The Voluntary Life

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**The Voluntary Life**

A podcast about living a life of your choosing. Topics covered include financial independence, productivity, entrepreneurship, peaceful parenting, minimalism, and rational thinking.

Latest Episodes:

194 Your Money Or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez Feb 15, 2015

Show notes

This episode is a review of the classic personal finance book Your Money or Your Life. Topics covered include:

The inspiring story of the author Joe Dominguez—an early retiree who devoted his life to promoting financial independence for everyone
An overview of the 9 steps to financial independence suggested in the book
Strengths of the book, especially its focus on actionable steps that you can take to change your life
Weaknesses of the book, especially regarding the discussion of investment.

Show Notes:

Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez

193 Cashing In On The American Dream By Paul Terhorst Feb 08, 2015

Show notes

This episode is a review of the book Cashing in on the American Dream: How to Retire at 35 by Paul Terhorst. Paul and his wife Vicky have been living the early retirement lifestyle successfully for the last 30 years, as perpetual travellers. This book was written back in the 1980s and was one of the first books to suggest a strategy for financial independence. The book is aimed towards employees (rather than entrepreneurs) and especially people in well-paid jobs. Paul discusses how to tackle the challenges of quitting a lucrative career and radically changing your lifestyle. His strategy is an early example of the extreme saving approach that I discussed in my presentation on four ways to quit the rat race. The investment suggestions in the book are out of date now and all the numbers have to be doubled for inflation, however it still contains a lot of useful ideas that will be of interest to anyone aiming for financial independence. Show Notes

Cashing in on the American Dream: How to Retire at 35 by Paul Terhorst
Paul and Vicky's Website
Article about Paul Terhorst now
Four Ways To Quit The Rat Race presentation

192 TV Is Obsolete: How To Upgrade Your Media Diet Feb 02, 2015

Show notes

I got rid of my TV about 15 years ago and I have never regretted it. In this episode, I provide suggestions for how to upgrade your media diet using far better sources than broadcast media. Here's a summary of the system that I adopted for my media diet:

I got rid of my TV (and radio and newspapers too). I did this because vegging out in from of the TV was an addictive path of least resistance for media consumption. I didn't want my choice of what to watch to be limited to what TV channels would broadcast.
I actively collect things to watch later from the internet, from streaming services and social media. Everything goes into my media queue. This is very easy to do with capture tools like pocket, instapaper, WatchLater app and Evernote. I also collect things to listen to later and read later in the same way.
I tag everything in my media queue with my own tags, so that I know why I have collected each media item. These tags allow me to organise my media queue by projects I am doing, topics I am interesed in, or just different moods I am in.
When I want to watch something, I look at my tag lists and make a conscious decision about what to watch.
Having a media queue helps me be more discerning about what media I consume. I end up deleting many of the videos before watching them because they don't seem interesting after all. I highly recommend trying life without a TV.

Show Notes:

191 Task Management Jan 26, 2015

Show notes

Whatever you want to get done in life, a task management app is the most valuable productivity tool that I can recommend to help you. In this episode, I explain what a task management app is and outline why it is so useful. I provide examples of how I use a task management app to help reach my goals, as well as some tips for power users. Topics covered include:

Origins of task management apps and some current examples
The benefits of a task management app over simple "to do" lists.
The inefficiency of switching tasks and the value of focussed work
How to use an app to create well-defined tasks that are easier to complete
The power of filtering your commitments by context
The value of checklists and how a task manager can store them
creating your own "perspectives" on tasks
The most valuable feature to look for in a task management app: filtering by availability

Show Notes:

190 Out Of The Box Interview: Minimalism, Financial Freedom, And More! With Rosie Tran Jan 19, 2015

Show notes

Comedian Rosie Tran interviews entrepreneur, financial freedom advocate, and author of Becoming an Entrepreneur, Jake Desyllas. They discuss the psychology behind financial freedom and the baggage that many people have associated with money, the importance of being on the same page as your significant other, and why less is always more! Great tips on breaking out of the employee mindset and becoming a free thinker! Show Notes: Out Of The Box Podcast

189 Envy: A Theory Of Social Behaviour By Helmut Schoek Jan 11, 2015

Show notes

Why are "haters gonna hate"? This episode is a review of a fascinating book called Envy: A Theory of Social Behaviour by Helmut Schoek. Here are some of ideas that are discussed in the review:

