šµ Travel Picks & Brain Tricks
Defining "Lifestyle Rich" and Exploring My New Productivity Tool
Youāre in a beautiful garden, but itās overcast. Youāre wondering if anything could blow away the clouds and reveal the treasures of the world you find yourself in.
And just like a genie granting your wish, I walk right up and whisper in your ear.
*spspspsppsspsp*
From afar, it sounds like when you try to call your cat while it sheepishly looks at you and then, in true asshole fashion, just walks away.
But alas, the whisper was something more.
Suddenly, the clouds part, a beam of sunshine comes through, lighting up the flowers, fruits, and berries - a world of natural treasure.
A chorus of angels appear from above as the clouds part, chanting a melodic āaaaaaaaā like theyāre revealing something.
A soft beat starts coming through the bushes, and all of a sudden, the entirety of NSYNC emerges dressed in gold while the angels hold the melodic tone and slowly start synchronizing in harmony.
š¶ Byeeee
.
š¶ Byeeeeee
.
.
š¶ Byeeeeeeee
.
.
.
And as NSYNC do an impromptu live show starting with āBye Bye Bye.ā The children cry, people our age cheer, and you nod solemnly at me.
You remember the little whisper, and you couldnāt agree more.
You pump a fist in the air and yell at the top of your lungs.
āTRAVEL IS FUCKING BACK BABY - time to go, Go, GOOOOO!ā
We put on our aviators, pack our Ospreys, and leave for our flight.
Bye, Bye, Byyyyee.
šµ Scoot Scoot Scoot
And as countries start allowing degenerate tourists like myself to enter their lovely homes, Iām greeted with options and opportunities. Thoughts that I havenāt had since that one guy decided that a bat was a good substitute for a chicken wing.
And the ah, bat, um⦠man⦠The Batman⦠held the āMost Hated Manā title for precisely 2 years after Putin took the title a month ago.
Both events causing unhappiness and suffering around the world, and for the purposes of this little rant, both affecting those same options and opportunities we were talking about before.
So now, because Iām selfish and want to don my aviators and pack my bags with you - Iām making this about me.
Lately, a series of somewhat-fortunate events occurred in my life, leading me to dust off my travel backpack and start a blank document titled: Potential Destinations.
So far, Iāve got:
The Philippines
Korea (Plus Japan for a third time)
India
Mexico
Spain
Portugal
US (East Coast)
And in the past, Iāve hit up a couple dozen destinations, so this isnāt new. Call me a connoisseur of the backpacking life, my friend.
Iād go to destinations and try to explore them for as little money as possible, sometimes for free, and other times for a profit - Iāve actually got my ultimate guide here.
This time Iām optimizing for that digital nomad lifestyle, and before you roll your eyes and slap me across my stupid face - Iām definitely not talking about the classic picture of some dude on the beach with his laptop drinking a pina colada.
Iām more talking about being lifestyle rich.
š Lifestyle Rich
You might have heard about this before, but let me tell you my take.
Lifestyle Rich is about building your lifestyle around what you want to do now, rather than maximizing your income to do it eventually.
Let me explain that again, but with an example:
If your ideal lifestyle is:
Going for swims in the morning.
Zipping around on boats.
Eating delicious food.
Blowing off steam at beach parties.
Exploring nature in your downtime.
Doing yoga, martial arts, working out, etc.
All while working on creative projects - you can get that lifestyle at multiple price points.
š In Sydney, that will cost you about 4000 to 5000 USD a month.*
š In Los Angeles, itāll be 4500 to 5500 USD a month.*
Butā¦
š In Koh Phangan, itās less than 1000 USD a month.*
*Figures from nomadlist.
Whatā¦
āYouāre telling me I can remotely earn my income in US dollars, at US salary/revenue rates, and keep my expenses under a grand a month?ā
Yes, my friend.
This isnāt actually new, though. People have been doing this for years. The trend skyrocketed after the release of The 4-Hour Workweek, and let me tell you; people had their doubts.
This was 2007.
The book spent a lot of time talking about making remote work possible with your current employer, but now itās 2022 - this is so incredibly normal it hurts (so good).
And the implication to all of this is that passion projects usually earn us a whole lot less than corporate careers, but that might not be a problem if weāre lifestyle rich.
Who cares if youāre earning a measly 1.5K a month when your lifestyle only costs 1K a month, right?
This brings us back to my itchy feet.
š» Iām 27, And Iām Feeling Like Some Change
Iāve been in and out of corporate jobs, freelanced, backpacked for a year, traveled for longer, and tried a lot of the dark arts like writing, coding, brewing espresso, and taking massive dumps.
Besides all the travel, Iāve mostly lived in relatively small cities, and after seeing some of the cool places out there, I had a thought.
āFuck it, letās give these destinations a longer-haul try.ā
Naval Ravikant, our modern time philosopher, has said this before:
And as we mess about on this giant space disco ball, Iāve personally noticed that the middle one, the one about where you live, directly impacts the other two. Hell, I think itās the most important one.
So hereās the update: By the end of the year, I will have changed locations and hopefully added a few extra countries to the growing list.
If youāre in a similar place to me, whatās stopping you from giving this a try? Need a step-by-step guide? Because I can deliver⦠mistakes and all.
So hang around for the goods, and I hope you enjoyed my little travel rant.
š Link Dump
Iāve written a few articles lately, and my favorite little discovery came about from a podcast with an economist.
š An article I wrote about The Clawback Incentive - A brilliant economistās explanation on a seriously motivational brain trick for productivity.
š» I did a breakdown for the new version of the Ghost CMS - so if youāre sick of WordPress, give this article a read.
š£ My most popular tweet last week - and the numbers have also grown - will definitely be sharing stats in the following email.
š¦ The coolest thread Iāve seen on living and hunting with real-life hunter-gatherers.
š¹ Mark Rober doing a crazy stunt on a robot piano - he makes it play the most complex song it can, music never played on analog piano.
šØ Finally changed my personal siteās front page and added a little freelancing pitch page for content writing.
Thatās all, folks!
Iāll catch you in the next one :)
ā Sah
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