Phil Garland

Hunter and gatherer tribes passed down lessons to their youth about the berries to eat, and the berries that’ll end in death. Techniques on capturing game and stalking prey were also passed down. The ones who excelled became the head of the tribes and for generations, the practices continued. Even today, some hunter-gatherer tribes still have the same traditions as their relatives millennia ago. Today’s society seems to be missing the “Don’t eat that berry!” approach to being a successful adult.

Life Lessons by Trial and Error

A good part of my 20’s, since graduating college at 22, have been a lot of trial and error lessons. A lot more errors than successes.  I’m not incriminating my parents for their inability to foretell my problems. Or society for leading me down a path of less success. But I do wish I had learned from my errors at a much younger age.

Unlike hunter-gatherer children, society shelters today’s children from an early age. Instead of trying things on our own at three years old, we’re coddled, cuddled, and protected. Throughout our childhood, into our teens, and through college we live in a protected world. We don’t get to learn first hand what errors feel like until we’re tossed out at the age of 22.

Tell Them “Don’t eat that berry,” and then get out of their damn way

Trial and error is the mechanism in which entrepreneurs learn best. It’s also how I’ve learned a majority of my life lessons. It’s an amazing mechanism for learning, however, trial and error at the age of five is better than at the age of 22. There are a lot fewer stakes on the line when we’re younger and, as we grow older, trial and error becomes more daunting.

Being able to teach children “Don’t eat that berry” from a young age is helpful, but only if it’s accompanied by a create-your-own-rules mindset. Children learn by falling on their faces. So do adults. But it’s important for the younger generation, those about to enter the “real world,” to understand what they’re signing up for and where they can find happiness.

For years I have been compiling a Kindle To-Read list. The only problem is I add more books than I read. Over the next six months, I plan on changing that. I have segmented my reading list into separate categories by month and challenged myself to knock out four books each month (or a book a week). Here is what I have so far:

February – Life My Way

• The Last Safe Investment – Bryan Franklin, Michael Ellsberg
• How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World – Harry Browne
• Leading the Life You Want: Skills for Integrating Work and Life – Stewart Friedman
• Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action – Simon Sinek

March – Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Stoicism

• Square One: The Foundations of Knowledge – Steve Patterson
• A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy – William B. Irvine
• Man’s Search for Meaning – Viktor E Frankl, Harold S. Kusner, William J. Winslade
• Ego Is the Enemy – Ryan Holiday

April – The Future

• The Evolution of Everything: How New Ideas Emerge – Matt Ridley
• The End of Jobs: Money, Meaning, and Freedom Without the 9-to-5 – Taylor Pearson
• Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future – Martin Ford
• The Age of Em: Work, Love, and Life when Robots Rule the Earth – Robin Hanson

May – Inward Innovation

• Driving Honda: Inside the World’s Most Innovative Car Company – Jeffrey Rothfeder
• Unleash Your Inner Company: Use Passion and Perseverance to Build Your Ideal Business – John Chisholm
• The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to Mental Side of Peak Performance – W. Timothy Gallwey, Zach Kleinman, Pete Carroll
• The Here-and-Now Habit: How Mindfulness Can Help You Break Unhealth Habits Once and for All – Hugh G. Byrne

June – Think Big and Kylon Geinger Recommendations

• Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth, and Impact the World – Peter H. Diamandis, Steven Kolter
• The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results – Gary Keller, Jay Papasan
• Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike – Phil Knight
• Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change – Joseph Grenny, Kerry Patterson, David Maxfield

July – Because They’ve Been on my List For Forever

• Finite and Infinite Games – James Carse
• The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles – Steven Pressfield, Shawn Coyne
• Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative – Austin Kleon
• The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It – Michael E. Gerber

Lately, I’ve tuned out all news, not only the news on TV/the internet but have stopped checking my Facebook feed. I truly have no idea what’s going on outside my bubble. I’m sure to be missing something I should be enraged about, but that’s okay, I prefer it this way.

Instead of spending so much time obsessing over what people are doing all over the world, I’m focusing my time on what will make me a better person. With all the time not spent reading about other people’s lives, I’ve been putting in the hours reading books. Really good books. Each one has an underlying theme: How to live the life you want in the dynamic world we live in today. I’d take this reading, and this life-message, over anything going on in the “real world.”

Call me selfish, disconnected, or out-of-date with current events, but I call it living free. I get to choose what I consume, and I get to think for myself.

When faced with a difficult, unknown, or impactful life decision it’s important to have belief in your ability to land on your feet. The only way for you to truly grow is to take chances, but you won’t take chances without this mindset. Instead, you will hope for a net to catch you, or you will never attempt at all because you’re too afraid you’ll fall flat on your face. Whatever you fear the outcome may be is more contrived in your head than any real outcome. If you’re the type of person with an “It will work out” mindset, not only will it actually work out, but you will also grow from your experience.

