This is a post in my ongoing Book-a-Week challenge.

This week’s book was How to Disappear: Erase Your Digital Footprint, Leave False Trails and Vanish Without a Trace by Frank M. Ahearn. Why this book? The title intrigued me. Now I am not planning on disappearing or going “on the lam” but I thought the book might have some guidance on how to perhaps minimize my digital footprint (not easy to do these day) as well as help to protect my privacy both while online and offline.

The author was a “professional skip tracer” by trade – that is to say, someone whose job it was to find people who didn’t want to be found. His anecdotes and real-world scenarios on his successful finds were entertaining, intriguing and provided some excellent advice on what NOT to do. He has since then, changed careers and now he helps people to disappear. Why would you want to disappear? Perhaps you are being stalked or just want to start over. He covers all of these things and much more.

The chapters of the book include:

• Meet your enemy: the skip tracer
• Time to disappear
• Misinformation
• Tracks and clues in the home
• Disinformation
• Your reformation arsenal
• Reformation
• How not to disappear
• Disappear form identity thieves
• Disappear from social media
• Disappear from a frog
• Disappear from a stalker
• Disappear from the country
• Pseudocide

Overall, I felt the book contained a lot of valuable information. One chapter I especially liked was the one on Disinformation (destroying data about you) – how to start leaving less of a digital footprint by using false information such as a fake e-mail address, misspellings in your address and name, false employment history and more. Now the idea here is not to do this in order to engage in illegal activities, but rather to protect your privacy – to stop the spam email, telemarketing calls, junk mail and make it more difficult for people (stalkers, ex’s, etc.) to find you.

The book also paints a real life picture of what’s really involved with disappearing. Many people imagine spending their days in a tropical island paradise, being served Pina Coladas on a beach all day long by a handsome young men or women. The reality is a complicated web of multiple mail drops, prepaid credit cards, prepaid cellphones, public internet access points, as well as giving up your hobbies or interests and having good amount of cash. I personally felt the the portions of the book that pertained to the Internet and privacy were most beneficial but then again, I’m not about to go into hiding. If you are being stalked by someone or are the victim in an abusive relationship, then these other sections may be of particular interest to you. Many of the techniques Frank recommends could also be a good way to avoid – or at minimize the possibility of – identity theft.

The conversational and easy-to-understand tone of the book makes it pleasurable to read. Even if you are not yourself planning on disappearing, the book has many useful tips on guarding your privacy and reducing your digital footprint. If you are serious about disappearing, then this book in indispensable (I also would recommend J.J. Luna’s book “How to be Invisible” as well). Recommended!

This is a post in my ongoing Book-a-Week challenge.

This week’s book was Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl. This book has been on my list for quite some time – I believe I read a review of it a couple of years back and it intrigued me. In the book, Frankl describes his life in four different Nazi concentrations camps, including Auschwitz, from 1942 to 1945 and his subsequent theories of logotherapy that resulted from his experiences at the camps.

In the first part of the book, Frankl relates some of his own experiences at the camps. While many of his descriptions of day to day life depicted a horrifying existence, Frankl, a psychiatrist, often approached the narration from a psychological perspective. He demonstrates that even though one’s comrades were dying all around them, one could still find hope and peace amidst all the horror.

At times, his anecdotes were so vivid and so disturbing (but not gruesome), that I had to put the book down for a bit and digest what I had read. However, while there were certainly scenes of unspeakable suffering, there was also hope and inspiration, as Frankl describes how he found the emotional strength to survive the camps. In the book, he looks more at how the prisoners respond to the events rather than looking at the events themselves – how some of them coped and subsequently survived while staring death in the face on a daily basis, while others did not.

The main thrust of the book was how people strive to make meaning of their lives above all else. He also demonstrated by example how those who felt life did not have meaning, simply did not survive the camps. That above all else, one must strive to make meaning out of the suffering, to believe that life does have meaning. He recounted an excellent and moving anecdote of a fellow prisoner who had a dream that they would be freed on a certain date. He awaited the date with anticipation – the hope of being freed kept him going. When the date finally came and went, the man lost all hope. He was dead within a week.

