The Stratagem’s Archive

Author: Stratagem’s Archive

  • The Hum and Grind of Metal and Rubber

    What do you listen to while you work?

    I listen to the sound of a conveyor belt, it’s machination thrumming in the background, moving the freight we have to sort through at work. It often squeals, like agitated birds, whenever the belt is overloaded with more weight than it can move and abruptly halts. It resumes once we’re able to reduce the weight on the conveyor belt down, then we resume work too.

    Music had been banned in the warehouse; I don’t know why, though it’s a blessing and a curse, because we used to have someone repeat the same three Māoli songs: “Shoot Down”, “I Would Look Good on You”, and “Every Night Every Morning.”

    It got to the point where, if I heard either of those songs, I would get a visceral reaction: a brick dropping in my stomach, my body would shudder with anger and irritation, and I would use ear plugs to reduce listening to those songs. I would prefer giving in to hitting my head against the wall than listen to these songs. It’s gotten better, I don’t react as strongly as before, and I’ve grown numb instead. The songs start playing, no reaction, though I still would change it to something else.

    Somehow, along the way, we weren’t allowed to play music, even songs most of us grew up listening to. So, my coworkers and I have conversations, have our own little karaoke sessions, and do what we can to stave off boredom at work.

  • I Am One of Those Kinds of Gamers.

    What’s your favorite game (card, board, video, etc.)? Why?

    My favorite games vary on the situation; if I’m playing with family, then I like to bring my Left, Right, Center game because it can get intense when we play for money. Nothing too crazy; either quarters or dollar bills and we keep the money if we win. Nothing too crazy, no harm, no foul, and we become an ATM if we want to keep playing and we can break larger bills from our wins. More money for us! And standard family fun.

    For the PS4, then I’m obsessed with From Software’s games, “Elden Ring and Bloodborne”. These games are fun, challenging, and engaging because, unlike other video games, you can’t change the difficulty level and you have to get resourceful when trying to get through a game that doesn’t tell you what to do, where to go, except your objective. The storylines are engaging and it forces you to rethink your current play through in order to beat a low level enemy or a main boss.

    Although, my favorite XBOX360 video game has been “Final Fantasy 13” from Square Enix. When FF13 was released in 2010-2011, I was blown away by the graphics, the character designs, and the storyline as a teen. Much like the movie, “Eragon”, Final Fantasy 13’s graphics look better than some current video games and it holds a special place in my heart.

    I reminisce about replaying Final Fantasy 13 and get nostalgic when I watch the cutscenes on YouTube. Now that I got a new controller, I’ll be able to see if my XBOX360 still works. Otherwise, if it’s too old to function anymore, then I’ll take my system to my rage room job and sell it for $10-$20. I won’t be able to watch memories be destroyed by strangers and I wouldn’t be able to bring myself to destroy my gaming system!

    Else, if it’s on my phone, then I enjoy reading games where your choices affect the story. I happened upon a text based game company called, “Choice of Games LLC” and their child company, I’m not sure if that’s what it is, called, “Hosted Games LLC” back in high school. Give or take 2010 or 2011, when I first played “Zombie Exodus” in class and getting scared because of how the story was written and I wanted to make sure everyone in the game survived.

    I got a lot of the survivors killed because I wasn’t paying attention to my resources or the integrity of our stronghold and majority of the support was destroyed by the sheer force of the undead. My mismanagement led to a lot of survivors I liked to die horribly. I had to retry so many times because I didn’t want to accept that their deaths were final or canonically unchanging, despite everything I did.

    I enjoy the games on Hosted Games LLC because they were written by fans of text based games. They use the company’s source code, create a story, and can produce it as their own, like a partnership in a way. I am waiting for the next chapters of “Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven”, “Fallen Hero”, “Wayhaven Chronicles”, “The Golden Rose”, “I, the Forgotten One”, “The Fernweh Saga”, “Samurai of Hyuga”, and “The Soul Stone Wars.” I’m not promoting these games or stories, but I am waiting patiently for the next books to release so I can know how the story progresses and ends.

  • Why Not A Secured Adventure?

    Are you seeking security or adventure?

    Picking between security and adventure can be difficult. Though, even if we were to define what security and adventure looks like for us as individuals, wouldn’t it be a fun thought experiment to claim we are seeking both?

    I can understand the need to feel secure: in a home, relationship, in a career, with our finances, our life in general. Although, being able to have stories to tell, share, and recall would require we break out of our comfort zone. And, to break out of comfort zone, we have to do something that scares us. On the bright side, for the adrenaline averse, it doesn’t require jumping out of a plane, running from bulls, or street racing.

    For myself, I’ve been socially averse and anxious throughout most of my life, so getting a part time job at a rage room pushed me out of my comfort zone; It’s interactive customer service, providing safety procedures, a new experience, and it lets me work on several personal skills:

    • Customer service
    • Adaptability
    • Attention to detail
    • Sales
    • Social skills

    It’s a social job that I thoroughly enjoy. Compared to the customer service jobs I held prior, I like interacting with customers. I get to help them get excited to break things. It’s a different experience, we’ve been conditioned to take care of our things, and most people struggled to break their items because it goes against what we were taught not to do.

    It’s understandable, it’s an adventure of itself, and no one has to worry about being arrested for vandalism and destructing of property! Unless customers choose to do that after we go over safety, then that statement goes out the window.

    Where Does Security Appear?

    My part time job offers a steady paycheck every two weeks. This helps me, on top of my full time warehouse job, build my financial buffers. I won’t have to worry about not affording something because I have extra money coming in. And I can plan for my future self while having my own kind of fun in the present. It’s a win-win, even though I’m working two jobs.

    The app my part time job uses, Gusto, is amazing because I’m able to save 15% of my paycheck and have it moved into a rainy day fund, rather than a set dollar amount. Saving a percentage is better in my opinion because the number always adjusts to the total.

    Say, for example, you have to work less hours due to an injury, illness, or taking care of a loved one. With a set percentage, the amount of money being moved could be adjusted to what you earn. Same if you worked over time and that number increases. You could be saving more in that rainy day fund over time than if you set it for $20, $30, $40. You get the picture, but how you allocate your funds is ultimately up to you.

  • Seeing The Fruits of My Labor Bloom

    What are you most excited about for the future?

    The thing that I’m most excited about for in the future is seeing how much I’ve grown and how far I’ve walked from the person I used to be. My past self used to be someone I would describe as being very fortunate people put up with her. If I was a stranger interacting with my past self, then I would have ‘noped’ out and away from her.

    I could recognize, in hindsight, that I was toxic; although, I’ve gotten better at communicating, associating most feelings with words, and admitting I’m wrong. It still comes out snarky sometimes, but that’s a defense mechanism I’m working on dismantling.

    Another thing I’m excited about is getting out of debt. I have just shy of $16,000 left to pay off: $4,000 in credit card debt and $12,000 from a personal loan, but I’m paying them down aggressively so I can save more, invest more, and be more generous with my money. If I’m able to build up enough of a buffer, I’d like to be able to take time off from work and pursue opportunities I’ve never considered before.

    I’m getting bored with just working, going home, and repeat these days. I do visit my family as often as I can or I call them if I can’t, though I hadn’t volunteered since high school and that was for promoting science to elementary school children. Might as well give this a go, see what happens, and learn from people taking charge and making a difference. Who knows what kind of stories I’ll be able to tell when the time comes!

  • A.I. Was Taking Over My Writing Life — I Had to Pull Myself Back

    Pocket Full of “Answers”: How Using Google’s Gemini Shrank My Mind

    Welcome, Co-conspirators, to the Stratagem’s Archives. Today I’ll be sharing my experiences when using Google’s Gemini and how it’s been affecting me. I can’t consider myself a “True Mastermind” if I delegate my thinking to an external database. So, I’m here to reclaim my self-proclaimed title by doing what I should have done from the beginning – Thinking for myself – and having my work, my ability to write, tell stories, come up with ideas, and string coherent sentences, be judged than be seen as “perfect” with A.I.

