Going from A to Z without all of the other letters

As I read more blogs I keep coming across more and more lists of stuff. 7 Steps to this, and the 5 Best Tips for That. These are all catchy titles designed to lure us in. We have a tendency to look for the quick fix, the instant success. In my experience most worthwhile things take time and there are no shortcuts.

I started this blog because my life was going through some major challenges. I was working a job I hated, my wife had died, and I just couldn't do things the same way any more. I needed to change. This however was a gradual process, knowledge doesn't change people, action does.

Pain is a great motivator, at least for me. Facing my job day after day eventually led me to determine I would rather be broke and homeless than to do it another day, so I quit. My job hadn't really changed much over the 6 years I was there, but I had. The things that were important to me, and where I derived my self esteem, the things in life that got me excited, those had all changed. I needed more, money wasn't a motivator, I needed time.

Thankfully, I have found consulting work, and money has not been a problem, but what does one do with your time. I set out to force myself to really evaluate what I wanted out of life. I read Tim Ferriss's book " The Four Hour Work Week" and found some real similarity's to my life. Tim talks about Dreamlines, well I did my "Dreamline", "Bucket List", whatever you want to call it, and it expanded it to layout my goals and aspirations in life. Some interesting things emerged, as I went through the exercise I wasn't nearly as clear about what was important in my life as I thought. I had some vague ideas of what I wanted, many of these ideas I really had no intention of doing, they were just those far off dreams that we SAY we have. Per Tim's book your attitude changes when you start putting budgets together and actually planning how to accomplish these things.

I really started to look at some categorization also. Tim talks about Having, Being, and Doing. Looking at the things that were important in my life I found that "Having" stuff wasn't very important any more, "Doing" things was very important, and "Being" was the most important. I have come to see that the stuff I "Have" really gets in my way, my stuff owns me. So I have started to declutter, less is more, less is freedom. For me I have found that there are no quick fixes, but I can and do change when it comes from the inside out.

Crackberry addiction

Well, it has been almost 5 months since I dropped out of the corporate rat race, here are some observations.

• I was in worse shape emotionally, physically, and spiritually than I had imagined. I had replaced my welfare in these areas with work tasks that filled my time, but didn't contribute anything but a paycheck to my life.
• Unplugging from the Matrix is harder than you think. Without a Blackberry, I still felt for my phone repeatedly throughout the day, and I felt the phantom vibration of emails that weren't there. This cannot be healthy.
• Success is not a destination it is a way of life. I am successful today!
• The iQor world has survived without me, and I have survived without them!
• I know I am on the right track when my friends say I am always smiling these days!!!!