Common Themes
As I began to write down these ideas I noticed that they fit into a few reoccurring themes: mind, health, home, work, money, community, and time. Each idea in the book impacts one or more of these areas to greater and lesser degrees.
For example, ‘Eat Better’ strongly effects health and money. When you eat better your health tends to improve. Good health removes many physical and mental burdens. When you eat better you tend to save money because you eat at home more and buy fewer empty fast food calories. I found it useful to categorize each idea to better understand how and where the idea impacted life.
Mind
A sharp mind and the ability to think creatively helps us identify and overcome obstacles. More knowledge, skills, and experience gives us the resources we need to make better informed decisions, think outside the box, and recognize opportunities.
Health
Good health reduces physical burdens. We’re able to do more of the things we want without as many physical limitations. Good health also can clearly improve our quality of life.
Home
We tend to divide most of our time between home and work. Both yield us security but home tends to be far more important to our sense of security especially as we increase our equity.
Work
Most people spend a lot of time at work or in activities to earn money to support themselves. Work can also be a rewarding activity that helps build self esteem, skills, and rewards beyond money.
Money
We live in a capitalist world powered by money. Commerce empowers and restricts us depending on how we choose to coexist with it. Money can be a powerful ally or an enemy depending on how we choose to think. It can trap us and provide freedom.
Community
Positive impacts to the people and environment around us always comes back to us and lessens external barriers. This category includes the people, places, and physical things around you including ecological impacts.
Time
Time is our most precious and limited commodity. The only way to create more time is to allocate more or less to the activities we choose. Ultimately it’s how we choose to spend our time that traps us or gives us the freedom we seek.
You might notice that these common themes contain sub-themes, like community can include things like, people, politics, environment, and business. I chose to keep the categories few and high level to help focus on the bigger issues that limit freedom. In other words simple concepts are easier to understand, digest, and use. The short version, although not as descriptive, is usually the better choice.