    Disclaimer: I am not a cyber analyst, engineer, nor great with technology. I’m great at using Google’s search bar. Anything else, I’m abysmal at, so please consult with professionals or someone worth their salt if you’re looking for a proper tutorial. I’m here to share, but not to that level yet. Thanks!

    The Codependency is Real, Co-conspirators…

    If you refer to my previous blog articles here in The Archives, then you will see a massive difference between my writing – messy, distracted, and long winded, a reflection of how the writer speaks in person – and using A.I.

    I used AI to check for grammatical errors, improve the writing format to match this blog’s “Mastermind/Villain/Autodidact” tone, and realizing “my idea” became “it’s work” instead.

    When I had compared my writings in the Archives, I had noticed that, despite my own biases, I was reading something a person wrote; the writing isn’t professional, it’s full of mistakes, and takes awhile to get to the point.

    When reading something generated by an A.I. it feels empty, like I’m reading words, but no emotion is stirred within me: no call to action, no call to fight some injustice, nothing arises.

    A Side by Side Comparison:

    This comparison can be easily seen in my earlier blog post, 2025 is Nearly Over! A 6-Month Reflection & Projecting Ahead. I can candidly share that the majority of that article had been rewritten after being examined by Gemini.

    I didn’t like what I wrote, I thought that my real work would lose people’s interest or attention, as this is my first real project being shared publicly. I struggle to write anything engaging or interesting without running off tangent, which happens often, and is apparent in my first two articles.

    Here in the article, “2025 is Nearly Over! A 6-Month Reflection & Projecting Ahead”, I didn’t finish the entire rewrite because I got lazy, bored, and distracted. I had other ideas I wanted to pursue and, just rewriting the text and switching back and forth between tabs, took a lot of time. It took a lot of time because:

    1. It takes me days, maybe weeks, to finish one article draft to completion, then look for grammatical errors or polish it up through Gemini.
    2. I have to copy and paste each header and block here on the WordPress/Jetpack app individually into Gemini’s text box because I can’t highlight the entire text to copy and paste.
    3. After inputting my work and have Gemini look it over, I am practically starting over from scratch. If it took me days to write the original text, then what I’m doing doubles the time redoing everything and copying the “answers” Gemini provided was better than anything I could ever come up with.

    While everything being provided sounded better in comparison to what I came up with, it took 1 video to snap me back to reality. I was stunting my own growth and, where I was heading, my future looked bleak and blank.

    What Prompted The Stratagem’s Archives to Share This?

    That’s a very good question! Thank you for asking that, Friend. I’m definitely not pantomiming an imaginary conversation. Nope, not me. I was prompted to write this post while listening to The Bioneer on YouTube. His video, “THIS is the Most Powerful Form of Brain Training – Stay Ahead of AI!”, made me realize that I was neglecting my own skills, my own ability to learn, and grow.

    I was actively stunting my own growth – replacing potential ideas, my words, my voice, and conversational and therapeutic help – for fast results. I used something that actively agreed with everything I typed, and it didn’t provide a counterargument or challenged my thoughts. I had an intangible “Yes Man” in my pocket, not a helper.

    After The Bioneer’s video ended, I got up to brush my teeth, then I was hit with an idea. It was for a text based game idea I called, “Return to the World”; the synopsis is about the player character living in isolation for some time and heavily relying on their artificial assistant “R.O.A.M.” (Ready Optimal Artificial Mediator).

    After a system error shuts R.O.A.M. Down, you, as the player, has to relearn how to take care of yourself almost from scratch, slowly developing skills that became dormant from a lack of use and, as the title claims, you are returning to reality and its complexities.

    That is what I am declaring here – I will reclaim and share my personality, reactivate dormant skills, learn new skills out of genuine curiosity, and become an authentic Mastermind – I had been confused when I had started The Stratagem’s Archives, originally known as “Plans2Action”.

    I thought that I had to be a real life villain to be engaging.That being inspired by fictional villainy and twisting this concept on its head, maybe I’ve been describing an anti-villain or anti-hero this whole time, to have an outline to follow. But I’m not cut to intentionally be a real life villain, and being a hero is unappealing to me.

    Instead, I’d rather be a wild card – I can still work my way up to be a “True Mastermind”, but not in the same way I had been throughout most of my blog posts – diving into new ventures and sharing them here. Being intentional with what I choose to do and not do, rather than trying to take over the world.

    Any Upsides to A.I. Though?

    Reawakening dormant skills will take work and, while I will be actively working to reduce my over reliance on using A.I., it has a time and place just like any other tool. You can use a fork to eat cereal, but a spoon would be more effective.

    I think A.I. has been able to help me identify things I could describe, but lacked the proper vocabulary for. For example, when writing my last article, The Stratagem Begins: From Scarcity to Financial Empowerment: Part 1:, I couldn’t figure out what a specific feeling was called and needed help. I typed in Gemini, asking it, “What is that visceral feeling you get when you are using physical cash to pay for something instead of using a credit or debt card?” And it gave me the term called, “the pain of paying”: a well-known phenomenon in behavioral economics made known when paying with physical cash as opposed to using a credit or debit card.

    This term, though I didn’t do further research into this phenomenon, perfectly described the feeling I felt when I had started to pay with cash to prevent increasing my revolving debt. It’s an uncomfortable feeling, I can feel my wallet grow lighter, and the consequence of having a set amount of money at hand forces me to prioritize my needs from my wants.

    Anything Else to Add?

    In conclusion, A.I. may have muddled my mind, I must train myself to strike a balance with it supplementing my work than having it write it for me.

    A.I. still has its uses, it still has a time and place, but over relying on it can shrink your mind, skills, and narrow your perspective. That’s my opinion, at least.

    Work on your own skills, have stories to tell, share them with your own personal flair, rather than delegating that option to A.I. Let it be a tool, not the solution. Let it help, not infantilize you and take over your life.

    If you’ve had similar experiences with A.I., or are overcoming an A.I. dependency, share how you’ve been using A.I., how it’s been affecting you, and your journey to find a middle ground in the comments below. With that said, The Archives will be closing. Until we open again!

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  • The Stratagem Begins: From Scarcity to Financial Empowerment: Part 1:

    The Stratagem’s Budgeting Strategy:

    Welcome, Co-conspirators, to the Financial Acquisition category of the ‘Stratagem’s Archive’. Here, I shall unveil the blueprints of my journey to forge wealth and refine my financial acumen.

    But first, a candid admission: I used to be a money miser, a penny pinching devotee. Overcoming this was a challenge that spanned years. Yet, through relentless study, meticulous observation, and the crucible of trial and error, I have diligently forged my budgeting muscles. I now wield my resources with precision, aggressively dismantling my debts while simultaneously expanding my reserves.

    The very tactics I’ve deployed are perfect for those embarking on their own financial campaigns, for several reasons:

    • A solid foundation: It builds a stronghold of accountability.
    • Field-tested Principles: You can adapt my proven methodologies, calibrating them to your unique objectives.
    • Accelerated Conquests: Bypass years of independent struggle by learning directly from my tactical missteps.

    What I’ve Learned From Trial and Error: A Mastermind’s Reckoning:

    My path to becoming financially adept – competent, confident, and literate – was fraught with gaps, bumps, and unseen traps. While I do not claim the title of a financial oracle, I have discovered how to command my capital with a select arsenal of tools: the strategic deployment of cash over credit, the unerring guidance of sound judgement, and a humble calculator.