Growth From Falling

The times I have found out the most about myself have always come from pivotal decisions in my life. From moving from Virginia to DC to moving from DC to Denver to quitting multiple jobs without a concrete plan. All of these were more-or-less spontaneous decisions that  I didn’t know the outcome beforehand. All I knew was a gut instinct that I wanted something more. And a gut belief that no matter what might happen, I would land on my feet. Although there wasn’t a net to catch me on the way down, I didn’t let that stop me. Instead, I took the leap and hoped for the best.

Each time I’ve taken a leap I have learned more and more about myself. Every instance has allowed me to grow. Much like a lobster needs to shed its shell to grow bigger, my big life events have helped me to shed my prior skin and grow bigger (and better).

Landing on Your Feet

I know I don’t know everyone’s situation or everyone’s level of self-belief. But I can almost guarantee that if you have an itch to do something, it will work out in for you in time. Not only will it work out, it will accelerate your development into a better version of you. I full-heartedly believe in following your gut and figuring it out as you fall.

Taking this approach has had the biggest impact on my life and when I grow from the experience it builds my self-belief I can do it again. Being comfortable in your own shell won’t lead you to the bigger, better version of you.

Freedom starts with becoming the best you, but it’s exponentially grown with a planned approach. Definite optimism is about developing a plan for a better future and executing on that plan. Without an end goal, there is no path to the optimist’s future.

Indefinite optimism, believing the future will be better but without a plan, is what protestors partake in. It’s an exclamation of “I want my voice to be heard, but I don’t know what outcome I want my voice to achieve.” Protesting is great at promoting a cause, but it doesn’t create a definite strategy. Instead of protesting, develop the desired outcome and strive to achieve that goal. Protesting may very well be part of the plan, but make sure it’s a means to achieve the bigger goal and not merely the end goal.

The Optimist Approach

Optimists look at the world through rose-colored glasses. They believe the world has vast potential to become better tomorrow than it was yesterday. There are millions, if not billions, of people in the world who have this mindset. Wanting a better world is the start, achieving a better world is the goal. An optimist can see a better future all they want, but without a definite end goal, there is no way to actually achieve the future.

The Definite Optimist Approach

The definite optimist is not unlike the optimist, they also see the world through rose-colored glasses. The difference lies in their plan, the strategy to execute to reach their goal, and the realization that their better world relies on creating the world around them.

Not only do you have to become the best you but you have to be willing to dream big and hold yourself accountable to make changes. You have to see a better world and spend each day making the world better. There aren’t accolades for doing this, you won’t get a cheerleading squad at your back or any trophies. What you get from this is to reap the better future that you sow.

By being an optimist and developing a plan you are a definite optimist. The world you are creating is the world we want to live in. Freedom requires people who see the future, a brighter future, and work each day to create it. Freedom starts with becoming the best you, but freedom grows with definite optimism.

Freedom requires a long-game approach. There’s no “Utopian” switch that when flipped cures all problems and creates the perfect society. Instead, over time individuals earn freedom as they harness the same power as the men or women supposedly in charge. Becoming free, and achieving freedoms for the oppressed, starts with becoming the best you. On any given day an authoritarian figure can do something unagreeable to your beliefs, putting you in their game. They’re looking for a reaction, a distraction, from the big picture. If you are more concerned with every move they make then you’re not concerned with yourself. Instead of playing their game, you should be building up your powers to push back. And it starts with becoming the best you.

Whether you’re a pink knitted hat wearer or a Don’t Tread On Me flag waver, you desire freedom. Although you may have convinced yourself “if the right person is in power I’ll be okay,” that’s merely an illusion. The powers granted to the government were not created to give one person absolute power. They were meant to give everyone a framework for a freer world. With the obvious incapabilities of the government to achieve a freer society, the question becomes: How can we create a freer world for ourselves?

Become Absolutely Open-Minded

The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion. – Albert Camus

To really have your existence be an act of rebellion don’t stop at being absolutely free. Be absolutely open-minded, absolutely un-bigoted, absolutely non-sexist, absolutely not racist, become so absolutely open to everyone no matter their race, religion, sex, gender, or nationality, and you will start building a freer world. Your very existence will be a protest to the man in power. And at the same time, your actions will improve the life of the people around you. It’ll improve your neighbor, your community, your country, and your connections with the world. Becoming absolutely open-minded is an act of rebellion without the need to protest in the streets.

