Tag: dreams

Sweet Shit Saturday #008 (Pre-Launch Edition)

Preeeeee la la la launch! This week is pre launch week and we’ll be talking about lots of business stuff!

Whoa, the official launch of How To Live Anywhere is coming up fast. June 8!

Next week, being that it’s pre-launch week, will be full of lots of nitty-gritty bad assery™. (Not really ™ I just wanted to be super cool and insert a symbol. Seriously, super cool.) In this particular case, I’m sticking to biz-related articles until launch. We’ll cover how I started my first profitable biz for less than $200 (and how you can too), why I once shut down (as opposed to selling for a large sum or continuing on with it) a biz that was pulling in over $10k/month profit, and what it feels like to make 5 figures in a day (multiple times) but why I still think money isn’t of utmost importance.

The next 10 days will also be spent mobilizing a group of affiliates to make the launch a success. While I don’t have the network to pull off a Chris Guillebeau launch of epic proportions right now, it will still be a fun time. The affiliate program is currently open to anybody who bought Version 0.9 and a select few other people. If you have a blog with a readership that trusts you and for some reason you don’t get an e-mail from me by Wednesday please get in touch. (Launch day commissions are going to be a massive 95%. I don’t mess around when it comes to treating affiliates well. Ba ba ba booya!)

How my eBook made $1,800 In 3 Days with 78 people on my list by Kelly Kingman

This is a great story and reinforces what I talked about in 7 Ways To Establish Trust In An Age Of Skepticism. I’ve had Kelly’s blog in my RSS reader for a while and she comes across as very genuine. In other words, trustworthy. As a result, her small list and a few key actions produced tremendous results.

How To Achieve Your Dreams by Tammy Strobel

The most important part of this article is tip #6: action. No article, book, course, or person will ever help you as much as you can help yourself by simply taking focused action right now. Thanks for reinforcing that Tammy. :)

The Importance of Being Unremarkable by Jonathan Mead

Jonathan (who I just interviewed for How To Live Anywhere) has an awesome take on doing unremarkable but important things. I especially like this line: “When we’re focusing too much on doing epic shit, we can lose sight of the truly epic things that aren’t outwardly or obviously epic.” I do a lot of unremarkable things that I really enjoy. Hand washing my clothes in a bag is one of them. Without fail, everybody who sees me do it makes a comment and thinks I’m weird, but I enjoy the process of hand washing my clothes … in a bag. ;) It’s unremarkable, but to me it’s epic.

How To Pursue Work That Matters by Everett Bogue

I agree with a lot of what Everett writes here (and a lot of what he writes in general, dude rocks!), but also disagree with some of it: “…answering every blog comment whether or not it’s relevant or even requires a response.” I seem to be in the minority with this thought (well, Pat and Glen seem to be gung-ho on the same page as me, although I won’t put words in their mouths), but I think answering all (or pretty much all) blog comments is pursuing work that matters. Yes, it takes time, but showing appreciation to fans who allow me to do what I do is time well invested. I liken it to an actor who wants to be famous, but when they get famous and have lots of attention from fans they ignore them. You can tell who not only deserves success, but appreciates who gave them that success. Without you, this blog is just a tree falling in the forest with nobody around to hear it. Thanks for hearing the tree fall and for telling your friends you liked the sound. ;)

Travel Hack: How To Take 40kg Of Luggage On Low Cost Carriers by Benny Lewis

Benny forgot the most important part of this situation in the headline: it’s free! Benny did this without paying extra baggage fees (well, beyond the regular check-in fee). This is simply awesome … and fun. I almost wish I had 50kg of stuff so I could attempt a new “record.” :)

Veganize Your Life by WA Christopher J.

I mentioned I had an article about veganism about 6 months ago and I’ve dropped the ball. Mostly because I haven’t looked at it in months, it’s a good 3-4,000 words, and it’s not done. I get a lot of e-mails about veganism and I really will post that tome some day. For now, my friend James wrote this awesome guide, but he includes a disclaimer: “This guide was written for those who have already made the choice to become vegan.” James is a great writer so it’s worth a read even if you haven’t made that choice yet. :)

The #1 Habit Of Highly Creative People by Leo Babauta

If you know me by now you know I highly recommend this habit myself. You’ll see exactly what it is when you read the article. Here’s a hint: I don’t own the domain HowToBeAlone.com for nothing. (A free Black Book will launch there in a few months.)

That’s all for this week. I hope even if you don’t ever plan on buying anything from me or if you already bought Version 0.9 of How To Live Anywhere you’ll stick around during (and after!) the June 8th launch. If not, it’s cool, we’re still best buds. ;)

Questions/comments/want me to cook you my famous gluten-free soy-free 4-bean veganized chili? You know what to do …

Are You Living The Dream or Chasing It?

Is it difficult to be happy if you’re chasing dreams? Yes. How to start living them …

I cracked a big dopey smile while in my almost free Business Class Finnair seat last week. (I’ve caught myself doing this often in the past 8 months.)

Heading back to my birthplace (Wroclaw, Poland), it hit me again that I’m living my dreams. I wrote down the question “Are you living the dream or chasing it?” in my notebook and reflected on that for an hour while dozing off to sleep.

