See more at http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1563073/telecommunication_in_the_21st_century.html

What is the opportunity that this is? I’m being forced to make a career change. Given the state of the economy and the shortage of opportunities in the job market I don’t think I would have chosen this particular time to voluntarily leave my job. I’m looking at this as an opportunity to examine my life and make some other major changes.

Even if they’re not yet calling this a depression, the citizens of the world are doing their best not to enter into the emotional version of the word. Is it possible to be find happiness and contentment in the midst of an economic meltdown? I’ve learned that how we think about things affects our feelings and our overall emotional state. What I believe is that I’ve been given a chance to look within myself and decide what it is that I value in life and what I want to do in order to live in alignment with my values. I feel optimistic that my life will weather this storm and have a better life because of it.

As my life changes over the next few months I want to remember my desire to keep life simple. Maybe the recession will motivate us all to simplify our lives. People seem to be saving more, reducing debt, and living with less — things, dining out, traveling. This may be bad for the economy but it could turn out to be good on a human level.

My progress since the last time I wrote:

• Completed my budget
• Finished my tax return
• Finished reading “My Life” by Bill Clinton
• Read “Four-Hour Work Week” by Timothy Ferriss
• Currently reading “The One Minute Millionaire” by Mark Victor Hansen and Robert G. Allen
• I formed an LLC and registered with the State of Washington

Tim Ferriss is my new personal hero. He is living the life I want to live and in many ways the life I started to live in 2006. I’ll definitely be writing more about Tim. After I finish “The One Minute Millionaire” I still have a stack of books waiting to be read. I think I’m experiencing information overload right now. I’m going to work on digesting the books I’ve read, especially “The Success Principles” and the “Four-Hour Work Week,” before I read any more nonfiction. I definitely want to start reading fiction for pleasure again. It’s something that I haven’t done in years. I miss it.

In his book, Tim Ferriss recommends cutting back on the information we consume. Reducing television watching, eliminating news programs altogether, and eliminating the reading of news online. In 2006 I stopped watching television. I pretty much went cold turkey. I was taking care of my mom who was dying of lung cancer. Life was stressful and busy to say the least. I just didn’t have time for television any more. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I didn’t miss it at all. For the last 20 months I’ve watch virtually no television. The friend I’m living with will have it on occasionally (he doesn’t watch much at all) and since I’ve been here (about five months) I’ve seen maybe four hours of the Discovery Channel.

I had been reading the NY Times online every day. After reading Tim’s book I decided to try giving up the Times. I did and I didn’t really miss it. A couple of nights ago I gave it a once over before going to bed. What a mistake. Most of the news is so negative and written in a way to elicit feels of fear and apprehension. World conflicts, terrorism and the impending financial collapse of the western world are the major themes. I can definitely do without this daily dose of negativity. If anything big is happening that has a direct impact on my life I’ll hear about it one way or another.

The answer is that there are all types of coaches. Executive coaches or career coaches can help you in your with your career in general. Other coaches look at work / life balance. Others might concentrate more on interpersonal relationships.

After doing some online research I decided to take the plunge and see if a coach could help me in my quest. There are many coaches of all kinds available here in Seattle. After checking out quite a few different web sites I narrowed the list down. I chose Kimberly Steffens of Holistic Life Coaching. I first schedule a telephone interview with Kimberly. She made me feel very comfortable and asked me about what it was I was hoping to get out of coaching. After the phone interview I decided to schedule the initial two-hour session. Before the session Kim sent me a questionnaire to fill out and bring to the appointment. 

Including that first session I’ve had three appointments with Kim so far. I definitely find the process to be beneficial. Kim is helping me to focus on what actions I can do now that will lead me in the direction I want to go even though I don’t know what the destination is yet. Not only does she help me identify actions to take but she holds me accountable for them, essentially giving me homework. 

One of my homework assignments this week is to write down 100 goals I want to accomplish in my life. I have only 25 so far and the first 20 are different places in the world I would like to visit. This is going to be challenging.

