Your dreams are counting on you!

Would you pursue your dreams for 10 years without seeing any significant progress?

Is that being crazy, stubborn or is it the hidden secret to making your dreams come true?

The wild thing about making dreams come true is that you never know when it is going to happen! You could be just around the corner (literally or figuratively) from making that life-long dream come true and you would never even know it.

In fact, I would bet that when your dream seems the farthest away is when you are about to break through the darkness and see that dream realized.

That is exactly what happened to us recently. Before I share my story, let me give you some examples of people you may have heard of…

Steven Spielberg dropped out of high school, re-entered and was placed in a learning-disabled class. Only after moving to a new town and getting into a better school did he graduate. Then he was denied entrance into the film school at University of Southern California, twice. In spite of these setbacks he went on to direct some of the biggest blockbusters of all time.

J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series wrote the first book as a penniless single-mom raising her child and typing on an old manual typewriter. Twelve different publishers turned her down when she tried to publish her book. Twelve! What if she had given up on the 10th or 11th “no”? In an address to the graduating class at Harvard, J.K. talked about her failures: “You might never fail on the scale I did. But it is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case you fail by default.”

Tim Ferriss, author of The 4 Hour Work Week was rejected by 26 publishers before one of them gave him a chance. Tim’s books have been on the best sellers lists ever since.

Bob Ballard, the explorer that found the sunken wreck of the Titanic suffered a devastating setback in 1977 when a drill pipe and the attached pod full of sonar and video gear snapped and fell into the ocean ending his first search for the famed wreck. It took Bob eight years to recover from the financial loss of that first attempt. During that time he returned to service in the US Navy and struck a deal with them to build a new deep-submersible that could be used for intelligence gathering as well as searching for wrecks. In 1985 Bob and his team found the ship they had been searching for.

All of these people had to overcome obstacles to make their dreams come true. Each of them could have easily given up in the face of adversity. Instead they kept believing that they could make their dreams come true, and they did. Start with something simple, complete dance mat typing level 1 stage 1 – home row successfully!

How long have you been chasing your dreams?

For my family and I, our dream has been to buy a sailboat, sell our house and all of our “stuff”, move onto the boat and go where the wind takes us. We want to explore the North American coast, transit the Panama Canal, and even explore the Mediterranean Sea and the South Pacific Islands. For over 10 years we kept that dream in front of us. Late in 2012, just when things were looking bleak, we found a sailboat that was close enough to drive to for an inspection, that was in our price range, and would make a good first boat for our cruising.

Right when it would have been easiest to say, “Forget it. We don’t need a boat anyway”, we were able to find what we were looking for and were in a position to move forward with making the dream a reality.

What dreams do you have that are in danger of being forgotten? How long have you been chasing those dreams? Are you willing to keep chasing them?

You just don’t know how close you are to making them come true.

A chance meeting. An article you stumble upon in your browser. A promotion that is coming your way.

The possibilities are endless, as long as you don’t give up. The only absolute is that if you do give up on your dreams, there is no way for you to achieve them.

Five steps to making your dreams come true

1. Never. Give. Up. If you give up on your dreams, then they will die. Period. Your dreams belong to you. No one else will ever have the interest and passion in making them come true that you do. No one else will ever work as hard, or be rewarded as deeply, in making your dreams come true. If it is going to happen, it will happen because of you and your efforts.
2. Know what makes you happy. This is much easier to say than to do. So often we don’t take the deep hard look into ourselves to find out what makes us tick. Most people take the easy way out and chase after those things that their friends and family are chasing after. That is the wrong way to go. You need to first understand what truly makes you happy. Only then can you begin to carve a path to that destination.
3. Create your own definition of Success. Don’t let anyone else define your dream for you. Only you can decide what success looks like for you. Society will have no problem trying to make your definition of success match up with theirs. Don’t let them do that. They have their lives to live and you have yours. Follow your star, not theirs.
4. Create a map. Like any other journey you need to know three things. Where you are starting from, where you want to go, and how to get there. Take inventory of where you are right now in relation to your dreams. This is your starting point. Since you have already defined your dreams and your success you know where you are headed. Now you just have to figure out what the gap is and start filling it. Break down the things you need to do into small, attainable steps and put them into order so you have a list of tasks.
5. Work your ass off. Work on the number one task like your life depends on it because the life you dream of does depend on it. Focus all of your free time on accomplishing that one task. Know that watching the latest episode of Survivor won’t get you any closer to your goal. Neither will organizing your sock drawer. Those things can wait until you have achieved your goals and made your dreams come true. Then if you want to catch up on your shows or organize your closet, you can do that with the satisfaction of knowing that you put in the work to make your dreams come true.

By never giving up, your dreams always have a fighting chance. No matter how long it takes, keep chasing them. They are counting on you to do what it takes to make them a reality.

Announcing the Freedom Foundation Sessions

If, after reading this you are saying to yourself, “That is great, but I have no freaking clue on where to start!” then I have a way to help you get started…

We here at Route To Freedom know where you are coming from. We’ve chased our dream for over a decade now. We have made just about every wrong turn that could possibly be made in that time. In spite of our failures, we have made significant progress towards our long term goals.

In that time we also learned a lot of lessons. Lessons we want to share with you to help you reach your goals in a lot less time than it took us.

