Mind the Beginner

I’ve had several questions lately about what certain terms are that I’ve been using here. Well, to make things a bit clearer I’m going to provide you with a post on  terms that are being used in the personal development and lifestyle design niche. It’s by no means complete though and I urge you to add more in the comments.

• Let’s start with some names first

Tim Ferris This name really should ring a bell. It’s the guy that started it all (for me at least) He’s the author of “The four hour workweek” and blogger writing about “experiments in lifestyle design”. He’s living the life so many of us want to. It’s probably why his book is so popular, it talks about a something that seems a fantasy and he claims can be reality. However, there are those who believe the four hour workweek to be a lie.

Leo Babauta Blogger over at zenhabits.net and author of the book “the power of less”. Has radically redesigned his life to what he wanted. I could explain it all but it’s easier to read this page.

Jonathan Mead Blogger over at Illuminated mind and author of “reclaim your dreams”. He also writes for zenhabits and lateral action. Someone who really kicks ass in the virtual world stating what it’s really all about without being gentle. He regularly kicks against what people think is reality and gets your head back out of the clouds.

Carl Nelson A friend, blogger at slacker reform, professional lindy hopper, vagabond, philosopher and rising start in the location independence world.

Corbett Barr Blogger at freepersuits writing about lifestyle design, another rising start in the community.

Rolf Potts Author of “vagabonding”, the second book that’s an essential read to anyone who wants to become location independent. Not from the perspective of how to get there, but on what to do when you’ve got it.

Darren Rowse Also known as problogger. A full time blogger making a six figure income through it and a huge name in the blogosphere. Anyone who takes blogging seriously has heard is name and has probably visited his blog as well. A great resource for anything blogrelated.

Seth Godin Writer of a lot of (11 so far) books on diverse subjects in the direction of market development and business.  A name you’ll see pop up from time to time, so I thought I’d mention him.

Steve Pavlina This guy might just be the original personal development blogger. He’s been blogging since 1 oktober 2004

• Some essential literature

The four hour workweek (4HWW) The book that got it all started, or at least put things on the map. In a nutshell this book teaches you how to find an online market, set everything up, automate it and reduce the number of hours you work to the bare minimum while keeping a descent income so you can spend your time on other things.

The Power of less Leo’s book, a nice summary of all his blogposts that will get you up to speed on minimalist thinking when it comes to daily life.

Vagabonding The book about extended world travel or how to “live out of a backpack” for months or yours. Perhaps even giving up a home and constantly traveling the world.

Reclaim your dreams An  eBook on getting away from the 9-5 till 65 life. You can read my review of it here

• Some often used terms

Lifestyle design Everything that has to do with living your life like you want to live it. Severing the ties that keep you from doing what you want to be doing. For most people this means quitting their job (a major timesuck where they are not in control) and setting up an alternative income through Internet. This frees up time so one can do all those things that one dreams of but never does. It’s getting rid of preconceptions that life has to be a certain way just because your parents lived that way or the education system has taught you how to live.  In short: It’s thinking for yourself on how you want to live your life and doing everything you can to live that life right now! Corbett over at Freepersuits has dedicated a blogpost to the subject that’s far more comprehensive that the definition I give here. If you’re interested you can find that blogpost by following this link. It’s a great read and will get things crystal clear.

Muse. A term used by Tim Ferris to describe the thing that generates the Internet income. His muse is a food supplement he’s selling online. Probably by now it’s also his blog and his book.

Vagabond. A person who travels for extended periods of time where not the destination but the travel is important and where at times there is no plan on where to go or on how long to stay there.

Digital Nomad. A vagabond with a laptop and other technical devices who has an Internet income and manages that through his laptop while vagabonding.

Location Independent Professional (LIP). A professional who isn’t bound to a location in order to make an income. More often than not these people generate their income through Internet and might just be called digital nomads as well. That is, if they choose to travel. Being location independent means you can go wherever you want, it doesn’t mean you have to.

Freedom business. This term is used in Project Mojave to describe an Internet business (selling an information product) that generates an income that’s significant enough to quit ones dayjob and become free. This means it consistently generates an income of some 2-4k a month depending on your needs. Also, this business requires little “maintenance” so you have an income that costs little time as well. Although you might not reach the 4 hours a week, it’s definitely doable with about 10 hours a week.