Through his writing, Frank demonstrates the courage and strength that people are capable of when faced with a seemingly hopeless situation. It is when we surrender to nihilism and despair in dire circumstances that we lose. Even though the prisoners were stripped of their very identity and relegated to a status no higher than that cattle, many of them rose above the situation by focusing on the the deeper meaning of their life. Though they had lost everything – their freedom, their spouse, their family, their very identity – they themselves chose how to respond to the horrendous situation and by doing so gave meaning to their suffering. They believed that they existed for something – a spouse, a child, a future dream, or future plans. Frankl states in the book that the one thing that cannot be taken away from us is our attitude, the way we respond:

“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

In the second part of the book, Frankl discusses his theories of logotherapy. Here, he talks about what he believes drives man to survive, even in the most grim of circumstances. This part of the book moves from the anecdotal to the psychological. The basis of logotherapy is that man’s primary motivating force is a search for meaning and this search for meaning even ranks above our pursuit of happiness. In this way, much of the depression and despair we experience is a result of a lack of meaning in our life. When we find our higher purpose for living, we will be able to overcome insurmountable obstacles and make it through nearly anything. I will say that the second part of the book is more technical than the first but is easily readable even if you do not have a scientific background.

The life lessons on the human condition contained in this small book are too numerous to identify here. This extraordinary book is moving, fascinating, powerful and inspiring – and can cause the reader to ponder the meaning in his or her own life. At the most, this book has the potential to be life-changing. Recommended!

Last week, I came across a quote by Zig Ziglar, “Don’t get discouraged; it is often the last key in the bunch that opens the lock.” This has been true for me on more than one occasion. Very often, my first or even second effort would result in failure. But I kept going and eventually, I would find the right combination. It is said that Edison experienced 1,000 failures before the finally got the lightbulb to work. Just as the quote says, sometimes the last thing we try is the thing that works – or the last key in the bunch, as it were.

There are times, however, when it is time to quit. Years ago, I created a new business with which I struggled for over 6 years. Each year, the business put me more and more into debt. At the end of the year, it was certain that this year would be the one – this would be the year that it all came together. But again and again, it did not. I found myself working 50 to 60 hours a week on the business for very minimal reward. I tried everything I could think of to market the business, but alas, no luck. Finally, I decided to close it down and instead focus on something else. It was the best thing that I ever did.

So if you have a venture that simply does not seem to be taking off and instead, is taking up all of your time and money, and leads to nothing but frustration and disappointment, it might be prudent to ask yourself whether it’s time to give up and move on to something with more promise and potential.

While the last key in the bunch often does open the lock, there is no sense in continuing to pay a loan on a dead horse.

Photo courtesy of nasacommons

This is a post in my ongoing Book-a-Week challenge.

This week’s book was Accidental Genius: Revolutionize Your Thinking Through Private Writing by Mark Levy. Through the use of what Levy calls “Private Writing”, he teaches us how to generate amazing “genius” ideas (and have fun doing it) – all while breaking us out of the ruts in which we may find ourselves.

Private Writing is a free-writing technique that Levy presents, in which you write as fast as you can without worrying about grammar, spelling or whether our ideas are any good. The goal here, is to silence the inner critic – that part of us that censors our work (and often tells us that our work is garbage). How does this work? In the book he states, “If your mind knows your head won’t stop moving, it’ll ease up on trying to edit out your ‘inappropriate’ and underdeveloped thoughts.” I personally have used something similar when creating mind maps and each time, I have been amazed at the new and worthy ideas that crop up. By writing quickly and putting down anything that comes to your mind, the inner critic no longer bothers to keep up with you and instead, gives your free reign.

At first glance, the technique reminded me of the Morning Pages method that Julia Cameron discussed in her popular book “The Artist’s Way”. But there is a big difference between the two. While it is true you are writing whatever comes into your head, you are doing so with a focus. Perhaps you are examining a problem in your life or want to come up with ideas on how to move the plot of your novel forward. This is where the inspiration part comes in. By focused free-writing, we no longer only stick with what we know to be safe and sure to be accepted by others – instead, we open ourselves to new ideas and new ways of looking at things. According to Levy, this method is excellent for problem solving.

