the next Winter Olympics, he is more
flexible and charismatic.
However, what sparks more interest with regards to Michael
Martinez is the notion that he gets no support at all from the Philippine
Government. Yet, the government claims that they have provided before. No wonder
many are fuming with fire because the ones who are supporting him financially
would be the ones from the private sector and from donations. If it weren’t for
them, Philippines would not be making history in the Sochi (very cute name)
Winter Olympics. There have also been reports that the family even mortgage
their home in order to bring Michael to Russia.
With that said, what are the financial lessons we can learn
from this 17 year old talented lad?
Start with a dream and work for it
So what makes Michael Martinez the first figure skater for
the country and Southeast Asia? It all started with a dream. Michael was always
in pursuit of the Winter Olympics dream. Ever since he set foot in a mall’s ice
skating rink, he always has that goal in mind. With that, he competed in the
qualifying rounds in Russia. Even more, he toiled and labor every skate of the
way training in the country and the United States. Similar with our financial
plans, we need to have a clear dream in mind. Michael was very specific with
this Olympic dream. How about your financial goal? Are you being specific? What
are they?
Invest on your dream
I clearly remember Mrs. Martinez interview when she said “It’s
a crazy investment”. She was actually referring to the pre-Olympic tournaments
wherein travel costs for international tournaments are required. I know it is
indeed one crazy investment but needless to say if you are chasing a dream,
investing on it is due. And I must say such kind of investment is worth doing. Same
thing with your finances. If you have been dreaming to build up a business,
invest on it. Look for ways where you can improve your ability to manage and to
do the task. With regards to your dream, have you been working today to achieve it? As much as possible we must align our efforts and our time in order to attain it in the near future. For instance, if you want to build your own sweet shop, make sure
you will know how to bake in the first place. So, invest in baking school and
your ingredients and equipment. If you want to invest in the stock market, learn stock market. Remember the best investment you could do is to
improve yourself. And Michael is a good example of that.
Varied and available sources for your dream
Michael Martinez was able to compete from varied tournaments
abroad and even hire a coach because of the varied financial help he received. As
a matter of fact, the Winter Olympics is considered one of the most expensive Olympic
because athletes shell out tons with regards to travel and training. Michael
started training in a mall for unlimited use. However, we must agree that the
cost is even beyond our minimum wage. Yet, when determined we can have varied
financial sources to help us. This is evident in Michael. Many individuals and
companies have pulled in their finances to help him. Needless to say, they have
been there in the first place ready to fund a dream. Same goes with you. In
terms of our financial goal, we have many sources we can ask just like banks,
friends and more. Many can help us and support us. But are we maximizing them? Or
do we even know they exist in the first place?
Michael Martinez let us realize that indeed nothing is
impossible. I am certain right after Winter Olympics, help would be pouring in
to him and his family so that he can represent us again in the next Olympics.
Same goes with our financial dream. It is
not impossible to achieve it. We might experience rough waves at the beginning
however sooner or later you would realize those waves were worth it. And we
would definitely emerge a champion on top of it all. So let’s chase that
financial Olympic dream of ours today.
P.S. To those doing the 52 Week Money Challenge and 52 Week Money Challenge Version 2, it is Week 7 already! Did you deposit the next amount yet?
P.P.S Want to know more about investing, savings, stock market and more, check out my reference here. You can download free ebooks and resources too.