Project Mojave An online program where Clay Collins and some others teach you how to set up a freedom business, in three months or less.

Personal development The ongoing effort to develop oneself and keep learning. Learning new skills, keep questioning ones thoughts, beliefs and habits. You probably know people who do the same thing every day like clockwork. Have a dayjob, don’t read, don’t try new things or whatever. These people don’t develop any further for they don’t expose themselves to new things.

Well, that’s it for now, I hope you will all contribute to this blogpost by adding more names, blogs and terms to the comment section.  If you have any questions or if what I’ve written in this blogpost is just pain wrong or hopelessly incomplete please do let me know.

If you liked this blogpost please to give it a “thumbs up” on stumble, digg it, tweet it and use smoke signals to tell others. I’d really appreciate it.

I haven’t always been a lifestyle designer with a zen twist, it had to start somewhere and I can blame it all on a book that probably everyone who is into lifestyle design knows by now. The four hour workweek by Tim Ferris. This book opened my eyes to the possibilities of Internet and changed my view on “work”. This is not the only book however so I’m presenting you with a list of the books that had the biggest influence on me. Some of these I read before I read the 4HWW and although I wasn’t familiar with “lifestyle design” I guess I was already working on it. In no particular order these books are:

Tim Ferris – The four hour workweek
A book dedicated to lifestyle design. Promoting the 80/20 way of thinking and letting me know that my dreams can become real goals. If this book didn’t exist this blog might just have never existed as well. As I said, this book nudged me in the right direction and gave my way of thinking a name.

Shunryu Suzuki – Zen mind, Beginners mind
A small book about zen meditation and real life. This book tells you just about anything you want to know about Zen Buddhism that’s worth knowing. It was my first book specifically about zen and I still think it’s one of the best I have. I started reading about zen roughly two years ago and had my very first zazen meditation session on June 7th 2008. I’ve been meditation a year now and the changes are huge. I’ve become calmer, more focused and everything has become so much clearer.

Tony Buzan – The speed reading book
I bought this book yeas ago to learn how to speed read. Although I haven’t managed to reach my target of 1000 words a minute but my reading definitely got faster because of this book. In this information age we’re constantly bombarded with information, most of it in writing. How many hours a day do you read blogs, articles, websites, books, newspapers? This book has the power to cut your reading time in half easily. Or you could read twice as much in the same time. The normal reading speed for adults is roughly 200-300 words a minute. The record holder is Sean Adams with 3850 words a minute. There is wide gap there, even though you probably won’t reach the 3000 words a minute, even 1000+ words a minute will change your life.

Rolf Potts – Vagabonding, an uncommon guide to the art of long-term world travel
Although I’m not a vagabond (yet) this book showed me that travel doesn’t need to be expensive. I’ve always dreamed of traveling, this book has offered me the tools and tips to make those dreams into goals. I think this is one of the essential books to read for anyone into lifestyle design. And anyone who wants to become a Location Independent Professional (LIP) probably already read this one.

Peter Ralston – The principles of effortless power
This is the book for anyone who is interested in the internal martial arts. It completely changed my thinking about T’ai Chi that I was practicing at the time. I found a Cheng Hsin group (Cheng Hsin being the martial art that Peter developed) near my home and started training there. Although I haven’t trained in over a year now this book and the training changed the way I move. It’s hard to explain this book but if you practice aikido, t’ai chi or any other internal martial art please pick up this book if you haven’t already. You might also want to read this book if you dance for a living or are a physiotherapist.

Karen Kingston – Clear your clutter with Feng Shui
Although I’m not much for Feng Shui this book still provided me with some great insight. It’s this book that initially got me to minimalize my living space. Although it’s not minimal yet I’ve been working at reaching the 100 things I wrote about a few months ago. Do you have clutter in your home or do you know someone who is a clutterbug? This is the book for you. With 183 pages you can easily read this book in an evening. A warning though, if you read this book you will want to clear your clutter right away. It’s addictive.

J.J. Gibbs – Dancing with your books, the zen way of studying
I bought this book when I was struggling with the last part of my bachelor’s degree. Now I think of it and see an underlined passage, this book was the reason I started zazen meditation. The underlined passage: “On practice that should be incorporated into everyone’s program of study is daily meditation… The purpose of meditation is to relax and silence the constant internal dialogue that goes on in our mind so you can devote your full attention to studying.” I bought the book on March 23d 2008 (I have the habit of writing the date inside the book at the same time I write my name in it.) This book will change how you think about studying, it will become fun!