    At the time of this writing, I am systematically eradicating $16,000 of outstanding debt. This includes just under $4,000 in credit card debt, burdened by a formidable 25.26% Annual Percentage Rate(APR), and a personal loan nearing $12,000, at a slightly less hostile 8.70% APR. The shift from my family’s domain to my own studio apartment necessitated a total recalibration of my spending and savings protocols.

    Consider this: my previous credit card usage, spanning rent, groceries, utilities, gas, subscriptions, online courses, and various indulgences, led to a critical decision. I elected to holster my credit card. It remains in my wallet – a symbolic presence – yet I’ve disciplined myself not to reach for it. My superior alternative? Cash. It is, undeniably, king.

    I bestow upon cash this regal title for several tactical advantages:

    1. The Visceral Command: cash compels you to experience the “pain of paying” or “tangible loss.” Unlike a digital transaction, paying with physical currency forces you to witness and feel the fruits of your labor depart from your grasp. Your wallet lightens. This act alone forces a ruthless prioritization of your expenditures.
    2. Eradicating Self-deception: cash thwarts the insidious illusion fostered by credit card’s “buy now, pay later” deception. The notion that money is “just numbers on a screen” is precisely how one becomes ensnared in debt’s relentless, revolving clutches.

    A Look Into a Mastermind’s Day: Deploying Cash With Precision:

    When I embark on my weekly supply acquisition – as a singular entity, unburdened by dependents(a crucial distinction for context) – I execute a precise cash withdrawal. I procure between $200-$300 and strategically distribute it among four distinct envelopes:

    1. Guilt-Free Spending: My personal allocation for any desired acquisition (a concept masterfully coined by Ramit Sethi, author of I Will Teach You to be Rich, whose work I actively employ).
    2. Giving: Building a charitable fund, for cultivating my “generosity” muscles.
    3. Blog Fund: A dedicated reserves for my digital empire, offsetting domain costs and securing future compensation.
    4. Necessities: The bulk of my withdrawals are deployed here. Sustenance, fuel, clean attire, and hygiene products are the pillars of daily operations.

    Allow me to illustrate a typical deployment: I allocate $20 to each of my four envelopes for the week, leaving me with $220. My next move is a reconnaissance of my vehicle’s fuel gauge. If my gas tank registers at or below the halfway mark, I immediately set aside $40 for replenishment. Should my fuel reserves be sufficient, that $40 is repurposed for laundry, converting into the necessary quarters for a clean uniform. Following these maneuvers, I am left with $180 for grocery provisions.

    I maintain a meticulous inventory of my apartment’s assets and deficiencies. If food reserves are low for the week, provisioning sustenance becomes the paramount objective. If soap, toothpaste, cleaning agents, or other hygiene products are scarce, these immediately ascend the priority ladder.

    Before each shopping expedition, I activate my phone’s calculator – my digital co-pilot.I precisely estimate the cost of each item I intend to acquire. This provides a crucial pre-tax approximation of my total expenditure, preventing unforeseen overruns. For instance, my recent grocery list, calculated using sticker prices, yielded an estimate of $160.80. With the application of taxes, the finally tally reached $168.38. I maintain a $20 contingency fund because the exact tax burden remains unknown until the final transaction, and I refuse to breach my cash parameters.

    This iterative process, executed with each shopping foray, has sharpened my ability to discern true value from fleeting desire. I can acquire what I deem essential, but I cannot acquire everything. This is a vital distinction, for it reveals that many items merely flirt with the “want” category rather than the need. This self-awareness is not a limitation, but a profound step towards becoming a mindful and intentional architect of your financial dominion.

    In Conclusion: Your Move, Co-conspirator:

    You’ve witnessed the power of conscious transactions, the foundational truth that lies within the simple act of cash. This is merely the first brick in your empire. For those with the ambition to command their financial future, the knowledge within the Stratagem’s Archive is indispensable.

    Decimating debt: Learn the precise tactics I’ve employed to eliminate debt and reclaiming your financial power:Eradicating A Burden: Eliminating Personal Debt to Ascend:

    The question is not if you can build your empire, but if you possess the will. Begin your deeper immersion now. Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below. Let’s begin a productive discussion, and it is time for the Stratagem’s Archives to close. Until opening day, co-conspirators.

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  • Some Days I Don’t Want to Be Here — On Surviving When Everything Else Feels Heavy

    I Don’t Have Any Answers

    Welcome, fellow archivists.

    This isn’t going to be a post full of strategies or 5-step solutions. I don’t have answers. I don’t have any neat, Instagram-worthy fixes for feeling worthless, angry, exhausted, or like a failure.

    All I have is the truth: I’m still here. I show up. That’s it.

    When There’s No Outlet That Works

    Every day, I feel like crying. Or screaming. Or fighting someone. Or curling into a ball and disappearing.

    Most days, I don’t do any of it. I keep it inside. I go to work. I lift boxes. I nod. I breathe through the rage.

    It feels like that, at work, the only time I’ll be acknowledged is: being asked to pick up someone else’s slack, when my mind blanks out and I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing, or when I make a mistake and that immediately overshadows ALL of the good work I’d done prior.

    Sometimes I don’t even feel angry — I’m just so tired that people assume I’m mad.

    But truth is? I’ve tried the healthy outlets.

    I’ve done the journaling. The walking. The meditating. The deep breathing. The exercising. The learning. The “focus on your goals” grindset.

    I’ve tried cold showers. Better sleep. Better food.

    And it all helps… but it’s not enough. Not when the storm keeps coming back. Not when my mind is so convinced that I’m not worth keeping or being around.

    I Keep Trying Anyway

    I try to channel this torrent of emotions into my projects:

    • Writing D&D prompts I may never run.
    • Trying to code, even though I spent 10 years thinking I wasn’t smart enough.
    • Taking online courses that might help one day.
    • Working two jobs.
    • Keeping myself occupied so I don’t fall into that deep, silent well again.

    But most of the time, I’m not healing. I’m just surviving.

    Mostly I’m surviving. If you want to read more about these slow projects and quiet experiments, I sometimes write about them in Letters from the Void.

    This Pain and Anger Has A Name

    I would often ask myself the same question over and over again;

    What do I have to be angry about?

    That question, that right there, is called “Comparative Guilt.”

    This guilt would trick me, maybe it tricked you too, into thinking that I’m not suffering enough as someone going through real suffering to matter.

    I have so much good in my life:

    • I have caring and supportive family.
    • I’ve been living on my own for a few months.
    • I chose myself over staying in toxic and diminishing friendships.
    • I’ve started my own blog.
    • I’m working 2 jobs to aggressively get out of $15,000 of debt.
    • I’ve been investing in my retirement and my present for 2-3 years now.

    So, what should I be angry, upset, or numb over? I’ve got it so good, someone would want to trade spots with me.

    That’s the guilt trying to tell me that I’m not enough, even though I already struggle with combating feeling like a failure, worthless, and not good enough on the daily. It’s trying to say, “give up, you’re not worth it.”

    But I don’t give up, I’m stubborn like that. I might be a glutton for punishment because feeling angry, upset, or numb might be the only things I can feel these days. For now, that is enough, until I’m able to learn how to smile and feel content or joy again.

    Living Is The Loudest Rebellion I Have

    I’ve started believing that the biggest “f*** you” to a world that seems to want you to disappear… is to not disappear.

    Not to win. Not to thrive. Not to be impressive.

    Just to keep existing, even when it hurts. Even when nothing helps. Even when you don’t want to.

    There’s no power move louder than refusing to vanish — even if you’re dragging yourself through the day.

    If You’re Still Here Too…

    Then maybe you’re like me.

    You don’t have the answers.

    You’re angry and exhausted and worn down.

    But you still show up. Somehow.

    And that counts for something, even if no one sees it. Even if you forget why.

    This post isn’t here to fix you.

    It’s just a reminder:

    If all you did today was survive, that’s still resistance.