In the book, Levy provides us with six secrets to private writing, including “Write Fast and Continuously”, “Work Against a Limit” and “Write the Way you Think.” I found these three secrets especially helpful and relevant to my own work. In the next section of the book entitled “Powerful Refinements”, the author takes these secrets even further and gives us many methods using the six secrets, to expand our creativity and solve problems. Lastly, he shows us know to take the concept of private writing and apply in publicly in our blogs, presentations and published works.

If are someone who is paralyzed by the inner critic, using Levy’s easy and enjoyable methods will no doubt help you break free and stimulate your creativity – and stimulate that sometimes elusive “genius.” I believe this book would be useful to novelists, bloggers, journalists, marketers, presenters, troubleshooters – pretty much anyone who puts words to the page or needs to find a solution to a challenging situation. Recommended!

This is a post in my ongoing Book-a-Week Challenge.

This week’s book was “Walk Across America” by Peter Jenkins, which chronicles his journey across America from 1973 to 1975 with Cooper, his half Husky/Alaskan Malamute companion. As a young man of 21, Peter was bitter and disillusioned with American society. So he decided to take a pilgrimage across the country, from New York to New Orleans, to see if his negative opinions about his people and his country were correct. I admit that I am a fan of these types of books – the “road trip adventures finding yourself” novels – and this one did not disappoint.

Peter takes us along a fascinating journey and tells of the many interesting people he and Cooper came across, most of them loving, generous, and kind-hearted, all demonstrating hospitality in different ways. Some of my favorites included Homer, the reclusive hermit who lived in a shack on top of a mountain, Mary Elizabeth and Pau Pau, the mother and the patriarch of the family in Texana who “adopted” Peter for several months, and Governor George Wallace who Peter met with privately at the Governor’s office . He met all matter of eccentric, patriotic, wise, funny, loving, generous characters (some even a tad frightening) along his route, each with something to teach Peter about himself and life. Each new adventure in the book has its own lesson to teach and to me, each chapter was its own story with its own theme, each leading to self-discovery on Peter’s part. As he continued his hike across America, the lines of race, politics, socio-economic status and his own preconceived notions about “Southerners” and “Rednecks” seemed to disappear as he saw people as they are – just people. I can’t help but wonder how true this would still be today.

Peter did an excellent job of presenting the conversations he had although I did find the attempted use of dialects irritating and difficult to read. There is a reason that authors should avoid transcribing conversations into a local dialect unless they are exceptionally adept at doing so. This was just a minor irritation for me however and did not diminish my enjoyment of the book.

The novel is simple, well-written and easy to read — and by the end of it, I considered Peter somewhat of a friend. What really added to the book’s value was the inclusion of several pictures he took along the way, that made me feel as if I had been there myself. Towards the end, Peter discovers his spiritual side during a Southern revival so he not only made discoveries about Americans but also transforming realizations about himself.

The book was funny, entertaining and touching and in addition to being an enjoyable read, it can help you question stereotypes you may hold and perhaps even rekindle your faith in people. There is a follow-up to this book called “The Walk West: Walk Across America 2” that I may have to add to my reading list.

If you like travelogues, stories of self-discovery or fun road-trip adventure stories, I recommend this excellent tale. Be careful though – it may give you itchy feet and a desire to hit the road!

I was out at dinner the other night and couldn’t help but overhear the conversation between a couple seated next to me. Each was talking, but neither was listening to the other. This is by no means the first time I have encountered this. Time and time again, I have witnessed people not listening to each other but instead, completely focused on what they are going to say next.

I became aware of this same thing in my own behavior several years ago and have made a concentrated effort to correct it. When speaking with someone, I often had a list of things in my head that I wanted to say – and rather than listen to what was being said, I instead impatiently waited for the next bit of “dead air” when I could interject what I wanted to say. Occasionally, I noticed a stung look on someone’s face, as I abruptly cut them off to speak my piece – or when I completely failed to acknowledge what they had said.

