Put your money to work by making smart investments. Once the basic practices of personal finance are managed, such as saving money, spending less than what you earn, and keeping track of your money flow, investing becomes the single most important lesson that one can learn in the financial world. Investing allows you to increase the value of money that you are not currently using, investing gives you a place to put your money so that it's less likely to be spent, and investing your money wisely puts you at a vantage point in life. There are many ways to invest; buying stocks, indexes, commodities, or bonds, as well as investing in yourself to gain high-income skills that will make you a more valuable person in the marketplace. The important thing is to invest your money instead of spending it. Now, many people are afraid to invest their money in non-tangible assets because they have little understanding of them, but I believe this is a thought pattern that people can easily change with education; by educating themselves on the things that they wish to invest in and seeking advice from others that have more experience. Everyone wants to double their money and take care of their finances. Yet, how can someone double their income without putting their side money to work while they are working? Or how will someone get a raise without increasing their value as an employee? The solution is investing. Put your money to work by making smart investments. Figure out what non-tangible assets you are comfortable and confident in buying, educate yourself further so that you can see your investments play out in the long run, and start optimizing how you use your money for future rewards.

One of the best memories from my childhood is walking down to the beach after I get home from school and spending the rest of the afternoon running on the sand and catching crabs with my dad. My dad loved sports and everything related to physical activity, and he passed those same hobbies on to me. Throughout my youth, I practiced and competed in sports; I did soccer, volleyball, ping pong, running, and swimming. I also practiced basketball, skateboarding, roller skating, and surfing. I still enjoy all of these activities and whenever I have the chance to practice them, I do so with great excitement. Eventually, beach volleyball became my greatest hobby, I started training really hard and soon enough got recruited to the National Team of Costa Rica. On a different note, I have other, more artistic hobbies. My dad taught me the basics of playing the guitar and now it's something that I practice every day whenever I want to take a break from studying, and I love to sing along when I play. I take pleasure in coloring books because coloring allows me to relax and be creative at the same time. Occasionally, I really like to cook and take my time doing so; I usually make big bowls of salad or plates that involve lots of veggies. Finally, I have a few intellectual hobbies such as reading, meditating, journaling and studying finance. I am fascinated by educational nonfiction books and I try to read at least one hour every day. I find the stock market very interesting and I like to practice trading in my free time. I've learned how to meditate and visualize my desired outcomes, and this has also become part of my daily routine. My hobbies are a part of my identity.

"Imagine you're on your death bed and standing around you are the ghosts representing your unfulfilled potential. The ideas you never acted on, the talents you didn't use. You could've brought them to life. But now you must go to the grave together." - Les Brown. Every single day I am motivated by the pursuit of uncovering, understanding, and maximizing my potential. I believe that we were created in the image and likeness of an omnipotent God, therefore, we have unlimited potential and can achieve anything. Life is constantly changing, and each morning is a new opportunity to learn, grow, give, to share. My motivation is that we have infinite capacity and that it is all captive inside of us; we have untapped strengths, unused successes, and dormant abilities that we can tap into as we continue to thrive in our lives. Daily, I am motivated by circumstances and crises because they are God's tools to move us into our purpose and maximize our potential. I believe that every human in this world has a specific purpose and that there is profound meaning to life, and truly for me, the greatest tragedy in life is not death, but living life without ambition. I understand what it's like to live without intention and hope because there was a time in my life when I was falling down the hole of parties, sex, and meaninglessness; that is why today one of my goals in life is to become a person that helps others discover their purpose and pursue their dreams. Discovering that my potential is limitless encourages me to be relentless, disciplined, and driven on a daily basis. I now understand that dreams take time, but that they are possible because they're all within us.

Over the last two years, I have become a great devotee to the art of journaling for self-awareness and improvement. After about a year of asking myself reflective questions, such as "what did I learn today?" or "how can I improve tomorrow?", every day before bed, I discovered something about the person I am that has been of immense importance to me. I identified my personal life values. Values are important because they dictate who we are, what we do, and who we become. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, "Your beliefs become your thoughts, Your thoughts become your words, Your words become your actions, Your actions become your habits, Your habits become your values, Your values become your destiny." It's so easy to let ourselves drift in life, going through the motions without any idea of the things that we wish to achieve within the short or long term, and consequently, we end up losing control of our time and letting other people fill us up with their own goals and dreams. Finding my values has been fundamental because they remind me of the things that I consider the most important in life, and thus, they serve as a guide in my decision making, in the goals that I set for myself, and even in how I schedule my days. Currently, my life values are: God, health, helping others, being in constant growth, and having financial freedom. These could change at any moment and that is why I continue to journal almost every day to stay connected to my identity. With my values, I discovered my purpose in life, I get to be the person I really want to be, and I understand my personal view on the meaning of life. Learning my values gave me clarity, ownership, and peace.