Michael Masterson – Automatic wealth for grads
Together with “Your money or your life” this book changed the way I think about money. I was terrible with money and squandered thousands of euro’s, I have no idea where it all went. But now I have an overview (down to the cent) of all my spendings, assets and liabilities. I live below my means as much as possible and have realized that it’s perfectly possible to eventually reach the crossover point (The point where the income from your invested capital surpasses your monthly expenses, your basic life necessities and all the components of your chosen lifestyle, are covered by your monthly investment income.) within my lifetime. Although both these books are written for people who work (the 9-5 grind) I plan on using the knowledge in this book to reach that point with my freedom business. One of the big goals in my life is reaching this crossover point.

Robert M. Pirsig – Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance
The only novel in my list. If ever a novel had an impact on it’s reader it’s this one. From the back cover “The most explosive book you will ever read!” and I agree. This book will make you think about your thinking and about the world. Although I don’t have much to say about this book, if you haven’t read it yet, please do! This book made me think deeper about everything, taking nothing for granted.

What books influenced your life? What books should we read? Please tell us about the books you think we should read in the comments.

To help bring the community together Corbett Barr from Free Pursuits and Lea Woodward from Location Independent are hosting a “Location Independent and Digital Nomad Survey.” This survey is made for both those who are already location independent and those who aspire to be.

Seeing as I somewhat write about lifestyle design and have touched the sbject of digital nomads and vagabonds on several occasions I consider this blog a part of that community. So naturally this blog -as part of that community- and through that you as my reader would benefit from the results of this survey. 

What’s in it for you?

• A better blog here at Mind the Beginner
• A better blogging community
• An understanding of the community
• The opportunity to be recognized (with a link to your Twitter page or website) in an upcoming post about the survey results at freepursuits.com.

You can find the suvey by following this link Thanks for participating and stay tuned.

In addition you might want to visit the other participating blogs on Lifestyle Design:

WebWorkerDaily, Digital Nomads, Nomadness, Slacker Reform, Muselife, Mind the Beginner,Technomadia, Exile Lifestyle, Intrepid Lifestyle, Jet Set Citizen, Live Uncomfortably, Mine Your Resources, Thrilling Heroics, Most Likely to Die Alone and Vagabonding 

(and the hosts, Free Pursuits and Location Independent).

The Survey is an opportunity for the growing location independent and digital nomad community to understand more about the group (and those people who aspire to become location independent).

Do you ever wonder what other location independents do for a living? What about how many hours they work and whether they make more or less money than when they worked a regular job? What about where they live, how much time they spend traveling or whether they maintain a permanent home somewhere?

This is the type of information we will gather with your help. Answers to these questions will be indispensable in helping all of us better understand who makes up the community, and how we can better serve them. 

Here in The Netherlands there is a whole subculture around squatters. Squatters are people who occupy buildings without having a lawful claim to it. Squatting over here is legal as long as the building has not been used for over a year. Buildings that would otherwise stay empty and in disuse. This has been going on since the latter half of the 20th century and however annoying it can be to property owners they serve a function. No property owner here can get away with leaving a building empty for to long. It’s a constant game between owners and squatters.

You’re probably wondering where I’m going with this one: Squatters were my inspiration for this post or rather the skills these squatters have learned to be able to live like they do. They have a minimalist lifestyle. According to law when you occupy a building you need a bed, a table and a chair in order to establish yourself. A mattress, a barstool and a wooden board on a couple of crates is all they need. Some squatters literally own nothing more than the clothes on their back and a mattress.

 Traveling for an extended period of time is becoming less of a dream and more of a real goal for people to aim for

The difference between them and the homeless is that they choose to live this way and quite often do have an income. There are even grad students who live this way with nothing more than their books and a place to sleep. A computer can be used at the public library or at university, washing yourself might be done by going to the local swimming pool every few days. Their lifestyle certainly is not for everyone but there is one thing they got down to an art form: minimalist living. I admire them for that skill and their creativity.

Digital Nomads

On a slightly different level there are the digital nomads who are gaining popularity on the Internet. People who quite literally live out of a backpack. Earning enough money to sustain their travels and day to day activities through Internet entrepreneurship.

