Post what you did this week to become location independent/work remote soon
10-29-2016, 02:03 PM
It's been about a week since I've graduated, and I feel like a dam burst.
I was walking around the UT Austin campus this week, and in between the various monumental buildings, and with the downtown lights visible in the distance, with the grandeur around me, in my mind I was walking down the streets of Manila through one of the open-air markets with hundreds of folks around me.
It's like I'm not even here anymore. I've checked out completely.
So this week I've been selling and throwing away my things. I'm going completely digital as far as books, so those all had to go. My bed is far too comfortable, so it had to go as well, it'll be an airbed or the floor for now. My TV was too distracting, so it had to go as well.
I'm already a pretty minimalist person, so I don't own too many things, but I want to minimize even more. I thought about my time in America since I returned from living abroad, and I realized I'm just much happier abroad, despite having less "things" that I own while over there.
When I'm abroad I live mostly out of my briefcase and backpack.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not backpacking it, that's not me, I live in one bedroom condos in the heart of a city, with great amenities, but with 4 pairs of jeans and 18 black v necks, some classy sneakers, plus some leather-soled dress shoes, a nice belt, a tailored blazer, and dress socks for any more formal occasions, I just don't need to own that much stuff.
Also, I realized that I'm too comfortable in America, and it's been holding me back. My master bedroom is gigantic, like 20' by 15', plus the large bathroom and the large walk in closet, perfect climate control, Google Fiber 150 plus mbps internet, Amazon Prime, Netflix, HBOGO, and super hot water for my giant shower/tub, these things all add up to too much comfort.
This comfort is not good, it lowers my drive to do the things I need to do to accomplish my goals.
It's very easy for me to lose a day with so much comfort around me whispering in my ear, "just relax, you don't have to do anything today."
And I don't, it's true, but if I want to be location independent, I need to stay focused on the task at hand and not get distracted by the amenities of America (or of my individual situation, anyhow).
I was reading another thread here, I don't remember which one, and a fellow was talking about how his quality of life in Russia is actually better than in America, because in Russia, he can live in the downtown area of a larger city for much less than it would cost him to live in the downtown area of a larger American city.
His comment really struck me, I could really relate to it, because when I live in Manila, I spend a little over $2000 a month or so and I live in a condo right in the center of the action, be it by MOA, in Resorts World, or in Ortigas or Makati, for example. I don't need a car over there because there's taxis everywhere, so anywhere I want to go, I can just flag a taxi down, it's fantastic.
Folks complain about traffic in Manila, but I never found it to be that bad, I was never not able to get somewhere if I needed to. I either walked or took a Jeepney or a taxi, no problem either way. Maybe I'm just an optimist.
In any case, I'm getting rid of anything I don't need so that my focus every day, 100%, can be on learning the web dev tech I need to learn to go remote, and then branch out into other web-income areas as I see fit.
At this point, this is a one-way train and there's no stopping it.
It's location independent or location independent.