![business-lady-business-girl-businessman-160685.jpeg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmW3Lvmm7J8jziiysgcJfCSuo2mJVFdCuYVySTKPVwrXcF/business-lady-business-girl-businessman-160685.jpeg)

A few days ago I was watching my father working on a few things outside, some of them related to his car. He was also building a few things and cleaning certain parts of the yard because... well, because that's what he wanted to do and because he thinks those things are really important.

I have a complete different opinion when it comes to how important is what he does, mainly because we have different priorities. I chose to work on the Internet and focus on things that aren't exactly palpable, things you can't really touch, while he doesn't quite understand that and would rather focus on something he can use in real life.

That doesn't matter, but as I was watching what he was doing for a brief moment I couldn't stop thinking about why was he doing all that and what is he getting, in the future, from his hard work.

Okay, repairing some things on the car was a good idea, because that prevents other problems from appearing, but working on all kind of little and useless things and cleaning parts of the yard that don't need to be cleaned seemed more than useless to me.

The main reason for that is that I'm always focusing on working on things that will bring me some kind of reward in the future, or will at least help me with something a few weeks, months or even years from now.

I don't like wasting my time on something that will not help me in the future, things that "should" be done just for the sake of it or because I want to impress a bunch of strangers that barely know I exist.

For example, at the present moment I work on 3 things - writing for Steemit and getting as much Steem as possible, creating design packages for Graphic River and doing the same thing for Creative Market.

The reason those are projects for the future is because what I work on right now will be there for a few good years at least. If I manage to somehow get to 1000 design packages published on Graphic River or/and Creative Market, those will be there for a long time and people may buy some even if I stop working. I'll be able to make money no matter how much effort I'll put into those websites 3 years from now.

Same with Steemit. In one or two more years I'll be able to create enough content to attract more and more people to my profile and that will result in a lot more rewards. Maybe I'm not making a lot now, but for me that's not important. I don't have a lot of necessities right now. I want to be able to live a good life later, in a few years, with the Steem I'll have and with the price of it being high.

Those are the three things I'm working on, trying to make sure I'll have two passive income sources and one active source in the future. Now, if we compare what I do to what my father does almost every day (cleaning certain parts of the yard, repairing things that don't need to be repaired, moving things around and so on), we may get to the conclusion that what he does isn't as important.

It's hard, and I respect that. But if we look at the consequences his actions have for the future, we won't see any type of reward from his work. He's just working for the sake of doing it, without any significant reward. He's gonna be doing the same thing 3 years from now, maybe even more.

I'm in no position to tell him that or to convince him to drop those things and focus on something more important, but it's interesting to think about it, especially since a lot of people focus on the same "strategy".

| If you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.

That's something Warren Buffett said and I completely agree with him. If you work on something that will bring you an immediate reward but doesn't help you achieve something significant in the future, then you'll be doing the same thing again and again until you die.

Some jobs work that way. If you work on a place that will pay you every month, but will give you nothing when you're 65 unless you're still doing something, then you'll always have to work to live a decent life no matter how old you are.

But if you focus on working on something that will help you generate money with 0 effort even when you're old, then you'll be able to stop working at some point and enjoy life.

I'm not saying having a normal job is bad or that you shouldn't focus on things that bring you immediate rewards. I'm saying that you should try to also work on something that can help you have a safer and more comfortable future without having to work day and night until you die.

Work on what you love and do what you think is right, but take some time and invest it into something that will help you generate some income (or whatever you desire) in the future without requiring your attention 24/7.

It may be hard at first and you may want to give up, but it will make your future safer.