This new perception then led me to reflect on occurrences when this same thing had happened to me. I remember how irritated I would become when I suspected that the person with whom I was conversing did not hear a thing I said (often, I would question them later, just to test my theory). I felt that my conversation partner showed me an utter lack of respect by not bothering to listen to me. I was a bit of an eye-opener when I realized that I was doing the same thing to others. I was disrespecting them by not listening to their opinions, comments, stories or anecdotes.

Lucky, I found this a relatively easy habit to correct. I simply made a conscious effort to really start listening to others and to focus on what they were saying, rather than focusing on what I wanted to say next. As a result of changing my behavior, I discovered that my relations with others have drastically improved and a lot less miscommunication occurs. I feel closer to people when I’m speaking to them. Moreover, by being attentive to what is being said, I constantly open myself up to new ideas and learn new facts.

It also seems parties involved in an active “listening” conversation seem calmer, more relaxed – or at least I do. Interrupting others constantly is exhausting! I am now learning so much more about the people I interact with – there seems to be a much stronger connection between us.

Something to think about if any of this resonates with you — it certainly has changed my life for the better.

Photo courtesy of Orange_Beard

I have an acquaintance who loves to criticize those who are around him. He never hesitates to say something to the effect of, “Why, you certainly have gained weight lately!” or “Who dressed you this morning, Helen Keller?” or “I can’t believe you don’t know that! Most people learned that in the sixth grade.” Most of the time, his acquaintances can laugh it off and say “Well, that’s just the way he is.”

However, when you criticize others, you are deliberately trying to cause them pain. Why else would you point out their faults, if you didn’t mean to hurt them? Think about how you feel when others criticize you — you may feel shame – or feel stung, rejected, withdrawn or hurt. Or you may immediately go on the defensive and angrily lash out. Whatever the reaction, we can safely say that being criticized does not bring out warm, fuzzy feelings of love and acceptance.

I remember a headline from The Onion years ago, “People don’t like it when you call them stupid.” This goes for any sort of criticism. Face it, nobody likes it and the end result is usually hurting the one you are criticizing. And I think we know this deep down. Have you ever criticized someone and immediately felt a little tug in your chest or perhaps felt ashamed afterwards? We know that criticizing others is not positive behavior and yet we do it anyway. The trick here is to try and become aware of the words you use when relating to others and how they make you feel. For many of us, criticizing is a bad habit but as we become more and more aware of when we are doing it (or about to do it), we can begin the process of eliminating it from our habit repertoire.

Richard Carlson in his book Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff..and it’s all small stuff said, “When we judge or criticize others, it says nothing about that person; it merely says something about our own need to be critical.” Looking at it this way, we can come to understand that overcoming the need to criticize can make us a better person – and make the world a more respectful and tolerant place.

Photo courtesy of AndYaDontStop

I was speaking with a friend awhile back about career paths and such and he said something to the effect of, “With all of your experience in computers, you should be making a ton of money at a big company. How come you’re not doing it?” I smiled to myself, knowing what this person’s life is like. He is a classic super-achiever – puts in 80 hours a week, takes minimal vacation (if any at all) and purchases large expensive toys, most of which he has no time to enjoy.

I was like that once – I worked for a major banking corporation and was pretty much on the same track – I worked a ridiculous amount of hours with the goal of eventually becoming stinking rich. I’m not sure when this goal changed for me. There was no great epiphany that struck me one day, but rather a slow realization that this was not the life I wanted to lead. It reminded me of a quote that my father used to say jokingly, “I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up, but I”m pretty sure it wasn’t this!”

After a bit of reflection, about what I wanted out of life, I came up with the following reasons I chose the path I am on:

Freedom

Freedom has always been important to me. I remember once when I put in a vacation request, my boss simply said, “Nope, can’t have it during that time.” I took my vacation anyway – I just called in sick for that week. This was probably my first clue that I was not cut out for the corporate environment. Working for myself has enabled me to work when I want, go on vacation when I want or even conduct my business from France or Ireland, if I so choose.

Not to have to go to work to a cubicle every day

I used to hate this more than anything. I found that being in a cubicle all day long sucked the life right out of me. This is probably because I was raised on a 160-acre farm and simply was not used to being in such confined quarters – it’s a personal preference. Many people have to problems at all working in such an environment – but for me, it just didn’t work out.

