Archive for the ‘Improve Yourself’ Category
The Free World: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
I couldn’t help but read Dena’s guest post from yesterday and not want to put in my own two cents!
This past year has seen me discover that 6 years of study, work and all that jazz has amounted to me not particularly wanting to pursue my set career path (or a career path at all), income stream experiments, starting a company to launch a software product (coming very soon!) and also starting to write.
I’d like to look back on 2009 and say ‘that was the year that the penny dropped’ and the ball got set into motion.
We’re all leaders of the free world, but our own free world. You might enjoy your job, but each and every one of us ARE self employed, whether you like it or not you’re always going to have to look out for number one.
In taking your own baby steps into the free world you’re definitely doing the right thing! What have you got to lose? If you try and fail you’ll just be right back here, having been to yet another end of year work Christmas party, talking to the same people, about the same things. Alternatively you could be in an insane Christmas rush to get your latest product that you’ve created out the door to fill all of your Christmas orders, freelancing your arse off to meet your client’s deadlines or travelling around managing your own affairs? If your free world experiments don’t work you will always have the safety net of returning to work in early January to start it all again..
Focus is the Key
Focus is the derivative, having a goal or a purpose is the backbone. What do you want? What do you want to do? Travel? Run your own business? Get stinking rich? Why do you want to be rich? Keep asking yourself questions on your questions to find what you really want and strive for it. Focus on exactly what you want. In experimenting with new income streams and trial & error in general there are two theories out there: focus on each one individually, one at a time and give each experiment your full attention, or go hell for leather at everything all at once, see what you excel at and then target towards that. This year I’ve found that I’m the former: I’ve got a hundred ideas but a short attention span meaning I’m easily side-tracked, I’m adopting a more focused approach to one thing at a time.
Your Purpose
I’ve made a point of reading whatever I could on the work life balance, running your own show and escaping the 9-5. The one point that has stuck with me was by Jonathan Mead of Illuminated Mind, paraphrased: “Are you waking up and eating your three meals a day, not achieving anything in particular, floating through life?” and a follow up of “Finding your purpose & defining your goals is easy, what can’t you not do?” These two points infuriated me, they stuck with me and won’t go away, I can’t get rid of them or get them out of my head. When I’ve had a lazy week I do think “Well, time to get dinner ready, the third meal of the day…”
So what are you waking up for each & everyday?
Patience
I recently found out that most of America’s self made millionaires hit the ‘big time’ at the ripe old age of 57. 57 years old? The book I was reading went on to say that during the 20’s a person is busy experimenting (guilty) and switching from job to job, in the 30’s there’s the obligation to settle down and focus on a career, the 40’s is where the real ‘work experience’ kicks in and it’s not until the late forties and early 50’s that you have a break through that can provide real value. The point the author was trying to make was that you need life experience before you can add any real value to people’s day to day lives.
With this in mind I am going to take my foot of the pedal (only a bit!) in the coming year, keep reading & researching and be a bit more patient, here’s hoping my idea is just around the corner.
Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
I read Dena’s guest post and it struck a chord with me. It also reminded me that yesterday I found myself on a phone call with an Engineering Manager to follow up a job interview! We all want to lead our own Free World but I’ve learnt this year that it’s a process, until your lotto numbers come up you’re going to have to work, whether it’s for someone else or yourself, tickets to the Free World aren’t easy!
On the Tenth Day of Christmas – Baby Steps Into the Free World
Baby Steps into the Free World: How to Put Yourself First & Succeed
Hello readers of Leaders of the Free World! I’m Dena and I’m a big fan of this blog and of Andrew’s mission to free us all from the trenches of corporate slavery! I first fell in love with Andrew’s writing when I read his guest post, Corporate Fluff a few months back. As a former cubicle monkey and a current 9 to 5 monkey myself, I could relate to everything that he was saying. Bring down the man! Follow your passion! Focus on providing the maximum value to the end user and cut out the middle men! It all made perfect sense to me. I was leaping out of my chair. I was fired up and ready to make moves… and then the reality hit me.
I am tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt, and I am not ready to make that leap.
Call it cowardly, call it what you will, but I’m just not ready. I am determined to pay down this debt. I am making enormous sacrifices, working hard, and even practicing the fine art of frugality. And one day soon, I will be ready to join the ranks of The Free World! But for now, I’m still doing the 9 to 5; but here’s the key, I’m doing it my way, having a decent time of it, and learning a hell of a lot along the way.
