The Voluntary Life

Latest Episodes:

264 Thomas Stanley's Wealth Index Oct 03, 2016

Show notes

In his book Stop Acting Rich, author Thomas Stanley explained a way to calculate your relative net worth, taking into account both your age and your income. He used this calculation to create a wealth index, which you can use to judge whether you are on the path to FI, or whether you are burning more of your income than you should. In the episode I explain how the wealth index is calculated and provide commentary on how to use it. There is also a free website that does the calculation for you. Show Notes:

The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley
Stop Acting Rich By Thomas Stanley
TVL Episode 80: Financial Freedom Milestones
Website To Check Your Wealth Index by Hugh Chou
TVL Episode 242: Financial Pros And Cons Of Home Ownership

263 Thinking Rationally Part 9: Rational Ethics Sep 27, 2016

Show notes

An historical overview of rational ethics, focussing on the revolution in moral philosophy that happened during the Enlightenment. Although there was amazing progress during the Enlightenment, the contradictions of enlightenment thinkers eventually led them to lose their way on ethics and abandon a rational approach to morality. Understanding this background is helpful if you want to use rational thinking to make sense of ethics for yourself. Show Notes:

262 Thinking Rationally Part 8: Popular Irrational Biases Sep 19, 2016

Show notes

Many ideas that have been debunked long ago nonetheless remain very popular. This episode highlights three popular irrational biases about economics, taken from Brian Caplan's book The Myth Of The Rational Voter. The biases covered are the pessimism bias, the anti-market bias, and the anti-foreign bias. Show Notes:

261 Thinking Rationally Part 7: The Irrationality Of Politics Sep 11, 2016

Show notes

Politics brings out the worst in people. As the economist Joseph Schumpeter put it, "The typical citizen drops down to a lower level of mental performance as soon as he enters the political field. He argues and analyzes in a way which he would readily recognize as infantile within the sphere of his real interests. He becomes a primitive again." This episode is about the problem of political irrationality. Why are political beliefs so irrational? How does this affect your life? Listen to the episode to find out more! Show Notes:

260 Overcoming Negative Emotions Sep 04, 2016

Show notes

A review of Peter Breggin's book, Guilt Shame And Anxiety: Understanding And Overcoming Negative Emotions, originally published on another podcast hosted by Jake and Hannah, The Psychology Book Club Podcast. Peter Breggin's book is very relevant to many topics covered on The Voluntary Life. In the episode, Hannah and Jake discuss the challenging ideas presented in the book and how they can help you achieve greater psychological freedom. Show Notes

Psychology Book Club Podcast
Guilt Shame and Anxiety by Peter Breggin
TVL 247 Thinking Rationally Part 5: Reason And Emotions

259 Breaking Limits In Business And Life Aug 28, 2016

Show notes

An interview with Jake by Fumnanya, host of The Limit Breaker podcast. The interview covers interesting questions on the topic of breaking limits in business and life, including Jake's influences, founding and selling a business, the path to a job free life, and much more. Show Notes:

The Limit Breaker Podcast
Becoming An Entrepreneur by Jake Desyllas
Job Free by Jake Desyllas
Jake Desyllas Writing Website
Getting Things Done by David Allen
Getting To Yes by Fischer and Ury
How I Found Freedom In An Unfree World by Harry Browne
OmniFocus

258 Getting Started With Productivity Systems Aug 21, 2016

Show notes

This episode is an interview of Jake on the Valiant Growth podcast about getting started with productivity systems. A lot of people want to start using productivity tools and systems, but feel overwhelmed by all the options, jargon, and complexity. This episode will give you clear pointers about how to start simple and achieve massive improvements to your productivity. Show Notes

257 How To Rock The Someday Maybe List Aug 14, 2016

Show notes

One of my favourite productivity techniques is the Someday Maybe List— an idea from David Allen's book, Getting Things Done. Many people ignore this particular aspect of GTD, but I love it. This episode provides suggestions about how to get the most out of a kick-ass someday maybe list. Topics covered include:

The Purpose of Someday Maybe List
The benefits of managing your list in Evernote
How tagging, sorting, images, and other Evernote features can make your Someday Maybe List more inspiring and useful.

Show Notes:

Evernote
Getting Things Done by David Allen
Episode 156: How To Unleash Your Creative Thinking
Other Productivity Episodes

256 Perpetual Travel With Kids Part 2: Interview With Mike And Lauren Aug 06, 2016

Show notes

Youtube presenters Mike and Lauren are back to talk about travel with kids. We catch up about all the things that they have been up to since I last spoke to them back in Episode 164. Their adventures include having a baby in Costa Rica, buying an RV, transitioning to life on the road, and planning to buy a barge to live on in Europe! Show Notes:

255 The Path to Permanent Travel And Minimalism Jul 28, 2016

Show notes

Jake was interviewed on World Wanderers Podcast about he sold a business, an apartment, and all of his stuff except one bag, to move to Panama. Jake shares what it has been like to live with less, and what the path to permanent travel has been like, including what has been done and what still needs to be done. He tells us what life has been like in Panama, and the pros and cons to life on the road.

Show Notes:

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