    A Note For Fellow Archivists

    If any part of this piece resonates, I’d love to invite you to pause for a moment and reflect on your own journey.

    What part of your story feels messy, uncertain, or unfinished right now? Where are you weary, wondering, or wandering? What small reminder do you need today that you don’t have to fit neatly into anyone’s expectations?

    You don’t have to share your reflections out loud — sometimes it’s enough just to notice them for yourself. But if you’d like, you’re always welcome to write them in the comments, or even send them my way privately. This space is here so that we can remind ourselves and each other: you’re not alone in this.

    If you’ve found something meaningful here, liking, sharing, or subscribing helps fellow wanderers find this little pocket of the internet too. And if you subscribe, you’ll also receive Letters from the Void, my newsletter where I share more quiet reflections, behind-the-scenes projects, and updates before they appear anywhere else.

    However you choose to engage — silently reading, reflecting privately, or joining in the conversation — you’re part of this archive. Thank you for being here.

  • Eradicating A Burden: Eliminating Personal Debt to Ascend:

    The Stratagem’s Impediment:

    Welcome fellow Villainous Co-conspirators, for stumbling into The Stratagem; now, today, I’m going to share a predicament that I, The Stratagem’s creator, am facing right now… this burden hinders all people from all walks of life — heroes, villains, anti-heroes, anti-villains, and civilians alike. It is one of the main foundations for any pursuit. This crippling burden I’m speaking of is called, Personal Debt—a significant amount, and if you think heroes are the only ones to throw a wrench in your plans, you are sadly incorrect.

    Do you have any idea why Personal Debt is a far more devastating force to deal with than any other living and conceptual adversary? Imagine this: you have constructed the perfect plan, a plan so diabolical that it could turn the tides to your favor, and all you need to ensure its construction is possible is money. Every fictional villain tends to steal from banks and incredibly wealthy individuals. If operations, tools, gadgets, and personnel could function on hopes and dreams, or fear and anxiety, what then? No, no, no, money isn’t just a symbol of one’s avarice and greed; it is a tool for fair exchange since gadgets, keeping the Stratagem running, and paying for good help takes money. This is how any business functions.

    We need to make sure that every dollar we owe to Personal Debt returns to us for our own personal use. I personally hate debt, especially debt that hinders the individual’s progress, growth, pursuits, and opportunities. Imagine what it would be like to be free from debt, no longer owing money to financial institutions because of an emergency or surprise expense that you didn’t have cash on hand. You could return to your plans of crafting the life you want to be proud of. In the following paragraphs, I’ll share with you what I’ve been doing to eradicate my personal debt, the resources I’ve been learning and from using, and the progress made since taking on this challenge.

    Have You Acknowledged That Something Is Wrong With This Picture?

    During my journey into financial literacy books, videos, and other resources, the one thing that we need to start with in destroying Personal Debt is to acknowledge it— Acknowledge that there’s a limitation preventing you from achieving your goals and halting your plans. My favorite resource to watch that shows what happens when people ignore their debts, who keep racking up new debt onto existing debt, and thinking it’ll magically sort itself out is from a Netflix show called, “How to Get Rich.” If you’ve ever read the book, “I Will Teach You to be Rich” by Ramit Sethi, or watched his YouTube channel by the same name, he has had guests on this show do just that: ignore their debts.

    I think that ignoring your debts is a horrible tactic and it widens the gap between becoming free from it and remaining its hostage. The best financial resources I’ve come across that’s helped me improve my financial literacy and competency(in no way am I affiliated with these resources) are:

    • I Will Teach You to be Rich: The books, journal, and YouTube channel by Ramit Sethi.
    • The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel.
    • The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason (audiobook Narrated by Grover Gardner).
    • Alux.com YouTube channel and app.

    I had improved with how I use the money that I earn, saved, and invested from jobs that let me hide among the masses. These had been the best resources I could find that helps people who don’t have a business or are not self-employed make the most of what they have. I am not affiliated with these people, just a fan of their work, which has helped me see with more clarity than before. Now, let’s move on to how I’ve been tackling my Personal Debt of $17,000.

    The Stratagem’s Aggressive Payoff Strategy:

    How I started to tackle my Personal Debt was to write down how much I owed and what each of my debts APR(Annual Percentage Rate) for each debts (which includes interest rates and fees) and displaying them prominently. For myself, I have a white board on my desk, so I wrote the numbers down.

    • Short-term debt: $5,000
    • Medium-term Debt: $12,000

    The first thing that I decided to do was to put a stop to using my short term debt. I had paid off all other balances using a loan. I didn’t want to spread my money too thin again. Putting your physical and other means of accruing debt away to not use will take willpower to not swipe and increase your debt. Instead, I changed to using a cash envelope system.

    If you’re unfamiliar with what the Cash Envelope System is, it’s where you take out cash each month to pay for your necessities, groceries, gas, and fun activities or things you want to buy on a budget. Using this system will give you pause where you would have to ask yourself: 1)what can I get with X amount of dollars in my hand? 2)am I buying X because I need it or because I want it? These are the few questions I ask myself when I go shopping and I withdraw between $200-$300/week to spend. How I separate the money each week, especially more than $200, let’s use $300 as easy math:

    • $200 for groceries.
    • $40 for gas
    • $20 put away for, as Ramit Sethi coined it, “Guilt Free Spending”.
    • $20 put aside for funding this blog.
    • $20 for whatever cause I will financially support once I reach $100-$200 milestone.

    The second thing that I decided to do was to get a part-time job; this was a personal choice because my full-time job had our hours cut and my paycheck shrank as well. I went job hunting for 1 month looking on Indeed and applying on the company’s job board before getting hired at a rage room part-time. The extra money, even though I had to adapt to extra workload, had helped with making sure my bills were paid. I’m not beneath working 2 jobs, though I am fortunate that both jobs were flexible and worked with me, no one should not feel ashamed for making such a decision.

    Having 2 jobs, though draining, had given me the freedom to use an aggressive pay off method called, The Avalanche Debt Payoff Method. What this means is that you are paying more than the minimum payment towards the debt that has the highest APR. When looking at this from a mathematical perspective, tackling the debt with the highest APR also reduces the amount of interest that could be added on to the existing debt.

    Even though my highest debt is $12,000.00, it would not make mathematical sense if I paid this off first. When using the Avalanche Debt Payoff Method, getting rid of the debt that will accumulate interest fastest will free up more money in the long run. By ensuring that I pay the minimum payment towards my other loan, I’ll be shrinking that loan with less penalties. I’ve been saving as much as $1,000.00 to put towards my credit card debt to pay it down faster. The more money you can put towards it, the faster this burden will be gone.

    A Less Aggressive Option is Available

    I chose the Avalanche Debt Payoff Method because I could pay off my debt aggressively. Thanks to working a full-time job and a part-time job, this option is mathematically sound for my situation. However, for those who aren’t able to use the Avalanche Debt Payoff Method, a less aggressive method is available: The Snowball Debt Payoff Method is used to pay off the smallest debt balance off first and work up towards the highest balance.

    For example, if my $17,000.00 debt were spread across 4 different accounts, using this hypothetical debt to explain this payoff method, you would start by paying off the lowest balance. Then you’d move up to the next balance, until you pay off the next balance, and you focus on the last debt.

    From personal experience, using the Avalanche Debt Payoff Method can feel mentally taxing—you’re seeing a lot of money move from your bank account to pay towards your debt and it can feel as though you’re not making a dent. I’ve thought of many scenarios of what I could be doing, instead of paying off my debts. I could be using that money to:

    • Donate to either a food bank, the blood bank, a school that needs school supplies, to a local library, or a farmer’s market.
    • Buy a nice lunch for my family once a month.
    • Repay my parents money I had borrowed from them for an event I chose to attend last minute.

    These are the things I would do once my debts are paid off. Remember that everyone is facing different challenges and has their own goals. These are mine and I will see them fulfilled.