There is an immense sense of freedom to be had when living this way. A freedom I would almost encourage you to try and experience if you ever get the chance. Most digital nomads I know of run a blog as a means of income. Take Carl Nelson for instance, a professional dancer who has been traveling through the USA the last few months with nothing more than his single suitcase and shoulderbag. He already knows I envy him for this. A bit higher up the nomadic food chain we find people like Tim Ferriss (yes, the 4 hour workweek guy) and Chris Guillebeau. Although as far as I know both these do have a “home base” from where they travel and come back to. (and receive snail mail probably.)

Flashpackers

Another name that sometimes is used for these people is “flashpackers”. Although not applicable to every digital nomad a flashpacker is someone who travels in the same way a backpacker does, but with less stuff. More digital toys (iPod, laptop, GPS perhaps, high-end digital camera) and far less clothing. What they need while traveling they buy. Clothing can be very cheap is you don’t mind not wearing a certain brand and when shirt’s cost you maybe 4 dollars each (in Asia for instance) you might opt for the same strategy unless you want to be frugal. Wear it until it’s time to move on. Toss all the cheap clothing you can’t fit in your bag and take the rest with you to replace later on. You can easily travel the world with only two of everything, washing one while wearing the other.

• Now we hit on a slight problem a lot of people share: missing the ability to throw something out that doesn’t serve a real purpose anymore (other than sentimental value).

To often we are tied down by the things we own. All those little things that clutter our home or our desk. That porcelain dog figure your aunt gave you, the useless collection of pens that just sit there drying up when you have that one favorite pen you always use, the DVD collection you built up but never watch. Let’s face it, humans are pack rats by nature. We have evolved (I a strong believer of Darwin’s evolution theory but also harbor some Buddhist thought patterns.) in an environment where more was always better. Throwing away anything that might some day be useful could be deadly. (deadly taken literally here) So we waste nothing keep everything. 

And now we live in our huge homes, with everything we could ever want and it’s still not enough because now we’re trapped by our belongings. Traveling the world can’t be done because we worry about out plasma TV being stolen or the priceless tropical fish that needs to be fed and only we know how exactly to do that. 

Materialism isn’t everything, freedom is

Not only our physical belongings tie us down, our social ties also “help” in staying put. “What will the neighbors think” or “how am I going to explain this to my parents”. Our species started out as nomadic but ever since we started farming we got tied down. Sometimes living our whole lives in the same region just because we grew up there and knew everyone. And we were happy. 

But now with the ever diminishing size of the globe due to all the means of transport and the Internet traveling for an extended period of time (Vagabonding or living like a digital nomad) is becoming less of a dream and more of a real goal for people to aim for.

What sets squatters, digital nomads and flashpackers apart from the rest of us? They have acquired the skill to travel very lightly for extended periods of time. Not being tied down by their worldly possessions. They also acquired the skill to generate an income, wherever they are. 

The beginner’s mind

How do we begin with this? – This blog is about beginning after all so I’d better tell you how to get started – It starts with recognizing the things that tie us down and adopting a minimalistic lifestyle. Materialism isn’t everything, freedom is. I leave it up to you to decide what freedom is and if you should adopt this way of life. Who is happier, the squatter who can live anywhere? Or the CEO with his giant house and obligations? If you’re happy where you are right now by all means do stay there. If there is some place else you’d rather be, know that many have gone before you.

How to we begin setting up an income? The fun bit is you don’t have to. Money isn’t everything either. You need enough of it to get to where you want to and maybe to pay for your food and a place to sleep. On other continents however it’s not that hard to find a cheap place to sleep or even to get invited to stay somewhere. It’s not about money, it’s about social skills and people. 

I’m not a digital nomad myself nor am I a world traveler. I’m an outspoken minimalist however who is always looking for ways to strealine my worldly possessions so eventually I’ll have only those things that can be contained within a backpack. My biggest problem will be my book collection for which I will probably have to rent a very small apartment somewhere. A place to call “home base” so to speak. With nothing more than a bed, a table and a chair… hundreds of books, an Internet connection and a meditation pillow.

If you liked this article, please share it on del.icio.us, StumbleUpon or Digg. I’d appreciate it. You might also want to subscribe to my RSS feed.