I was originally going to call this post the 2011 Annual Planning, but then I realized that doesn't make sense. How can I plan for something that I know nothing about?
Like an empty field awaiting cultivation, this year holds lots of potential but needs to be tilled and planted before it will grow.
So instead of creating a plan, I asked myself what kind of field I wanted to see at the end of the year. What kind of life do I want to be living one year from now?
By the end of 2011, I want my life to reflect the following:
- Financial freedom; shifting focus to growth
- A strong global network of friends; deeper connections
- Travel planning based on charitable opportunities instead of available funds
- Lots of hiking experience; familiar with search & rescue, first aid
- Comfortable with my health and fitness level; maintenance mode
The next thing I asked myself was how can I cultivate this year in such a way that the seeds of change I plant are given the best opportunity to grow? How do I need to live my life in 2011 so that I'm more prepared for 2012?
With those questions in mind, I came up with several seeds to nurture this year:
Nomadic Lifestyle Transition
This time last year, I was in the process of beginning a transition to a nomadic lifestyle. While that transition is largely complete, there are still a few minor loose ends that I feel need tying up.
I stored a few possessions in my parents basement before I left on my trip -- clothes, sports equipment, electronics -- but now that I know permanent travel is in my future, I need to get rid of those. I also need to figure out exactly what to keep in my backpack and get my tiny wardrobe sorted out.
The last loose end is income generation. Up until now, my main source of income has always involved work that required being on-location but this year that will change.
Travel and Exploration
Travel is a rapidly increasing part of who I am but I cannot create plans to travel or explore specific countries if I have no money to get there. (I cannot get any credit cards due to a bankruptcy a few years ago so most travel hacking tricks and methods of earning frequent flyer miles don't apply to me.)
I thought about moving to a cheap third world country and scraping by through teaching English or doing other menial work, but that feels like a waste of time when I already know my long-term goal is to travel with more purpose and direction.
However, not having lot of money to spend on travel isn't going to stop me from traveling and exploring. I'd like to visit at least three countries this year and do a lot more exploration on foot (including more hiking).
For the first half of the year, my travel will largely focus on giving me the time and financial space I need to concentrate on business development while also providing me with new and unfamiliar environments to explore. Travel for the later half of the year largely depends on how the first half goes financially.
Over the past year, I've made so many amazing friends online and part of my travel this year will be focused on meeting as many of you in person as possible.
Financial Freedom
This year will focus heavily on changing my financial position and laying the groundwork necessary to do bigger things in 2012. I used up all my savings last year on the overseas trip, so I'm basically starting this year with an empty bank account.
I really want to be doing more charitable work and dedicating more time to volunteering but the reality is that without at least some money neither of those things are even possible.
Instead of worrying about how I will be able to fund my travels, I want to be thinking about how I can use my travel freedom to be learning about the world and applying that knowledge to help others.
Knowing that I want to travel indefinitely while simultaneously helping create change in the world, I'm going to focus on becoming a location independent social entrepreneur.
This means building one or more location independent businesses that provide value with a goal of achieving social change and within the next few months I will be launching a minimalist business designed to become a platform for providing digital products under the philosophy of sustainable abundance.
I will also be working on converting my existing web hosting company to a minimalist business and growing it with the intention of donating a large percentage of the profits to charity.
Attaining financial freedom requires spending carefully and with that in mind I've decided to bring back the expense reports that I published when I was traveling last year. I'll talk more about this in a separate section below.
Provide Value and Give Back
In whatever I do, sharing value and giving back is a primary focus.
This includes writing blog posts, sharing thoughts and insights on Twitter and Facebook, compiling and publishing free ebooks, participating in blogging collaborations, and sharing links to content created by other bloggers.
I also make it a point to go out of my way and help new bloggers by answering their questions and providing support. I try to be conservative with my time, but I don't turn people down just because I'm busy.
I'm sure this affects my productivity, but I like to think of it as a small payment to the universe for all the help I've received over the years and all the free published material that has helped me get to where I am today.
Sharing knowledge with others -- and sharing it as a true gift and not just a value exchange -- is a primary key to the philosophy of sustainable abundance. If we don't give back what has been given to us, we break the cycle of giving and our abundance quickly turns toxic.