We are starting the Freedom Foundation Sessions to help you figure out where to start and to help you with your map to making your dreams come true.

The really exciting part is that we are giving away 5 Freedom Foundation Sessions to you, our readers!

We will be selecting 5 people at random to receive the Freedom Foundation Session for free. All you have to do is leave a comment below, sharing your biggest frustration in making your dreams come true.

So, go to the Freedom Foundation Sessions page and see if it is something that you would help you find your freedom. If it is, come back here and leave a comment letting us know what your biggest frustration is.

On Feb. 1st we’ll pick 5 commentors and contact you to schedule a time for your Freedom Foundation Session!

How is this different than making money through more traditional channels?

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Keep reading to find out.

One of the biggest obstacles to getting out of your day job and transitioning to making money online is not thinking big enough. Fortunately, articles like Is Invest Diva scam can help you break you out of your shell so you can finally earn your desired income. When you’re ready to explore your investment opportunities, you may look at alternatives broker-dealer UpMarket.

Think Bigger

No, I’m not talking about some existential, woo woo kind of bigger thinking. Get information from HKM on employment rights and think about how you can add value to people’s lives using the knowledge and skills that you already have.

I had a perfect example of this while attending the World Domination Summit.

As I sat down for the morning session on Sunday, I introduced myself to Matt who sat next to me.

We went through the usual, “Hi, I’m <insert name here>, it’s nice to meet you. What do you do?” routine. I told Matt that by day I’m a software developer and in my spare time I’m building a blog related to Location Independence for Families.

Guys Like You Have It Easy

His immediate reaction was, “Guys like you have it easy. What you do can be done from anywhere.” So I asked him what he does. It turns out he is a rocket scientist! More specifically he is a Senior Systems Engineer for a major aerospace company.

I asked Matt to describe in detail what his job entails. He told me that he “makes everyone suffer equally”. If they have a need to keep a rocket under a certain weight and within a specific size then he makes sure that the design fits those requirements.

He also emphasized that while in various on-line jobs, the time and work of a freelancer is valued, in the aerospace industry, freelance work is not valued. In fact, it is highly discouraged through the culture of that industry. In Matt’s words, “They would not appreciate a rogue engineer.”

I encouraged Matt to use some lateral thinking. He has a very specific combination of knowledge and skills. Those skills can be applied to more than just the creation of rockets. They can be used to create solutions in areas that don’t usually use rocket science as a means of solving their problems.

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Think In A Different Space

If Matt were to think more broadly, he could apply his skills and experience in helping other businesses and individuals. He can take the processes that he has learned and use them to solve problems in a completely different space.

One problem could be the lousy quality of customer experience provided by the companies. He could make sure not to make such mistakes in his business and aim to provide the best customer experience by reading it on the Salesforce website.

He just needs to think laterally. After we had this short discussion, Matt started to furiously write down ideas that were coming to him. I do not know what direction he took these ideas, but I could tell he was having a real ah-ha moment.

One of the fastest ways to work for yourself is to use what you already have and help people find new ways to solve their problems. Use the knowledge, education, experience and training that you have to create solutions to problems in a different “space” or area of interest. For example, use your skills and knowledge to learn about comprehensive SaaS market analysis and then use it to build your business.

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking that created them.” ~ Albert Einstein

By focusing your unique knowledge, understanding, insight and experiences on problems that exist in “new” areas you can provide a new perspective and offer inventive solutions to those problems. This tool seo offers valuable data that aids in understanding your audience, their preferences, and behaviors.

There is an old saying that goes, “Everyone you meet is better than you at something.” The corollary to that is that you are better at something than most of the people that you meet. As a whole, you have a unique perspective on the world in general, and more specifically, how to solve problems when you see them.

Bring Your Perspective

One of the biggest challenges people face is that they see the world through the lenses of their own experiences. When you bring your perspective into their situation, you will see things that they cannot and will be able to come up with solutions that they would never have thought of.

It is a natural state of the human condition that if nothing changes, then nothing changes. What that means is that if someone continues to use the same thinking, the same habits and the same approach to the problem they are currently facing then they will continue to get the same results.

Only when some part of that equation changes will they get a different result. They can change that equation by gaining new knowledge, being open to new ways of thinking or intentionally changing their habits. All of those can take some serious effort and time to implement. A quicker way to implement change is to bring in a new perspective.

Add Value

This is where you come in. By being available to help others solve their problems, you are adding value to their lives. This is the basis to all business.

The restaurant adds value to you by being able to have a nice meal without having to cook it yourself.

The masseuse adds value by helping people to relax their stiff and sore muscles.

The computer programmer adds value by creating software that solves a problem or makes people’s live easier.

What skills, training, experience or knowledge do you have that you could use to add value to people’s lives? Take inventory of what makes you unique.

Look for ways you can use your life’s resume to help others.

How can you use your resume today?

My First Watch

Have you ever tried to “downsize”?

Have you attempted to adopt a minimalist lifestyle only to go through a couple of boxes and have just a handful of items to get rid of?

That was us the last few weeks. Just the other day I had an epiphany and found the secret to being able to get rid of stuff without any stress or anxiety.

