Steve Pavlina has started a series of posts on creating passive income, something I’m excited to read a lot more about. Before he gets into the practicalities of the what and the how, he wrote an excellent post about envisioning yourself at the endgame, at a point where you have the amount of passive income flowing in that changes your life. If you’ll imagine yourself at this point, what happens next?

It seems a simple enough question, but it is central to achieving success.

What form of success are you focused on currently? Landing a dream job? Leaving a horrible job to go it alone? Visiting ten countries in five years? Finishing a higher degree? Becoming financially independent? Making and celebrating a commitment with the love of your life?

Whatever your version of success is right now, the chances are that your focus in on wishing you had already achieved that success. Your day is probably filled with wistful “if only” moments. But have you ever stopped to think about what your life would look like once your vision of success has been achieved?

“Of course!” you say. But are you sure?

Let’s say that your goal, like mine, is for financial independence (i.e. never needing to work again). Once achieved, what would your life look like?

“I could do whatever I wanted, my days are free to call my own!”

While that’s true, that’s very vague. You need to be able to imagine yourself living that life. When you have a whole day of freedom in the here and now do you delight in it and use the day as an opportunity to explore those things that are most dear to you? Or do you squander the day, watching more television and checking Facebook more often than on a usual day?

If your tendency is to do the latter, then what makes you think that life would be any different when you had every day open to freedom and choice? If you can’t clearly imagine what life looks like after the attainment of your success, then it isn’t real. And if it isn’t real in your mind, then it will never be real in the here and now.

Mike, over at Lacking Ambition, is a wonderful example of how to not only achieve financial independence, but also how to clearly envision what life will be like when he’s achieved his goal (which he nearly has). His latest post gives many examples of how he will live his life and fill his days once financial independence has been achieved. It is full of motivations for why the working life could never fulfil him. What’s truly key here is that he currently incorporates many of these elements into his life now. Mike knows how he wants to live his life and what the essential elements are and he is not waiting for a future date to radically change the appearance of his life. In fact, once he has achieved financial independence, Mike will simply do more of what he loves to do now and be able to expand and deepen his interests.

If your current life doesn’t contain elements that you envision for after you’ve achieved the success, then it will continue to seem like a fantasy, and thus unachievable. If you don’t do these things now, even in some very small way, then what are the chances you’ll do them later? To achieve success you have to want it desperately, and if you are desperate enough then you will find a way to have a small piece of it now.

To achieve your success you need to be able to clearly imagine what it will look and feel like. You need to be able to sit down and map out a typical day or week for your future life. You need to imagine yourself existing in this reality as clearly as your mind can conjure up the events of the past week. With the images you must also be able to feel the associated emotions – the peace, the excitement, the energy.

Give it a try and while you’re doing so map out this next week and find ways to incorporate elements of your new life into the fabric of your current reality. Just choose a couple of elements and find 15 minutes or so for each of these throughout the week.

Instead of beginning with a plan of how to achieve the success you’re after, begin by imagining your life after you’ve achieved your goal. Start living this life in some small way now and the path to success will become clearer and easier to achieve.

Related posts:

1. Meaning Experiment of the Week – What do you want to be when you grow up?
2. Recognising the Phenomenon
3. The Intersection of Passion and Talent

The Monday before the conference Q&A hosted a program with Richard Dawkins and Cardinal Pell asking a whole host of questions about religion and its place in society. At one point Richard Dawkins was asked by Cardinal Pell “Can science explain why we are here, rather than how we are here?” Cardinal Pell went on to say that it is science’s inability to answer the why that demonstrates why we need religion in our lives.

Richard Dawkins wasn’t going to let that one through! Instead he answered in true Dawkins style, that this sort of question isn’t even valid, necessary or worth asking. Dawkins intimated that this in fact was a silly question and science has more worthwhile questions to be answering.

I wasn’t entirely satisfied with this response. I have spent a great deal of my life wondering why and what for. It is only in recent years (which brought about the advent of this blog) that I have changed my perception on this question, realising that there is no inherent meaning to us being here, but rather an opportunity for each of us to find what makes our individual lives meaningful. What has naturally stemmed from this for me is that there is no longer a need for religion and that in fact religion focuses our attention in an entirely wrong direction (an after-life rather than this life). The more I realised that religion was not necessary, I also realised that all of it seemed totally ludicrous, and that the stories surrounding religion weren’t even very creative or very good stories.

As it turns out, the very next Monday, A.C. Grayling was on Q&A with some other panellists and he was asked by a member of the audience whether he agreed with Richard Dawkins’ position on asking the why questions.  His response was like a breath of fresh air for me. This portion of the show went like this:

BEN PEAKE: My question is for AC Grayling. Last week on Q&A, Richard Dawkins said the question of “Why are we here?” is a silly question which doesn’t deserve consideration. Do you agree? If so, why do you believe that so many people find it important that that question has an answer?