In this post, I will teach you how you can take baby steps into The Free World by putting yourself first, no matter what your circumstances. Follow these five steps and you will be on the quick path to the Free World.
1. Focus on the Positive
Focusing on the positive is the key to life. Seriously, if you can manage to shift your thought to focus on the positive things around you, you will succeed every single time. It’s really simple — focus on the negative and be miserable, depressed, and unsuccessful or — focus on the positive and be happy, fulfilled, and successful. Which one will you choose?
“A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.” —Mohandas Gandhi
No matter what your job is, there are good points about it. Whether you like it or not, the economy sucks right now. Approximately 195 million people around the world are unemployed and that statistic was taken before the economy took its recent nosedive. Whatever your job is, you are making money. Maybe you can afford to put food in your child’s mouth, maybe you can afford to put a shirt on your own back, maybe you can afford a lot of things and every time you start to complain, think about all of the people who can’t do those things. Think about the mother who can’t put food in her baby’s mouth or the man on the street, in the snow, who doesn’t have a shirt on his back. It’s harsh, but it’s true.
Aside from a paycheck, I know that there are a lot of other really good things about your job. Maybe it’s the view from the window on the second floor or the smile on the janitor’s face in the afternoon or maybe you are the janitor and it’s the steaming hot cup of coffee that you enjoy each morning at the start of your shift. Whatever it is, it’s there. You have to find it.
There are lots of little things to be grateful for, focus on those. …Or focus on the negatives and be miserable. You decide.
2. Never Accept Less Than You Deserve
My attitude toward life goes something like this: I am going to shine at every single thing that I do. I am going to work my ass off until I see positive results. When I fall, I am going to get back up—every, single, time. If you can honestly say that you take that approach in your own life, then you’d better be looking out for yourself along the way.
You’ve got to look out for yourself, because if you don’t do it, no one will. Some people will perceive your kindness and hard work ethic as a weakness. They will try to take advantage of you. The fact is that there are people who refuse to adopt a positive or fair attitude and they will remain miserable. They will try everything to drag you down with them. The key is to never let those people get to you. When they pop up, you keep moving. Pity them, show them kindness, but don’t ever stop on your path. Just keep going.
Take the steps to make sure that you are never taken advantage of. Keep track of your accomplishments, prove yourself, and excel at each task that you tackle. If you are working hard and giving it your all, make sure that you are being compensated & appreciated accordingly. If you are consistently giving 110% but never see the pay off, let it be known.
I recently went to my boss and asked for a substantial raise. I made sure that what I was asking for was legitimate, did my homework, and presented my case. I was scared as hell! But you can not imagine how gratifying it was to stand up for myself — even before I got a positive answer, I felt like a million bucks.
You’ve got to see the good in people but you’ve also got to be realistic. Make sure that you get what you deserve, nothing less.
3. Keep Your Eye on the Prize
Like I said above, I want to enter The Free World and I am getting closer everyday. I am experimenting with all sorts of liberating things lately — blogging, passive income, options trading, freelancing, etc. There are hundreds of paths to take in order to get where you want to be; but you’ve got to remember your goals.
Right now one of my main priorities is to pay down my student loan debt. Sometimes that means sacrifice. If I score a small freelance gig that generates some extra cash, I do not head to the shopping mall and I buy myself a new purse. I take that money and I apply it toward my debt!
The principle is simple. If you are doing something that is taking you further away from your goal — stop now! Every single thing that you do should take you one step closer to reaching your goal.
4. Know When to Take a Break
Whether you are close to the end of your journey to the Free World or just at the beginning, there’s something you’ve always got to remember: You Come First. You need to take time out of every single day for you. Whether that means a cup of coffee in the morning or an hour of yoga after work, you must take time to clear & focus your mind at least once a day, preferably more.
What makes you happy — Long, quiet walks? Blasting out your ear drums with your Ipod? Writing in a journal? Taking your kids to the park? Whatever it is, embrace it! Work is hard work. Life is hard work. We are all just trying to get by and if we forget to take the time out to do what we love, what centers & focuses us, then we stand no chance to accomplish our goals.