Besides sharing things electronically, I also want to volunteer at least two weeks of my time this year. I've never done any volunteering and it's about time I start and get more hands on. I will either volunteer on a farm through WWOOF or somewhere else in one of the countries I visit this year.
Health and Fitness
On Christmas day, I realized that I'm less than a year and half away from being thirty years old. I'll be the first to tell you that youth is a mindset and not a number, but we still need to be realistic about the rules nature imposes on our physical bodies.
For males, thirty years old marks a point where maintaining fitness gets progressively more difficult with each passing year. If you enter your thirties with a weak foundation, you'll be fighting an uphill battle for a long time.
When I lost seventy pounds and got in shape in my early twenties, I was doing it with the realization that getting in shape would be more difficult the longer I waited. Now as I near thirty, I'm realizing that I need to finish building that strong foundation to support myself for the next hundred years.
This year I will be focusing on maintaining a vegan diet, running my first marathon, qualifying for the Boston marathon, and creating daily habits of yoga and meditation. I'm also going to work on correcting several muscular imbalances that have formed from years of slouching over a keyboard.
Nomad Financial Reports
When I was traveling through India, Vietnam, and Nepal last year, I kept track of all my expenses and published them in monthly reports that I referred to as the Frugal Travel Reports.
During those six months I tracked my spending meticulously because I wanted to make sure I could project expenses to determine where I could travel next and how much I could spend.
Updating my expense journal on a daily basis helped keep me aware of exactly where my money was going and publishing them at the end of the month discouraged me from spending unnecessarily.
The reports also gave you a window into what was happening in my life and how I was living as a nomad, both things that I don't usually talk about in detail on the blog.
Living frugally in the United States for the past few months has been a lot more challenging. Without tracking my expenses, I find myself spending unnecessarily and forgetting that I really want to be spending my money on travel, not lattes.
So I'm bringing the Frugal Travel Reports back, except I'm changing their name to the Nomad Financial Reports. The format will be the same and I will publish them at the end of each month.
My goal will always be frugality without sacrificing practicality and it's my hope that these reports provide a level of transparency that helps inspire you to be more frugal and also shows you that travel doesn't need to be expensive.
The Year of Nurturing
Last year was the Year of Transition and now I find myself in the middle of an empty field looking around and wondering what happens next. I need to kneel down, get my hands dirty, and prepare for the long-haul. It's a big field and I've got a lot of work ahead of me.
This is the year I begin nurturing seeds. I'm growing this blog, building sustainable businesses, strengthening my body, deepening online relationships, and completing my nomadic transition.
***
What's your theme for 2011? Will you be stumbling through a forest in search of an uncultivated field? Will you be planting and nurturing new seeds or maybe harvesting crop from last year?
Raam,
I love this metaphor. I especially liked how you visualized how you would like your “field” to look at the end of the year. “Nurturing” is such a beautiful world and it seems to fit so appropriately given all the changes you’ve been through and new insights that have dawned.
I was especially inspired by your focus on sharing value and giving back: “In whatever I do, sharing value and giving back is a primary focus.”
I personally greatly appreciate your generosity in helping new bloggers. You’ve helped me and I am so grateful.
It’s always fun to see what you are up to! May you field bear an abundance for you and others.
Thank you, Sandra! The field and nurturing metaphors actually came to me as a direct result of thinking about what I needed to do this year and from reflecting on all the changes that I’ve undergone since the beginning of last year.
I find that sharing and giving back help sustain me. They give me a reason to keep learning, growing, and experiencing new things. If I didn’t share, life would feel so lonely and pointless!
My word for 2011 is “blooming”, because I feel I went
through a lot of changes in 2010 and these changes provided me with
a good preparation for what’s to come in 2011. I could keep
preparing, but I see no point in preparing further when I can start
cultivating my field. I like how you use this concept of
cultivation instead of planning, by the way. It goes well with my
word for 2011, too! For me, I already have a field right in front
of me and it’s waiting to be cultivated. I will need to plant new
seeds and nurture them though! I think it’s great that you focus on
sharing value and giving back. Not that I was a cold asshole in the
past, but it’s only recently that I started seeing the power of
sharing and giving as well as the pleasure they can provide to me.