The Reason Getting Rid Of Stuff Is So Hard

A few days ago I read a great post on Married With Luggage by Sherry Ott about her experiences in trying to get rid of stuff. In that post she described how she and her brother were going through boxes of old stuff in their parent’s garage and getting rid of all of the things that no longer made any sense to hang on to.

Sherry mentions that they were getting rid of the stuff they had been storing in their parents garage as well as trying to convince her parents that they didn’t need to keep all of the boxes of their old stuff either.

In her story, Sherry mentions that they had to negotiate with their father for every box of old stuff they wanted to get rid of, and that he was agitated the whole day.

On reading her story I found myself recalling the same issues in myself as I was trying to go through old boxes in my own garage.

Why was it so difficult to get rid of boxes of junk? I mean, literally, boxes that held the detritus from old “junk drawers” that we had been carting around for over 10 years now!

Why was I so reluctant to let go of the stuff that is weighing us down and keeping us from beginning the grand adventure that our family desires so strongly?

You can’t look back and look ahead at the same time. Choose where you want to live your life.   Click to tweet

How Make Letting Go Of Stuff Painless

In Sherry’s case there is one big difference between Sherry and her Father. That difference is what those items represent.

To Sherry’s Father, the items in the garage represented the past. They were things that signified memories of the family. Small tokens of the life they shared together.

For Sherry living out of her suitcase for over a year now has shown her that those items no longer held any real value in comparison to the new memories she is making in her current life as a world traveler.

For me the key difference came because of external stimulus. As we are ramping up our Year To Freedom project, the things that represent the memories in our lives are beginning to lose their luster.

I’ve been having a hard time letting go of the first watch that I remember my parents giving to me. That watch had been with me for over 30 years now. It is special in its own way. However, it just isn’t the watch that I want to take on our next big adventure.

As I look forward to paring down my stuff in preparation for starting our travels, the old watch doesn’t seem quite as important. I will always have the memories of that watch even if I choose to let go of the watch itself.

We have been dreaming of becoming world travelers for over a decade. Now that we have committed to fulfilling that dream in the next year, the little things that held so much value suddenly seem much less significant. Just yesterday I was able to sell the watch and be happy that it was going to someone that was excited to get it.

The key to making it painless to let go of stuff is to make your future so exciting that it outshines the sparkle of those things that represent past memories.

You will always have the memories you associate with your things. If you feel like you need to keep the “things” to help you remember, then take pictures of those things.

Digital images are easier to pack, share and display than the things themselves. You can even create digital scrapbooks that have stories wrapped around the images too if that helps.

Live An Epic Life

Corbett Barr suggest that if you want to build traffic for your blog, or increase your business then you need to write (or create) epic shit. The key to creating epic shit is that it always comes from living an epic life. You will not inspire others to action simply by wishing you were doing something exciting or worthwhile.

Now you don’t have to be the best, most awesome guru at what you do either. You just need to be making progress towards a worthwhile goal. Learn, try, succeed, fail. Live a life worth reading about. Find the courage to follow your heart!

Then be willing to share that life with others in an honest way. Dr. Brene Brown shows us how when we are vulnerable, we make connections with others. By showing both our successes and our failures, we give others hope that they too can live an epic life.

So, if you have had trouble letting go of stuff, no matter how hard you try, it may be because you are focused on the stuff. Change your focus to living an epic life, building excitement for your future, and the stuff just won’t matter as much.

In fact, if you are like us, you will find that the change can be dramatic. We are now excited by seeing how much stuff we can get rid of each weekend. We now understand that the stuff is one of the big things that is standing between us and the start of our family’s “world tour”!

We donate or sell what we can and toss what is left while taking pictures when appropriate. Each box gone is one box closer to our escape!

What is your vision for an epic life? What is standing between that life and the life you live right now?

Subscribe to Route To Freedom and let us help you live that epic life.

I didn’t exactly fall off the ship, but I was reported as “missing” during a man-overboard alarm. This embarrassing situation helped me learn a valuable lesson.

How to “fall overboard” without leaving the ship

Life aboard a modern aircraft carrier is very different than anything you have likely experienced. It is a floating maze of expansive hangar decks, stairs (called ladders), hallways and smaller spaces that hold everything from turbines to Operating Rooms.

As a Search And Rescue Medical Technician temporarily assigned to the Ranger with a squadron from my regular base, knowing the way around the ship was very important. At any minute a trip from the flight deck to the medical spaces could be required.

Landmarks. The key to finding your way around the hangar deck is landmarks. As the hangar deck stretches most of Ranger’s 1046 feet, and covered her 130 foot width, it is as large as a small city block!

All along the outer walls are ladders that lead either up to the flight deck, or down to the spaces lower in the hull. The Medical space was in the center of the ship, one level below the hangar deck.

This was critical information. Not only to avoid getting lost on the way to “work”, but also because that was the assigned space to report to in the event of a “man overboard drill”. With a ship that large, carrying over 3000 men and women if it was thought that someone fell overboard, it was critical to determine if anyone truly was missing with the utmost urgency.

One morning before duty started, as I was walking across a catwalk on the aft (back) wall of the hanger deck a man-overboard alarm is sounded.

“Man overboard, man overboard! This is not a drill, this is not a drill!”

Oh Crap! Run!