Whether your ambition is to be a globe-trotting blogger or the CEO of a Fortune 500, you must remember that You Come First. Too many people climb their way to the top only to suffer a massive heart attack at age 50, or to look back and discover that there was never an ounce of passion or love.
At the end of the day, there is a lot more to life than money, fortune, and fame. Practice living with intention and you will find the balance between a life of fulfillment and a life of success.
5. Don’t Ever Give Up
It is not going to be easy, but anything that is worth it in the end rarely is.
“Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never.” —Sir Winston Churchill
You’ve got to keep a positive outlook, fight for yourself, stay focused, and know when to take a break. If you can keep those things at the front of your mind, then you will be on a sure path to success and your way to The Free World in no time at all. You are going to fall down, I can promise you that, but you are also going to get back up—every, single, time.
Remember that I am right here beside you, cheering you on!
~~~
Dena is an aspiring full-time blogger from Northern New Jersey, USA. Her passion/purpose in life is to infuse light & joy into the hearts of as many people as possible. She carries out this mission at her blog, Evolution. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.
Only Three Sleeps Left!
So I started the Twelve Days of Christmas by questioning the whole commercialisation, religious factor and the massive amount of consumerism that engulfs the holiday.
Nine days later, a guest post from a fellow cynic about how it was the silly season and the festivities should be embraced; I’ve ticked off the shopping list, wrapped the presents and sent the cards off. So who would have thought, even I’ve started to warm to the idea of Christmas this year!
We should forget altogether about religion, consumerism, buying too much junk and over indulging.
Saying You’ve Been Good All Year = Presents
I’ve been shown this week (by a five year old) that Christmas is about a few things;
- Continuously reminding everyone how many sleeps there are until Christmas
- Knowing the fridge is FULL of chocolate
- Very sneakily peeling off the sticky tape of one end of the wrapped present, having a peak, folding the wrapping back over and positioning that present under the tree so that people will be none the wiser
- Eating ALL of the days in the chocolate advent calendar in one sitting
- Sitting on Santa’s lap at every shopping centre to tell him how good you’ve been and to tell him how many horses you want
Asking If They’ve Been Good All Year = Obedience
Children aside, Christmas isn’t purely about religion or consumerism; I’ve found it’s handy for;
- Being able to bribe children into being good, or else…
- Being able to unload some of your un-opened junk from last year (hello re-gifting)
- Realising that you’re the undisputed champion of present wrapping
- Getting some cool* new stuff that you had no idea about (*to be confirmed)
- STILL receiving Christmas presents from your family pets
And let’s face it, you can probably vouch for everything in the first list too…
Wish you were still young enough to REALLY enjoy Christmas? Let me know if there’s anything I missed from either lists!
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The Sixth Day of Christmas – Research & Development
You haven’t forgotten that you’re your own little company have you? How’s your Research and Development department ticking along? Have you managed a break through this year? Why not?
There’s been plenty written lately about the past year, reflecting on personal events, milestones and goals achieved. Soon enough we’ll be into New Years resolutions. You can pick from your standard range: get fit, quit smoking, save more money, be nicer to people etc. Why not resolve to do something that can benefit you in the long term and open up your eyes to a world of possibility?
I’m talking about learning something new: experimenting with additional income streams, setting yourself up as a small business, anything that’ll help you get out of the rat race!
You’ve spent more time figuring out which bank would give you 3.75% pa on your $5,000 term deposit than you have even thinking about getting out of the rat race! (By the by, making your money work for you this way would net you a whopping $187 profit for the year before tax)
I’ll cut to the chase, you can get your tax rate down to the low 10 – 15%, increase your net worth & asset base, get involved in the stock market, have a look at an eBay store… the list goes on!
If you went to college or university you’ve spent anywhere from $20,000 upwards on a qualification that’s going to tie you to a job until you retire, but you might turn your nose up at a stock market seminar that’s charging $1,000? Think about it.
The Sixth Day of Christmas is going to be short and sweet; if you haven’t already you should kick your Research and Development department into gear in ‘10.
Make your New Year’s resolution count for 2010, maybe turn off your TV and learn about drop shipping a product online? (Turning your TV off will give you an extra week and a half of time to lead your own free world)
What’s your resolution? Leave a comment below, follow me on twitter, sign-up for the RSS feed or join the facebook group? If you’ve got something to say that’ll help us all lead our own free world contribute and write an article for the site!
