Date Archives August 2011

Stop Buying, Start “Temporarily Owning”

30 Comments read Life, Travel

I try not to buy shit anymore. Oh sure, I still gotta buy things like toothpaste and socks. But for the most part, I don’t buy. I “temporarily own”.

Not only has this made it easier for me to travel and start new hobbies, but it’s also saved me a TON of money.

Huh? “WTF is this”, you ask?

Well, basically, when most people buy something, they see it as THEIRS. They own it. It belongs to them for life. And the money they dropped for it is – *poof* – gone forever.

My perspective is just a slight shift in thinking, but it makes a huge difference:

I see everything I buy as something that I’m just borrowing. It’s not MINE. I won’t have it for life or start associating it with who I am. It’s just mine temporarily. And the money I spent on it, is also, only temporarily gone.

And while I have it, I’ll use the hell out of it. I’ll squeeze every single drop of usefulness out of it that I can.

But the moment it stops being useful, or I outgrow it, or it stops helping me live a happier, more fulfilling life…I’ll flip it on Craigslist to someone who’ll get more out of it than I will.

Like I said, it seems like an insignificant difference. But this mindset towards buying has benefitted my life in a bunch of unexpected, really awesome ways:

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Put Your Mornings on Autopilot

21 Comments read Productivity

I am not a morning person. No way in hell.

Which sucks because doing your mornings right is absolutely CRUCIAL to living an epic life (I’ll explain below).

For those of us setting our own schedules (the self-employed, un-employed, and in-between), handling our mornings can become one of the most epic challenges we’ll ever have to face.

With no office job holding our asses accountable, it’s way too easy for our mornings to take control of us, and not the other way around.

Believe me. Ever since I started freelancing 3 years ago, I’ve been fighting a daily battle against Shitty Morning Syndrome, and more often then not, I’d get my ass beat.

If you’ve been there, you know what it feels like. Waking up feeling completely unmotivated. Hitting “snooze” over and over (and over) again. Lying in bed mindlessly checking e-mail. Staring at the wall, unable to decide what to do first (and already feeling overwhelmed).

And then before you know it, it’s 3pm and you’ve gotten jack shit done. Your eating schedule’s all thrown off. You’re too drained to workout. Your entire day is screwed and you feel guilty and angry at yourself for letting this happen…again.

As someone who wants to do a lot before his short life is over, I hate hate hate these wasted mornings (and the wasted days that would follow).

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