 Tune Out the Noise

Stop paying attention to the media. Whether you find a trustworthy news source or not, it’s all an attempt to fill your head with nonsense. For every person that agrees with the news, there’s another person disagreeing with it. Either way, it’ll rile up both sides and break down any chance of an absolutely open-minded rebellion. It’s okay to be uninformed. It’s okay to not know what’s going on in current events every second of every day. If you’re truly focusing on making the community around you better then there’s no need to listen to the news. It’ll do more harm than good.

Become the Best You

The growing rebellion, the acceptance of everyone, and freedom starts with individuals. It all starts with people who hold their moral standards, their beliefs, and their desire for a freer world to achieve freedom. Focusing on becoming the best you may seem selfish, but it’s not. It’s the starting point for change. It’s the catalyst for freedom. Working every day on yourself, your capabilities, and your open-mindedness starts building the framework for freedom.

Decide what you stand for. And then stand for it all the time. – Clayton M. Christensen

Freedom won’t be earned by going through the system, but by becoming so free, and so open-minded, that your very existence is a rebellion.  Freedom begins with you, the best you.

 

Minimalism is not about living with next-to-nothing, but living only with purpose-driven material items. Basically, if a material good doesn’t serve a purpose in your day-to-day life then you don’t need that item. My rule of thumb for material consumption is asking myself my perceived purpose of an item. And then evaluating my actual perception and not being afraid of getting rid of something (sunk cost fallacy) if I don’t need it. This same rule goes for knowledge consumption.

Purpose-Driven Knowledge Consumption

Much like material goods in minimalism, I purposefully only consume knowledge which I perceive to have a purpose in my life. Although a lot of my reading helps expand my knowledge, some of it I cut loose and forget. Not all information is good information.

There is tons of information to be consumed. From blog posts to informative articles to how-to YouTube videos to books. With so much free material on the internet knowledge consumption is everywhere. With that much zero-cost information there exists a lot of bad information. Finding purpose-driven information to consume becomes the key.

Finding Quality Information

Although the consumption of knowledge is a noble goal, you don’t want to spend all of your time searching for information. Instead, you want to focus on high-quality information. Below are some places to find high-quality information:

• Through friends – I have a lot of “doers” as friends. By following what they’re up to I am able to find great information. They’ve already done the vetting process for me and I trust their perspective. A lot of my reading comes from friend recommendations, whether they know they’re giving me recommendations or not.

• Through reading – If you read a good book or blog then you’re bound to come across book recommendations. If you trust the message by an author then you are likely to trust the message of an author they recommend. This comes with a grain of salt – sometimes the author has their own motivations – but for the most part, you can trust an author’s recommendations.

• Through Google – Whenever you’re interested in a particular subject, do a quick Google search. Not only will you find high-quality content, but once you start reading the content you’re most likely going to come across other great material. It takes a little time to get good at, but asking Google is an easy path to quality information.

Remember, like purpose-driven material consumption, your knowledge consumption should have a purpose. You don’t want to consume knowledge “just because,” but instead to improve your thoughts and mind. Eventually, the high-quality information will meld together in your mind and start connecting your cranium.

This is a really good video timeline on bestreviews.com that takes you through a desk in 1980 to a desk in 2017. With the essentials on a desk covered in items in 1980 to merely a laptop in 2017. Look at that progress:

With the speed at which technology grows, and changes our lives, it’s more important than ever to be in-the-know about technological progress. Not only will technology improve the lives around us, but it will also change our jobs. It enables automation of tedious tasks and allows us to focus on more cumbersome questions. Technology is really cool. The fact that we can take a desk-full of items and stuff them into a laptop in less than 40 years is impressive.

Instead of being afraid of innovation, we need to embrace it. The advances outlined in the video timeline happened, whether people lost jobs because of it or not. But if you ask anyone who no longer has to do a boring, time-consuming task they’re probably happy about innovation. Technological progress is not going to stop. Worrying about who’s jobs it might take shouldn’t be the priority. Instead, the priority should be seeing who’s lives can be amplified and aligning ourselves for the technological future. It’s an amazing time to be alive.

I’ve blogged before about the impossibility of finding your niche, your niche finds you. Recently, I wrote about your unique perspective. But, there is one more piece to the writing puzzle: developing your style.

First and foremost, much like finding your niche, you don’t find your writing style without practice. It takes dedication to writing, it takes turning ideas in your head into written words. Your writing style isn’t developed by thinking, but by putting pen to paper. Not only do you have to consume a lot of ideas from books, blog posts, and great thinkers, but you have to learn how to put your ideas into coherent sentences. Developing a writing style isn’t easy, and it won’t come naturally. But if you consume enough information, and practice your craft, you will soon realize your writing style.

Looking For a Writer’s Style

The best book I’ve read recently that disguised the author’s writing style was The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday. I didn’t notice the underlying Stoicism, even though Holiday has another book The Daily Stoic until he explicitly said it in the end. Instead of writing with continual quotations of Stoicism, Holiday used his knowledge of the subject to convey the message in his own words.

