Greg came into my life in February. By the end of the first week, he was in love. By the end of the first month, I was also.
That fortuitous meeting, arranged by a client, caused me to seriously re-examine my 2008 marketing plan and business. All of sudden, working full-time, doing workshops every weekend and having thousands of people in an Apprenticeship program which revolved around my active participation, became very unappealing.
Just as I was wrapping my head around being in love, a man half Greg’s age entered my life at precisely the right time. Timothy Ferris is the 29-year-old author of The Four-Hour Work Week. Through reading his book in less than two days, Timothy gave me the practical outline to create a lifestyle that fit my values, dreams and goals.
He talks about Lifestyle Design, Mini-Retirements, and Target Daily Income which took my newly modified business and life plans to whole new levels of attainability. My mouth salivated as he talked about spending 6 months in South America, cruising the Mediterranean and learning Greek before his sojourn to Greece. When you read his book, I’m sure you’ll be excited too! Everyone I have recommended it to has loved it!
It’s never too soon to begin a new way of living as we begin summer here in the Northern Hemisphere. That new life begins with two important questions:
- Are you feeling free, happy and prosperous in your life?
- Or are you shaking your head wondering how in heaven’s name you still haven’t created more freedom, more abundance and more time in your life?
I know that when the sun finally comes out in Vancouver, I just want to play, sit out on my deck and read, write and relax. You probably want some time off too. However, the questions that come up are usually something like these:
- Can I afford to take time off?
- How can I not feel guilty if I’m relaxing on a Wednesday afternoon?
- Will my business suffer if I work less?
Ask yourself one of the most important questions of all times - what do I want out of my life in the next 12 - 24 months? Then ask yourself the second most important question: Does my business bring me financially what I need, to have what I want in my life? If you can’t answer the first one, then stop there because nothing else will matter or count until you know what you want in your life. For example, if you really want freedom, then what does freedom look like to you? Does that mean you go skiing half the year and golfing the other six months? Does freedom mean you can spend your days with your children or grandchildren with no financial worries? Are you dreaming of volunteering for a year in a foreign country or writing a book?
What does freedom mean to you in the next two years? I don’t know what freedom will look like when I’m 50 or 60, 70 or 80 but I do know what freedom looks like in 2008. Can you do that? You can with a bit of thought, time and honesty. It’s worth doing. It really is!
Next ask: Does my business bring me what I need financially to have what I want in my life? If not, then what are you doing to change that? I love my business and it earns me a very nice living. However, it is not as “leveraged” as I would like so I am making some modifications to achieve leveraged income. In other words, income that is not about trading my time for dollars.
One of the realizations I had about a year ago was that it didn’t cost me nearly as much as I thought to have a very amazing lifestyle. Do you think that it will cost you millions to have your dream life? You may be surprised. Timothy drives an Aston Martin DB9, (the James Bond car), just spent a month on the Croatian coastline, became a best-selling author, covers all of his expenses in his home and has a motorcycle for the grand total of…$197.90 per day!
Do you know what your dreams will cost? Do you know that you can buy an Around the World ticket for under $1,200? I stayed in an amazing home in a village in South Africa for less than $20 per night. I lived in an adorable little house on acreage overlooking Mount Chimborazo, Ecuador and paid rent of $25 per month.
Do you get the picture? What do you want? How do you afford it?
Please stop thinking that you can’t have what you want, that it’s too expensive or that you have to wait until you retire at 65 to do the things that are important to you. Design your lifestyle, figure out your Daily Target Income and then create a business that will give you what you need from it so you can really live your life!
Greg and Timothy have greatly impacted my life to the good. Remembering that love, people, relationships, memories are what we will have at the end of our days and not our daytimers, Blackberries, and laptops puts everything in perspective. Sit with these questions this weekend. They’re important - really important questions for all of us to ask ourselves regularly.
With love and light!
Jan
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