When it comes to blogging, I haven’t focused much on sharing value
and giving last year – so, I want to make that shift this year.
Thanks for a thoughtful post, Raam! Cheers, Masa
Hi Masa,
It sounds like we’re at a very similar stage! The planning vs cultivating concept only came about when I started thinking about what my “plan” was for 2011. I realized that it’s impossible to plan for something when I have no idea what circumstances will surround my life.
Instead, if I simply focus on doing things that create the circumstances that will propel my life in the direction I wish to go, then unexpected events in my life will be less likely to cause disappointment at the end of the year. In other words, I should focus on cultivating the soil, planting the seeds, and nurturing their growth, instead of focusing on what the resulting plant will look like!
I like what you said about seeing the power of sharing and giving. I find that I derive power and strength from sharing… it seems counter-intuitive at first, but it actually works! The more we give and share, the more capacity we have for growth.
Thanks so much for the thoughtful comment! 🙂
“I should focus on cultivating the soil, planting the seeds, and nurturing their growth, instead of focusing on what the resulting plant will look like!”
I like your attitude! It’s easy to focus too much on the resulting plant, but it won’t be produced without cultivating the soil, planting the seeds, and nurturing their growth. That’s exactly right. I also like that it has a hint of organic growth – I find the term “lifestyle design”, for instance, somewhat tasteless. It’s just a matter of preference in choosing which term to apply to a certain concept, but I like what “cultivation” suggests and hints.
It’s also a neat term for the idea of sharing and giving, too. We could combine our fields together, let others use a part of our fields or grow in our fields, and grow something together.
This year will be a great year!
I like the idea of combining fields to grow something together… I guess that analogy works better than I thought!
excited to see how it all goes! where are you off to first?
I’m still deciding what country to visit first, but I know that I’ll be in Florida and Oklahoma in February. There’s a chance I’ll go to Mexico or perhaps even back to India!
Hello again Raam,
I read your notes. We are so blessed in this world to be able to plan our lives when so many people live in circumstances where they have their freedom crushed by social, emotional or physical circumstances and I am sure you know what I mean.
On the health and fitness note as a hiker just like you I believe keeping healthy involves a lot of simply strategies that just need to be practiced. Often being healthy is made too complicated or supposed to be fixed by a magic potion. I prefer simple. I have spent more than ten years focusing on practical ideas I learned from schooling. Indeed I had motivation as my education was pushed into high gear in the 90’s to help out a friend who had Cancer. Over time I have learned nothing magical just solid healthy habits relating to water, rest, food…. I am stronger and fitter that I was twenty years ago and I am not a person who goes to the gym daily. Outside is my heaven. As my lady and my children would say I use my mind a lot and I know exactly what I eat but I don’t stress about eating chocolate.
Since I am well past your age if I can be of any assistance regarding helping you keep healthy so you can continues your adventures let me know or just check out some of my articles on my site.
If I can help I will.
Enjoy a wonderful day,
David
Hi David,
You’re absolutely right about health and fitness not requiring any complicated magic potions. I haven’t had a gym membership in years because I realized that I already have everything I need. Body-weight training, yoga, and outdoor activities like running and hiking are all more than enough to stay in shape. The other half of it is diet, which like you said all comes back to our mental conditioning.
One of these days, we should go hiking together! 🙂
I love the hills so when you are out my way let me know
David
Beautiful post. So invigorating. Am inspired. Thank you.
Have a blessed year-stay open and be well. Namaste
Namaste Ntathu. Thank you so much for the comment and I hope you have a wonderful year. 🙂
I will be rooting for you this year Raam – no question you will find your heart’s desire.
My theme? To remind everyone of the simple power of kindness.
Happy New Year my friend,
Alex
Kindness, what a beautiful thing! Speaking of kindness, do you read the Kind Over Matter blog? Really great stuff!
I hope you have a wonderful year, Alex!
Hi Raam,
Your goals are amazing. I’m very interested to see how your business comes together this year. I’d love to have the income to be location independent too.