Anytime you read an author it’s important to look for their writing style. They have a perspective, honed over time, to provide unique insights on the subject. Their writing style will portray that.

My Writing Style

Since I’ve started blogging daily I have definitely developed a style to my writing. I have also found the authors and bloggers who put actionable ideas into my head. With a combination of past experiences, formal education, and self-directed learning I have found the things I’m passionate to write about. Below is a breakdown of the influences on my writing.

Philosophy/Religion

Since I’m not very religious I tend to think of my religious reading as philosophy. From the Toltecs to Buddhism, my religious study is a way to live life. My philosophical view has been developed through Stoicism. Likewise, my “always move forward” mentality has been heavily influenced by the Stoics.

Austrian Economics

George Mason University was my first awakening to the Austrian thinkers. F.A. Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, Carl Menger, Henry Hazlitt, Murray Rothbard, etc. have all had a profound impact on my thoughts and ideas. If I can channel only a tiny bit of praxeology from Mises I would say my writing is a success.

Business Acumen

Being in accounting for the past four years and seeing how businesses operate I try to bring my corporate background into my style. I’ve seen many different organizations and know how each work from large corporate, to small corporate, to startup. Each experience has impacted my writing style, my thought processes and how I perceive the world around us.

Lifestyle

The last influence on my writing style is how I’ve been living my life since graduating college. Instead of settling for average I have spent a lot of time exploring what makes me tick. From traveling the country looking for my new home to settling in an outdoor-crazed community, to reading insightful blogs/books. Living life my way has helped give me my voice.

Although I try to encompass all of these aspects into my writing, I am in no way a master. I also had no intention of finding these out when I started blogging. I had no idea what I wanted to write about before, or that I could create my own voice. But through writing, and dedication to the craft, I have started to develop my style.

Eventually, I’d love to be able to write like Holiday, interweaving these views into a style so unique you don’t even notice. For now, I concentrate on consuming material in my wheelhouse and improving my writing on a daily basis.

When I first started the 30-day blogging challenge, in August 2015, I decided to take “Living Free” as my moniker. I don’t think I had a true understanding what it even meant. I found a cool picture and thought it fit into the theme.

Since blogging daily, and the life choices I’ve made since August, I have a clear understanding of what living free means to me. It’s not some cute catch-phrase or a dream in La La Land, but a mindset of self-discovery, self-belief, and putting thought into action. To start to understand the meaning of living free I’ll first explain what it doesn’t mean.

What Living Free Doesn’t Mean

• Living free doesn’t mean being lazy. No matter how awesome it sounds to sit on a couch and watch TV all day, that’s the furthest thing from living free. In order to live free, you have to be actively challenging yourself, putting yourself in new situations, and figuring out how you react to different circumstances. Sitting around won’t challenge you, and thus won’t open you up to a life you could be living.

• Living free doesn’t mean finding yourself. No matter how hard you try, you’re never going to find yourself. It’s impossible! Life, people, situations, and the world around us is too dynamic to find yourself. The only way to truly find yourself is in a vacuum, and we don’t get to live in a vacuum. We have to live in an ever changing world.

• Living free doesn’t mean finding your passion. Much like finding yourself, finding your passion is overrated. Instead of trying to find your passion, try to find something that gets your mind moving. When your brain starts obsessing over something, and you have a desire to get good at it, propel your passion forward. Eventually, you’ll determine if it’s merely a spark to ignite a bigger fire, or truly your passion.

• Living free doesn’t mean anarchy. Living free, in a world with governments and bureaucracy can lead us to a desire to “stick it to the man.” After all, freedom is the idea that we aren’t governed by higher forces. However, trying to take power away from the government isn’t something that happens by protesting or being politically active. The way around bureaucracy is innovation and creating the world we want to live in. Uber didn’t wait for government’s approval, instead, they started their ride-sharing app and dealt with the ramifications later.

What Living Free Means to Me

Living free means being unafraid of following your gut.

It means taking the path less traveled because you want to create the path for yourself. It means challenging yourself in many different aspects of life to find what makes you come alive. It means developing knowledge because a sentence you read sparked an ember in your mind. Living free is a mindset of discovery, creation, knowledge consumption, and applying your thoughts in actionable ways.

You’re not going to find yourself, or find your passion, by sitting around and doing nothing. Quite the opposite. It takes trying many things, wearing many hats, talking to many people, and constantly being in pursuit of more knowledge that helps create the living free mentality. Once you find a thing that makes you come alive, don’t dream up what the world would look like if you pursued it, start pursuing it now. Put the idea into action and see where it goes.

Living free means being unafraid of the path your passion might take you on. Follow your ideas by doing and eventually, living free will happen.