Drawing up a game plan for living on your terms
Creating your Freedom Lifestyle is not as complicated as you might think. Complicated is not always hard, just as simple is not necessarily easy. If you want to create something worthwhile, it will require effort on your part.
There are only two ingredients to creating your freedom lifestyle. First, you have to define what it means to you personally. Only then can you work on the second ingredient; how to make it happen.
I have been living in my Mobile Domicile since July 2011, and I have been to the lower 48 States. For the most part, I have enjoyed living on my terms, but there is always room for improvement. Also, our needs and desires change, so we have to adjust and adapt. That’s the beauty of the Freedom Lifestyle.
Freedom Lifestyle means having the freedom to live your life any way you choose. But, in a society that tries to influence and dictate our decisions, most people find it hard to define what it means to live any way you choose.
Most people, when asked to define their dream lifestyle, will try to customize what society says a dream life should be. Even the so-called gurus, who claim to help you find your unique way, merely give you a template based on societal norms.
Where do you want to live? How much money do you want to make? What brand of car do you want to drive? Where do you want to go on vacation?
Defining your freedom lifestyle
When someone wants to know how to do it, the first question I ask them is, “If money was not an issue, how would you spend your time?”
If your goal is creating your freedom lifestyle, then you need to take some time and seriously ponder upon that question. Most of my potential clients would start with something like, “okay, if I had a million dollars in the bank, I would…”
They have difficulty wrapping their heads around the concept, “if money was not an issue.”
The desire to do it is proof that you have within you the power which can do it. ~Wallace D Wattles
But everything costs money.
Yes, we can’t deny that we live in a world where money is necessary; it’s a means of exchange. But when I say, if money was not an issue, what I mean is to take the focus off how would you acquire the money that you will need.
The first thing you need to do is to get out of the “I’ve got to have the money” mindset. And it all begins with merely accepting the possibility that you may already have whatever you need. Give the question of how some rest. We will deal with it a bit later.
If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve got.
It’s Time for a Paradigm Shift
If you’re working on creating your Freedom Lifestyle, and if the path you are on right now cannot get you there, then you need to look for a different solution. You need to do different things, or maybe do the same things differently. You have to acquire a different mindset, a new way of looking at things. In other words, you need a paradigm shift.
We’ve been taught growing up, by our parents, teachers, and society as a whole, that the most crucial thing in life is to make money because everything revolves around money. If you have money, you can do and have what you want.
The problem with that thinking is that having and doing what we want becomes secondary to money. The truth is that money is simply a tool that facilitates doing and having what we want. In and of itself, money has no use or value.
Pursuing Freedom Lifestyle puts first things first.
Financing Your Freedom Lifestyle
If you want to claim your freedom and live life on your terms, you must acquire the ability to control your time. There is no better way to create the ability to manage your time than to be self-employed.
If you have always worked for others, then being self-employed could be a scary proposition, but it doesn’t have to be.
Allow me to offer you a paradigm shift.
Mind Your Own Business
When I was working in Corporate America, I always looked at my job as a contract between myself and the company I worked for. When you get a job, your prospective employer will tell you what the company has to offer and what they expect you to do. Then you shake hands.
Most people think it is a one-way deal, where your boss controls everything, and they might even try to give you that impression. The truth is you can terminate the contract just like they can. They can hire someone else, and so can you offer your services to others.
It is no different than being self-employed or owning a business. A business offers products or services to their customers or clients. You are providing your services to your employer. You are the business, and the employer is the client. The problem is, if you lose the only client you have, your employer, you’re in trouble. That is the reason most people let the company dictate to them what they can or cannot do.
Escaping the Prison
Think of starting a business as finding a new job. The only difference is you are the boss as well as the employee. Ask yourself, if you could have any role in the world, what would it be? Are you qualified for it? If you are, that’s great. Hire yourself and get started.
If you’re not qualified, can you acquire the needed qualification? My friend and mentor, Darren Lacroix, decided he wanted to be a comedian. As he tells the story, he wasn’t even funny. Instead, Darren went to the places where the comedians were starting off work. He talked to the headliners and learned about how to become a comedian.
Maybe you don’t know what your dream job is, just like I didn’t realize it when I fired my last boss. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. All I knew was that I didn’t want someone else to control my time. So I looked around to see what I can do. I evaluated my strengths and weakness, my interests and talents, and I decided to learn to become a balloon artist.
I have been twisting balloons for more than a decade now. My original goal was to earn enough income to meet my obligations while I figure out what I wanted to do. What I wanted was the freedom to travel. I realized that I could make money just about anywhere in the USA, twisting balloons.
Finding a middle ground
Your situation may be different than what mine was. Maybe you like your job and what you do. Perhaps you’re not comfortable firing your boss and striking out on your own as I did. However, if you feel that there could be more to life than what you currently have, and it would be nice to do more and get more out of life now, rather than later, then there are things you can do to make that happen.
One of my nephews is living his version of Freedom Lifestyle while working more than full-time. He was able to do this by making his desires a priority and finding ways around his work, which he loves immensely. You can learn more about him at his website.
Another option is to look at your strengths and weaknesses, and your interests and skills, and see if you can find a way to put them to use. Instead of jumping off the cliff, as I did, you could take a different approach. Maybe you can reorganize some of your extracurricular activities and find some time to start what Barbara Winter calls a profit center. The popular term for it these days is a side hustle.
It allows you to learn and grow without giving up the comfort of a regular paycheck. Even if you don’t intend to quit your job anytime soon, it is not a bad idea to have an insurance policy just in case. More options mean more freedom.
Someday Doesn’t Exist.
My friend Sean Ogle likes to say, “There are only seven days in a week. Someday ain’t one of them.”
Life is for living, and now is the only moment you have. Why would you want to postpone enjoying life for a future that you may or may not have? If you enjoy it now, then when that future arrives, you will continue enjoying it.
Source: medium.com ~ By: Rasheed Hooda ~ Image: medium.com