Building on this idea, we have to understand that the only thing we can change is ourselves. We can change how we think about something (that little internal voice or the images we create in our mind) and we can change how we react to an event. That’s it. Nothing more is within our power.

This is something we’ve all heard before in one form or another. It is very easy to understand but not as easy to put into practice. If this one is new to you it will take a while to really live it. I remember when I was younger I used to get upset if I got stuck behind a slow driver. I’d think things like “She’s on the road for the sole purpose of making me late to my appointment!” Or “Doesn’t this guy know I want to get around him? Is he driving this slow on purpose?” Now, nine times out of ten, it doesn’t get to me (I admit sometimes I’ll have a relapse). Now I don’t put so much thought into it. I can’t change the other driver. I can’t make them get out of my way. I can’t make them drive faster. All I can do is slow down and if an opportunity arises I’ll pass the car. That’s it. That’s all that is within my power. That simple change in how I perceive people and traffic has made driving much less angst ridden for me.

On the road is just one example. At first it took a lot of effort to change my thinking. I’d have to intercept my thought process and rewrite the monolog that was taking place in my head. Now it comes with much less effort. When I feel myself starting to have a negative reaction to an event I’ll ask myself “What can you do to change this?” If there’s nothing I can do I’ll accept it. If there’s something within my power that I can do to reduce my anxiety then I’ll do it.

Of course not only does this way of thinking reduce anxiety and stress it also empowers me. I’m not living at the mercy of anybody or any situation. There is always something I can do to make my life better. As a matter of fact I’m the only one who can do anything to make my life better. If I don’t like my job I can try to change the things I don’t like, change the way I think about those things, or change jobs. I don’t have to suffer through it.

The only way the other principles in TSP will be able to have a positive impact on my life is if I totally and fully live by this first principle in every situation. I am 100% responsible for my life!

Over the past few years I’ve downsized my life drastically which has really eliminated the clutter problem. In 2006 I moved to South America. Before I left the USA I got rid of everything here except my car. When I left South America and came back to Seattle I put the few things I like into storage and gave away or sold the rest. Being free of possessions is really liberating. Our culture teaches us to shop ’til we drop so we end up with our homes full of things that are unnecessary and many things we just never use.

The “How To” part of reducing your possessions is pretty straight forward and has been written about over and over again.

1. Throw out the junk, the things that are broken and irreparable and the things that would have no use for somebody else. 
2. Log onto Craig’s List and sell whatever you don’t use that has value. It’s amazingly simple to do and very effective. The items I sold there never lasted more than four or five days.
3. Give things to family and friends, though, if they’re like you they probably have too much clutter already!
4. Donate to charities. There are many charities secular and non-secular that run thrift shops to sell donate items to finance their charity work. There are also groups that can put the items to good use. When I moved from a large house to a smaller apartment I found a charity that helps homeless families get reestablished. The charity keeps all donated articles in a warehouse and allows the family to come in and pick out things they need after they’ve found a place to live.
5. Still have things that you want to get rid of but are still useable? Try Freecycle. Give things away for free. Let somebody else use your stuff instead of letting it sit in the basement or rot in a garbage dump.

While you’re going through your things, if you come across stuff that you want to hold onto “just in case” try this. Put those things in a box. Write today’s date on the box and give it an expiration date. Something like six months. If after that time passes you haven’t needed anything from that box commit yourself to give it away! 

Now that you’ve made some room in your environment doesn’t if feel great? It really does. It’s almost like every little thing you own requires some of your energy to keep it in your life. It truly is amazing the sense of liberation you experience when you’re left with nothing but useful items. Plus it’s a lot easier to keep your home clean and it’s a big step in getting ready to organize the things you need to keep.

The key now is to not build up your clutter all over again. If people give you gifts for the holidays or your birthday suggest that they give you a gift card, a basket of fruit and cheese, or a nice bottle of wine. Something that you won’t feel obligated to keep for the rest of your life.

Good luck! Let us know how you do tackling your clutter. Also, share any pointers you may have.

