Since 27 years old I’ve been going after my dream of time and location independence. How many people can honestly say they are going for their dreams? Putting their money and time where their mouth is? Few and far between is my best guess. At least when I’m an old man I know I won’t have any regret knowing I went after my my dream life.
What does my dream life look like?
Traveling 6 months out of the year taking photos of the adventures I find my vagabonding self encountering.
Earning money online. Either through a fully remote marketing job or running a small online business.
Collecting $3,000+ in net cash flow from my real estate portfolio.
Not working 40 hours a week. Working a few hours in the morning, a few times per week, then spending the rest of the day exploring, learning, lifting, golfing, socializing.
My ambitions, as I continue getting older, keep returning to to time and location freedom. These ambitions are less around earning a certain amount of money each year or achieving a certain net worth. I’m more ambitions on the Life Style Quotient scale of enjoying more time to do the things I want while living where I want to on this planet.
Earning my money online means I will have a knowledge worker career. Location freedom means I have the option to stay in Colorado or Spain for a few months. Time freedom means I don’t have to go to an office 3 days a week.
Presently I certainly feel blessed to have such a wonderful job at a respectable company who employs awesome people. My work directly helps my company and the thousands of customers we service both online and offline.
My work matters and that’s saying a lot as a millennial. So many of my younger or same aged peers are doing work they would rather not do. But we all need the money!
The acclaimed “bull shit jobs” is a real thing. I had a bull shit job in logistics as a freshly minted college graduate. It was a terribly boring job that I was eventually fired from.
At the time, I thought my world was over. Recently graduated with $25,000 in student debt. No job. No network. No idea what I wanted to do for a living. Except I knew technology would be a great career which would provide lots of flexibility, opportunity, and wealth.
Things worked out well for me throughout my 20’s.
I partied a lot in college. Isn’t that the whole point of college now-a-days? To be social, meet new people, flirt with pretty girls. The whole education aspect of college is so-so. Sure, I remembered studying hard in order to remember the knowledge for later regurgitation come test day. But after that day, most of the knowledge was lost forever from my working mind.
Is that knowledge really worth the cost? For me, it was. College worked out for me. It doesn’t work out for many people if they decide to major in something society doesn’t really care too much about from a monetary perspective.
A good life certainly comes down to making good income. Without money you’re living under a bridge. Not such a great life right there. The thing I keep trying to figure out is how to make money in ways that make me feel fulfilled. That’s a challenge in today’s bull-shit job ridden economy.
Apparently I’m not the type of guy that is content will just having a job. I want time and location freedom.
Would one call that ambition? Yes, that sounds correct.
Why?
Well so many people do not have time and location freedom. They work, sleep, eat, 2 weeks of vacation a year. Repeating this till the golden years of retirement wherein they can live off their investments. Statistically, people in their 60’s do not have enough wealth to live off their investments. The median wealth at retirement age is ~$250,000 which is below the poverty line using the 4% rule.
So what’s the rub society? Why do we all mindlessly follow the work and invest in a 401K path when it doesn’t work?
Fear to go out on ones own. The self employed path is a lonely one. There’s only you. Yet, isn’t that how life always will be? Just you. Looking back at yourself in the mirror. You have to live a life through your own unique personality and that’s a hard thing to do! It’s complicated with endless roads to dead ends.
It can be depressing and anxiety ridden. It can be exhilarating and joyous. It’s the up and down of life experience. Always changing, always something new and old. It’s life in all it’s glory.
One thing can be said: it’s better to be alive than dead. If you’re reading this – you’re alive! Now, go after your dreams and see where the chips fall. Let’s not look back at our lives when we are old people filled with regret.