karlin
05-30-2007, 09:29 AM
For the last several years I have owned my own business and I have DEFINITELY had some tough times along the way including getting involved with scammers who cost me a ton of dough and as a result I haven't been able to fully enjoy my growing success much as the debt those initial mistakes cost me is still quite substantial but looking down the road once the debt is gone I like what I see.
I was always playing around the idea of outsourcing my fulfillment and phone but kept putting it off but Tim's book is serving as the kick in the a$$ I need to get myself going in that direction again. I CAN still answer my own phone and ship my own orders I just don't want to anymore.
Anywho - since my current business was established almost 3 years ago I pretty much have things down to a science (A science that only makes sense to me but a science nonetheless) and as a result I find myself with more and more free time and what do I do with that free time? Mainly sit on my a$$ and watch movies or TV or read and I'm fine with that.
Am I curing cancer or building homes for those left homeless by Katrina? No - BUT I am doing what I ENJOY and MAYBE, just maybe during one of my coach potato episodes I will catch something on the Travel Channel that will excite me and then I'll make some plans to travel somewhere I find exciting or exotic.
I used to feel like if I wasn't "doing something" active I wasn't doing anything. I would talk to friends and it seemed like they were filling their lives with activities they didn't much enjoy so they would feel like they were doing something or they had something to talk about. Just like Tim pointed out in the book about how people buy stuff they really don't need or want as a way of competing I've found people also compete by doing stuff they really don't want to do just because it sounds really cool to say they did it.
I used to fall into that trap and started to worry or wonder or feel bad that I'm a homebody and my idea of a good time is going to a local bar to hang out, have some good conversation and go home and watch some TV.
If you like watching John Stewart and Colbert and Lost or The Sopranos or Grey's Anatomy or whatever WATCH it and keep watching it. If you like reading Harry Potter or the latest self-help book or political blog or whatever KEEP DOING IT.
One of the points I got out of Tim's book is that so many people stay caught in the 9-5 rat race because that is what is expected of them and they've been conditioned to be in the race but I say we've also been conditioned to feel like when we have free time we should be filling it up with something MEANINGFUL - that to me is BS.
I got several phone calls before the Memorial Day Weekend asking me what I was doing and my friends were agog to hear: NOTHING in particular. WHY am I going to get into a car when gas is over $3.50 a gallon and sit in ridiculous traffic so I can get to my destination and relax? I can relax in my house for free, thankyouverymuch.
If I enjoy sitting on my a$$ instead of going kayaking that's my business as what you do with your free time is yours. You don't HAVE to go to Buenos Aires when you achieve the total outsourcing of your life that's what Tim chose to do with his.
I have a friend who used to text message me all the time: I'm Bored and it was always bizarre to me because there is so much good sh*t on TV, so many good movies to see and books to read and friends to talk to . . . I finally got my friend to stop texting me that he was bored with a simple phone call. I said: I'm never bored and usually when someone often feels bored it means that they themselves are boring.
Well, that's my diatribe and here's my suggestion: do you REALLY feel a void because it's actually there or because you're not doing anything insanely exciting with all your free time and feel as if you should be?
Some people are simply action oriented and some people are more cerebral. I often hear my friend's schedules and just get tired listening forget about actually doing it.
I was always playing around the idea of outsourcing my fulfillment and phone but kept putting it off but Tim's book is serving as the kick in the a$$ I need to get myself going in that direction again. I CAN still answer my own phone and ship my own orders I just don't want to anymore.
Anywho - since my current business was established almost 3 years ago I pretty much have things down to a science (A science that only makes sense to me but a science nonetheless) and as a result I find myself with more and more free time and what do I do with that free time? Mainly sit on my a$$ and watch movies or TV or read and I'm fine with that.
Am I curing cancer or building homes for those left homeless by Katrina? No - BUT I am doing what I ENJOY and MAYBE, just maybe during one of my coach potato episodes I will catch something on the Travel Channel that will excite me and then I'll make some plans to travel somewhere I find exciting or exotic.
I used to feel like if I wasn't "doing something" active I wasn't doing anything. I would talk to friends and it seemed like they were filling their lives with activities they didn't much enjoy so they would feel like they were doing something or they had something to talk about. Just like Tim pointed out in the book about how people buy stuff they really don't need or want as a way of competing I've found people also compete by doing stuff they really don't want to do just because it sounds really cool to say they did it.
I used to fall into that trap and started to worry or wonder or feel bad that I'm a homebody and my idea of a good time is going to a local bar to hang out, have some good conversation and go home and watch some TV.
If you like watching John Stewart and Colbert and Lost or The Sopranos or Grey's Anatomy or whatever WATCH it and keep watching it. If you like reading Harry Potter or the latest self-help book or political blog or whatever KEEP DOING IT.
One of the points I got out of Tim's book is that so many people stay caught in the 9-5 rat race because that is what is expected of them and they've been conditioned to be in the race but I say we've also been conditioned to feel like when we have free time we should be filling it up with something MEANINGFUL - that to me is BS.
I got several phone calls before the Memorial Day Weekend asking me what I was doing and my friends were agog to hear: NOTHING in particular. WHY am I going to get into a car when gas is over $3.50 a gallon and sit in ridiculous traffic so I can get to my destination and relax? I can relax in my house for free, thankyouverymuch.
If I enjoy sitting on my a$$ instead of going kayaking that's my business as what you do with your free time is yours. You don't HAVE to go to Buenos Aires when you achieve the total outsourcing of your life that's what Tim chose to do with his.
I have a friend who used to text message me all the time: I'm Bored and it was always bizarre to me because there is so much good sh*t on TV, so many good movies to see and books to read and friends to talk to . . . I finally got my friend to stop texting me that he was bored with a simple phone call. I said: I'm never bored and usually when someone often feels bored it means that they themselves are boring.
Well, that's my diatribe and here's my suggestion: do you REALLY feel a void because it's actually there or because you're not doing anything insanely exciting with all your free time and feel as if you should be?
Some people are simply action oriented and some people are more cerebral. I often hear my friend's schedules and just get tired listening forget about actually doing it.