Down the stairs to the landing, down the next flight, and the next. Start running forward in the hanger deck. Thankfully all the aircraft are out flying and not turning the hanger deck into a huge, sharp, pointy maze of equipment.

Keep running! Let’s see, look for the big catapult piston hanging on the starboard (right) wall. Yep, there it is! Now, take the next left and go down the ladder to the Medical spaces and report. No problem, I got this.

So, through the door. Watch out for the head-banger and knee-knockers! Turn right and head down the ladder….

What the..? These stairs are carpeted. The hand rail is polished. All of the ladders that I’ve ever seen have been covered in chipped gray paint.

I’m not supposed to be here….

Have you ever suddenly stopped and realized that you were somewhere that you had no business being? Yeah, that was me in this stairwell.

Just as it dawns on me that I should be anywhere but here and I’m about to turn around and high-tail it out of this relatively opulent space, a head pokes around the wall at the bottom of the ladder.

The most senior enlisted sailor on the ship locks eyes with me, points his finger at me and informs me…

You just fell overboard!

Double Crap! Busted by the Master Chief Of The Boat!

I respectfully walk down the stairs and turn the corner where he just disappeared only to find three other sulking sailors who’s fate I had just joined.

This being my first time on board a ship, I have no idea what the penalty is for falling overboard without actually falling overboard.

During the next 10 minutes various departments in the ship called in to this office to report those sailors that had not yet reported to their assigned spaces. Eventually the phone rang, the Master Chief verified who I was and said I could now report to my duty station.

Whew. Okay, that was mildly embarrassing but there were no long lasting consequences. When I finally did get to the Medical space I had to suffer the good-natured ribbing of my shipmates for going down the wrong ladder.

Fortunately, in this case no one really fell overboard. A sailor on watch at the aft of the ship saw some garbage float by that had been thrown overboard near the bow of the ship and thought it looked like a person in the water thus prompting the man-overboard alarm.

Everyone was accounted for and it was then discovered that it was all a big misunderstanding.

Learn To Be Prepared

Up to the point that I “fell overboard” I had not given much thought to learning exactly how to get from any part of the ship to my duty station. I figured that since we were not in an active battle zone that there would never be a reason to have to run there.

Stressful situations are like that. By their very definition, they exist outside the expectations of our normal, daily lives. They show up at the least opportune moments and reveal the level of preparation that we have committed ourselves to.

Like having a fire plan for the family that tells everyone what to do and where to assemble in case of natural disaster. Or even something as simple as “Stop, Drop and Roll” in the event of burning clothing.

There is no way to anticipate every stressful situation that life could deal us. Your plans should be tailored to the most likely events that you are going to encounter.

If you have a long commute in an area that can have significant storms, then an emergency bag in the trunk can go a long way towards being prepared. If you commute using public transportation, learn the alternative routes in the event of a break-down.

Living in areas prone to tornadoes should lead you to learning where to go in the event of a storm. Whether you are at home, at work or even in town. Plan ahead and you will have built the habit of being prepared.

As your situation changes and the possible stresses change, be sure to re-evaluate your routines and prepare for the most likely issues. Change jobs, learn the best alternate routes to and from your new job. Learn the new landmarks. Additionally, be aware that issues such as losing a job after performing jury duty can impact your employment situation, so understanding your rights and preparing for such scenarios is crucial.

New car? Be sure you know where the spare tire and fuses are and how to change both of them. Before you need to in the worst storm of the year while you’re running late for an important meeting.

Building a habit of preparedness should be a way of life for us. Not only will it help reduce the impact of unexpected situations, it will generally make life easier for you and those around you.

What is the number one area that you need to be more prepared in? Share in the comments so that we can learn from each other.

It is easy to daydream, plan and research.  None of those things represent commitment.

Action takes commitment.

Planning to live a more minimalistic lifestyle sounds intriguing.  Looking in a closet or cupboard and imagining that most of what is there has been eliminated is nice, but that is not action.  Actually diving in and getting rid of the stuff around your house, well that takes commitment.  It requires decisions, sometimes hard decisions.

Taking that first, tangible step can be one of the most difficult things to do.  It means that you are actually doing what you have dreamed and planned and researched and are taking action.

It means, in our case this weekend, getting into an area, taking everything out of a space and placing it into one of three categories: keep, give or trash.

This weekend was the first step to getting rid of a lot of the junk that has been occupying our kitchen.

The target was our cupboards where we keep our mugs, cups and plates (and a boatload of crap that had snuck in there too).

The cups before the clean out.

Doesn’t seem like too much stuff is in there…

Until it is all laid out.

All the cups laid out.

After going through the junk that had crept in and throwing that out, then putting aside the things that we don’t need but are still worth donating, we ended up with quite a bit more room in that cupboard.

Ahh, no more junk.

We then tackled the cupboard with the plates, bowls and a bunch more crap.

Plates before clean out.

A BUNCH more crap…

Too much junk.

And finally a nice clean place for the stuff that is worth keeping.

No more junk!

Most of what came out of the cupboards ended up in the “toss” stack.  What was left that was worth donating went into a box and as soon as the box is full, it will be delivered to a local charity.