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Stocking Fillers & Christmas Present Re-Gifting
On the Fifth Day of Christmas, My True Love Gave to Me, A Present That I’m Pretty Sure That I Got You Last Year?
Did you get another BBQ set for Christmas? Perhaps the latest mundane crappy autobiography from your supposedly favourite sports star? ANOTHER salad bowl & tongs?
Let’s all give a warm welcome to the concept of re-gifting.
Now whether you’re for or against re-gifting will probably be determined by whether you’ve been on the receiving end of a suspect gift or have been able to save a few dollars by grabbing last years unused present out of the closet, dusting it off and having a small giggle while you gift wrap it.
We should probably have a look at the broad definition of re-gifting, passing one of your unwanted presents onto someone else, putting that stocking filler your Mum got you straight onto eBay the following week, giving someone your Christmas present for their birthday or just trying to get an outright refund for your unwanted item of Christmas cheer?
The Life Cycle of a Pocket Sized Sport Towel
Each and every Christmas you might receive a few ‘stocking fillers’. Things that someone has no doubt walked past in the shop and thought “Ah, <your name here> would love that!” And that’s why on Christmas morning, you opened a small Christmas cracker shaped present and found a small white chamois that was about the size of a flannel but claimed to dry your whole body. Thanks for the sports towel Mum.
A year or two passed and a family friend had a stall at a swap meet (flea market/car boot sale), call it what you will, but it’s a bargain hunters paradise where people wake-up at a disgusting hour in the morning to walk laps around a car park and ogle other people’s junk.
That’s when the circle of life was complete, a middle aged stout mother wandered up to the stall, had a quick glance all over, honed in on the small white sports towel still in its packaging, asked how much, and then proclaimed “this’ll make a great stocking filler”.
And for a grand total of $2 the pocket sized sports towel was out of my life forever.
Lead Your Own Free World
Christmas morning is great, opening presents, watching people open what you got them, the whole thing has a nice vibe to it, it’s exciting and something to look forward to.
However in a push for leading a minimalist, de-cluttered and possibly location independent lifestyle think twice before you load up on stocking fillers! I’m sure eBay does a roaring trade every Boxing Day with all of the re-gifts people list, we can put a stop to this! 
Are you a re-gifter? Have you been on the receiving end and think that you’re a re-giftee? Leave a comment below the post!
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On the Third Day of Christmas – US Options Trading Part 1
On the Third Day of Christmas My True Love Gave to Me, $1,200 Credited Into My Bank Account Last Night!
I’m very excited to be able to write about this today! I initially had ‘US Stock Options Trading’ as the 6th Day of Christmas to keep you in suspense, but last night’s windfall was too much to contain!
One of my Free World income stream experiments is US Options Trading. It’s one of the online streams of income that doesn’t involve blogging, building a reputation, getting subscribers or trying to sell anything. The results are based on you and you alone and is one of the primary ‘location independent’ revenue opportunities.
So this isn’t going to be a get-rich-quick scheme, there’s nothing to sell you at the end, but the idea is to show you what I’ve been tinkering with on the options market and that I’ve been able to make some small (but significant %) profits. (And that you can too)
I’ll explain a bit about Options Trading (it’s not daunting, don’t worry) and then about how to find profitable stocks and what tools you can use to kick things into gear. There’ll be a few links at the end of sites you can check out, sign-up for free online brokers and do some ‘virtual’ trading on your own. (not real money, but it uses the real results from the stock market).
Things might get a bit confusing as we go along, but I made $1,200 last night without lifting a finger so it’s worth you getting a cup of tea, having a good read once or twice, following the links, and if anything doesn’t make sense then either drop a comment or send me an email. If you’re viewing this post via the email subscription or RSS feed, it’s probably better to head to the site as some of the images enlarge if you click on them.
Introduction to Stocks & Options
Late last year I attended a seminar on shares, options and CFD’s (ignore the last one). This piqued my interest so I read a few more books and found that most of the information was readily available for free in books, none of the theories were new or top secret and what wasn’t available in books was available online. I got hold of a good course of DVD’s and CD’s and studied away, eventually starting up a free account and experimenting, reading more books and found that the whole game was about learning, getting some experience, risk management and not putting all your money on the table at once.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t know anything about the stock market, stocks or shares and all that jazz. The words ‘company’, ‘shares’ & ‘stocks’ all represent the same thing, if Ford Motor Company came out tomorrow with the flying car then their share price/stocks/company would increase in value. If their flying car crashed when you drove it then their share price/stocks/company value would decrease.