When I started playing volleyball on the beach at twelve years old, I was inspired by many people, such as my dad, my P.E teacher, three-time Olympic medallist April Ross, and motivational speakers like Tony Robbins and Les Brown. However, there is one particular person that impacted my life in an outstanding way, someone to who I attribute a great part of my success. Someone who gave me all the resources that I needed to become a better version of myself, and who completely transformed my mindset into that of an athlete. Her name is Ingrid Morales and she was my first professional beach volleyball coach. Ingrid’s story is not just about a coach that showed up in my life and helped me grow in the sport, her own journey as an athlete is the biggest inspiration that I’ve ever encountered, and she is a person who I can always look up to in admiration. Ingrid is one the most outstanding women I have ever met, she is that kind of person that everyone respects and loves. Ingrid showed me what it was like to be a relentless woman; to have consistency and dedication, to work hard for your dreams and have fun while doing so, and to never let opposing forces stop you from running on your desired path. You see, back in 2013 when Ingrid was head coach of the Women's National Beach Volleyball Team, she proposed a three-year training program to the National Team Committee with the goal of classifying for the Olympics in Rio. Refusing to give her any financial support, the committee laughed in her face and told her that she would never be able to make it. Three years later, Ingrid Morales along with the player-pair of Natalia Alfaro and Karen Cope, were the first Costarican team to ever qualify for the Olympics in beach volleyball. Despite all of her success as an athlete and then as a coach, Ingrid has always kept a humble heart and a simple life; she is a very grateful and joyful being, and she is passionate about her current job as an independent beach volleyball coach, teaching others how to play this sport that we all love. Ingrid coached me to be a high-performing athlete; to focus and be intentional in every practice, to be coachable and open to corrections, to trust and enjoy the process, and to have an integral and balanced lifestyle. Ingrid helped me discover my strengths and weaknesses both on and off the court, and she taught me how to leverage them in order to reach my optimal performance. She has always been there for me; always open to talk when I need advice or emotional support, always willing to connect me with the right contacts, and always happy to love me in this multi-dimensional way where she is not just my coach but also like a mother and a friend. As I look back at my process from twelve years old until now, I can proudly, gratefully, and whole-heartedly call myself one of Ingrid Morales’ pupils because she is the woman who laid the foundation of the athlete and human being that I am today.

​​Every human being that has ever lived had a life, but what was the meaning of that life? Is that meaning always the same or does everyone have a different meaning of life? These are questions that I never asked myself. As I think back on my childhood, growing up in Costa Rica and living just two hundred feet away from the beach allowed me to implicitly discover the meaning of life. I have defined the meaning of life into three independent, yet also synergetic, elements: potential, relationship, and experience. Visually, I like to think of a pyramid, where the base is potential and the top is divided into two parts: relationship and experience. Life equals potential. To discover, unleash, and maximize one’s potential. To understand one’s purpose and pursue the things that one is passionate about. It is said that humans were created in the image and likeness of the omnipotent God, and thus, we have unlimited potential and can achieve anything. Life equals relationship. Meaning comes from others, we can’t always live in a self-centered form. Living involves community, creating rapport, intimacy, and love with others. True meaning comes from helping others and receiving help from others. Finally, life equals experience. To experience life with joy, curiosity, and intentionality. We must enjoy even the smallest things, be grateful, be present, become fascinated with earth's wonders, always be a student of life, and authentically and vividly experience living life. I try to achieve this meaningfulness by constantly reviewing and planning my goals and dreams in order to maximize my potential. I try to have purposeful conversations with people every day that lead me to intimacy and rapport. Moreover, I verbally state my intentions and remind myself how I want to experience life; living with intention, curiosity, gratitude, and joy.

Two of the most common misconceptions that retail traders have about investing are that it is either too easy or too hard. With Wall Street hyping stocks to promote immediate gains, on one hand, and, on the other hand, greedy financial advisers making the market seem complex and incomprehensible, the average investor becomes perplexed by the constant oversupply of information. Nonetheless, investing doesn't have to be complicated, rather, it can be simplified, and profitability can be achieved by taking to heart a single stock-purchasing strategy: compounding. In the book "The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success" by Darren Hardy, the author defines the effect of compounding as the principle of reaping huge rewards from a series of small, smart choices. This concept not only applies to the art of developing new habits and creating a fruitful life but also describes a compelling formula for investment success. This investing tip of compounding entails a consistent routine of investing in the market every so often (every week or every month) over a long period of time. The point of this strategy is to be constantly buying into the same stocks so that, over the long term, the growth compounds and the entry price averages to a neutral point. The biggest mistake investors make is buying at the wrong time. However, by compounding and averaging one's buy point, there is no wrong entry. The key is to find stocks that one can have conviction in, stocks that portray a positive future projection and growth. With this, all that is left is consistency in the market and compounding for huge long-term rewards.