“Don’t tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you travelled.” — Mohamed
My wife and I have created a family-focused lifestyle. That’s us at the Eiffel Tower a couple days ago on that picture. Our son Raleigh Norton (15) took that shot of us.
Our dream is to set up our professional lives to provide us the freedom to be there for our kids: breakfast before school, huge hugs when they come home, and high-fives at their team games. Travel when we want to, significant contributions to the world, and our total availability to serve others are key to our ideal life together.
That’s our dream, and we’re living it.
Today.
We have 4 boys and 3 foster children. One son died. Our bonus babies are back with bio mom.
My wife and I have been married for almost 16 years. Nearly every year we do trips anywhere from 1 to 2 to 6 months or more at a time. We’ve driven parts of the country (USA and Canada) a few times. We’ve done New York to San Diego to Mexico to Canada all in one road trip. We do trips in between. We live in Hawaii (so we always feel like we are in a dream). We are currently in our 6th country as a family in the last 3 weeks in Europe. We have many more countries to visit over the next couple months.
TRAVELING AS A FAMILY IS NO JOKE, BUT IT STRENGTHENS THE FAMILY IF DONE WELL
“Take bigger leaps. Yes, quit your job if it’s holding you back. Put yourself in a position where failure can’t be an option. In order to do that, you have to have something that truly moves and motivates you.” — Benjamin P. Hardy
Everyone deserves to live in a way that can create money, meaning, and freedom to live life on your own terms, no matter the circumstances.
If you’re ready to revolutionize your lifestyle, here are some quick tips to help you forget the résumé and create money, meaning, and freedom for yourself:
1. First, choose where you want to live.
Ultimately, where you live is the lifestyle you choose to have. Many people choose a job first and allow their employer to dictate where they live.
2. Choose work that gets you excited.
Work that gets you excited may or may not be work you’re good at, but it’s a great place to start. Once you’ve identified what excites you, then you can choose work that excites you AND that you’re good at.
3. Start a project independent of anyone else.
Put your dreams to work. Pick a project that is aligned with a career path you want to pursue. Start a project that actually fills the needs of the people/organization you want to work with.
4. Invite influential people and/or organizations that you’d like to work for to help you complete your project by a certain date.
You’ll develop genuine and lasting friendships with the people you want to work with. This is an authentic way to bump into future employers from your field of choice before they even know you want to be hired.
5. Build a business model (way to make money) around a successful project and learn marketing and sales.
If you want to work for a company, your business model is to get a job with the people or organization that helped you with the project you started. If you’re already in business, your business model is to earn the trust of more paying clients because people love you and are willing to spread your message as a result of your project. If you want to be self-employed, your business model is to earn (not get) mentors as a result of your project to help you start up.
These quick tips will help you create money, meaning, and freedom for you and your family. Starting TODAY.
The mobility movement is a real thing. You can now live anywhere and do anything you choose and especially if you create a business that isn’t attached geographically. Entrepreneurship has never been easier. If you’re stuck in a job, ask if you can work from home or become a consultant doing the same gig. Why not? It works for hundreds of thousands of not millions of us right now.
QUICK TIPS
“Always make your future bigger than your past.” — Dan Sullivan
If you have kids, live by this mantra: “The most important thing a father [or mother] can do for his [or her] children is to love their mother [or father].” — Unknown
Laugh, a lot.
Go on vacations. (Lots and lots of them.)
Love is overrated, work to like each other too.
Live intentionally.
Support one another.
Be best friends.
Go camping.
Listen to music that makes you happy — everyday.
Serve each other.
Be interested and invested in each other’s projects.
Be kind (in word, deed and facial expressions).
Take lots and lots and lots of pictures.
One more from my wife Natalie, “Take time for yourself. Commit to personal enrichment and continuous personal learning and growth. If each spouse would consistently put in the work to be the very best ‘version’ of themselves they can be — physically, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually — more marriages would not only survive, they’d thrive.”
What works for you to create a freedom lifestyle and/or traveling with kids?
I’d love to hear what works for you (and what doesn’t). Please comment or continue the convo and see what this looks like on Instagram.
BE INTENTIONAL
“Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.” — Brené Brown
Look what Natalie wrote 5 years ago on her blog:
“We’ve worked so hard, Richie and I, to set up our lives intentionally. Early in our marriage, we sat down together and decided upon staunch priorities surrounding what we wanted our life together to look and feel like. (NOTE: It’s no surprise that the majority of those goals centered around the kind of life we hoped to be able to provide for our children). I’m so happy to report (to myself more than anyone else) that despite pitfalls, roadblocks, discouragement, and outright failures (yes, plural), we’ve remained committed to the things we deemed (together) to matter the very most. Case in point the ability to drive the boys to school — together — in the mornings, and the luxury of picking them up — together — in the afternoons. This is a small example of a bigger picture reality we have worked so hard to achieve. Not to say that we’ve got it all perfect. We still have SO (so so so so so SO) far to go, but we’re on the right path — the pathway toward our intentional life, and it is so absolutely energizing and fulfilling that my heart nearly bursts with joy just thinking about it. Intentional living will look different for everyone, but friends, do the work to get clear (about what you want your life to look like) and then get busy (creating the life of your dreams). You CAN do it, and you’ll be so glad you did! “Allow me to leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Ms Karen Lamb: “A year from now, you’ll wish you started today.” (Natalie, Oct. 18, 2013)
We are proof that living your best dream (or something better) is possible.
It’s not easy to set up an intentional life — it comes with sacrifice, but investing in your marriage and kids pays the greatest dividends.
PARTING NOTE
“The days are long, but the years are short.” — Gretchen Rubin
You should always have meaning outside the workplace. Work to support your lifestyle — don’t live to support your work.
It may not always be possible to snap your fingers and have your dream job right this very second, and even if you could, occasionally some of the work that HAS to get done, even within the realm of that dream career, will feel like drudgery.
Remember these 3 tips when life and money get hard:
- If you’re having trouble assigning meaning to your current work, it’s important that you consciously focus on the benefits you’re getting with the money you are earning (or opportunities you have) and the luxuries your situation offers. It is said that more than half the world lives on less than $2 a day. Be grateful for what you have. Very grateful. And live accordingly.
- During the inevitable times when you feel like your work has no meaning, find meaning at home. If you need something more to feel creative or need extra cash, then moonlight: start dream projects after work hours. At some point in time, a successful side project can become your main project and you’ll be fortunate enough to make your work and your dreams become one.
- Whatever you do, don’t wait to start those dreams.
GO MAKE WAVES, today.
Want to win at life and business?
I’ve created an online course that I’m giving to you free today (sells for $2,766) for putting yourself into the IDEAL SELF-START MODE, immediately. Follow this course and your life will become more productive and happy.
Originally published at medium.com