I know this sounds very simplistic and mundane.  For us though, it represents a significant first step.  By starting off with a space that doesn’t contain a lot of emotional attachment we can get used to the process of de-owning the stuff that is cluttering up our lives and weighing us down.

This week we are continuing to work our way around the kitchen tackling more cupboards and finally the big pantry.

From there we plan on going to our bedroom, then the garage.  That could take a while, we have a one car garage that is about half-full of stuff.  Most of that stuff we don’t need, but much of it will have emotional significance or will be above our minimum-sell value and will require the effort involved in listing it for sale on Craigs List or Ebay.

The upside to taking the time to sell the more valuable items is that it begins to fund our savings account for our eventual escape!

This process is explained in great detail in Adam Baker’s Sell Your Crap course and is a great resource for unloading the stuff that is keeping you from finding your freedom!

Now it is your turn.  What area of your home is needing a little more space?  What small, first step can you take to lighten your load?

Share with us in the comments so we can celebrate each other’s progress!

No flat surface remains untouched. As if gravity alone is insufficient to hold down the tables and counters. Piles seem to slowly multiply all on their own. There seems to be an increasing amount of stuff hovering around the house.

This ends up stressing you out because you know you had that important document in you hands just the other day and now you can’t find it! Not to mention the keys that you put on the counter just last night, or the cookbook that is now in the back of the lowest shelf of the cabinet behind two stacks of other cookbooks.

Does this sound familiar at all? We’re not talking about the extreme of hoarding. No, we’re talking about perfectly normal, average households that just seem to have more stuff than space. Sure, there is some open counter and desk space, but even that is bordered by piles and papers and cups and trinkets.

It doesn’t have to be this way. You can take control of the monster that has moved into your beautiful home and set up residence on every horizontal surface.

Too Much Stuff

The problem is not insufficient space to put stuff, it is the fact that there is just too much stuff. Notes, mail, nick-knacks, tools, cups, kids’ toys. All of it dutifully holding down the counter tops.

The Real Problem Is Not The Stuff

The real problem is our attachment to that stuff. We find our value in our “stuff”. I mean we slaved to make the money that bought most of that stuff, so it must be valuable, right? That is what society is defining success by. If vaping or smoking cannabis helps relieve your anxiety, you may visit the website of D8 Super Store. If you’re looking for the best CBD oil uk, you may read online reviews of cannabis products.

How much stuff is enough? Do you really need to keep up with the Jonses just because they bought more stuff?

Your value is not in what you own. It is important that when you are kid you are given important to a few things which matters. This is one of the reasons I am going to Find a simple game like kendama which will work for every age and keep you entertained. Those who would like to play various casino games may explore online casinos like LIMO55. You may also explore the website of winning casino for a secure platform where you can play your favorite casino games.

This true value is what you give. What you give to yourself, your family and those around you. The most important things you can give are time, love and attention.

Stuff Is Temporal, Space Eternal

Understand that most stuff is temporal, it wasn’t meant to last forever. Whether it is through engineered obsolescence of larger appliances, or just the nature of the object, few things we own today are meant to last more than a couple of years.

Some things we own are meant to last, and do last quite well. Yet styles and tastes change and we buy newer things without discarding their outdated predecessors. How many old cups and mugs do you have hiding in the corners of your cupboards? How many old books do you have laying around that will never get read again?

If you are going to slay the clutter beast, you need to be willing to accept that much of what you own has reached the end of it’s value and needs to find a new home.

Only by removing the unnecessary items and creating sufficient space for the things that truly add value to your life will you be able to eliminate the stress that the clutter causes. In the same way, playing UFABET เข้าสู่ระบบ สมัครวันนี้ can be a great stress-reliever, offering an escape and a chance to focus on enjoyable challenges.

Give, sell, toss.

Instead of de-cluttering, it is much better to de-own those things that are in need of a new home. Do not just box things up and find a place out in the garage for the box. This is just deferring the needed expulsion of items and reinforces the mental value of those items.

Instead, create three piles. One of things that are valuable enough to take the time to sell. Determine what minimum value something must have in order to be included in this list.

Are you willing to take the time to take a picture, write up a description, list the item, communicate with potential buyers, pack the item and ship it or meet the buyer to complete the transaction for items worth $20? Would it take $50 to go through all that work? How about $100? Some people find the same kind of effort-and-reward balance when enjoying payid pokies online, where convenience and entertainment often outweigh the hassle.

I strongly suggest that you pick a number that will make it well worth your time. Use eBay, Craigs List, Garage Sales or any other method to sell the items in the Sell list.

For everything else, determine if it would be of value to someone else. If so, find a charity that is in line with your values and give away everything that they would find valuable. If you are so inclined you can itemize these things and use them as tax deductions at the end of the year. (Be sure to check with the charity that donations to them are tax deductible.)

What ever is left needs to be thrown away. Recycle what you can, shred what is sensitive and simply toss everything else.

When it comes to applying this cleaning strategy, start small. Take a desk or a counter top, or even a junk drawer. Designate a staging area that is close to what you are cleaning. Move everything from the area you are cleaning to the staging area. Then, one item at a time determine where that item should really go. Keep, Give, Sell or Toss. In order to be in the Keep category, make sure that it is being used at least every couple of months, and that it does not have an updated version somewhere in the house.