My concern is health insurance. What will you be doing about that, if you don’t mind my asking? Are you more concerned, or concerned at all about this especially in light of the fact that you’re turning 30 this year.
This is stumbling block for many aspiring entrepreneurs, especially if they have a family. I think many people hang onto to their jobs for the insurance, and never really give their self employed dreams a 100 percent chance.
What are your thoughts on this Raam?
Hi Angela,
I’ve always had a very stubborn mentality when it comes to doctors and medicine. When I have headaches or other bodily pains, I refuse to take pain medication (Advil, Tylenol, Asprin, etc.) unless the pain is really preventing me from functioning (and as a result, I’ve built up a strong tolerance to pain). I’m just mentioning this to give you an idea where I’m coming from.
When I traveled to India, Vietnam, and Nepal, I didn’t have enough money to afford health insurance. I knew that I was taking a risk, but not going because I couldn’t afford health insurance felt riskier than going without it. Millions (billions?) of people live the entire lives without health insurance, so I feel that in general the risks are blown way out of proportion.
If I had a family to support, risking my health would be putting my family at risk too. In that situation I’d definitely be taking health insurance into greater consideration. However, I’m a single male in good health and since my risk tolerance is relatively high, I don’t worry about health insurance.
Of course this is also largely related to my income: If I had enough income to pay for it, I would seriously consider getting health insurance. Until then, I’m not going to let it tie me down or prevent me from exploring entrepreneurial opportunities.
The way I see it, the risk I would take by hanging onto my job for health insurance reasons and passing up greater opportunities is greater than the risk of dying. 🙂
Does that make sense?
Hi Angela,
I read your comment and Raam’s too. For what it is worth I am blessed to have traveled to over 20 countries and I did not have health insurance when I was hiking in the Himalayas, walking the hills in Romania or checking out the ruins in Egypt with my Bride. I always felt that ‘how are they going to find me to help me in the first place?’.
Now as a Dad with young children things are definitely different but since I have been an Entrepreneur most of my life I do know you can get insurance without having a fixed work position since as you know when you are self employed there is nothing fixed.
I sense you already know this but maybe not the way I read your question.
I hope this is of help to you.
David
Raam, Thanks for sharing your goals, plans, dreams and expectations as well as previous set backs. You have a great foundation in one word honesty. We have to face our enemies before we can have victory and you’re definitely facing them. I want to help you in anyway that I can, friends definitely help each other out. You mentioned WWOOFing as one of your goals and we have several organic farms that are totally opened to WWOOfers one is in Bellows Falls, VT I lived there for a year and I hope to return at some point. Another amazing organic farm is in Asheville, NC they have been getting many WWOOFers. These are communities where the WWOOFers and the members of the community are very close and formed tight bonds as we learn how to love and share what we have with others. The WWOOFers don’t ever forget us and some don’t leave. We also grow Mate(a Brasillian green tea) in our farm in Brasil and we have an organic farm in Argentina that you’re welcome to go and stay there for as long as you want. You can even learn a little Spanish while you’re there. But off the subject of farms, all our communities all over the world are open to travelers at no cost, especially those looking for something more than what the main stream commercialized world has to offer. I don’t know what countries you plan to visit this year but you’re always welcome here(we’ll leave the light on for you).
Hi John,
I will definitely be in touch when I’m ready to spend some time on a WWOOF farm! I’m especially interested in the ones in Brazil and Argentina.
Thank you again for reaching out and welcoming me to your community!
Hey Raam,
All the best for 2011. Looking forward to following your progress. I’ve started meticulously tracking my own expenses and plan to do similar monthly reports on my blog. Thanks for the inspiration. Keep doing what you do.
Hey Niall,
I’m looking forward to reading your reports too! I think tracking and publishing finances is such a fun way to share a piece of the journey that everyone can relate with. 🙂
Hey Raam,
I love this post. It has given me some insight into creating my action plan for 2011. Even though I have so much I’m doing this year, I haven’t sat down to really plan anything out. Since the start of my blog (Oct 2010) I’ve made so many changes and have learned so much. This year I want to put what I’ve learned to action. I’m taking my first out of the country trip (to the UK), learning to ride a motorcycle, volunteering at the Literacy Council of Seattle, and launching some projects to start forging an income to allow me to become location independent.