AC GRAYLING: The problem with the question is that it is a question begging a question. If you think it is a valid question to ask, you have already made the assumption there is an answer external to what is the case about us, which is that as intelligent monkeys, we are essentially social animals, we live in communities with one another and we have a responsibility to think, to use the intelligence we have got and to make meaning, to make purpose in life. There isn’t an antecedent purpose which you can cite as the answer to that question “Why are we here?”. The fact is we are here, we have to get on with it, and make the best of it. And the way that we make the best of it is to make life meaningful. (Emphasis my own)

A.C. Grayling, a brilliant philosopher, was able to explain quite concisely, the problem we all seem to have with this question. We assume that there is an answer, because many of us want there to be an answer.

Let me explain it with this analogy, something that I have some experience with. Many people spend years talking to a psychologist, trying week in and week out to understand why one or both of their parents couldn’t love them. Sure, some weeks they complain about their partner, others their work colleagues or their problems with being close to their own children. In reality though, each week (just like each day) they carry around with them a question from their childhood – why did Dad leave, why was Mum always angry at me, why wasn’t I good enough, why was I not loved?

This question will never be answered, it can’t be answered because there is no answer. No matter how much someone might want to know the answer, none will come. The problem is with the question. Instead of wanting to know why, the time would be better spent implementing strategies to focus on the now and also might be better spent by understanding the reasons behind why one feels it is necessary to repeatedly ask this question of themselves over and over.

Accepting that we are complex enough to pose a question to which there is no objective answer is difficult. Furthermore, coming to terms with an answer that puts the responsibility of meaning on each of us individually is too burdensome for many of us. Relinquishing the comfort of religion when we realise that it no longer serves any purpose nor delivers any meaning is extremely confronting for many.

The meaning of life is not an absolute. This will take some time to come to grips with, but it is a worthwhile cause. Turn your focus instead to how you can make your own life personally meaningful and rejoice in the fact that this is how life really works. After all, do you really want some pre-determined purpose? Wouldn’t you prefer to choose what enlightens and enlivens you? I know I would and do.

Related posts:

1. How Atheism Adds Meaning to Life
2. The Importance of Inspiration
3. Meaning Experiment of the Week – Something Bigger Than Yourself

I know, I know, a terrific fantasy, and one not at all filled with much humility or indeed reality. But hey, as far as dreams go I used to think it was a pretty good one.

Yes, I longed to be the Leonardo da Vinci who finds his Lorenzo de Medici, and at the same time I know I’ve idealised the whole scenario. We know that Leonardo was a unique genius whose many interests led him in a variety of directions and without successful focus on any one area. We also know that many of his commissions for various patrons were left unfinished. In fact, instead of living a comfortable life, unworried about finances, he was often left with a month or two of savings. Much of his famous art, rather than being something that he was proud of and enjoyed producing, is more likely to be a commission he reluctantly accepted to allow him enough funds to pursue his other projects and to allow for food and lodging.

What I suppose I’m trying to impress upon you is that it seems very likely that even someone as amazing as Leonardo da Vinci had a job too. He had to find ways to employ his skills to earn his keep, even if he would have preferred having years of time stretched ahead of him to work on flight, optics and the mysteries of the human body. While his patrons certainly allowed him many freedoms in this regard, they weren’t entirely without their price. They wanted their share of his genius too and even his life was a balance between allowing his creativity and intelligence to follow their natural inclinations and submitting to the whims of his employers.

So I guess you could say I’ve started to rethink my desire for a patron and turn instead to designing my life in such a way that I am my own patron.

Even as such I will need to work and exchange my skills in part for some financial gains. Yet I seek a solution that allows for this on my own terms, as far as is feasible, and with a system of balance suitable to me.

You would all know by now that I’m not content with snatched moments for myself here and there. I am not content to live a life where the thoughts of the day revolve around work to the extent that my own unique thoughts have barely any energy left to communicate with me. I am not willing to give the best of myself to others in a way that asks me to compromise on what I have left for me.

As my own patron I understand the important balance between establishing finances that are sustainable and also freeing. The work that I do for myself must hold some intellectual stimulus but also be in the background of my greater goals and ambitions. I cannot let a situation arise where I spend more time trying to establish businesses or income streams than I do on the personal pursuits that are important to me. If I were to let this happen, then it would be the equivalent of working a full time job for someone else. I would have become a slave to the patron (even if the patron is me) rather than the patron being in the background supporting my pursuits.

I think many of us imagine that working for ourselves will be a wondrous endeavour filled with freedom. I think it all depends ultimately on why it is you want to work for yourself. If you imagine that it means having more freedom of time and choice then I think you may be deluded. If you think you will have more opportunity to pursue your greatest interests then I think you need to examine the reality more closely.

If what you seek is a lifestyle that will allow you to read, learn, experiment, grow, philosophise, experience, savour, inquire and detach, then you need to ensure that the necessities of life are automatically created in the background of your life, rather than in the foreground. Work as you need to and then set it aside as you pursue your real interests. Organise working so that it occupies less than 50% of your time – a 3 day working week with 4 days for personal pursuits would be a great place to start.