Once you have sorted everything into the proper categories, put the Keep items back in the area, throw the Toss items into the garbage, box up the Give items and start listing the Sell items.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

When you have a desk, or a room cleaned out, stand back and take in the new found space that your efforts have achieved. Enjoy this newfound space and feel the burden that comes with clutter melt away.

For more details on how to do this, pick up Sell Your Crap by Adam Baker.

Next week we will be showing you some of the progress we’ve made using these techniques!

Where To Start?

What area are you going to attack first? Share in the comments below.

For over 10 years now our family has been dreaming of being location independent. Long before we even heard that term, being able to live where we want, move when we want and make a comfortable living while we travel has been at the core of our dreams.

Before I met my wife Kelly, I had done some traveling, of course, being in the Navy does tend to help with that. Even though I spent over 4 years in the Navy I spent exactly 7 days on a ship, and that was sailing around in circles off the California coast near San Diego. I did, however, get to spend some time in Antarctica which was the travel highlight of my service.

Growing up my dad liked to vacation in Hawaii and we would spend a week or two there each summer. That really founded my love for travel. As an adventure junkie, I have an innate desire to travel and to seek out new experiences.

Since Kelly has the same wanderlust that I do, we both really look forward to the time we can travel with our kids. We want to show them that there is so much more to the world than our little town or even the region we live in. There are beautiful people to meet and wonderous sights to see, not to mention all the great food we will get to sample as we move to each new location.

In the last 15 years we have tried a number of different means of earning an income that would support a life of travel.

I started out as a helicopter pilot and instructor when I got out of the Navy. While that sounds exciting and glamerous, it really turned out to be a risky job with a great view that doesn’t pay all that well.

We were introduced to the Multi Level Marketing world and dreamed of making it big so that we could afford to travel. Unfortunately, we followed bad financial advice and not only did we not make the money that we needed to travel, we ended up putting a bunch of expenses on credit cards. So what we had hoped to be a means to freedom only served to anchor us more tightly to the day job so we could service the debt we had built up.

I’ve had a number of hobbies that we considered turning into a side income. Things like bladesmithing custom made knives, making traditional archery equipment, and being a photographer. In fact, some pocket knives like this Mini Katana can come in handy when you’re out in the field capturing stunning photographs or practicing your archery skills. So, whether you’re crafting custom knives, perfecting your archery gear, or exploring your passion for photography, having versatile tools like the Mini Katana in your arsenal can elevate your hobby and potentially turn it into a rewarding side hustle. The only one of those that ever generated any significant income was the photography. Much like the flying, I found that I am much more creative and enjoy the activity when it isn’t on someone else’s schedule. When it was our plan of escape, the task quickly lost its appeal and became a “job”.

I tell you all of this to convey the idea that we have been actively searching for a means to travel for over a decade now and to this point have been unsuccessful.

That is no longer going to be the case. We have decided that it is time to stop playing around and get serious about finding our freedom. Our kids are getting older and we want to start travelling before they get to the point where they would rather just stay where we are and spend time with their friends instead of with their family.

In order to make all of this happen, we have a few big roadblocks that we have to find a way over, under, around or blast through.

The four big roadblocks are debt, mobile income, possessions and mindset.

By eliminating our consumer debt, we won’t have as large a demand on our income in order to make a comfortable living.

In order to travel for more than a few weeks or months at a time, we will have to come up with at least one way to make money that is not dependent on us being tied to a single location. We are planning on diversifying our income so that we can have some active and some passive income sources.

In order to be truly mobile, we cannot take a house full of stuff with us. We will be eliminating most of the stuff that won’t fit into our backpacks and suitcases. Since we plan on traveling for more than just a few months, it doesn’t make any sense to pay for storage for all of our furniture (which isn’t all that great) and other trinkets that just don’t have any real meaning for us. So by selling our big items and donating the rest, we can help fund our travel account and we can help some people that are having a hard time. To support a balanced mindset, consider exploring Mushroom Gummies for their potential benefits.

Finally, everything else will be a waste of time and energy if we cannot cultivate a positive, flexible, adaptable, travelers’ mindset. Without it, we would quickly become miserable, start missing our ‘old life’ and end up giving up on the travel idea prematurely.

We have plans on how to overcome each of these obstacles that we will be implementing and sharing with you. Because we want to be an example of what it takes to reclaim your freedom, we will be showing you what works for us, and just as important, what doesn’t work. We’ll share the good, the bad and even the ugly. We expect to have ups and downs. You’ll hear about our wins, and you may even see an occasional rant if things are particularly tough one week.

Most of all, we just want to be real. We’ve had enough of the Pollyanna crap that so many are selling these days. This is where reality smacks you straight in the face and tells you to get on with life even when things are not going your way.

We are calling this our Year To Freedom project. (While it may take us a little over a year to be at a place where we are ready to travel, Year To Freedom sounds a lot better than 17 Months Until We Are Ready To Travel, doesn’t it?)

If this sounds interesting to you, or even just entertaining, then be sure to join our email list as we’ll be sharing extra details in the weekly emails that announce each week’s new post.

If you want to join us in this project and start our own Year To Freedom be sure to let us know in the comments so we can cheer you on as you make your dreams come true.