What envy is and how it differs from jealousy or a desire to emulate
The key feature of envy being strongest where status differences are small
Why envy exists in every society and why it could never be completely eliminated
Why envy is camouflaged
The link between envy and irrational thinking
Schoeck's theory of why envy exists and how it might have some positive role (as well as being highly destructive)
You can cure yourself of envious feelings by turning it into creativity instead of destructiveness
Why you must never let haters stop you from doing something wonderful

Show Notes: Envy: A Theory Of Social Behaviour By Helmut Schoeck

188 Financial Independence Part 4: Relationships Jan 04, 2015

Show notes

This episode is about how personal relationships can either be the most important source of support in achieving financial independence, or the biggest hinderance. Topics covered include:

Romantic relationships
Friends and neighbours
Family

Show Notes:

187 How To Read More Than 50 Books A Year Dec 27, 2014

Show notes

This week's show is a discussion with my lovely wife Hannah Braime about how to read more than 50 books per year (Hannah reads over 100 per year!). Hannah is a life coach and the host of the website Becoming Who You Are. In the episode we talk about why reading matters and share all the hacks we know for getting more reading done. Show Notes:

Becoming Who You Are
How many books can you read in a lifetime? from Cosmos by Carl Sagan
Calibre free e-book library management application
Voice Dream iOS App
Kindle Highlight Feature
MacJournal
GoodReads
Drafts iOS app
Evernote

186 Natural Project Planning Dec 21, 2014

Show notes

As an entrepreneur, I wanted to learn more about the project planning because I needed to delegate and collaborate with others. I now see project planning as integral to getting things done in all areas of life. This episode is my own take on an approach called the natural planning model. These are the three minimal steps I use in planning every project:

Naming the outcome
Identifying the next action
Reviewing each project regularly

If I am stuck on a project, the more detailed planning I do includes:

Mindmaps
Creating a project documentation template in Evernote
Writing down more details about the purpose and mission to clarify this for myself
Journaling and brainstorming
Identifying project components and milestones
Scheduling and programming tasks in a task management app (I use Omnifocus)

Show Notes:

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
Omnifocus
Evernote
Image: Kamil Lehmann

185 How To Set Meaningful Goals For The Year Ahead Dec 12, 2014

Show notes

For many years I wanted to set meaningful goals for the year ahead, but struggled with the process. I never knew quite where to start and I often felt like I was just making goals up, without any real emotional connection to them. Consequently, I wasn't really committed to my goals and I found the whole process of making annual goals frustrating. I often gave up and didn't bother with the whole thing. Over time, I've developed a method of setting annual goals as part of my overall productivity systems. Now that I have a method, I find setting and meeting goals much easier and, best of all, the goal-setting process has many other benefits, regardless of whether I meet a goal. In this episode I explain my method of goal setting. Here is a very short overview of the steps:

Divide up your life into all your Areas Of Responsibility. I have 15 of them with names like Finances, Health, Relationship, Friends, Writing, Podcasting etc.
Make a page for each Area Of Responsibility. I use Evernote, but use whatever works for you.
On each AOR page, work out what this aspect of your life means to you. I do this using Mindmaps, unstructured journalling, and some structured writing (details are in the podcast).
Add a section to each AOR page where you write down all your specific aims: what you want to change, implement, improve, or enhance about this aspect of your life. For inspiration, review your vision board for each AOR (If you don't know about vision boards see episode 101 on How To Dream Big).
Put all your list of aims together and read through to get an overview of everything you want from all aspects of your life.
From your list, choose 4 or 5 Big Hairy Audacious Goals for the year ahead—whatever you feel most emotionally committed to.
I also choose some Less Hairy goals for the year ahead too.
Set yourself a reminder to review your list of goals regularly throughout the year (at least quarterly).
Tick off the goals as you reach them. Celebrate reaching your goals. Be supportive to yourself- if you only got to 70% of an original goal at year-end, celebrate the 70% win too.
Rinse and repeat at the end of the year.

Show Notes:

Episode 101 How To Dream Big
Getting Things Done by David Allen
The Simple Way To Achieve Your Big Hairy Audacious Goals by Hannah Braime
Photo Credit: kmillard92 cc

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