When it’s time to work do so with focus and ungrudgingly knowing that this work too is for you. When it is your time, turn with full focus, putting finances aside, and create and learn knowing confidently that your patron is in full support of your lifestyle.

Give yourself permission to be your own version of Leonardo da Vinci but without the insecurity or sense that you need to compromise yourself.

Related posts:

1. Life Lessons Inspired by Leonardo da Vinci
2. The Dr Phil Experiment
3. You Are What You Create

I think when people hear the word “values” there is a tendency to stifle a huge yawn. It isn’t a very inspiring word and for me at least tends to conjure up memories of sitting in religious education at school talking about what morals and values were depicted in an equally uninspiring biblical story.

These are not the sorts of values to which I’m referring. Instead, think “guiding principles” or “life beacons”. What I’m talking about here are the essential elements in your life that make you who you are, and more importantly, guide you into being who you want to be.

Yet still, this may all seem a bit intangible and have that whiff of an impending activity involving brainstorming and butcher’s paper. In fact it’s the exact opposite of this. Your values aren’t determined by you coming up with something that sounds like it might be good. Rather, you already know what you need in your life, even if it has been buried under the layers of inauthenticity over the years.

If you feel bored, stressed, depressed, frustrated, angry or sad with any area of your life on a daily basis, then this is a clear sign that you are denying your own values and that you are suffocating under the weight of your own disappointment. You might already realise this to some extent, but feel powerless to know where to start in establishing any real change. The first step is to identify what values would occupy the life of your dreams.

As an example from my life at the moment, I can see very clearly where my situation is out of alignment with what I value most, and doing so is an important first step in changing the situation. I value freedom above almost anything else, and this includes the freedom to choose how to spend the hours of my day. For me this isn’t just a wish, this is a guiding principle in my life. Above all else I know I need to figure out a way to align my life with this value.

Another value that is imperative to my sense of self is meaningful engagement. There are many people out there who are just fine with doing a job five days a week, 48 weeks a year, that is neither meaningful nor engaging. This is certainly not me. I am finding that I feel physically ill at not being involved in activities that I feel are meaningfully engaging. As I’ve spent time over the last year brainstorming possible occupations for myself, almost everything I think of has been rejected after a day or two, and this is owing to this one value. For example, I’ve considered freelance writing as a possible career change, but the thought of spending time on assignments that I don’t feel are engaging or meaningful almost makes me shudder. Sure, some might think that adhering to a value like this severely limits my options and is a tad unrealistic, but I’m not out looking for something a bit better, or even something significantly better, I’m looking for the exact right fit. I’m looking for the extraordinary and the deeply fulfilling.

To give one more example, contribution is another value high on my agenda. This value has been integral to my decision making since I first contemplated university courses back in high school. When people were telling me I should become a lawyer or an engineer, I chose teaching because of the opportunities I saw in being able to contribute something to the lives of others. I have long been interested in shaping and contributing to young people in particular and I still am. Teaching mathematics is no longer the correct avenue to fulfil this value since it doesn’t align with my other values, but I will still carry this value of contribution with me into future decision-making.

If you don’t take the time to clearly and succinctly define what you value then you’ll be stuck where you are, possibly indefinitely. Once you identify your values they then serve as the cornerstones or beacons that guide you out of the mire of your current situation and into the brighter reality of tomorrow. If you don’t take the time to really get acquainted with what you need in your life, then you will have nowhere to shift your focus. Ultimately your focus will continue to be on your feelings of anger, depression and frustration, rather than on new feelings of excitement and curiosity at what is coming up next.

As you sit at work today, instead of watching the clock tick over or distracting yourself with yet another cute and goofy photo of a kitten, sneak a moment for yourself to identify your top five guiding beacons. Send them to yourself in an email, keep them on your phone, put them in your calendar and set a reminder for yourself to view them each day.

This is the beginning. This is how you will change your life. This is how your focus will begin to change and with it your external reality.

I would love for you to share even just one of your values with me and with those who stop by to read this post, so please take a moment to share in the comments below.

Related posts:

1. Does Goal Setting Make Life More Meaningful?
2. Meaning Experiment of the Week – Meaning Drains
3. Are you really ready to create your own meaning?

It’s not the school, and it’s certainly not the students, who are a really delightful group of young women. It’s me. It’s who I’ve become. I’ve changed and unfortunately I’ve pushed this realisation aside while throwing myself once more into a situation where I don’t want to be. Realistically I’m stuck here until the end of the year. Sure, I could resign, but I feel I’ve made a commitment to these students and so will do my best to see the year out.

So how am I going to get through a year of feeling stuck between worlds? How can you get through another year if you’re feeling the same way?

Have an end in sight

Feeling stuck indefinitely is far too overwhelming to cope with long term and will almost certainly break you down. You need to have the ability to remind yourself of the impermanence of your situation, even as a means to temporarily cheer yourself up. The end of whatever has you stuck should be in the relatively near future, with three years as an absolute maximum. If what you’re stuck in is a terrible relationship, this should be three months not years.