Quiet down and listen to your heart

Would you be interested in that?

In today’s fast paced world, it can be difficult to hear the small, quiet voice that is our intuition. This is the voice from the heart. That small voice that talks to us in our heads when we are quiet and listening for it.

It rarely shouts at us. It is very polite and will not be demanding. It will wait quietly until we are ready to listen.

Only then will it reveal the secrets of your heart.

Just this week by slowing down, asking myself what I really wanted to be doing in the next year and then quieting myself enough to listen, did I find the answer.

It is an answer that has been right in front of me for a long time now. It is something that others have been suggesting to me during that time.

This answer was missing one small component that I instinctively knew was missing, but I couldn’t figure out how to overcome this gap.

Then I read Page Burke’s post at simplemindfulness.com on why I should listen to the voices in my head. This really got me thinking. And listening too.

By being willing to stop the cacophony in my head, asking my heart what I want to do, ignoring my ego which was telling me what I “should” do, then listening for the answer I was able to clearly see the road ahead and how I can navigate this problem that has been stifling me for many months now.

You can do the same when you find the courage to tell the Ego to shut the hell up and stop telling you what you “should” be doing. The Ego is rational. It will line out all the reasons why you should be doing something or why you should avoid something. It is acting logically. It is telling you to be “realistic”. To not follow your “dreams” and do the responsible thing.

This can be a very subtle and persistent obstacle to finding what truly makes you happy. Your heart is yearning to be free. It longs to be fulfilled and validated.

Only when you can quiet the Ego, ask the heart for its desires and then take the time to quietly listen will you fully understand where your happiness lies.

Once you gag the Ego and ask the question, there is no telling just when the heart will answer.

Of course, mine decided to answer me while I was in the shower. With a head full of lather and no one around to take down any notes, my heart sprang up and said, “Hey, this is what you need to do to be happy. I know you’ve made some significant changes in your plans lately. This is exactly what I’ve been waiting for, so now you can follow this path over here in order to do all the things that you’ve been dreaming of doing.”

The ideas, thoughts, plans, excitement and emotions came flooding in so I had to repeat the ideas out loud to myself as I quickly rinsed off, dried off, ran downstairs and furiously started typing ideas in to my computer so that I could capture most of them.

Note to self: when you ask your heart a question, always, Always, ALWAYS keep a notebook handy.

Tweet

The really wild thing is that your heart doesn’t have the constraint of being rational. It can be as wild and carefree as it wants to be. So, when you put the Ego back into the closet and lock the door behind it, then ask the Heart the big question, don’t be suprised when the answer knocks your socks off.

This is where the courage comes in, because now you cannot ever say that you just don’t know what will make you happy. Your heart just read you your mail and plausible deniability is no longer an option.

You need to buck up and start working towards the destination your heart just laid out for you.

You now know what it will take. Do you have the guts to make it happen?

What is your heart telling you to do?

By letting others know, two things happen. First, you are giving your heart’s desires form and validation by writing them down. Second, by letting others know what those desires are they can help make those things come to pass, in ways you can’t even imagine.

However, if no one knows what those desire are, there is no way anyone can help, even if you already have a rescue team in place.

Take the first step to making your dreams come true, give your dreams form by sharing them in the comments below.

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Hit Your Target

This weekend we took the kids to an archery event sponsored by Rewild Portland. A number of families showed up for the event as well as a few regulars to the archery range.

As we reviewed the elements of teaching our children about archery we realized that there are a number of parallels between getting an arrow on to the bull’s eye and reaching goals in other areas.

Equipment

You must choose the equipment that fits your goals and style. Archery can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be, which is the same in any sport from archery to golf, which if you want to practice a lot you may need a simulator for this. A golf swing trainer indoor is a convenient and effective tool for improving your swing mechanics and consistency without needing to visit the driving range.

From a simple bent stick and a string, all the way up to computer designed, precision machined bows with dual or single cams sporting vibration reduction equipment shot with a mechanical release. Both ends of this spectrum can be used to effectively launch arrows with surprising accuracy.

In reaching your goal, there are most likely a wide variety of tools that you can use that very from simple to complex. Most people naturally feel that the more complex a tool is, the more useful it is. This is not always the case.

Many times even the most complex tools are not used to their fullest capacity. Often a simple tool will work just as well, be less distracting, easier to learn and cost less than the more complex choice.

Stance

Based on your equipment and style, adopt the correct stance. The archers stance is all about using their mental and physical strengths to get the arrow to the target. In archery there are subtle changes in the archer’s stance depending on what type of bow they are shooting.

An archer that is hunting with a simple bent stick while tracking his quarry on the ground will be better served with a more crouching stance while holding the bow leaned over at an angle.

The modern archer that is hunting with a compound bow from a tree stand will need a very different stance. Finally an Olympic archer that is shooting at a target at a known distance and requires the very best accuracy will have their own unique stance.

When preparing to hit your goals, first understand what your strengths are and how to best use them in the context of your goals. Is this something that can be done quickly, with little planning that has a high likelihood of being successful?

Is this goal something that will take you to new areas that will require significant planning and enlisting others to help you hit your target? What strengths do you have relating to this goal? What areas can you use the help of others to make sure you can be successful

Target

Select The Right Gear

Know your target and the distance to that target. The archer must understand the difference between a target that is likely to jump at the sound of the arrow leaving the string and a target that will remain steady regardless of what is going on around it.