A life with minimal (or no) meetings.

I honestly recall being at a meeting where the goal was to decide when and what the topic of our next meeting would be. I loathed meetings and usually found them to be not only a huge waste of time, but incredibly boring as well. It’s been years since I’ve been to a meeting – I find that most of my business can be conducted via e-mail, Twitter or Skype from the comfort of my own home office or outside deck.

To be surrounded by peaceful, loving people

This was a big one for me. Being surrounded by fearful, frenzied, rushed, competitive and uptight people made me fearful, frenzied, rushed, competitive and uptight. I recall that just being in the presence of these “super-achievers” got my adrenaline going – and not in a good way. I was constantly nervous, stressed-out and in a frenzy whenever these folk were near. These days I am surrounded by relaxed, peaceful people and am much better for it.

To be able to explore the creative side of myself

Exploring my creativity was something that I did not do until I became an entrepreneur. Creating my business sparked additional creative outlets for me – writing, public speaking and learning a musical instrument, just to name a few. The corporate environment where I found myself had little room for personal creativity – there was a system to follow and all were expected to strictly adhere to it. Now I realize that not all corporate workplaces are like this – many are quite supportive of personal creativity. Mine unfortunately, was not one of them.

A life not bogged down by unnecessary possessions

I’ve been a minimalist for a good part of my life and there’s a good reason for that – I hate clutter! There is also the idea of freedom as well – one cannot be too free when bogged down with possessions. I have been in houses that are chock-full of stuff and literally found it difficult for me to breath. I know that I could have much “nicer” things if I had stayed on the corporate ladder path. But at some point, I decided that my freedom was more important to me than stuff – freedom of NOT having to work 80 hours of week to pay for my crap and freedom of not being a slave to my possessions. I find my life much more pleasurable being surrounded only by those things that I enjoy and that add value to my life.

Plenty of down time so that I can enjoy life

I sometimes wonder whether I’m just lazy but I am unable to see the value in working long hours. I personally love traveling, bicycling, camping, being outdoors, experiencing new things and new people — basically just getting out there and being a part of my community. When I used to work for others, I would come home so wrecked and brain-dead that there was little energy or motivation for anything else. I prefer less work and more play.

These were just some of the things that were important to me in making my compromise – and yes, there was a compromise involved. This comes back to my idea of deciding who you are, and being it. I decided that I wanted to lead a simpler life with more opportunities for travel, creativity, personal development – and less focus on wealth, possessions and upward mobility. I have deliberately kept my business small in order to maintain all of that mentioned above. In doing so, I sacrificed being rich, living in a mansion and having expensive things. If having a lot of money is important to you and something that you strive for, by all means pursue it – everyone should pursue that which is important to them.

I made my decision. While I know that I could be making a lot more money, I chose instead a life of freedom and simplicity – and am more than happy with my decision.

Photo courtesy of lanraga

This is an old post from my original blog. The reason I am reposting it that my Freedom Account is one of the most essential things in my life. I can’t tell you how many times having this has saved my ass.

You’re moving along just fine. Your mortgage gets paid, your car payment is sent out on time, you’re slowly getting those credit card bills down and you find that you even have a few extra bucks to spend on yourself at the end of the month. You’re feeling pretty good these days – you believe that you’re finally making some headway. Pat yourself on the back – you deserve it.

Then whamo! The car breaks down and you find yourself facing an $1200 repair bill. Oh – and Auto Insurance is due too.

Whoops! Out with the credit card. So much for making headway.

Now imagine that your car breaks down and you are able to simply sit down and write out an $1200 check for the repairs – along with another $650 for Automobile Insurance.

“Yeah, right,” you say. “I don’t have that kind of money just lying around. I have enough for my monthly expenses, and that’s it!”

You can just sit down and write out those checks. And believe it or not, it’s not as difficult as you may think. In Mary Hunt’s book, The Cheapskate Monthly Money Makeover and more recently, Debt-Proof Living, she introduces the concept of the Freedom Account, the most indispensable money management tool I have come across. It has made a world of difference in my own personal life.