Work knowing that this is the last time you’ll be doing this job

Going back to teaching maths in a high school setting has confirmed for me that this is the last time I’ll be doing this job. It no longer stimulates me like it once did, and it no longer holds fulfilling challenges. Yet knowing this is my last year brings a new freshness to the situation and allows me to shift my perspective when at work.

Each lesson sees me making the most of my students, enjoying the time I get to spend with them and getting to know them.  Teaching offers the unique opportunity to forge many relationships and to perfect your communication skills with a range of different people and I’m going to make the most of it while it lasts.

Research, plan and research some more

Spend time in the evenings and weekends planning your next move. How long will you be able to last on what you will save during this time? How much can you save? Where can you reduce your expenditure?

At first you’ll need to really figure out who you are and what you value. Cal Newport has two great posts he wrote recently explaining that to make a career choice you first need to define what sort of lifestyle you are seeking and which elements you need to include in your life to feel you are living a remarkable life.

The first place to start might be with identifying what it is about your current situation that is making you feel so stuck. Essential elements that you need in your life are missing from your job and clearly defining these will help you determine what you need to look for.

Make time for yourself at work

Whether in your lunch break or a few stolen moments here and there at work, it is important that you create little islands of time for yourself. Maybe it’s to read a novel, or to read an interesting article or do a little more research on an idea you had this morning. Depending on how busy your day is this won’t always be possible, but try to take time to devote to you.

In doing so you will experience a moment of freedom in your day and you will take back a moment of control. This will contrast significantly with your usual feeling of being stifled and stuck and will act as an energiser.

Treat this period as a valuable Meantime

Transitioning from one period of your life to another doesn’t usually happen overnight. In fact, when life does change dramatically overnight this is usually to due to a tragedy, and so you should welcome and embrace a period of less rapid and more conscious shifting.

Yes you will wake up each day wishing that the new phase of your life had already started, but it won’t start without the necessary groundwork anyway. Think of it as a challenge. If you can set up the framework for your new life in the middle of a life that leaves you very little time for your own pursuits, then you must really want it. In a way, you will prove to yourself during this time that you mean business and that your goals are important to you.

In fact, on some days you’ll be glad to see that the deadline for the end of this life and the beginning of the new one is still so far off when you realise there is still so much to do. In a way I think it can be likened to the nine months of being pregnant. As a mother you are given nine precious months (in the best case scenario) to prepare for your new life. There are many times when pregnant women can’t wait for the baby just to be born already, sometimes because of the great discomfort or for feeling unwell, and other times due to the great excitement. Regardless, all women have to wait. I’m sure there are an equal number of times where mothers are glad for the time to adjust to the idea of this new role and to have the time to prepare mentally, emotionally, physically and practically.

Consider that you are currently in the gestational period of the new life that you are creating for yourself. You need this time to prepare yourself, both mentally and practically. Waking up overnight into your new life would more than likely fail miserably. A gradual change of which you have control over is far more likely to be successful.

Feeling stuck is simply a sign that you’re ready to move on and that you are overdue for a change. There’s no point sitting around wishing and waiting for your lotto numbers to come up. Instead you need to use this time to plan your escape. Don’t put all your focus on the ending though, the focus needs to be on the beginning of what happens next.

This is where I went wrong last time. I put my focus on what I didn’t want rather than on what I wanted and needed. This in turn ensured I had no firm plan for my next move. Without the correct clarity I’ve fallen back into what I know. So I’m setting myself the challenge of using this year to exit a life I don’t want and to enter a life that I do want and that I have successfully planned for.

Related posts:

1. How to know when it’s over
2. Meaning Experiment of the Week – Personality and Personal Growth
3. If You Had Six Months Left to Live

The thing about exercise is that I just never understood it. I didn’t understand (and still don’t) why people would want to spend their lives chasing a ball or hitting and catching a ball. Sport seems so boring to me. I also didn’t know why people would ever want to get hot and sweaty. If there’s one thing that makes me extremely uncomfortable it has to be sweat and humidity.

When I think about exercise I think about that line out of Back To The Future III where Doc explains the future to people in the Wild West.

Doc: And in the future, we don’t need horses. We have motorized carriages called automobiles.
Saloon Old Timer #3 : If everybody’s got one of these auto-whatsits, does anybody walk or run anymore?
Doc : Of course we run. But for recreation. For fun.
Saloon Old Timer #3 : Run for fun? What the hell kind of fun is that?

My sentiments exactly, no kind of fun at all!

I was hoping to go my whole life being anti-exercise, or as long as practicable. I don’t buy into the notion that exercise influences weight and I know it’s probably 85% diet and only 15% exercise.

My husband talks to me about all the good endorphins he gets after a big cycle, but all I see is all the salt that has dried on his head after he has sweat buckets creating these endorphins. Better endorphins can be created in much more enjoyable ways!