I don’t know if it’s because I’m getting older, wiser (ha!), or what it is exactly, but I love my life. Which is interesting, because growing up my only goal in life was to own lots of sweet shit and have lots of money.

So I chased the dream.

When I “chased the dream” and acquired a BMW, a bunch of guitars, a big screen TV, a 2,500 sq foot home (WTF, I’m single!), and all the other trappings of the “good life” I was depressed.

I was 24 and should have been living it up.

But I was horribly depressed.

Hard for anybody to understand unless they’ve been there depressed. What I mean is, it wasn’t just a week or two of feeling sad.

It was years of “just get it over with and end it” darkness.

When I finally started getting down to what I really wanted in life (some time in late 2007/early 2008) I began to see the light. It was a slow, but beautiful, process.

No matter where you are in life, you can make steps towards living your dreams right now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not next year. Today.

First Step: How Stop Chasing The Dream

I’m a “do it or don’t” type of person. I know almost anything can be broken down into black/white, good/bad, right/wrong, easy/difficult.

If somebody were to ask me how to stop chasing the dream, I would give them the following series of tests. These tests are about getting back to basics.

They seemingly have nothing to do with dreams, but I promise they will force you to focus on what’s important.

When you’re focused on what’s important you’re no longer chasing dreams.

This test is difficult. If living your dreams instead of chasing them is worth anything to you that won’t matter.

But you’re free to quit right now. If you read on and don’t actually follow through on the test you’re just wasting your time.

Test #1: Cancel Cable TV and don’t watch free TV

Life Lesson #76: Stop watching so much TV.

Unless your dream is to be a screenwriter TV is getting in the way of you living your dreams. Why? Too many reasons to list, but the strongest is that watching TV conditions you, in a mostly subtle way, to want.

I’m not referring to the advertising (although that doesn’t help matters), but the actual content. It’s poison.

That includes the “news.” Watching the news seems to make people feel cultured. That’s bullshit. The news is a waste of your time and you’re getting nothing of value from it. Except maybe fodder for depressing “watercooler” arguments.

Any important news you really need to know you will hear about somehow, someway, while you’re living your dreams.

If you need more reasons to stop watching TV check out Joshua Becker’s “Ten Reasons to Watch Less Television.”

Test #2: Stop eating out

Completely.

If you’re interested in a healthy lifestyle (for yourself, the planet, the future) you’ll cut out meat and dairy, but that’s not what this is about.

This is about living the dream. And living the dream means you respect yourself.

Eating fast food is disrespectful to your mind and body.

Whatever you want to eat, prepare it yourself.

– No pre-mixed sauces

– No preservative-laden microwaveable shit-boxes

– No frozen dinners

– No store bought soda pop or booze

Eat whatever you want, but prepare it yourself. Want cookies? Bake them. Want potato chips? Fry them. (It’s not healthy, but you’ll appreciate and savor them more than fast food fries.) Want an extravagant 7 course meal? Make it.

The point of this test is to be mindful of what you’re fueling your body with. I’m willing to bet 99% of Western Civilation can’t pass this test. Be that 1%.

You’ll be thrilled with how good you feel when you fuel your body with nutrients instead of garbage.

Test #3: Read.

Books. (Life Lesson #25: Successful people read books.)

Every day.

Ridiculously Extraordinary People are in a constant search for knowledge.

I have a strong feeling that if you’re in the 1% that passes Test #2 you already read books. If you don’t, it might be something to consider. :)

It doesn’t matter what kind of books. Choose subjects that interest you. And every once in a while choose subjects you know nothing about. New languages. New cultures. New sciences. New people.

Some of my favorite books are autobiographies. Even autobiographies of people I’m not particularly interested in. I love learning other people’s life stories, especially when it’s directly from their mouths.

Second Step: How To Live The Dream

Before you can ever get to the point of living your dreams you have to stop chasing dreams. Get back to basics as in Step One and don’t worry if you’re not ready for this step yet.

The Honest Truth About Dreams

I didn’t mean to lead you on, but the truth is I can’t tell you exactly how to live your dreams. They’re yours. And that’s an important point. Don’t let anybody force their dreams for you onto you. Nobody knows what’s best for you. Not your Parents, not your friends, not your teachers, and not me.

If you’re unhappy in any way with your life the first thing you have to realize is that nothing will change overnight. It’s a process. I don’t know how long it will be for you, but just know that progress may be slow. It may take years like it did for me. Accept that. Take action.

No matter how difficult it is, remember this: the dream, your dream, is attainable.

A Great Example of Someone Living The Dream

Somebody who I know is living the dream is Benny Lewis. You’ve probably seen me mention him quite a few times in the past couple months. Benny has been traveling the world for 7 years and learning lots of new languages (7 and counting!). Hence his moniker The Irish Polyglot. I have the utmost respect for what Benny is doing with his goal to help bring language learning to the masses by making it accessible and fun. I spoke to him on Skype for about 30 minutes a couple weeks ago and the passion that comes across in his writing I could also hear in his voice.

Benny is releasing his 7 years-in-the-making Language Hacking Guide today. I had a chance to read a pre-release copy and I’m excited to start using Benny’s language hacking methods to help me learn Polish better. If you’re at all interested in learning languages, without stuffy high school or University home work assignments, I highly recommend you check out the Language Hacking Guide here.