do it yourself FREEDOM

Impacts: Mind, Health, Home, Work, Money, Community, Time

“A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body.” – Benjamin Franklin

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Leonardo da Vinci

The space you occupy will bring you more peace if it’s clean and organized. This can be physical space like your home, metal space like your calendar, and virtual space like your computer. In fact you can apply the concept of space to anything around you that you have some control over. If you spend time in places you have no ability to control it’s even more important to focus time and energy on spaces that are not in chaos.

When your space is chaotic it’s much harder to focus and you’ll find it more difficult to relax and feel at peace. Organizing more helps you think clearer and be more proactive in moving your life in the direction you want. Chaos will work against you.

Time is well spent when you organize more because it pays you back dividends in quality time. You’ll find yourself working more efficiently. You’ll find yourself wasting time less. You’ll feel better and be able to think clearer.

Take Action

• De-Clutter -  It’s easier to organize when there is are fewer things to deal with.
• Downsize – We’re like fish, we grow to the size of our tanks. Unlike fish we can shrink our possessions and fit into more efficient spaces.
• Organize – Find a place for everything. Put you stuff away after every use.
• Avoid Storage – Even free storage comes with a mental tax.

Impacts: Mind, Home, Work, Money, Time

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work.” – Thomas Alva Edison

“Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.”  – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Innovation is a strange animal because it can’t thrive when we’re working a hundred miles an hour. It likes the peace and quiet of an outside perspective.

Some major corporations actually understand this simple truth and give their teams members time to innovate. For the past decade I’ve been working in technology and marketing roles in corporate America and from my perspective I’ve noticed a simple trend. The companies that are able to strike a balance between innovation and delivery succeed. Those that focus too closely on the tasks in front of them without the occasional moment to look up and plan for the future find themselves running out of steam and opportunity.

When you take the time to innovate at home or work you are giving yourself permission to be creative. Not necessarily in an artistic way but in a puzzle solving sense. The feeling you get from finding a new or better way of completing a task or approaching a problem pays you back ten fold. How we feel about ourselves is often the most important part of of lives.

Taking time to innovate gives you the opportunity to take a leap forward and reap the rewards. If your boss doesn’t give you the time to innovate at work find a way to take the time because the best employees are the people who take it upon themselves to be proactive and do a better job. If that’s not rewarded where you work look for a better job.

Short Example

Back when I was a starving artist I discovered a little truth about innovation and getting work done. I was making pottery and every weekend I loaded up my little car and hit the road to make enough money to get through the next week.

I was working seven days a week and found that the I just had to give myself a break on Mondays. Instead of really taking a break I let my self play with new ideas in the studio. Over the weekend I would get a lot of feedback from customers and it would inspire me to try new ideas that I could test the following weekend. My innovation Mondays were essential for my peace of mind. The rest of the week I focused on production to make the things I knew I could sell.

Take Action

• Give yourself time to innovate at work and home.
• Look for ways of doing things faster.
• Look for ways of doing things cheaper.
• Give yourself permission to think outside the box and try not to squelch any brainstorm. You can always discard ideas later.
• Separate innovation time from production time especially in the beginning.

Impacts: Mind, Home, Work, Money, Community, Time

“Remember, time is money. He that can earn ten shillings a day by his labour, and goes abroad, or sits idle, one half of that day, though he spends but sixpence during his diversion or idleness, ought not to reckon that the only expense; he has really spent, or rather thrown away, five shillings besides.” – Benjamin Franklin

When you choose to live life strategically you quickly realize that time is not on your side. In fact if you’ve ever taken economics in school one of the first things you learn is that time is our most limited commodity. Once you realize that achieving any goal requires a plan, action, luck and time, you’ve already burned up one of those ingredients and there’s no way to get more of it. Since much of our lives are spent doing things that don’t move us forward, making the most of every moment should be a priority.

As you go through your day take a moment from time to time to ask yourself if what you’re doing is moving you forward. I’m not suggesting that you run yourself ragged being proactive all the time; I’m simply suggesting that you take the occasional reality check. I personally find it useful to kick myself in the butt when I’m slacking off. My usual answer, to myself, is that I’m relaxing, or this is important. Sometimes I give in but lately I’ve been realizing that if I really want to accomplish my goals I need to spend more time moving forward.

Take Action

• As you do necessary work let your mind drift to brainstorming ways of working more efficiently.
• Consider the end goal of every task and the actions required to complete the task. Do only what is needed, cut your own red tape.
• If tasks involve multiple people make an effort to improve communication. Red tape and procedure often surfaces due to a lack of good communication.