Here are my 2008 goals . . .

1. I habitually exercise three to five times a week—
Last month I joined a gym in downtown Seattle a couple of blocks from the office. I’ve been using my membership only sporadically. I’m starting out with cardio. Once I have the habit of doing cardio three times a week I’ll start to add strength training twice a week.
 Goal: May 31, 2008
    
2. I habitually eat seafood and vegetables with occasional dairy products—
This one should be relatively easy. I signed up with Lucky Palate, a vegetarian meal service here in Seattle. Once a week they deliver a variety of meals. Goal: May 31, 2008

3. I weigh 165 pounds—
The good news here is I’ve stopped gaining weight. Right now I weigh 192 pounds. Goal: June 30, 2008
    
4. I own my residence
—This is a tough one. I’m renting the guest room in a friend’s house right now. He’s planning on selling the house so I’ll have to move soon. I’d like to be able to buy a small apartment but I’m not very comfortable with the real estate market right now. Plus I believe mortgage rates will go down this year. Goal: December 31, 2008
    
5. I am debt free—
I’m working on building savings and reducing debt. Sometime this week I’ll go over my finances and create a plan to eliminate all debt. Goal: December 31, 2008

As soon as I read about The Success Principles I went to Audible.com and downloaded the audiobook. It was great. I like Jack Canfield’s writing style and his speaking voice. His passion for his work comes through clearly. One thing I really like about Jack Canfield compared to some of the other self-help gurus is that Jack keeps his spiritual references multi-faith or secular. After listening to the audiobook I listened to it again. Then I went to Amazon.com and ordered the print edition. The audiobook is abridged (fewer principles) so I had to have the whole book. Plus I wanted to have it as a reference and to be able to make notes in it.

For people who may have seen or read “The Secret” but don’t know about “The Success Principles” (TSP), the Law of Attraction is only a small part of TSP. “The Secret” is very narrow in its focus whereas TSP encompasses all parts of your life.

I’ve already started to live some of the principles. There are 64 of them in the book. In a way this entire blog is Principle 64, Empower Yourself By Empowering Others. In other words, spread the word about The Success Principles (TSP). I don’t want to go too overboard about TSP here since I’m sure I’ll be writing more about it as I put more of the principles into practice.

	The Success Principles(TM): How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be
	The Success Principles
	The Secret (Extended Edition)
	The Secret

• I am intelligent
• I am good with computers (both Mac and PC)

Hmm, it’s difficult to examine oneself this way. We’re not really trained to be aware of our capabilities. We’re usually told by society not to boast or not to brag.

Back to the list . . .

• I have a good imagination
• I am a good problem solver
• I work well independently or as part of a team
• I enjoy leading teams
• I have a good command of the English language
• I am polite and courteous
• I am good at managing money
• I love to read
• I am organized

I’m going to have to revisit this exercise again. You should give this one a try! It’s more difficult than I thought it would be.

This sums up the state of my life right now. I want to look toward the future. I’ve decided that it’s time to get on a path toward a destination. I’m not sure what that place looks like yet but I do know some of its characteristics. Some of the qualities of that future life are clear.

This list contains all the clues I have so far about my destination.

• My life is simple, free of unnecessary complexity
• My relationships are healthy and mutually beneficial
• My work fulfills me
• I work efficiently and contently
• I have multiple sources of income
• I work for myself on my own schedule and on my own terms
• My passive income is greater than my living expenses
• My savings is large enough to provide a safety net
• My health is excellent
• I’m at my ideal body weight
• I eat a healthy diet
• I live in Seattle
• I spend the darkest months of the winter in a sunnier climate
• I support human rights charities

Some of the pieces of the puzzle will be much easier to put into place than others. I will use this Web site to document my journey. Hopefully others will benefit from reading about my successes and about what I’ve learned from my failures. Hopefully some of my readers will participate in the journey; share their experiences, ask questions, and perhaps provide encouragement.

I have one step completed; I live in Seattle.