What is an Option?
So anyway, what are these options I keep going on about? An ‘option’ is based on a stock. An option has three components; time value, a premium and a strike price. Confused much?
Time Value
Like car insurance, you buy an option to last for a set amount of time; one month, two months, six months, a year, it varies. (Consequently the more time you buy, the more it costs) You’re not actually buying the ’stock’, in essence you’re taking out a policy that will give you the ‘option’ of buying the stock at a set price further down the track.
Premium
This is the ‘premium’ you pay for the option, similar to the cost of your car insurance. The backbone of options is that the premium is more often than not only about 10% of the cost of buying the actual stock. (Think about it, $10 stock that you control for $1, if it goes up to $12, you’ve made 100%).
It’s worth jumping in here to give you the textbook definition of an option to help clear things up; “An option gives the buyer have the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell the underlying stock at a specified price (strike price) until the 3rd Friday of their expiration month (Time Value).”
Strike Price
From above, the ‘strike price’ is the price at which the buyer can buy the stock for. So if you buy an option on a $10 stock for $1, and your stock moves to $15, you have the right to buy that stock at $10 (and here you’d have $5 profit as the stock has moved to $15).
Hopefully you’ve just had a light bulb moment from the above paragraph and probably asked as I did “surely that’s not possible?” I probably haven’t done the greatest job at explaining all of this so head here when you’ve got the chance to read up on it.
Sales Pitch
So if you do a few google searches or even attend a seminar or two, you’ll hear/read a few of those gimmicky sales pitch catch cries to reel you in. Here’s a few I’ve put together that ARE true and should make you stand up and want to get into this for yourself;
Options Trading will take a whopping 15 minutes of your time per day- You can double or triple your money rather easily
- You can profit hugely from stock going down
- You can make money if stock goes sideways (neither up or down)
- You don’t have to know which way the stock is going to make money
Ok that’s the gimmicky sales pitch crap out of the way, and I’m not even trying to sell you anything!
The whole options trading thing is full of strategies, you can; buy, sell, make money on stock going down, all sorts of stuff, but to ease you into it I’ll work through some real examples that I’ve used myself.
If you missed the two screen shots within this post scroll back up and check them out. The first screenshot is of the daily account email I receive which outlines my overall position and the second screenshot is when one of my orders gets filled and I make a profit! If you want to learn some more right away you can google ‘options trading’ or go to one of the many online brokers and sign up for a virtual trading account, I’ve used optionsxpress and they were fine.
In US Options Trading – Part 2 I’ll show you a behind-the-scene’s look at how I find trades (companies), what to do with them once you’ve found them, and how to place trades.
Receive the Twelve Days of Christmas (and Part 2 of Options Trading) delivered directly to your inbox here. If you’ve got twitter it’d be great if you would retweet the article. 
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The Twelve Days of Crispness…
On the First Day of Crispness
No not the painful Christmas carol, my version of the twelve days of Christmas. Crispness you ask? Well I’ve concluded that the general public cares more about how fresh their Christmas Day salad is (Australia) than what the Christmas holiday actually represents.
So unless you’re Christian, Catholic, or have any other affiliation with ‘him’ then what are you dishing out presents for? I overheard a lady in the shops the other day, talking to someone on her cell phone and stressing out about whether she was getting the right present, if it was going to be what the recipient wanted, would they like it, was it the right colour. Too much stress!
My Twelve Days of Christmas
I’m going to attempt to write something everyday for the next twelve days with the overall theme focused on you, leading your own free world. The next twelve days you’re going to get a few free world updates, some results from my online income experiments that you can try yourself, how you can travel the world tomorrow and a look at social media.
Back to Crispness. I was recently invited to a Friday night Shabbat (Jewish dinner) by a friend. We washed up, didn’t speak, broke bread, drank wine, had three kosher courses, didn’t have milk in our tea and then they sang some Hebrew prayers. Everyone was well dressed, the conversation was polite and the table setting was rather fancy. I was impressed by the table setting and exclaimed “This is pretty flash, you must really turn it on for Christmas dinner!” when I realised to my own stupidity, that Jewish folk don’t celebrate Christmas as they’re not particularly down with the whole Jesus caper.