What the Freedom Account does is gives you control over irregular or unforeseen expenses. You know the auto insurance is due every six months. So do you stick money away for it? Most likely not. It will get paid somehow. How? What about if the car breaks down. After all, do you think it’s going to go on forever without any repairs? And what about vacation? And what about clothes? And what if the washer breaks down? And what about those insurance deductibles? You get the idea.

Hunt points out that the key to financial success is exerting control over your money and one of the ways you can do this is by regularly setting aside money in advance to cover your irregular or unexpected expenses. Now keep in mind that this is not a budget but rather a money management tool.

The author outlines 5 steps in setting up your Freedom Account:

Step 1: Determine your Irregular Expenses

Make a list of all expenses that do not occur on a monthly basis. These would include such things at auto maintenance (yes, you do have to perform maintenance on your vehicle), auto insurance, property taxes, household repairs, clothing, vacation, etc. Then establish a yearly dollar amount for each category and divide by the number of times you get paid during the year.

Let’s say that you get paid monthly. So the yearly dollar amount in each of your Freedom categories would be divided by 12. Here are a couple of examples from my Freedom Account:

Auto Insurance $460 a year/divided by 12 = $38.33 a month

Auto Maintenance $900 a year/divided by 12 – $75 a month

Health Club Membership – $360 a year/divided by 12 = $30 a month

Insurance Deductible – $500 a year/divided by 12 = $41.67 a month

And so on….

Add up the monthly (or weekly/biweekly if that’s how you get paid) total. This amount it the contribution you will make each payday to your Freedom Account.

Don’t worry about the dollar amounts above. Remember – these are sample figures. You will establish your own amounts based upon your personal situation.

Step 2: Open two checking accounts

The author recommends that you open two checking accounts, one for your regular expenses and one for your Freedom Account. This way, you will be depositing enough money each payday into your Freedom Account to cover the expenses that you established above, while the rest of your paycheck goes for your regular monthly expenditures. You will then write checks for your irregular expenses as they come up from your Freedom Account.

As I am a true believer in keeping things simple, I see maintaining two checking accounts as an unnecessary burden. I personally keep all of my Freedom Account funds in one savings account. My credit union provides online access so when a Freedom expense comes up, I transfer the money from my savings account to my checking account and write a check to cover the expense. Plus I earn a little interest on the money – 3% is better than nothing. Rather than a passbook savings account, you may want to consider a Money Market account that allows you to easily transfer money to and from your checking account. Typically, Money Market rates a considerably higher than passbook savings accounts.

Step 3: Request an automatic deposit authorization

If you feel that there’s even a possibility that you won’t be disciplined enough to transfer your payday total of Freedom expenses to your Freedom Account every month, then setting automatic deposit with your bank is a necessity. You can request an “Automatic Transfer Form” from your bank to automatically transfer the funds from your main checking account to your Freedom Account. Just establish the date and the rest is done for you. Many people find this method the easiest way to save – if you don’t see it, you don’t miss it. However, the author recommends that you give yourself a five day cushion. For example, if your payday falls on the 1st and the 15th of each month, then you’ll want to set your transfer dates for the 5th and the 20th, in case your payday falls on a holiday or weekend.

Step 4: Get a loose-leaf notebook and label it “Freedom Account”

This is the point where you keep track of all your individual Freedom categories. The author recommends that you keep a notebook, designating a page for each Freedom category. Thus, you would have a separate page for Auto Insurance, a separate page for Auto Maintenance, a separate page Vacation, and so on. On the top of each page, you would enter the name of the category and the amount to be deposited each paycheck. Then you would prepare 5 columns: Date, Description, Amount In, Amount Out, and Balance.

I personally track my Freedom data in an Excel spreadsheet. I find that it’s much easier to maintain my balances electronically and the likelihood of making any mathematical errors is greatly reduced. I keep each category in a separate Excel worksheet and maintain a “Freedom Index” sheet which lets me quickly see my category totals. This way, I don’t need to look at every single worksheet to figure out how much money I have in each category. In my next post, I will provide detailed instructions on how to set up a Freedom Account in Excel for those of you who prefer (or would like to learn how) to keep your records electronically.