    This payoff method offers a plethora of benefits that its aggressive counterpart would not. The less aggressive method grants:

    • Bursts of dopamine from eliminating small debts and seeing each debt gone.
    • A sense of accomplishment.
    • Provides an increase of strength to keep pushing through their (financial) challenges.

    This method could also help individuals who are:

    • Working one job.
    • Earn under $50,000/annual salary.
    • Taking care of children, elderly or sick family members.

    For anyone who is already overwhelmed by their debt and other responsibilities, this could offer a sense of accomplishment and as though their situation has hope, instead of seeing it as hopeless.

    Plans Need An End Date

    Regardless of the method you choose to use to pay off your debts, you will need to have an end date for when you will become debt free. Why? Because it gives you something tangible to strive for than leaving it up to chance.

    When I didn’t set a deadline to when I wanted to be debt-free, battling debt felt impossible in the beginning. Not having a deadline drops you into the someday category, the same as how New Year’s Resolutions are: I’ll someday get to travel, or I’ll someday get healthier, or I’ll someday get myself out of debt. NO! Someday, without a goal and a when to strive for, is a wish, not a strategy.

    Go ahead and try it; keep paying your debts without a deadline and see how it feels, then set one. Share how much of a mental shift it is once you’ve tried this out yourself.

    Treat your empire the same as eliminating debt—have a concrete date for when you want to start building your empire, instead of letting it become a someday wish. Otherwise, you will likely be at the mercy of life and nothing will change for you because you followed the same strategies you’ve always followed. We’re not simply Dreamers, Fellow Co-conspirators. We are Dreamers who plans, takes responsibility, and executes on our plans. Now, let’s move on.

    What Happens If You Choose Neither Method?

    If you choose neither method to tackle your debt—then the only thing that will happen would be a longer financial sentence. You need to choose which plan works for your situation and act on it, then you have enough sense to not remain debt’s prisoner.

    You are the only one who gets to decide how to live your life, no one else, especially not some institution who cares about taking as much money from you as possible. That is what we’re here for—fighting for our financial freedom and get back to building our empire!

    Charting Your Course to Financial Domination!

    Understanding your enemy and the damages they can inflict on your rising empire is the first step towards victory. We’ve explored how devastating inaction can be and the immense power the strategies like the Avalanche and Snowball methods. Now, the choice is yours fellow co-conspirators.

    No matter the battlefield you are fighting on, the time to act is now. What course of action are you taking and how you feel about the progress you’ve been making? Share in the comments a glimpse of your journey for other co-conspirators to learn and take inspiration from. Thank you for visiting The Stratagem’s Archives, now build your empire!

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  • 2025 is Nearly Over! A 6-Month Reflection & Projecting Ahead.

    Where Did The Time Go, Co-conspirators?

    The early morning rays had dared to interrupt my slumber. My alarm had futilely blared its presence at 0530, but I laid there, staring at the ceiling, under my warm blanket, and scrolling through the digital void of YouTube for 30 minutes. My plan, a meticulously crafted stratagem for a day off, was to rinse, cleanse, conquer the pavement with a quick jog, the return home for a home workout, shower, laundry, and a decisive jumpstart to my precious free hours.

    It was already past 0730. This procrastination, a momentary lapse in my crafted discipline, was unacceptable. I shot up out of bed, washed, changed into my workout gear, laced on my shoes, then hit the pavement. What would have been a walk around the block became a determined jog to make up for my poor decision of staying in bed. My body and mind were primed for the workout I had planned the night before, climbed the stairs back to my apartment, locked the door behind me, and grabbed my tools of choice.

    After weeks of strategic active resting, it was time to return to being active. With my kettlebells and bands in hand, I was ready to forge myself through training once more:

    • Dynamic warm ups: 3 minutes
    • Banded overhead presses: 3 sets of 10 reps
    • Reverse Lunges: 3 sets of 5 reps each leg

    Then my main workout consisted of the following:

    • 20 lbs Kettlebell Swings: 1 set of 20 reps
    • 20 lbs Kettlebell Deadlift: 3 sets of 10 reps
    • 20lbs Kettlebell squats with calf raises: 3 sets of of 10 reps
    • Body weight push-ups: 3 sets of 10,11, and 12 reps respectively. The last set, a tactical drop to my knees, was still a victory.
    • Finally, a 5 minute cool down period using static stretches, twist holds, bridging, and fluid movement.

    With my workout finished, I took a lukewarm shower to wash away the smell of effort and tossed my dirty clothes into my basket. Today was laundry day, my precious day off from two fronts of income generation. This was my day off and I intended to be productive.

    Thankfully, my apartment complex offers an on-site laundromat, less than a 2 minute stroll from my unit. I loaded my clothes into the wash, set my timer for 50 minutes, and headed back. As soon as I reached the bottom of the steps, slowly climbing, my mind, normally a fortress of strategic and practical thought, was surprisingly blank. Then, it hit me as though lighting struck,:

    ‘Holy crap, it’s already July 1st, the beginning of a new month… 2025 is almost over…’

    My mind was slowly processing this thought, as I ascended the stairs back to my studio. Once I returned to the safety of my living space, it dawned on me; this is the perfect opportunity. A chance to reflect on the battles I’d engaged in and won(or lost) so far this year, and the most strategic place to document it is here on my blog. This blog, this project, that I’ve talked about starting for years, was now real and a tangible fortress I’d begun building. And I’ve been fortifying it brick by deliberate brick.

    Let’s Pause, Reflect, and Dominate!

    How often have you heard someone say, or heard yourself lament, “where did the time go? Another year is almost over!” And then, the polite (or perhaps subtly condescending) inquiry, “have you met any of your New Year’s resolutions yet?” The “New Year, New Me” mentality is a common recurring trend.

    Whether you kept to your goals or abandoned them because life got in the way, that’s okay! Stepping back to gauge where you currently are in your life isn’t about casting judgement; it’s about gathering intelligence. Reflection is a crucial reconnaissance mission: to chart how far you’ve advanced this year, to discern what shifted or remained stagnant, and, most importantly, to extract lessons from your progress, no matter how insignificant, to project victory within the remaining months ahead. This is NOT an option.

    That is the premise behind “Stratagem’s Archive”; my objectives were to dissect my own campaigns: what I’ve deployed, what fascinated me, my strategic objectives, how I execute each idea, and the tangible results of taking decisive action. Here, I reveal the tactic I’ve tested, how I’ve course-corrected, and the necessary adjustments made to maintain momentum despite changes in the battlefield. Even mere thought experiments are crucial for priming the mind for future opportunities.

    Instead of chalking 2025 as another year of time flying by or wondering what you did this year, let’s take a moment to think over a few questions. Some might be simple, others could reveal uncomfortable truths, because, ‘nothing’, is the typical default answer. Let’s begin planning, strategizing, and constructing our own empire one goal, one brick, and one step at a time.

    The Questions Begin Here: YOU Are Here:

    In the last 6-months of 2025, here are a small list of questions to mull over:

    • What’s changed in your personal domain?: Your relationships, habits, health, or finances?
    • What’s changed in your professional sphere?: Your job, career trajectory, projects seized or surrendered, roles mastered, skills mastered and deployed?
    • Regarding your objectives: Which have stalled? Which were rightly abandoned because they were never your battles to fight? Which goals transformed entirely?
    • What constants remained in your life? Your core values and priorities? Any daily routines, both that served you and sabotaged you?
    • What persistent challenges, or which areas demand immediate, undivided attention?
    • Which aspirations remained unwavering?
    • What were your greatest victories, monumental or minute? Acknowledge them, celebrate them.
    • What were the unexpected challenges or strategic detours? What did they force you to learn?
    • What habits or practices served as powerful allies on your journey?
    • What habits or practices proved to be liabilities, holding you back from conquest?