So when people frown upon religion, think its stupid, over-rated or not for them, they still ‘celebrate’ Christ’s Mass. That makes sense?
The Good
Christmas is good for a few things, religious or not. It gives working slaves a reason to take a break from the drudgery and it also encourages time for friends and family to get together.
The Christmas holiday shouldn’t be about trying to please everyone, running around like crazy trying to be at every family event under the sun, having to blow your budget on presents, over indulgence or consumerism.
Retail outlets prey on Christmas cheer. Think of buzzwords like ‘Stocking Fillers’ (useless crap), ‘Christmas Essentials’ (more useless crap) and ‘Last Minute Panic’ (hurry to buy our useless crap!). Retail outlets start the Christmas buzz earlier and earlier every year, this year we had it start in October and now we’re waiting for the Boxing Day/January sales because if we weren’t dumb enough to spend all our money on presents for Christmas now we can make up for it in the sales!
That’s enough Christmas cheer for the first day of the countdown. Stay Tuned.
Anything you’d like to read about in the Twelve Days of Crispness? Leave a comment or to receive all twelve days in your inbox sign up here.
The Great Freedom Sample Exercise
Well it’s nice to know that I’m not the only one who likes to procrastinate in the free world. Back when i was serving my sentence I used to marvel at the thought of turning my 65 hour work week into my ‘own’ productive time. Once I get past the sleeping in, nipping to the shops and putting off jobs, I’ll let you know how it goes.
Nick Bryan, a fantastic writer from feeding the black dog took time out of his suspense filled comic strip drama of hats, tea cosies and beanies at behatted and was nice enough to write a guest post for the free world.
The Great Freedom Sample Exercise
Recently, I took a week off work, for no particular reason. Well, there was a clear justification, namely to use up my paid holiday. But I’d been to Ireland for a holiday with my girlfriend fairly recently, didn’t have any drive to go anywhere else and, above all, am reliably awful at organising anything.
So, with nothing to do, I decided that my week of nothingness would serve as a Great Freedom Experiment. I could work out whether I could organise my own time, launch a project, push it, exploit my tiny amount of contacts and, above all, drastically increase the number of tweets on my Twitter account. Did I succeed?
Well… kinda.
Beginning
I’d been toying for a while beforehand with the notion of launching a “Proper Blog” and trying to run it in an efficient, meaningful manner. Make my name as an Internet Writer, try to earn a few pennies from stringing words together, feed the tiny boxed ego that longs to be published in any form, all that stuff. This seemed as good a time as any.
Luckily, much of the tedious blog-starting stuff had already been done. So Monday, my first day of fake-freedom, was launch day. And I’m pleased to report it was pretty excellent, perhaps even too excellent.
The blog went live, people emailed me, I was spotlighted by a helpful friend, comments happened, I wrote more. It felt good, verging on awesome. But, as you will know if you ever see a movie, when a new venture starts off awesome, the reality check is inevitable.
Middle
Things kept going well for a while, but by Wednesday it began to feel… subdued. I hadn’t gone out for a while; the obvious victories weren’t coming as quickly. I even started chatting to work people via IM about, um, the work I was meant to be on holiday from.
And yes, that tweet count shot way up. I sighed, organised a few social occasions and duly escaped, telling myself I’d at least achieved something.
End
Around the end of the week, or perhaps the weekend, I started to worry I wasn’t handling my semi-mancipation especially well. I was a little lonely, very unmotivated and had started procrastinating to a degree that swallowed hours in a single gulp.
Eventually, I wandered off back to my parents’ house, and spent a fairly enjoyable few days of drinking with old friends and blogging on their sofa. Which, all told, was an upbeat end to a lukewarm week.
So, Can We Learn Anything From This Farce?
There’s a lot of writing about the joys of freedom and whatnot, especially in the “blogosphere”. So much so that the ongoing bloody hard work involved, as well as the degree of single-minded concentration, may be somewhat overlooked.
Did I fail? Not exactly. I think it might be something I could enjoy if I were able to establish a routine. (Perhaps one involving a decent laptop and writing in differing locations.) But nor did I take to it like a fox to an overflowing trash can.