Impacts: Work, Money, Time

“Money is like manure. You have to spread it around or it smells.” – J. Paul Getty

Many people have a single source of income, their job. Finding additional ways to make money can help relieve your financial dependence on your day job. The more sources of income you can find the closer to financial freedom you get.

You might think this is just for rich people with money to invest. I would agree that the more money and time you have the easier it becomes to diversify but the first steps aren’t impossible to take, just hard.

Before you begin be careful of opportunities that sound to good to be true. The old saying is true, if it looks too good to be true it is. Real opportunities tend to be the ones you make for yourself doing things you know best, not the schemes cooked up by others.

Most of us have hobbies or interests and have built some level of expertise. It might even be something you thought could never make any money on the side. Start by looking for examples of people making a living in that field. Look carefully to see what they are doing to make it work. Ask questions, talk to people online, continue to explore this area of personal interest with an eye for business opportunities.

Before jumping off into a business venture be careful and take on little risk. Remember you’re trying to make a little money on the side to remove burdens, not add them. If your plan includes taking out a loan, spending a lot of money, or a lot of time, rethink your plan. Instead start small. Test the water. Have fun with it and don’t gamble.

Some people may tell you that taking risk is a requirement of any business venture but if you’re not an experienced business person any risk may be too much. Once you get the hang of it taking on more risk for the potential of more gain may seem like the right thing to do, but by then the experience you’ve gained will tell you how much risk is acceptable.

One simple example of a young entrepreneur I met illustrates what I’m taking about. He was trying to run a little eBay business online. He’d buy and collect things to sell. Often he wouldn’t make any money on things and sometimes I suspect it cost him in time and money. It’s easy to get caught up in the adventure of the venture. Try not to loose sight of the real goal like he did.

Taking on more jobs might also seem like one way to diversify your income. The trouble with jobs is that you’re essentially selling your time. Your time is really the most valuable thing you have. Instead look for things that continue to make money without your constant direct involvement.

A simple example that has popped up in the last few years is blogging. When people write about things they know, other people want to read it. Sharing ideas online through blogging has become an effective way of connecting with other people and sharing ideas.

Google and others have made it easy to monetize blogs with ads that are relevant to the content. These ads provide some value to the reader because they usually compliment the topic of the web page. They benefit the writer by providing a small steady source of income. As the popularity of the blog increases the revenue from the ads tends to increase.

The blogger end up spending time writing about something that interests them and the writings live on indefinitely, drawing more readers and more revenue without any more work. So every quality post you write can be considered an investment in a sense.

You could think of writing books in the same way. When an author writes a book they receive royalties over time as more people buy the book. The revenue fluctuates with the popularity of the book but until it goes out of print the author receives some side income.

Finding alternative ways of making money shouldn’t be your top goal by any means but it can give you more flexibility to do the things you like to do especially if you can find ways to automate making money.

Take Action

• Make a list of the things you like doing.
• Looks for books on these topics and research the author online. Try to imagine their life and how they might be spending their time.
• With a grain of salt, read the The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss.
• Learn more about Google Adsense.
• Learn about self publishing at Lulu.com.

Impacts: Mind, Health, Home, Work, Money, Community, Time

“Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I’ve done it thousands of times.” – Mark Twain

I don’t think anyone can honestly say that smoking has more benefits than draw backs. When you choose to smoke less you instantly remove several external limiting forces.

Your bank account will instantly have more money in it. Your health with start to improve. The second hand smoke you are not exhaling will also help to improve the health of people around you. I could go on but you get the point.

Like most addictions smoking is hard to kick, but like most addictions, overcoming them tends always seems to give us back something we’ve lost. Any addiction for example, no matter how mild, will always have an affect on the decisions we make. Some are grosely visible to the naked eye, others more subtle. But on our minds they all take a huge toll. Smoking less is simply one of those things that can instantly improve life.

Also notice that I’m not saying quit smoking. Sometimes going cold turkey is the only way we can really change ourselves but I think more often slow change works better in the long term. So the next time you light up think about that cigarette and smoking less. Try choosing to smoke it later. In any case every small step you take that moves you forward is a step worth taking. Don’t get discouraged if you can’t take big steps, just keep taking small ones.

Take Action

• Cut back. If you smoke two packs try one. If you smoke during breaks, try doing something else during breaks like a walk around the block.
• Pick up cigarette butts you see on the street. Don’t forget to wash you hands. Yuck!
• Get professional help.