But in October last year I decided the time had come for me to start exercising. This wasn’t the first time I had decided this by any means. I’ve had two gym memberships over the years. Both times I can safely say that the membership became just another card in my wallet. I didn’t know what to do at the gym, what equipment to use or how long to exercise for. My sporadic attempts didn’t build up enough momentum to allow time to see improvements and working out in a class full of people must have reminded me too much of school.

I’ve tried some at home gym equipment, including a treadmill and an elliptical trainer. One ended up on the verge I think and the other is waiting for me to get around to selling it. I’ve had a few workout dvds, including yoga and Zumba, but I quickly got bored and was frustrated at not seeing any significant improvements.

But in October I decided that my body was old for a 31 year old. My shoulders seemed too tight, my bones a bit too creaky and my limbs unforgivably flabby. So I decided I had to get serious and stop with all this “girly” exercise and instead get hard-core (for me at least). There was no point doing something just for fun. For one it wouldn’t be fun for long, and anything that fun probably wouldn’t give me decent results in a time frame I found favourable. I wanted variety, a challenge and some results.

So here I am, seven weeks into my P90X program, working out 6 days a week for about 75 minutes each day. For someone who considered themselves allergic to exercise, working out 6 days a week is an accomplishment in itself. It’s nearly a miracle. I would now consider working out a habit I’ve formed, even if some days I’d rather not do it. More amazing still is that I’m sweating buckets and not totally hating it. Perhaps my face is even showing more of a dewy freshness?

Do I now love exercise? No way. What about those endorphins? Nope, got none of those. Fresh air? Nup, I exercise inside.

So what then? Why do I keep doing it? Why do I even look forward to many of the days of the program?

The sense of accomplishment.

It’s hard for me to believe just how strong I’ve become. I can feel muscles everywhere, and the many days I’ve spent barely being able to walk or get up and down from the couch is certainly a testament to how hard I’ve been working.

Each week I can do more push-ups (normal, military, you name it), lift heavier weights, do more sit ups and go longer and harder in the cardio. My triceps are firming up so fast that I’ll never have to fear tuck-shop lady arms. My calves are rock hard and my thighs aren’t too far behind. My abs have a way to go but I know I’ll get there.

The real breakthrough was the other day when I decided to do a Zumba workout to mix it up and I realised that I barely broke a sweat nor did it even seem difficult to me. The sense of achievement was astounding.

Physical fitness is a real achievement for me because I’ve never had a natural skill nor affinity for exercise. I wouldn’t say I’m uncoordinated, because I do love to dance, but I’m the last person who does anything too out-doorsy or joins team sports.

By most reviews, the P90X program is considered quite challenging, and I did doubt whether I’d be capable. But the challenge and personal achievement possible is what has kept me going. As Tony Horton says about his AbRipper X workout, “I hate it, but I love it”. And that’s where I am now.

If you hate exercise like I do, don’t go for something fun, go for a sense of accomplishment. Whatever you dislike most, turn it around so that your focus is on achievement rather than fun and enjoyment. Push yourself to your limits and you just might find a new aspect of yourself, your personality and your capabilities that can add a new dimension to your life.

Related posts:

1. Meaning Experiment Interval Training Follow Up
2. A Sense of Accomplishment
3. Meaning Experiment of the Week Interval Training

On a daily basis we are encouraged to believe that we should be happy immediately and in all moments. There are a variety of gadgets and experiences you can buy that are advertised in such a way as to make you believe that instant happiness will result after you consume them. While you might feel happy for a time, it is rarely long lasting, and thus the cycle of buying continues.

As someone who has taught hundreds of teenagers, this misguided belief that we should be enjoying ourselves at all times in order to be happy, is rampant among our youth. As teachers we are at odds with what parents are doing at home; parents may be trying to provide their children with constant enjoyment and distraction since this is what their children demand and teachers are trying to encourage students to develop focus, discipline and thought in order to achieve goals and develop knowledge beyond their imaginings.

I certainly believe that part of our problem stems from the promise of religion. When times were different and life was a very physical struggle, the promise of an everlasting life where you had to do nothing but enjoy yourself with the people you loved must have sounded tantalising. When rest and relaxation didn’t exist for the working classes, a promise of eternal relaxation and joy might have been worth believing in.

But for me, the thought of sitting around in paradise for eternity is not at all enticing, in fact, it makes me want to scream. I mean honestly, how boring would it be? Doing nothing, all the time. Being reunited with the people you knew. What would you even have to talk about? What about the joys and challenges of meeting new people?

This belief that eternal enjoyment is desirable might have worked once upon a time to keep the dissent and unrest amongst the working class at a minimum. Now it’s become a matter of thinking we should have and deserve to have eternal enjoyment here and now.

In fact the real truth is that what we humans enjoy most of all is the feeling that comes with extending ourselves and accomplishing something worthwhile. It is a deep feeling that cannot be gained by spending a life lazing by a pool.