With no deadlines or superiors hovering over you, motivation becomes your own task. It’s something I’ve never had to do, and I’m fast realising I have to practise. Balancing this with day-to-day tasks and, y’know, having a life, it wouldn’t be easy. But this is the real world, and occasionally realism kicks idealism. We’ll just have to see what happens.
Recently, I took a week off work, for no particular reason. Well, there was a clear justification, namely to use up my paid holiday. But I’d been to Ireland for a holiday with my girlfriend fairly recently, didn’t have any drive to go anywhere else and, above all, am reliably awful at organising anything.
So, with nothing to do, I decided that my week of nothingness would serve as a Great Freedom Experiment. I could work out whether I could organise my own time, launch a project, push it, exploit my tiny amount of contacts and, above all, drastically increase the number of tweets on my Twitter account. Did I succeed?
Well… kinda.
Beginning
I’d been toying for a while beforehand with the notion of launching a “Proper Blog” and trying to run it in an efficient, meaningful manner. Make my name as an Internet Writer, try to earn a few pennies from stringing words together, feed the tiny boxed ego that longs to be published in any form, all that stuff. This seemed as good a time as any.
Luckily, much of the tedious blog-starting stuff had already been done. So Monday, my first day of fake-freedom, was launch day. And I’m pleased to report it was pretty excellent, perhaps even too excellent.
The blog went live, people emailed me, I was spotlighted by a helpful friend, comments happened, I wrote more. It felt good, verging on awesome. But, as you will know if you ever see a movie, when a new venture starts off awesome, the reality check is inevitable.
Middle
Things kept going well for a while, but by Wednesday it began to feel… subdued. I hadn’t gone out for a while; the obvious victories weren’t coming as quickly. I even started chatting to work people via IM about, um, the work I was meant to be on holiday from.
And yes, that tweet count shot way up. I sighed, organised a few social occasions and duly escaped, telling myself I’d at least achieved something.
End
Around the end of the week, or perhaps the weekend, I started to worry I wasn’t handling my semi-mancipation especially well. I was a little lonely, very unmotivated and had started procrastinating to a degree that swallowed hours in a single gulp.
Eventually, I wandered off back to my parents’ house, and spent a fairly enjoyable few days of drinking with old friends and blogging on their sofa. Which, all told, was an upbeat end to a lukewarm week.
So, Can We Learn Anything From This Farce?
There’s a lot of writing about the joys of freedom and whatnot, especially in the “blogosphere”. So much so that the ongoing bloody hard work involved, as well as the degree of single-minded concentration, may be somewhat overlooked.
Did I fail? Not exactly. I think it might be something I could enjoy if I were able to establish a routine. (Perhaps one involving a decent laptop and writing in differing locations.) But nor did I take to it like a fox to an overflowing trash can.
With no deadlines or superiors hovering over you, motivation becomes your own task. It’s something I’ve never had to do, and I’m fast realising I have to practise. Balancing this with day-to-day tasks and, y’know, having a life, it wouldn’t be easy. But this is the real world, and occasionally realism kicks idealism. We’ll just have to see what happens.
Head over to feeding the black dog for a nice dose of daily cynicism or for something a bit more light hearted check out behatted.
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Four Hour Work Week – My Arse!
4HWW - Australian Edition
My arse indeed Tim Ferriss. Let’s get things straight, I’ve read the Four Hour Work Week (4HWW), I love it and it’s consumed my life for the last 9 months. I’ve recommended it to a dozen people and given away about three copies. (Affiliate commission cheque in the mail?).
The concept is great, create an automated income stream by developing a muse product to sell online, and thus scaling your own work commitments back to only four hours per week, while having your bank account swell to fund your custom designed lifestyle of jet-setting, traveling, dancing around in South America and learning foreign languages.
You spend 4 hours a week at work making coffee.
You’ll finish reading this book and have a sense of drive, hopefully you realise that your current situation of converting your time for an income is ridiculous. Do you want a successful career or automated money, deposited into your bank every week, offering you the freedom to do whatever you like? Your friends don’t care that you put in 60 hours at the office this week, but they’ll sit up and take note if you’re cashed up and DON’T have to go to the office.
In the book, Tim Ferriss establishes a protein/supplement product which he sells on line. This is used as his vehicle for automation, dealing with clients, outsourcing tasks, streamlining website sales and generating an income stream.
