Timothy Ferriss quit his day job, started his own business, and then eventually transformed from workaholic to a long-term world traveler who learned to tango. He of course wrote the book on this concept, The 4-Hour Workweek, and blogs about his experiments in lifestyle design.
Whenever I bring up his book in a group, even in a room of entrepreneurs, they’ve all read it and yet the response is always, “I wish I could do that” or “If only that was realistic.”
Peter Shaw also quit his well-paid job in order to fulfill his dream of long-term travel. He also notes the lazy response of, “I wish I could just quit my job and travel the world” in his blog, Nomadical Sabbatical.
Nathan Barry is another newly self-employed traveler, but he fulfills his travels dreams with a family, bringing his wife and 9-month-old on quite a few adventures abroad in 2012. Wouldn’t you jump at a five-week trip through the U.K, Italy, and Switzerland?
Caleb Wojcik is yet another. His wife turned down grad school to become a photographer and he quit his day job. He details their journey on his blog for “cubicle renegades.” Three-month road trip across the United States sound neat?
There are loads of examples of people fulfilling their dreams. When you connect with your passion, it is so addictive that you want to share it with everyone.
Traveling is often pretty high on the list. That being said, your dream could simply be to work from home, become a stay-at-home parent, start a business, restore classic cars, become a bodybuilder, learn to fly, or whatever.
Go out and find people who grimace when they hear, “I wish I could do that.”
Stop saying it.
Follow someone who is living your dreams, especially if they are 10 years younger, make less money, and haul along a pack of kids or a wheelchair.
Get your thoughts and the naysayers out of your way and make a plan.
“Time is a zero-sum game, a limited resource. Life is too short to do only what we have to do; it is barely long enough to do what we want to do.”
– Tal Ben-Shahar