It usually takes me a school term to convince the majority of my students that a sense of accomplishment and the realisation of one’s potential is what life’s all about. A few will stubbornly resist, and that’s fine by me. My students don’t learn this by me telling them it is so. Under my direction, and often reluctantly, they start to turn their focus to working hard and achieving success. I set the path and guide them forward and encourage those who can to forge ahead and those who are struggling to trust me. Soon each student is focussed on their own best efforts and they never stray for long. They probably aren’t able to articulate at the end of the year why they feel the way they do. Many often mistakenly feel that it’s because of me that they enjoyed the class so much, and as flattering as that is, I know it’s because of the huge sense of accomplishment they have experienced.

There’s nothing like looking back on a year of success and knowing you achieved it through hard work and focus.

There’s nothing like seeing how much you’ve grown and how much more you now know and understand.

There’s nothing like realising that you have spent your time well and have discovered new opportunities.

There’s nothing like seeing your own potential come to fruition and realising your worth and intelligence as a human being.

Each of us has evolved to want to discover and understand. If this wasn’t our true nature we’d never walk or talk. Why would we bother to try and communicate or develop our fine and gross motor skills unless we wanted to be more fully involved in our world?

You might be like most of my students on the first day of Term 1, waiting for life to be handed to you and hoping nothing much will be asked of you, yet at the same time hoping for a feeling that you can’t describe. Instead you search for fun at every opportunity, no matter how pointless or frivolous. You might already acknowledge that fun doesn’t last beyond the moment. As a solution to this you might try to buy more and more fun into your life. Eventually you’ll realise that this isn’t sustainable and you’ll be tempted to wallow in despair and depression.

Instead, set your sights on personal accomplishments. Perhaps start with achieving greater physical strength and fitness. Turn your attentions to growing your own food. Become fluent in that language that you speak a little. Have a firm understanding of the last 100 years of our world history. Understand the mysteries behind the software that you love to use and program your own. Make your own fashion.

The list goes on forever and requires only a little imagination and a bit of intuition. Recall the last time you felt really accomplished. It might be back somewhere in your student days. Remember also how long lasting that feeling was and what it would be like to feel that way again.

Go on, accomplish something today, this week and this

Related posts:

1. Meaning Experiment of the Week – What do you need to unlearn?
2. The Intersection of Passion and Talent
3. Life, I’m just not that into you

Having said that, I think we all need some sort of over-arching purpose or goal to keep us in tune with our essential selves and what we truly want to achieve and experience.

A life without any purpose or focus is a life that stagnates. If each day goes by without you making the necessary choices to fulfil your potential, then very rapidly you will find yourself at the end of life wondering who you could have been and what you could have experienced and contributed. If you choose to delay making choices about your direction you will end up on a default path in life. Your attention will be bought by the advertising you consume and you will slowly become an archetype of the consumerist model.

All that is necessary is that you choose a theme for yourself for this year, 2012. This theme may not last the entire year, or perhaps it will extend into next year, but a theme is a useful place to start.

A theme is just an over-arching beacon to guide your focus throughout the year. It will ensure that you spend some of your time focussing on what is important to you and it will act as a personal motto, popping into your mind throughout the day, reminding you of who you are and what you want to achieve and experience.

I came across this idea from reading Tammy’s latest post on Rowdy Kittens where she explained what her theme was for 2011 and what her theme will be for 2012. In both instances Tammy has used a single word to define her theme and this struck me as a very powerful idea. This single word will serve as a mantra that you remind yourself of often. It will come to mind just when you were tempted to while away the hours in front of the TV or on the net. This word will gently coax you back, encouraging you to devote some of your time to what you hold most dear.

Here are a few suggestions of useful themes for 2012 to get you started on your brainstorming:

Health – this could mean eating better, exercising more, drinking more water, drinking less alcohol, meditating, breathing more deeply, stretching, sleeping

Unplug – this could mean watching less TV, spending less time on Facebook, or Twitter or Email, spending less time aimlessly wandering the net

Less – this could mean eating less, buying less, consuming less, doing less, working less, interacting less

Energise- this could mean eating better food, reading inspirational stories, watching motivational documentaries, engaging in energetic activities, meeting with upbeat friends

Learn- this could serve as a reminder to read more non-fiction, to educate yourself about healthier eating, to enrol in a new class, to take an online course, to learn a new form of exercise

Whatever you choose it will serve to remind you, in each moment, but especially during times of wasteful idleness, of the fact that you are always working towards being the best version of you and making the most of the time that you have. This word is your higher self calling your lower self to join in on gaining the best experiences and on creating the most personally meaningful life possible.

My theme for 2012 will be Create. Within this I will focus on: creating connections, creating and completing pieces of writing, creating ideas, creating my very best physique, creating a foundation for my financial future, creating more space and time. This is by no means an exhaustive list, and with this theme in my mind I will no doubt uncover many opportunities to create.