So there I was, sitting in the airport and pouring through my copy of 4HWW. Almost hiding it from view from people who passed by as if I’d been let in on a secret; lifestyle design, escaping the 9-5 and all that jazz and I didn’t want anyone else to know about it until I’d cracked the code myself.
Skip the first couple of chapters.
If only Tim Ferriss had released a precursor to the Four Hour Work Week. He managed to gloss over it in the book, but in order to build his company and finally crack under the workload of a hundred hours per week, he actually had to build a company. He didn’t manage to fund his ideal lifestyle by:
- writing google Adwords ads to shitty online products and collect an affiliate commission from Clickbank,
- writing some fluffy self help eBook about freeing himself from work and how you can to, by buying the fluffy eBook, which is about how to write your own fluffy eBook and sell it,
- starting a blog, building subscribers and a sense of trust and then try and sell them a product.
Nope, he started a legitimate business & product that provided REAL, tangible and direct value to the customer. Dealt with sales issues & keeping customers happy and then removed himself from the decision tree in an effort to automate.
He started his own company & launched a product, built a client base, managed sales, worked his arse off and then outsourced & automated.
I wish someone had told me this before I read the 4HWW. Everyone reads the book, gets a fuzzy notion that you can sell a crappy product, set up a website, buy a few keywords from google and point them at your site to drive traffic. Now you only need to sell 8 alarm clocks per day to fund your ideal lifestyle.
Unfortunately (or fortunately?) the 4HWW has sold a truckload of copies. So now everyone has had a wake-up call, sadly every man and his dog are trying to think of the next muse, the next product that can be manufactured in china for 30 cents and drop shipped to needy customers all over the world.
I’d still recommend the book to people, as a starting point. I’m still getting strange looks when I tell people I’ve thrown my job in to finish off my muse, build a client base and focus on marketing and sales.
The 4HWW is a snap shot of what Tim had accomplished; it glossed over his hard yards and focused on the jet setting, the automation and the lifestyle. It makes a good story and acts as a good first step for people who are stuck in the 9 – 5 to realise that there ‘might’ be something else out there. I can definitely credit the book with giving me the kick in the arse I needed.
What’s been your experience since reading the 4HWW? Have you read it? Are you still trying to think of the ever elusive muse?
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Why You Don’t Need to Go to School to Be Successful
When I started leadersofthefreeworld.org, one of the objectives was that it could act as a forum for everyone to unite against the norm! I’m very pleased to publish the very first guest post on Leaders of the Free World! Oscar Del Ben from freestyle mind was kind enough to contribute his personal experience as to why you don’t need to go to school to be successful.
Why You Don’t Need to Go to School to Be Successful
I always wondered why schools suck the way they do. I left school when I was 18 because I was simply not learning something useful at that time.
This happened over four years ago. Once I left school, I went to work for more than one year doing manual labor tasks for small companies. I didn’t enjoy it and my parents (along with everyone else) were saying to me that without school I was going to be stuck with laboring for my whole life.
Of course I knew it was just bullshit and after one year I established my own company and started doing consulting. Now, four years later, I’m expanding my business on the internet as I want to create (and live) off passive income. It’ll not be easy but that’s not a reason for me to give up just yet.
What does this story have to do with school? Well, in these four years I studied a lot, I devoured hundreds of books and learnt a foreign language (english).
At some point during the past four years, I realized that the reason people are not successful is simply because of what they learnt at school, or better what they didn’t learn at school.
Being successful is primarily a state of mind. If you don’t have it, it doesn’t matter how much money you have in the bank, you’ll be never be happy. On the other side, having the right mindset makes it straightforward to achieve success.
The problem is that they don’t teach you how to be successful at school, you have to learn it yourself.
School prepares people to join the corporate world, they teach you how to work in a corporate environment, and not how to become a leader.
Here I’m talking about 90% of schools, because I haven’t attended Stanford University, so I don’t know what they do, although most of their courses are available for free online.
And here’s the point – If you want to learn how to be successful and how to develop a successful mindset, you can learn it from books and videos thanks to the Internet.
And you don’t have to buy some secret guide that someone is trying to sell online, you can go just fine with what you can already find for free.
Having said that, schools are not that bad, simply don’t expect them to teach you how to be a leader, because you have to learn it yourself.
Oscar Del Ben is a personal development blogger. He writes about productivity, success and personal growth. You can read his blog at freestylemind.com.
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