I’m truly glad to have met you Raam, you are really an inspiration. I’m looking forward to seeing where life takes you from here. I’m a supporter and if there’s anything I can do to help please feel free to let me know.
Thanks for this wonderful post.
Hey Alyx!
Congrats on taking so many steps towards location independence! I also learned to ride a motorcycle a few years back and it’s awesome! 🙂
I look forward to following your journey and supporting each other along the way. It’s been great watching your blog evolve over the past few months and I’m excited to see where it takes you!
Love your approach to life Raam…seems you have a very nice out look..only on this planet a short while …Bravo for taking the time to figure out what really is important…Om….
Thanks mom! 🙂
What an inspiring post! I hope all of it comes true for you in 2011. We have some similar goals. 🙂
Thank you, Andi! I wish you all the best for 2011! Let’s make this year amazing! 🙂
Hi Raam, this is a very thought-provoking post. It must be so exciting to have what you want out of life starting to coalesce into a clear picture. Since you are single and in good health, your “field” seems quite achievable. Just putting out what you want helps, as I see you’ve already been offered space on an organic farm. I was surprised to see you’ve never volunteered though, as you have this focus on giving back.
You are smart to have a preventative focus on your health. I took mine too much for granted (chronic mono) and now getting 100% better has to be the focus of 2011.
Hi Jennifer,
My uncle always says, “Our health is our wealth”. I think about that quote all the time. If we spend eight hours a day working to earn money, but we neglect our health, then what’s the point? It’s really a matter of priorities!
That saying, “the best time to start was yesterday; the next best time is right now”, really applies so nicely to health and fitness. Even if we’ve procrastinated or let our health falter, as long as we’re not in our grave it’s never too late to start improving it. 🙂
You are so inspiring. Sometimes I find myself feeling silly for my crazy dreams of traveling the world, when I dont currently have any savings or money, and it just seems impossible. But then I read your honest and open and passionate blog and feel silly for doubting myself and holding myself back that way. We have such similar goals for 2011 ( I plan to write my blog soon inspired by your annual review) and I look forward to following your journey as I walk my own path and aspire towards The Dream.
Thank you, Tallulah! I look forward to following your journey as well! Take things one step at a time and ignore the criticism and self-doubt. If you know something to be true — if you know what you really want out of life — focus on that and never let it out of your sight!
I love your goals for the annual cultivation, Raam!
I hope you write more about the process of converting your business to a minimalist one as it happens, and I’m also looking forward to the financial updates (maybe I should start doing that too…)
Here’s to a great 2011!
Thanks, Jarkko! I look forward to sharing the sustainable-business-building process with you! You should definitely start doing the financial reports… they’re such a great way to keep ourselves aware of where our money is going. 🙂
Hey Raam!
A lot of your ideas sound really similar to mind! I’m also working on another project and wanted to pick a low-cost destination to devote a lot of time to it without needing too much money.
Do you have any ideas about where you want to travel to? It would be cool if you came to South America, maybe we could volunteer somewhere together 🙂
I look forward to reading about your nomadic transition!
Jasmine
Hey Jasmine!
I’d love to hear more about the project you’re working on and I’d love to visit South America! 🙂
It seems like we’re on a very similar nomadic path. It would be great to share stories and maybe even give our lonely backpacks a coffee table companion. 😛
I would love a location independent lifestyle but haven’t quite figured it out yet. Maybe this is the year?? Interested to see what 2011 has in store for you 🙂
Thank you, Laura! Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you on your journey. 🙂
Raam, I had this bookmarked for days and here I am at last….what a wonderful way to approach your year and what a young kid you are! Hush hush ;)!!
Everything but everything will fall into place for you. If not, I will take matters into my own hand! 😉 I can just see a bright future for OTHERS because you exist in the world. If you are ever in my area, you know you can be our guest….and I am very happy that we met – here’s to many more in-person meetings and collaborations….Keep your approach going strong for 2011!!
Thank you so much, Farnoosh! You’re an incredible powerhouse of energy and I’m so happy we got to meet last year. 🙂 I’m sure there will be many more in-person meetings and collaborations!