So how about it? Why not choose a theme for 2012 and see where this leads you and how it just might improve the quality of your life this year.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and especially what theme you have chosen for 2012.

Related posts:

1. Cultivating Gratitude
2. Make Your Yes Meaningful
3. Disempowering Rituals

Once you begin truly thinking for yourself, examining the whys and the hows, and being slightly suspicious of the truth behind everything you hear and think you know, there is no going back to the innocence and ignorance that you may have enjoyed before. No matter how much you might wish to go back to a life where you accepted the status quo, you can’t go back.

After some time, you will find that you are on the outskirts of the status quo, watching everyone participating around you, while you wonder what might be left for you. You can’t participate with those who are seemingly content with the way things are because you don’t understand how they continue to fail to awaken and they don’t understand what’s wrong with you and why you just can’t be happy. This is where I find myself now.

So what are your options? What are mine? All of us who find ourselves here on the fringe, on the edge, have to find some way to live outside of the status quo as much as possible, while we find a way to build a life and a world of our own imagining.

Eventually, more and more people will leave the status quo and will come to join the rest of us. This is how the world will change. It won’t happen in the space of a few months, or even a few years. It won’t be a sudden change in the world. Rather, individuals have been changing their lives. Now these individuals have started to gather with people similar to them and small groups are forming. Small, yet growing, movements are leading by example, sharing their ideas and knowledge, often in blog form, and more individuals feel drawn to experiment for themselves, and find a way to live true to their essence on the outskirts of the status quo.

So I’ve kept you in suspense long enough haven’t I? How am I going to live outside the system that I can no longer tolerate?

I am going to retire early and simplify my life. By early I mean at the end of 2015, at 35 years of age.

What were you expecting? Something more dramatic? Something more magical? Or perhaps you’re wondering how?

I will probably write further posts to explain some of this in more detail, especially if there’s any interest. But here are the bare bones of what I intend and what I am doing so far:

For the first 9 years of my working life I have saved hard (and then my husband joined me) and we have a house that is paid for. Thus our largest expense, the mortgage, is no longer an obstacle.

I no longer see our house as a “starter home”. I refuse to buy into the notion that I need something bigger and newer in a nicer location. The energy (time spent at work plus denying myself mental and intellectual freedom) that would be required to “upgrade” our house and lifestyle, is not something that is worthwhile nor feasible for me.

I could technically stop going to work now and rely on my husband’s income. There is no way I’m going to do that though. My financial independence is essential to me. I could not be the feminist that I am and simultaneously rely on my husband for resources. This might not sit well with some of you, and it may offend others of you, and yet this is what I am. And so, I will spend the next four years, saving and simplifying, so that I may achieve my financial freedom.

I have been reading the book and blog by Jacob, over at Early Retirement Extreme, and so much of what he says resonates deeply with me. As a numbers person myself, I enjoy his analysis and the way he has crunched the numbers for himself. To that end I have begun creating a few spreadsheets which calculate daily expenditure, average expenditure and projected savings progress. I aim to save at least 80% of my income over the next four years.

As I save I will learn more about how to simplify my life and how to become more self-subsistent. Although I wouldn’t consider myself to be a big consumer, most people know I don’t even enjoy going shopping, there is more I can do to combat my consumerism. I am reading about how to eat more simply and am making progress with this. Grocery expenses are our largest expenditure. I intend to learn how to sew and to expand our vegetable garden.

I won’t be able to be completely self-subsistent and will thus be living somewhat inside the economic system of our world. I will focus on buying only those things that are a need, with the intention of buying quality items that last almost a lifetime, rather than succumbing to the need to upgrade constantly.

Once I have a high level of savings, I intend to live off the interest earned. I don’t intent to “play the stockmarket” or to become a financial wiz. Unfortunately none of that really interests me. At this stage I intend to earn interest from my savings (either from a term deposit or a high savings account) and live off that interest. At this stage my aim is to live comfortably and happily off around $12k – $15k a year. I realise that this wouldn’t be possible without living within the economic structure we have in place and until I come up with a better strategy, this doesn’t bother me too much.

What I have presented above is put in basic terms, but it really isn’t much more difficult than that. I have always said that if only there was a job where you could get paid to be an eternal student, learning whatever you want whenever you want, then that would be my dream job. Unfortunately there is no such occupation, and unless I find a patron soon, I will have to fund my own dream.

The only thing I’ve ever truly wanted is to be free. I’ve tried to convince myself from inside our world system that I am, but since taking the red pill I know I’m not. I can’t just get on with it and be happy with the way things are now that I know better. Having had this brief hiatus from “the real world” I now know how sweet it is and that this is the life for me.

To reach my potential and to find deep fulfilment I need time, space and flexibility. To achieve this I need to exit the world of work and to do this I need to exit the world of consumerism.

I’m not the first to do this, and I know I won’t be the last. I’m joining one of the small movements.

And what will I be doing from 2016 onwards? I don’t know yet. I envision that it entails more sustained writing and a deeper contribution to moving this world in a new direction. But it is too soon to start talking about that.