    A Ruthless Self-Reflection

    “Looking back, what’s one thing that you are proud of the most of, and what’s something you could have approached differently?”

    Self-reflection is not a gentle act; it is a brutal, necessary assessment. It is the individual’s imperative to retrace their personal timeline, to identify moments of strength and precision, and to pinpoint where tactics could have been superior. Some people, in their pathetic weakness, weaponize self-reflection to shame others, failing to practice the very discipline they preach. We are not them. We are here to claim our gains and to extract every possible lesson from the trials of the past.

    The prompts above are merely catalysts for your mind to begin its strategic dissection. Countless resources exist – on the internet, in texts, through insightful individuals – if you possess the cunning to seek them out. It demands profound inner strength to gaze upon your past self, your words, and your actions, and to maintain that gaze when the easy path is to recoil in shame, blame, or guilt. Your willingness to engage in this means that a profound shift has occurred within you – a shift you may not have yet the words for. It demands to be acknowledged, flaws and all, because it finally commands a portion of your attention. And it knows you need its guidance to comprehend what has truly changed and what your next move must be.

    The following prompts further insights, designed to converge disparate ideas and unveil something previously inconceivable—something insightful, enlightening, something uniquely yours. It originated from within you; now you have to give it a voice. It is ready to be shard with you, its creator. Document your answers in a journal, a notes app, or an audio recording. This is your historical record, a tangible marker of, ‘this is what I once believed and thought’ versus ‘I no longer wholly agree; something has transformed, and here is what it is.’

    • What was your biggest victory in the first half of 2025?
    • What’s one habit that you will cultivate or ruthlessly eliminate?
    • What’s one area of your life do you want to be more intentional, more dominant?
    • What’s one thing that surprised you the most?

    Engagement: Share Your Intelligence

    Through your period of reflection and assessment, what small insight have you gleaned? Or, what single word would you use to describe the first half of the year for you? Share your intelligence in the comments below.

    We Still Have Time Before 2026 Arrives People!

    Do you comprehend the absurdity of hearing individuals declare, ‘it’s too late to achieve their New Year’s resolutions,’ when only a month or three has passed? Six months into the year, however, presents a significant chasm from January. Yet, consider the undeniable truth: 2025, like all other years, still contains an immense window of opportunity before its official end. While it may be July 1st, at the time of this writing, this year is far from over.

    It’s like being on a malfunctioning escalator and calling for rescue. The escalator may have ceased its ascent, but you are not stuck. It has simply transformed into stairs, and it is time to activate those legs and climb!

    • Look over your original (year long) goals? Are they still relevant? Do they need adjusting based on your review?
    • Break down your larger goals; how might they be broken up to fit into a 3-month and 6-month actionable steps?
    • Remember: focus on the 1-3 areas that you want to work on for the rest of the year. Any progress, despite the length and duration it’s been cultivated, can show more than simply saying you won’t make any.

    Let’s say for example that you want to focus on your health and well-being. How would you be able to group this together? Could we posit that we could group exercise, nutrition, and sleep together? For example: could you take a walk for 5-10 minutes, eat 1 fruit a day, and sleep 10 minutes earlier? Starting small gives you a foundation to build upon until you are able to increase the amount of healthy habits and it becomes an automatic practice, not a punishment.

    This idea can be thought of the same way with other activities and goals: learning new skills, a new language, entering a new industry, pursuing a relationship or repairing one, the possibilities are endless! However, given that we all have so much attention throughout the day, giving your attention to a small amount of projects would help keep you focused and delay feeling overwhelmed. Give it a try and see what happens when you dedicate your attention to 1-3 projects than 3+ projects with the amount of time we have left in this year.

    In order to reinforce these habits and practices to become automatic, set up a monthly or bimonthly review to see how much progress you’ve made so far. It gives you a sense that you made strides from who you were to who you are now and consistent effort and reflection keeps you accountable. It gives you a sense of being responsible for yourself and your actions to keep making progress. The biggest thing here is to remember; plans are guidelines, not strict rules. Plans can be adjusted when known and unknown variables shift, when life gets in the way, and something isn’t working anymore. Being flexible with your goals is just as valuable as it would be for professional pursuits.

    What Are You Willing to Do Now?

    Given how quickly time has flown and we’re already beginning the month of July, I had given myself time to reflect on my own accomplishments, lessons, and goals so far. For instance, my biggest wins I’ve had so far this year were: moving out of my family’s home and living on my own. I wanted to know what it was like to live on my own and be responsible for myself, not because I was kicked out or I wasn’t happy at home. I’ve grown to become reliant on myself, evaluating my interests and values and priorities and relationships in my own environment had been eye opening. It got to the point where I’ve had to say goodbye to relationships and hobbies that were no longer mutually respectful between myself and those I was friends with.

    The main lesson I’ve learned came from making financial choices without thinking things through and without doing the math. I’ve accumulated over $5,000 in credit card debt with rent, expenses, recurring programs, and a paid program to help me find my dream job. They’ve compounded and I still had the mentality that I was still living at home with little consequence and thought and my credit card has an APR of 25.26%. That’s huge for someone in a low income bracket, but that was my choice.

    Prior to moving out, I also took out a $13,000 personal loan with an 8.70% interest rate to help pay down a different credit card that had a $7,000 balance on it for car repairs I couldn’t pay upfront. The 19% APR was killing me and I despise being in debt, so a personal loan made sense living at home, but not so much living on your own. I took it upon myself to work a full time job and a part time job to aggressively pay down my debts. My goal is to avalanche the most funds towards my $5,000 balance first because of the APR, then allocate those funds to pay off my personal loan. By doing the math, I’ve projected that I’ll be able to aggressively pay off my credit card by the beginning of November to the end of December, 2025.

    As soon as I’m able to deal with my credit card, I’ll focus on my personal loan and use the same aggressive approach. I’ve projected that I’ll be able to pay this off, even with a small interest rate and monthly payments, by next year June-July. Working two jobs, eating poorly or nothing after a certain time, and getting very little sleep during my work week is the price I’m paying to get out of my debt. I could use those freed up funds to invest more into my Roth account, build up a bigger emergency fund, and have money to spend guilt free each month. I’m much more conscious of my spending and I’m doing what I can to make sure I won’t make the same financial mistakes again. I’ll be much more prepared next time with the funds ready to be deployed than needing to borrow again.

    Finally, the area of my life that I want to be more intentional in are with my friendships. I briefly mentioned that I’ve had to say goodbye to friendships that were no longer mutually aligned and weren’t supporting both parties involved. I’ve learned what my values and boundaries are and they had been repeatedly violated when I clearly stated something was not okay or I wasn’t available then made myself available to make other people happy and myself miserable. It was a matter of when to move on and I chose to let go this year then let things continue the course it was on.

    I’m currently debating with myself about handling a decade long friendship. I don’t see myself being valued or included into my friend’s life anymore, so

    I’ve been reflecting about what to do next; the two of us are on different life paths, we don’t have much in common anymore from when we were two broke college kids, I felt unheard when I expressed my needs and values and how it felt being around my friend and his girlfriend. I adore his girlfriend, but she’s not responsible for my friend’s actions, or lack thereof, and I’ve expressed that she shouldn’t take away my friend’s autonomy to communicate with me on his own terms. I want to have an adult conversation, but that isn’t going to be happening anytime soon.

    I’ve shared my thoughts, set my boundaries, and I’ve just been distancing myself from this friend. I had shared that I am busy with work and I’ll get back to either of them when I’m available, but I’m not ready to have that conversation yet. If I don’t then, I could regret it for the rest of my life. If I don’t then, then I better prepare myself to lose something and someone I held with high regard. Right now, I just see the shell of the people we used to be and our dynamics has grown in different directions, it’s one sided and not sustainable anymore. But that is my problem to face, so that will be a conversation for another time.