Step 5: Get in the habit

In order for the Freedom Account to work for you, you must be diligent in your record keeping. So each and every payday, immediately deduct your monthly (or weekly/biweekly) Freedom amount from your regular checking. This is especially true if you are using Automatic Transfer. If you forget, you’ll be in real trouble when your checks start bouncing all over the county. Then, go into your loose-leaf binder or spreadsheet, add the individual deposits into each category and calculate your balance. In my example above, I would enter $30 on my Auto Insurance sheet, $75 on my Auto Maintenance sheet, $13.75 on my Health Club Membership sheet, $41.67 on my Insurance Deductible sheet, and so on.

A few additional points to ponder….

Don’t even think of borrowing from your Freedom account – it is a money management tool not a lending institution. In order for this to work for you, withdrawals must be limited only for what they were intended. I also personally place any unexpected income, such as tax refunds, gifts of money and any writing or consulting income directly into my Freedom Account. Earned overtime income is also a good candidate for your Freedom Account. It’s amazing how fast it adds up that way.

Want to stay out of debt? Then don’t buy anything until you have to cash to pay for it. How do you get the cash? Start a new Freedom category! As I bake and cook in bulk and am somewhat limited in storage space, I decided to purchase a freezer. So I started a “Freezer” category in my Freedom Account and am presently sticking away $30 a month. In another two months, I’ll have enough to make my purchase. In the past, I would have ran out, purchased the freezer and simply put the balance on my credit card. One of the beneficial side effects of setting up Freedom categories for any major purchase (something that you would normally charge) is soon you actually begin to notice your credit card bills declining and before you know it, credit card debt will be a thing of the past. I haven’t had a carryover credit card balance in nearly 2 years, thanks to the Freedom Account.

I recall brining in my truck in for repairs – the air conditioning was broken and I needed a new exhaust system. The total came to nearly $1,200 (that’s not too bad considering this is the first time I put any money into it since I bought it 8 years ago). But I didn’t panic. I simply transferred the money from my Freedom Account to my checking account and wrote a check for the entire amount. And this was just after I came back from a week’s vacation – which I also paid for in full from my Freedom Account.

Start small if that’s what it takes – just start! Soon your debt load will be going down and your freedom from worry will be going up. The Freedom Account is truly a life altering tool – I know because it changed mine.

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller was the third book in my Book-a-Week challenge (so far, I’m still on track!). This was the first book I had read by Miller so I didn’t quite know what to expect. This was another recommendation that I stumbled across on a blog that I found interesting so I thought I’d give it a try.

The book is autobiographical. Donald Miller is approached by two movie producers who want to make a movie based upon his best-selling memoir. As the three work together on the screenplay, the script for the movie begins to slant more towards fiction than real-life and it is at this point where Miller decides he’s going to edit his current life into a better story. This reminded me a bit of what I wrote in my recent post about keeping a journal, in which one journal writer wrote that keeping a journal forces him to lead an interesting life – otherwise, he’d have nothing to write about.

In this book, Miller deconstructs his life and begins a quest to live a meaningful story while including all the necessary elements that make a story worth reading – conflict, emotion, negative turns, a positive turns, adventure, memorable scenes and more. He takes all of these story elements and attempts to weave them into his own life. Along the way, he recounts some beautiful, touching and meaningful anecdotes and stories, each with their own life lesson. His rewriting of his life story reminded me of an old adage that goes something to the effect of – “Your life is a script. If you don’t like the way the script is unfolding, then rewrite it!” Every life is a story – but whether it’s a memorable story or a story worth retelling, is up to us.

I found the book inspiring, thought-provoking and entertaining. It pulled me out of my comfort zone, stretched my thinking and caused me to examine my own life to see what kind of “story” I was living.

The book can inspire you to action, inspire you to take chances and could be especially helpful if you find yourself in a rut, going through a challenging time in your life or if you are searching for more meaning in your life. Miller’s conversational style and wit renders the book easy to read and enjoyable – and after finishing it, you may feel encouraged to “live a better story” yourself. Recommended!