Impacts: Mind, Health, Home, Work, Community

“Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.” – Buddha

Appreciate what you have and what other people offer. Staying focused on the positive keeps your mind focused on moving forward and helps you to avoid dwelling on things that you either can’t influence or affect.

Appreciating more also helps you slow down and live in the present. This will give your mind a break from the day to day stress it otherwise would be mulling over. So in effect appreciating instantly gives you time to let positive thoughts linger longer making it easier for your to live strategically and stay focused.

Take Action

• Look at the space around you. Spend at least two minutes taking in the things you see. Focus on breathing deep and try not to let your mind wander. Try to notice small details without judgment or purpose. Simply take in the space around you.
• On the next cloudless night go outside after dark and find a safe place to sit. Ideally bring a friend and go someplace dark enough to see the stars. Look up. Try to spend as much time as you can. Even a few minutes of relaxing with a friend under the stars can help you take big steps toward feeling more free.

Impacts: Mind, Health, Home, Work, Money, Time

“As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.” – Henry David Thoreau

Habits usually just happen. Usually we fall into habits simply because we’re wired naturally to automate. If you take a step back and look at yourself simply as a living organism you might notice that your body pretty much runs itself without much conscious intervention from you. Your heart beats, your eyes blink, you breathe, etc. It even has automated ways to telling you to eat and drink.

If you’re proactive and make an effort to create positive habits, (healthy habits, time saving habits, work habits, etc), you can actually use your natural tendency to automate in positive directions. For example once you’ve been getting up early for a while you tend to automatically get up early. Bad habits form just as easily.

Breaking habits is very hard to do simply because you’re working against your natural tendency. Generations of biology are your obstacle. Try replacing one habit for another instead of trying  to break a habit. Smokers are onto this simple concept, and in fact often point to this natural tendency to explain sudden weight gain or other negative side effects after quitting smoking. To stay ahead of the habit curve consciously work to replace bad habits with beneficial habits.

Rituals are one way to create new habits. We tend to think of rituals in a religious context but if your break the idea down you’ll see that a ritual is simply an intentional act or series of actions.

To use ritual to build good habits make a conscious effort to give yourself a series of steps for simple tasks designed around the new habit you want to form. Ideally write the steps down to help you in the beginning. Eventually the list will be obsolete because you’ll quickly memorize the steps and even begin to refine and perfect you actions. In the end the simple ritual you designed will be as natural as a mindless habit.

Habits and rituals are key tools for increasing personal freedom because they help you remove bad stuff from your life and replace it with good stuff. Habits and rituals are not as powerful a tool as belief but nearly.

Take Action

• Learn about the Japanese tea ceremony. It’s a great example of ritualized tea drinking.
• Watch for habits you’ve already created. Begin by asking yourself if that habit is moving you forward of back. In other words notice what you’re doing.

Impacts: Mind, Health, Home, Work, Money, Community, Time

“The money you have gives you freedom; the money you pursue enslaves you.” – Jean Jacques Rousseau

“The Lord commonly gives riches to foolish people, to whom he gives nothing else.” – Martin Luther

“Every man is rich or poor according to the proportion between his desires and his enjoyments.” – Samuel Johnson

This one is really hard to achieve because we learn to consume at a very early age. Need and want are sometimes inseparable in our minds when it comes to how things make us feel about ourselves. Sometimes the desire for something is so overwhelming we become obsessed by it and we often don’t stop to discover why, we just work blindly to achieve it.

When I was a kid my family went for a day hike one weekend. When we got back my brothers and I noticed a little blue sports car parked next to our van that had not been there before. I asked my older brother what it was and he said it was a Porsche. From that day on I wanted one so bad it hurt. I know that sounds stupid but I had got bitten early by the sports car bug.

As I grew up an obsession grew and on a regular basis I’d browse the car classifieds in the newspaper and in time online, constantly imagining the car I’d buy someday. A few times I scraped together enough money to buy a used Porsche but talked myself into waiting for a better car. Over the years I spent a lot of time thinking and dreaming about the day I’d drive it home.

Finally when I was 38 I bought one. It was used but seemed to be in very good condition. But the day I drove it home it broke down. The dealer paid for the tow and repair so there was little financial damage but the experience sent a powerful wake up call into my head. Sitting on the side of the highway in a dead Porsche waiting for a tow truck helped a bit too. After a few months I sold it.

Looking back I realize that I learned an important lesson and the money I lost almost seemed worth it. Inside me there must have been some unmet need I was certain this car would fulfill. One thing is for sure, my crazy obsession had taken on a life of its own and most definitely distracted me from making progress in other areas. On the bright side at least I learned this important lesson before turning 40. This has given me few more useful years to refocus on the things that really matter. It’s also opened me up to looking at all my consumer desires with a different set of eyes.