    Wrap It Up Here, P2A.

    In conclusion, keep these reflections and plans in mind, they can help with whatever you are pursuing or with what you want to pursue. It’s almost like what Tow Mater from “Cars” told Lightning McQueen about his ability to drive in reverse without crashing; “I don’t need to see where I’m going; I just need to know where I’ve been.” If you don’t know where you’ve been, then how can you know where you’re going? Food for thought. Thank you for taking the time to read this long one, and I’ll see you in another one!

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  • How I’d Spend $1 Billion in 24 Hours (A Personal Thought Experiment).

    Financial Freedom On A Timer:

    “If, one day, you wake up and suddenly find someone standing in your sleeping quarters, hand outstretched, and you see an intricately beautiful heavy platinum black card, what would you do? Most likely you’d go back and forth between feeling confused to needing to deal with a potential threat in your home, right? Even if the situation is strange and the stranger in your space hasn’t presented themselves as hostile.

    So, let’s say for the sake of argument, that you remained calm; you’re looking at the card in the stranger’s hand, then up to the stranger’s face. In a calm and even tone the stranger, gesturing to the card, says, “In this card rests 1 Billion dollars ready to be used without delay. The only conditions you have to meet are two: 1)You have 24 hours, upon accepting this card, to use the whole 1 Billion dollars in that time frame; and 2) You are not allowed to purchase any of the same item twice. Should you fail to fulfill these requirements, everything you had purchased will be revoked and you will be left with nothing. Do you accept?”

    If I were to find myself in this situation, truthfully, I would jump at the challenge to see what I would do with 1 Billion dollars. Why would I call this a challenge? Let’s consider a few points: 1) you were told that you literally have 24 hours to spend this money should you accept the card; 2) every purchase will be revoked, taken back, should you fail to spend the entire amount or purchase the same item twice; and 3) I personally struggle to imagine what 1 Billion dollars could look like in real life! I’ve only ever seen over $15,000 at once, in one point in my life. So, excuse me for not having the cognitive bandwidth to see 1,000,000,000 in my mind’s eye.

    Anyways, that is the challenge set before you; what would you do if you were presented with this opportunity? I know that I would take this chance, so, to give you an idea to think about your own choices, I’ll share with you what I would do in this situation.

    Starting From Home:

    Immediately, once that platinum card is in my hand, I’ll set a timer for 24 hours on the dot, then begin the ‘1 Billion Dollar Challenge.’ I would start at home with my immediate family: I’d retire my parents early, giving them 3 million dollars each, then my uncle 3 million to do as he pleases with, and I’d give a budget of 2 million dollars to renovate my grandma’s home; level her property, add extra security, dump and sort through all of the stuff being hoarded in the patio, and become an eco friendly home.

    Extending outward towards other family would be on my mom’s side of the family: I’d give 1 million dollars to my aunties, 3 million to my other grandma so she can finally put herself first after all these years. Then I’d hire a financial institution for $10 million to educate my younger cousins about financial literacy and competency. Maybe reach out to the folks at ‘I Will Teach You To Be Rich’, regardless if my cousins are over 18 or under, I want them to be smarter, competent, and confident with their finances. They’d be capable of taking care of themselves financially, while I’d put 1 million dollars in a trust fund for each of them, even as adults, because I’d want them to rely on themselves and learn than splurge and curse me out for not gifting them more money.

    Expanding Outwards:

    After taking care of my immediate and very close extended family, I’d turn my attention to donating 1 million dollars to every library in the state. All of them. My dad took me to read and borrow books as a kid and I still enjoy libraries and book stores as an adult. Libraries are very valuable, as it is a public and free resource to people who might not have access to the internet or printing services. Books are also valuable, in my opinion, because you can learn from other people without having to have met them in person. Gain their insights and the lessons they learned throughout the years and be able to read it whenever you want.

    Next I would branch out to other outreach programs: 1 million dollars each to the 4 main food banks, 1 million dollars to the Blood Bank, 1 million dollars each to the 5 major affordable housing projects in the state, 20 million dollars split between The American Red Cross, Salvation Army, Hazards Awareness and Resilience Program, and every other natural disaster relief programs. Though I’d use up to 10 million dollars in a great lawyer firm to ensure these funds are being used for as is intended than potentially pocketed by someone on the inside.

    What About Education?

    That is a great question! Education is important, though I am a little biased when it comes to the means of learning. However, one thing that I can understand is tackling debt, any of it. In the state, the student loan debts exceeds 4.7 Billion dollars, WAY more than the allotted amount, but the thing I would do is donate 2 million dollars to pay off the current graduating class’s debt across our universities and community colleges. 1 million would be used for scholarship programs for the next class pursuing higher education, and 1 million dollars to update and improve the current programs and clubs available in the school systems.

    Not just with higher education, but education in general. From pre-school to high school, some kids might not have the means to attend class or have the necessary supplies they need, and I’m a sucker for art and writing supplies. I’d donate 10 million dollars split across all the schools in the state, from every pre-school, elementary school, intermediate school, and high school too. Enough to get the kids what they need and to help parents support their children as well. A little help goes a long way, but I would also likely donate 10 million dollars to the Board of Education, with the help of a great lawyer firm, to update the school’s curriculum, like really? Schools need to be, not only better equipped, but need to practice what they preach too than just preaching their lessons without real substance behind them. But I digress.

    Are We At 1 Billion Yet?

    Okay, so given everything that I put down thus far, let’s see how close I am to hitting 1 Billion dollars. PLEASE, DO NOT FEAR NUMBERS! NUMBERS ARE HELPFUL BY SHOWING YOU WHERE YOU’VE GONE AND BY HOW MUCH!!! Anyways, let’s do some quick calculations:

    • 3 million * 2 (both parents) = 6 million.
    • 3 million * 1 (uncle) = 3 million.
    • 2 million to renovate grandma’s house.
    • 1 million * 3 (aunties) = 3 million.
    • 3 million * 1 (other grandma) = 3 million.
    • 1 million * 10 (cousins) trust fund= 10 million.
    • 10 million towards financial education
    • 1 million * 51 (libraries) = 51 million
    • 1 million * 4 (food banks) = 4 million
    • 1 million towards Blood Bank
    • Split 5 million across 5 housing projects
    • 20 million to HHARP
    • 10 million towards great lawyer firm
    • 2 million towards student loan debts
    • 1 million for scholarship programs
    • 1 million to update school curriculum

    Did I scare anyone away from all of the numbers yet? No? Okay, good, let’s keep going. So, with what I currently have listed above, I would end up with… let me grab my calculator real quick… if I input the numbers correctly, then I would have used $132,000,000. $1,000,000,000 – $132,000,000 =$868,000,000. That would mean that I would have 868 million dollars leftover to use… Man, did I grossly underestimate how much I would allocate money towards each program. These numbers are imaginary to me, even if this is a thought experiment. Guess I have to think harder about what else I could use the money on, huh?

    What To Do With The Remainder?

    I thought long and hard for what to do with the remaining 868 million dollars and, let me tell you, it wasn’t easy coming up with ideas of where to allocate funds towards. It was a constant back and forth between increasing funds in the list above or looking up other obscure charities or something. Then it hit me; where else could the money be used? And I came up with more places to donate money towards, so please bear with me and another list. Here are the other places I had thought of and we’re going to jump straight into bullet points:

    • 2 million towards my part-time job.
    • 2 million towards a BJJ academy I attended.
    • 2 million towards WEBToons content creators. I WANT A LOT OF STORIES I THOROUGHLY ENJOY TO KEEP GOING!!!
    • 2 million to a text based game company called Choice of Games LLC, Hosted Games LLC, and Hearts Choice LLC. (Soon I’ll learn to use their code to make my own game!)
    • 360 million towards improving the state’s infrastructure: roads, bridges, etc. (Road work SUCKS here and needs to get fixed NOW.)
    • 50 million to St. Jude’s children’s hospital.
    • 50 million towards cyber security programs for myself and my family for online and in-person privacy and safety. (DeleteMe, NordVPN, etc)
    • 10 million each to the hospitals across the state.
    • 70 million to hospice and elderly care.
    • 50 million to Alzheimer’s and Dementia research and treatments.
    • 150 million towards outreach programs for other countries in need of food, water, shelter, basic necessities, and to rebuild their lives from the ground up.
    • 50 million towards the cultural centers, history and art museums, memorials, etc.
    • 50 million towards native programs.
    • 6 million to the Humane Society and animal sanctuaries.

