Lifestyle Design

A New Start In A Foreign Country

November 29, 2011

It’s hard to believe that it’s been two weeks since arriving in Australia because the time has gone so fast. The day I left my wife gave me a book called Aleph, written my Paulo Coelho. I first heard about the book through Brendan Burchard when he interviewed Paulo Coelho several weeks back. (If you haven’t already, you need to read the Alchemist) My interpretation of the Aleph and what I took away from the book was this – take a journey, get out of your comfort zone and travel to places you’ve never been, connect with people. By doing so it adds value to your life, richness and great experiences and of course, growth. Another thing he talks about in the book is to learn to follow the signs… Granted, Australia is hardly an exotic far off land for me since I live across the ditch in New Zealand, [...]

0 comments Wait…there’s more!!

Moving Time Is Fast Approaching

November 14, 2011

It’s been 8 weeks since I handed my resignation in at work and I finshed up last Friday 11th November at a job I’d been in for close to 8 years. Building up to the final days at the job I’d been at so long I felt a little uncertain about the future but looking back, embracing uncertainty was something I wanted from the day I decided that it was time to move on. Thanks to Tim Ferriss and his book The 4-Hour Workweek for that inspiration. In it he talks about “CHANGE”… and how it should be embraced. There were many awesome little tips of wisdom throughout the book such as… “Look at what you’re currently doing and ask yourself, “What would happen if I did the opposite of all the people around me? What will I sacrifice if I continue on this track for 5,10, or 20 years?” It’s definitely [...]

0 comments Wait…there’s more!!

Mistakes I’ve Made When Building My Lifestyle Business

October 22, 2011

I am happy to share with you some of the mistakes I’ve made when building my lifestyle business so far. The road to online success is like Jack Canfield says in the movie The Secret when he talks about a car driving through the night. The headlights only go a hundred to two hundred feet forward, and you can make it from California to New York driving through the dark, because all you have to see is the next two hundred feet. That’s also how life tends to unfold before us. And it’s also how building your lifestyle business unfolds too. Looking back I could never have known or predicted all the things I have learned along the way and if I’d known back then the amount of stuff I had to learn I would have tried to find a short cut which probably would had lead to yet another 6 [...]

2 comments Wait…there’s more!!

Why Short Breaks Are Good For Motivation

October 18, 2011

I recently went to Auckland to see some family and check out some Rugby World Cup related activities with my family. I hadn’t been up to Auckland for at least 9 months which is pretty shocking since it’s only 2.5 hours up the road and each time I go there I have a lot of fun. Visiting cities is always fun when you live in a relatively small city of 70,000 for the simple reason there’s more to do! I don’t know if it’s just me or if many people feel the same way or if it depends on the stress levels you have at work but at times…I find it hard to relax enough to let go and go away. But when I’m away I feel great… Being the host country for the Rugby World Cup 2011 surely helps in regards on the fun-o-meter but I got to say, [...]

0 comments Wait…there’s more!!

I’ve Quit My Job, Now What?

October 9, 2011

It’s been 3 weeks or so since I resigned and I have to say…I can’t wait to move onwards and upwards since stagnating for so damn long! It’s been a dream for years to quit my job and say goodbye and move on and it’s awesome to have it come true. So many times I have read blogs, articles and books about people who have successful lives and credit “leaving their jobs” to their success. Took me a while to figure out how they came to that conclusion but since I’ve had that burden lifted I can see that I have seen several more opportunities I failed to see before. To be honest I don’t know how I put up with my job for so long. It’s not that it’s a bad job or anything, it’s pretty cool really, not many people have the opportunity to get paid for sharing [...]

0 comments Wait…there’s more!!

Lifestyle Design For People In Their Late 30′s With Kids

October 5, 2011

I’ve been reading a fair few blogs lately in the lifestyle design and location independence blogosphere lately as I find it very inspiring and exciting.  Obviously it’s a personal goal of mine which I feel I’m getting close to achieving. One common theme with LD blogs I’m finding, is that many of these wonderful folks who are living the LID lifestyle (lifestyle independent) usually seem to be in their 20′s, single and living someplace in South East Asia. I’m married, in my late 30′s, with three kids all in School and don’t particularly wish to live in Thailand or Bali. I wouldn’t say no…but it’s not my goal. It sure would be nice to see more people around my age in similar circumstances living the LID life. I understand that one of the important things to remember in this day and age is that you don’t have to be a millionaire [...]

6 comments Wait…there’s more!!

Ramblings By A Rambler

September 30, 2011

One of the things I have to do in order to live more of an unconventional life and really take things up a few notches is do things differently and try new things. A book I read a few years ago talks about conformity and if you want to be like 95% then you should do what 95% of the population do (get a job), but if you want to live like 5% of the population do then do what they do not what they say. I don’t know if it’s a generation thing or a mindset as to what is possible but it seems that many of the people that are living unconventional lifestyles and focusing on their lifestyle and heading towards location independency are around or under the age of 30. I could be wrong as I haven’t done much research on the topic but it’s great to [...]

2 comments Wait…there’s more!!

How To Embrace Uncertainty…Quit Your Job

September 16, 2011

Ok so yesterday I quit my job. I gave 8 weeks notice… The goal is this: To live a location independent lifestyle and earn an income which allows me to live this way, to spend more time with my family, traveling to new places, experiencing more things, giving my kids the opportunity to do the same by providing more experiences for them, helping more people than I currently do, to have a job by choice and not out of necessity, and basically change my life in every area. I know what your thinking…“yeah, wouldn’t we all like that”, or “what a fool quitting your job”. I haven’t given myself a set time in which to achieve this but this is the first step, I need to embrace uncertainty for a while and do something drastic, put myself in a different situation and break free. Most people would do this after they [...]

0 comments Wait…there’s more!!