I suspect that understanding deeply buried desires is probably the hardest thing for any of us to do. Wanting less or at least understanding why we want so much can unburden us in many ways. In my case I wasted a lot of time, energy, and money on a car that in the end proved to be more dream than car. Had I gotten a grip, and gotten over it sooner, I could have made a lot of progress on other more productive things. Although its arguable that until we learn this lesson the hard way we have to continue living the mistakes. That may be true of a lot of things.

In any event, at least for me, wanting less has become one of the most freeing decisions I’ve made. It continues to be a daily challenge but it pays me back dividends in time with my family and time for the things I like doing.

Exercise

• Make a short list of the things you want most. For this exercise limit this list to tangible things.
• Sort the list from most important to least important.
• Next to each item put an approximate number of years you’ve wanted it as a point of reference.
• Start with the least important things and write down why you want it.
• Move your way up the list.
• The goal is simply to open your eyes. Don’t try to talk yourself out of wanting these things, simply try to understand why you really want them.
• Once you begin to uncover your real unmet needs try fulfilling them in ways that don’t include obtaining things.

Impacts: Mind, Work, Money, Community

“Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.” – Henry David Thoreau

I was first introduced to Joseph Campbell in my teens and like many people the whole concept of following your bliss seems like a good idea. As an idealistic teenager these words really took root and I’ve pretty much lived with that concept floating around my brain ever since.

But since I rarely accept anything at face value, even words so wise, I found myself altering the philosophy to fit my needs. I found a follow my nose philosophy seemed to work better for me. Bliss was often a bit elusive and it seemed more logical to simply follow my nose, (curiosity, interest, ideals), and keep my bliss in sight on the horizon as I took steps in that general direction. This approach just seemed more practical and actionable. I also took comfort in that by following my nose I would eventually be lead to my bliss.

The other side effect of following my nose was that it gave me permission to screw up and even get a little lost from time to time. I don’t think that’s a bad thing since we tend to learn the most from our mistakes and that everything we do in life, good and bad, builds the person we are becoming. To regret your mistakes is like regretting who you’ve become and regretting taking the risk to find your bliss. By trusting your nose and accepting your mistakes you immediately empower yourself to continue moving forward no matter how bad things get.

So far this approach has served me well, taking me through several good and bad jobs and situations but at each step my goals have gotten closer. Looking back I can’t honestly say I regret any step or decision because they have all added up to landing me where I am today. I have made mistakes that I’m terribly sorry I made but I also know that I’m a better person today because of them. This knowledge also gives me the strength to let go and continue forward.

The main reason I’m suggesting that this personal philosophy will increase your personal freedom is because it will always move you closer and closer to your goals. You’ll never feel stagnant; you’ll be constantly looking for the next thing, and open to taking calculated risk. The only big disadvantage I’ve run into is that over time I conditioned myself to expect new challenges to present themselves regularly, which can lead to boredom and disinterest in work. Buy you could also look at this as an advantage since it acts as a catalyst to propel you to the next challenge or find new ways to innovate in your current job.

If you adopt following your nose or following your bliss as a personal philosophy you’ll find yourself becoming more proactive in your career and life. You’ll find yourself begin to move forward and put an end to stagnation. You’ll find yourself more optimistic and happier. Just be prepared to stick it out for the long haul because like most real things in life instant gratification doesn’t happen for anything of real value.

Take Action

• Try to calculate risk better. Make pros and cons lists and really think through decisions before making them.
• Watch the PBS special “Power of Myth” with Bill Moyers and Joseph Campbell.

Exercise

• Goal: Point your nose in the right direction.
• On a piece of paper make a list of things you like doing.
• On a separate sheet of paper brainstorm jobs that let you do that stuff. When brainstorming let yourself be free to write anything down.
• No search for some of these jobs online. Don’t limit your search to your location, you’re just trying to open your eyes to opportunities. Remember you’re looking for a dream job not one you’d be qualified to do today.
• Once you find one look at the qualifications. Start a third list of things these hiring managers are looking for in candidates. Continue to look at more jobs and begin to rank the job qualifications with hash marks. This will give you an idea of the most important things.
• Now look at your list of job qualifications. Point your nose in that direction. This is a list of requirements you can choose to place on yourself. You can also think of them as goals. At the very least they are steps to take on the road toward a job or life you will enjoy.

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.