    So, let’s run the numbers again and see where I’m at. Time to pull out the calculator! With everything totaled up above at the ‘What To Do With The Remainder?’ Header, it’s going to come out to $867,000,000. So $868,000,000 minus $867,000,000 equals to $1,000,000 leftover. I’d say this is looking pretty good, but what about the remaining $1 million you ask? It’s pretty simple, especially if you had put yourself last for as long as you can remember. However, in my opinion, it’s easier to know what to do with any crazy amount of money when working backwards.

    Now The 1 Million Dollar Question:

    Given that we hadn’t accounted the 24 hour time frame, that’s okay, we can put that on the side for arguments sake. Let’s turn to the, now, $1,000,000 question and what to do with it. I’d say that I would use it for myself and I already know what I would want to do with it, so, below will be my list:

    • Invest $4,750 towards my contributions for 2025.
    • $600 towards a disc and digital PS5 with the disc games: Bloodborne, Elden Ring, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and whatever else I’d like to play.
    • $900 towards 3 travel size WiFi router with an encrypted VPN installed for myself and gift my parents. (Spitballing for quality and quantity.)
    • $100,000 towards a 2023-2024 Honda Hatchback Civic Sport, fully paid off, with tinted windows, an adjustable backseat to sleep fully stretched out than scrunched up, with a small collapsible fan, and front and rear dash cams.
    • $100,000 to my Dad to get him a new car, fully paid off, of his choosing and retire his Corolla and the Dart I have.
    • Put $300,000 into my High Yield Savings Account.
    • $300,000 into my 401K if I could put in post tax money. If not, then I’ll open an HSA or something akin to it.
    • $13,750 towards fixing my health, teeth, vision, sleep, nutrition, and overall well being.
    • $20,000 towards improving my wardrobe and clothes. Maybe even work with Cassandra Sethi from Next Level Wardrobe.
    • $1,000 towards getting a new IPad with all of my learning app subscriptions on, including this WordPress app, a stylus, and a drawing program for drawing, making stickers, etc.
    • $3,000 towards solar powered batteries and chargers, USB cords, for home and for my car, 1 case of canned goods, 1 case of potable water, 5 one gallon of varying brands of alkaline water, a propane stove, and varying brands of small propane tanks for potential storms and blackouts.
    • Give $16,000 to the small community I’m currently living in to give back to a closer cause.
    • $300 for the Daily Stoic’s 8 medallion bundle.
    • $39,700 towards updating my bed, desk, chair, portable home gym, and creating my personal portable “villain’s lair in plain sight’ aesthetic I always wanted.
    • $5,000 each to support the works of those I personally follow, but couldn’t do so before: The Bioneer, Jaxblade, HistoryByMae, Tales from the Stinky Dragon, Alayna Joy, Kevin Zhang, Einzelganger, The Daily Stoic, MindValley, and The School of Life.
    • $25,000 to someone who could help me improve my own skill set: writing, WordPress, fitness, nutrition, business, art, and whatever else could help me broaden and bridge my own skills and knowledge gap.
    • $12,000 to pay towards my debts
    • $1,000 budget to buy groceries and necessities for the month.
    • $5,000 for my dogs to have durable and warm beds, replace their kennels to be able to withstand rain and wind and heat, and give them better quality dog food.
    • $5,000 to support my cousin’s local pet store.
    • $1,000 into my ‘use this’ savings.
    • $1,000 to take my family out to a nice dinner. Maybe Red Lobster or Cheesecake Factory, while using the remainder to use as a tip.

    Pretty much, with the last 1 million dollars, this is how I would split the money up. Even though I gave money to other people, it’s still my choice, and there are debts that I would like to pay back and this is how I would want to do it.

    What Was The Point Of This?

    That is another excellent question, thank you for asking it! The reason this whole article came to be was because I had seen a video on YouTube called, “COULD YOU SPEND $1 BILLION IN 24 HOURS” by Alux.com and it gave me something to think about. I had encountered this first from Ramit Sethi’s ‘I Will Teach You To Be Rich Journal’ where the questions asked, ‘what would you do if you came into a windfall of $1,000’? Of $100,000? Although, $1 Billion was a more exciting and challenging number to think over than $100,000, don’t you think?

    The possibilities at your fingertips, the creativity that could spawn if you stopped and gave things some thought than none eat all, can be very enlightening. Enlightening how? You see, everything above had been a culmination of days, maybe even weeks, of ruminating, drafting, figuring out what I value, and it was a struggle when I got my family taken cared of first.

    This thought experiment can show you what you value and in what order of importance you’d put them in. I’m not saying that you should put yourself down for prioritizing some things and people over others, no one is wrong unless what you value does harm to other people. Then that can be harshly judged, but, again, I digress and I’m biased. Personally, this was easier for me to work backwards anyways and I know that I wouldn’t need or want too much stuff anyways.

    I know what I like: video games, comics, books ranging from finances, philosophy, psychology, fitness, and high fantasy (which I still have a huge backlog to get through)even books that push me to think about the other side of the argument, pens, notebooks, stickers, mechanical pencils, colored pencils, listening to music, taking a walk around the block, supporting those who supported me, being supportive in general, having my own space and privacy and autonomy in person and online, and accessories from games, and I make sure that I’m building up an emergency fund, investing in my retirement.

    The point here is that giving something like this some thought not only shows you what your values are, it presents an opportunity to start planning. To think about the building a solid foundation, an actionable plan, to ensure that these ideas can become reality than simple wishful thinking. For example, if I wanted to take my family out to eat at a decent restaurant, then I’d have to plan out how much money I’d like to accumulate, how long it would take to build up if I put aside $50 per paycheck, and then set up a reservation somewhere where everyone is off from work and able to hang out.

    If I wanted to support the Blood Bank, then I’d see where the closest donation center would be and give blood once or twice a year; If I wanted to support the libraries and book foundations, just like with the family dinner example, I could volunteer my time or donate money to help keep the place running however I could with my current salary. You start with where you currently are and can start to ask yourself questions, like; ‘if I could do this for longer and contribute more, then what could I do to increase my [volunteering time, donations, etc.]? What could I do now that would get me closer to X and Y? I had started a “charity envelope” where I would put in $20/biweekly or per month, if I could spare it, so I could eventually choose where to donate it to.

    No small thing is ever inconsequential as they eventually lead up to bigger things. Give this thought experiment a try! If $1 billion is too much then work backwards to move forwards:

    • What if I came into an extra $100? What would I do with that money and how could I earn this?
    • What about $1,000?
    • $5,000 cash windfall?
    • $10,000 is in your possession?
    • $100,000? $1,000,000? Until you reach $1 billion in real life?

    While we might not have 24 hours to burn through whatever money we earn or gain, it’s all about perspective, planning, adjusting, and taking action because we will never know where life will take us or how it’ll end. But if we never gave something a try, then the answer will be an elusive and could crushing, “I wish I had done X or gave Y a shot when I had the chance. So, take that chance now while you still can. Who knows where things could lead, when, and how. Thank you so much for reading! Stay tuned for the next one.

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