I may find that I don’t meet my target or that my calculations were optimistic. I may find a need to continue with part time work for either financial reasons or otherwise. This is all ok with me. I know that either way, 2016 will be the year of my true freedom.

What will you do now that you’ve taken the red pill?

I’d love to hear what you think about this or address any questions you might have.

Related posts:

1. Do You Really Want to Live by the Standard Model?
2. Do You Really Need Your Mortgage?
3. The 99 versus the 1

Every day that you go to work is a day that you participate in the overall system set up and maintained by society. The so-called economic system is not real. It’s not like the eco-system which existed (with a lot more health) before humans had even been imagined. Economics is not a science, and although a lot of maths and complicated formulas might be involved, it is something that people have created.

Humans exist independently of this economic system. That might be hard to absorb on your first reading. You might wonder how you could survive without money. You might think it’s impossible to extract yourself from the economic system in which you are so deeply entwined.

Lately I’ve spent a lot of time thinking and reading about how exactly I can become a non-participator. How can I extract myself as much as possible from the economic system, or from what most of us have to come to know as life?

I’m not talking about stopping work to live off social benefits. Sure, I wouldn’t be participating in work, but leaching off others in the system isn’t a viable option for me.

I also don’t mean I’ll become a lady of leisure, living off my husband’s income. I want to be financially independent from him.

I once watched a current affairs report about an Aboriginal man, in his fifties, living with his wife in the far north west of Australia. They lived out of their station wagon car and roamed this vast north west region throughout the year. The reporter asked them if they needed government funding to buy themselves a house in a community. The Aboriginal man told the reporter that he liked to live outside and sleep outside. He also said that he wanted to be able to move around and to go fishing sometimes. He said his car carried everything he needed. He didn’t say much but I understood him perfectly. He didn’t want to participate in the Australian way of life. His life and the life of his ancestors meant everything to him. I can imagine that he found our way of life to be completely bewildering. He wanted the freedom to live, the freedom to be.

Looking at how we all live from his perspective makes you think. For many Aboriginal communities I’m sure that the Australian way of life still feels extremely foreign. As they observe us choosing to stay put in one house, going to the same place everyday, pushing papers this way and that, pressing buttons here and there and coming home exhausted, they may wonder what on earth we are doing it all for. Why are we spending our weekends shopping and hoarding more items in our homes? Why aren’t we out there experiencing the world?

Anyone who knows me knows that there is no way I would choose to become a nomad, especially not spending my time in the harsh sun of the Australian outdoors. No, I’m not talking about anything that radical. It’s just that the interview with this man really made an impression on me. And it struck me that the perceived Indigenous issues that politicians are always going on about might just be as simple as the fact that for hundreds of years we have been trying to force a group of people to live by our system, when they are more than content with their own. The endless government spending and opportunities might be going to waste simply because our Indigenous Australians want nothing to do with our broken and ridiculous way of life.

Perhaps some of our Indigenous Australians see things more clearly than all those protestors protesting against the 1 percent. Here they are, essentially asking, through protest, that the system change itself to accommodate them. When the simplest and perhaps best solution is if they each extract themselves from the system as far as possible.

There have been ironic comments appearing about some of the labels these protestors have been wearing; designer brand caps, t-shirts and jeans. The 99 percent participate and fund the 1 percent and then complain about it. Clearly ridiculous.

Asking for change is an inefficient means of creating change. If you don’t like the structures in our world, change your own life. Once more people do the same and a critical mass is reached, then the structures will either collapse or change to accommodate the new world.

As they say, you can’t change other people, you can only change yourself and how you interact. This applies in every situation.

I personally despise the system that most of us live under. I see it as a more clever and subtle form of slavery. It’s clever because the slaves are invested in maintaining the system. We all want nice things, nice houses, instant access, an easy life, and so we keep working to make the money that buys these things. The trick is that just when we might think we are satisfied, something new appears that we feel we need, and off we go to work again. And of course we are each the cogs that keeps this machine running. We enslave ourselves for the better part of our lives. It is a genius system that doesn’t need many people keeping the slaves in check.

Most people aren’t aware that they live in this system. You might be pondering this new perspective now. You might also think I’m talking a load of rubbish. Of course that’s entirely up to you. But you’d have to be blind to not notice the cracks that are starting to appear. Do the slaves look happy to you? Do the increasing rates of depression, binge drinking and violence sound like the making of a healthy system? The problem is, like the 99 percenters, these are all symptoms of people trying to deal with the system by staying in the system. When really the answer is to step away from it entirely.

So what do you think? Are you intrigued? Do you want to know how I plan to move out of the system as much as I can?

I’ll let you think about these ideas for a few days and then I’ll write another post with my plans. If you are intrigued by what I have to say then perhaps you’ll think about trying it too. One by one, we might just change the system for ourselves.

Related posts:

1. Are Your Self Classifications Limiting or Empowering?
2. The 99 versus the 1
3. Your World is a Construct