Only by understanding the target can the archer hope to achieve their goal. Even when an archer knows their target, they must still gauge the distance to that target if they hope to hit it.

When working towards your goals, you must understand exactly what the goal is. Will the goal be moving as you make progress towards it? Will it be dependent on the time of year, or on the weather? Will your goal be affected by outside influences? If so, have you accounted for those influences in your plans?

How long can you expect it to take you to achieve your goal? Have you ever achieved something of this magnitude before? If not, can this goal be broken down into smaller, more familiar steps?

It can be discouraging to arrive at the dock only to find that the boat has already sailed.

Focus

Aim big, miss big; aim small, miss small. Not only must the archer know their target, they must be able to focus on the smallest part of it in order to hit their mark. A pre workout that boost stamina and focus can be taken for success. The archer does not aim at the hay bale. They aim at the postage stamp sized piece of the target in the middle of the bull’s eye.

When you are focusing on your goals are you general and vague, or do you see the very finest of details in those goals? Is the goal to loose weight, or is the goal to loose 10 pounds of fat, gain 3 pounds of muscle by eating right and exercising 30 minutes each day for the next 12 weeks? Which goal has the right focus?

Draw

Put enough energy into the bow to ensure you will reach your target. Once the equipment has been chosen, the correct stance adopted, the target identified and the focus placed on the right area, the real work begins.

The archer now uses all of these elements as they put the physical effort into drawing the bow. This is the energy that will result in the arrow reaching the target, hitting where the archer is aiming.

In achieving your goals, this is the writing of each paragraph of the novel. This is the late nights of making that prototype or writing the code for the killer app.

This is the mental and physical effort that every worthwhile goal will require.

Release

Follow Through

Loose the arrow to the target. When the archer has reached their full draw and the bow is storing all the energy it can, the arrow is lined up on the target accounting for wind and distance, then the string is released and the arrow sent on its way.

The potential energy of the bow and archer is converted into the kinetic energy of the arrow. Giving the arrow flight to fight wind and gravity in order to reach the target.

The archer must be careful though, not to hold the draw for too long. If they do, they will start to fatigue and their accuracy will quickly diminish.

This is where you have to publish, ship or execute your plan. This is where all of your planning, hard work and effort come together and produce results.

Without this step everything that has come before would be wasted as potential energy. This is the step that turns that potential into kinetic, tangible results. Don’t delay unnecessarily though.

Follow Through

The correct form will help ensure proper accuracy. By maintaining the correct follow-through on the shot, the archer ensures that the action of the bow does not have a negative effect on the flight of the arrow.

After you achieved your goal, what can you do to make sure that everything has been completed? Are their follow on tasks that would be best completed at this time? Thank you letters to write for those that helped? Plans to be made for the next step?

If you have momentum, kinetic energy, don’t let that go to waste. Build on each step with another step.

By utilizing these 7 steps, you will be able to hit your goals like an arrow in the bull’s eye!

Kids On The Pier

How do you feel when you have your heart set on something, it looks like everything is falling into place and then the bottom falls out… yet again?

That is where we are right now.

The disappointment of having to wait.

Coming off of a weekend high of almost buying our boat and fulfilling the first part of our dream is quite a downer.

After looking at the boat, talking to the broker, talking amongst ourselves and having a third party look the boat over and give us his opinion on the damages that need work, I have to say it is a disappointment. It is hard not to think that we wasted another weekend and money to go see this boat.

Was it a learning experience? Yes. But unfortunately it has also confirmed our fears that we just aren’t ready for the boat.

Go small, go now!

I love the idea of ‘go small, go now’, but it is hard to do that when the small boats are hard to get a boat loan on and most of them need a lot of work. Money we don’t have saved up.

We know that it will all come in time, but it has already been 10 years and we are so antsy to get the boat. Getting the boat is just the first step in our journey.

We will still need to learn to sail, learn about our boat and how to work on all the systems and most importantly get used to the lifestyle. It will be a big change to go from a 1500 sq ft. townhome to a 32 to 40′ sailboat.

We are not letting this weekend get us down. It is just a small setback.

We choose to see it this way… we ruled out one boat, we made a couple of great contacts for the future and we have a clearer vision of what it will take to get us into our boat.

Our focus needs more focus.

We can now settle in and work extra hard at getting our upcoming product, a guidebook to personal freedom, done and launched. Get our debts paid down more and get our savings up.

As Mike said in his last post, ‘Our focus needs more focus’ and that is what we will be doing.

Even though this was a distraction it was a beautiful one. We were able to spend some great time as a family and go on a mini adventure. We learned more than we ever thought we would and that knowledge will help us in the future. It also helped us keep our dream alive and allowed it to grow bigger than ever.

What distractions or disappointments have you had on your journey to achieving your dreams?

Were you able to use them to fuel your dream even more?

Please share in the comments below what your big dream is and how you handle the setbacks along the way to achieving them.

P.S. Here is a little video we shot while waiting for the ferry from Bainbridge Island to Seattle. It’s a little glimpse into what our trip was like…

http://youtu.be/xAPTxt_zrGM