That’s my favorite quote. Just 5 minutes before reading this, I was sitting in my kitchen, drinking a caffeinated beverage and I saw “Energy” in bold lettering. It’s the word of the month on my calendar. The quote accompanying it: “Energy and persistence alter all things.” Benjamin Franklin.

Before that my mom and I were talking about how small actions can have huge effects on our body and energy. I drank last night at a family party, and I usually don’t drink. I don’t feel too great today. When I’m eating healthy, running, etc, my energy feels great. My mom mentioned how there are also people who feed or drain us of energy and how “this is an energy world we live in”.

I realized a few months ago that my world revolves around energy. When I have high energy, I feel like I can do anything. When my energy is low, I’m susceptible to self-doubt, etc. A goal I carry with me is to keep in mind that every action and thought I have contributes to my energy, and the energy I cultivate will correlate to my very next actions and thoughts, a.k.a. my productivity, my happiness, and my success.

Everything carries energy, the things I surround myself with, the environment I live in, the people I hang out with, what I put into my body, the thoughts I wake up to.

I love your quote:

“Entrepreneurship and lifestyle design are a series of experiments and failed attempts, but if you have the persistence to keep pursuing your goals, eventually you’ll get there.”

You don’t just take one action, and suddenly are living your ideal lifestyle. Lifestyle design is about designing your life, it’s about creating your life and living the life you want in the present moment.

That’s inspiring because sometimes I get in lows and ask myself, “What am I doing with my life?” “Can I really do this?” I question myself. At points when I’m incredibly broke, I doubt myself. Creating my ideal life isn’t easy, but it’s worth it. It could be easier if I give in to the 9 to 5 work life, and stop pursuing my passions. It would be convenient at least, but I wouldn’t be happier.

“If you have persistence to keep pursuing your goals, eventually you’ll get there.”

That’s what keeps me going. I strive for happiness, wherever I am in my life. And when I hit low points, I tell myself that eventually I will succeed. If I don’t give up and if I continue to try and try and try, eventually, I will succeed.

A big thing that helps me to succeed is to maintain my energy. To treat myself well, to surround myself with positive people, to cultivate positive thoughts, and to choose actions that continue to cultivate my energy, which feed into my persistence.

For me, lifestyle design is self-growth, and the ever-present desire to strive to become a better person, for myself, and for others. And through that desire, amazing things can happen.

I too am in the process or hope to become self employed and living luxuriously out of a backpack. I think once I get to that life, that I’ll really know what it means to be comfortable.

I tweeted, stumbled, and shared this.

But even 4 hours a week refers to paperwork and such activities that no-one likes doing. He still spends plenty more time on what earns him money, just doesn’t consider it work. You still need to put in a reasonable amount of hours working out where to trim the fat and get to the lean part of your income. There is a certain amount of trust and income needed to outsource everything in the methods he does.

It’s best to consider his book a guide rather then an instruction manual and adapt it to your own requirements.

The topic of framing deserves more attention and I’m working on getting some of my thoughts into words. For now I’ll just say that once we’re aware that we control the basis for comparison we empower ourselves to make decisions that align with our natural proclivities. Some may call this rationalization, but I prefer the term conscious self-deception.

“Entrepreneurship and lifestyle design are a series of experiments and failed attempts, but if you have the persistence to keep pursuing your goals, eventually you’ll get there.”

I love it and it’s my life…perhaps the term “lifestyle design” simply gave me something to rally to. I’ve made progress in leaps and bounds and couldn’t be happier to finally address earning income and applying the core principles to a freelance and business mindset. One other thing I love about your story that I’ve read now a few times is…

“At least in my experience, rather than play by the same rules most people are playing by, I looked at what kind of lifestyle I wanted, what kind of place I wanted to live in, and realized that it could easily be had for much less than you’d think if you look in the right places (obviously, for me, Thailand is where I chose to live for at least a year or so).”

Thats the key, whether you choose to live a life requiring thousands a month to fuel crazy cars, dream vacations, etc, or to live a minimal life with simple joys (I happen to fall in the middle)…you’ve chosen it. The difference is taking the choice and being intelligent about it. Thanks for this. Onward!

@Christiaan @Carmen @Paul Norwine: Yeah nobody ever said it would be easy—it’s difficult as hell sometimes to make a living doing what you actually enjoy and living life on your own terms. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices, go without, or feel like you are behind a few steps from your colleagues. But, if you can find what you’re truly passionate about and make a living at it, there is nothing that can match that feeling.

@John Bardos & @Jun Loayza: You guys are absolutely right, different people will have different financial needs & goals. I tend to bring in between $1k-2k per month, and out here in Thailand all I really need to get by is 750-1k per month (that includes rent, food, entertainment/events, and student loans/bills back home). For me personally, house, wedding, kids really are not a priority (although admittedly I guess a house one day and supporting my kids really should be on my budget list). Anyways, I’m honestly still not convinced if I’m ever gonna settle down with the wife and the suburban life, so right now my savings tend to go into travel, visiting family back home in CA, and volunteer stuff out here.

So, the short answer is that I’m a bad role model for Jun, because I’m not really saving for those things at this point. They’re not my priorities. But, I think that you and I are very similar in the financial struggles that we face. We’re both building our own companies, have no guaranteed paycheck, and have to sort out our own taxes, insurance, social security, etc. I think the challenges I’ve faced are very similar I’m sure to what you have, and if you have the discipline to make those things priorities, then you will be able to save money for them no matter what financial situation you’re facing.

@Kirsty, great input thanks. Yeah part of this geoarbitrage principle is if you can continue to make thousands per month and live in low cost-of-living countries like Thailand or Argentina then you actually might be able to easily put away more money than you would back home. I know that my lifestyle was costing me about 2x as much in California as it does here, and if I lived at the same standard that I do now, it would cost me 5x as much back in the States. I put a lot of time into personal projects, writing, and volunteer work, but some people could invest all that time into business and come away making tens of thousands of dollars a month that would all be going to the bank.

What do others have to say about saving for a house payment, wedding, and kids?