The Voluntary Life

Latest Episodes:

154 How To Stay On Top With A Weekly Review May 08, 2014

Show notes

This episode is about a technique for staying on top of all your commitments known as the weekly review. It helps you get a handle on all your commitments, decide what you want and don't want to do with your time and maintain all aspects of your life in working order. The idea for this technique comes from the Getting Things Done approach to personal productivity, but you can adapt it to your own purposes even if you don't practice GTD. Topics covered in the episode include:

The three parts to a weekly review: a clear review (discussed in the episode mental decluttering), a current review (this episode) and a creative review (future episode).
The value of identifying areas of responsibility in your life and reviewing them each week
How to get an overview of all live projects, including urgency and importance
The review of each live project and the importance of identifying next actions.
The use of agendas and waiting lists for all the people in your life
The Calendar review and weekly plan of tasks and decisions

Show Notes:

Episode on Mental Decluttering
Other Previous Episodes on productivity
Getting Things Done by David Allen
Photo Credit: Thomas Frost Jensen via Compfight cc

153 Your Own Moral Compass Part 3 May 04, 2014

Show notes

Part three in a series on developing your own independent moral compass. Here is a summary of the ideas covered:

Moral behaviour evolved as an evolutionary adaptation to gain the advantages of the division of labour that come from peaceful cooperation.
The act of peaceful communication logically contains and implies the criteria for moral rules.
There are four rules for avoiding conflict over scarce resources that are valid according to the criteria of universality, logical coherence and non-contradiction by behaviour.
The rules are inherent in the nature of peaceful communication and can't be argued against without self-contradiction.
Rule 1: Each individual has exclusive control of his or her own physical body.
Rule 2: The exclusive control of a previously unowned scarce resource belongs to the first person to "homestead" the resource.
Rule 3: The exclusive control of a newly produced scarce object belongs to the person to created the object (as long as they owned the component resources that they made it from).
Rule 4: Justly acquired control over scarce resources can be given away or traded by voluntary agreement.
These four rules together comprise the non-aggression principle.

Protecting yourself from straightforward aggression is a practical matter. Protecting yourself from aggression that is disguised with bogus moral justifications is more complex: you need your own moral compass to avoid confusion. The purpose of this series has been to outline the principles necessary to reconstruct valid moral rules for yourself, so that you are not duped by bogus moral justifications.

Show Notes:

The Economics and Ethics of Private Property by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
Photo Credit: chrisotruro via Compfight cc

152 Your Own Moral Compass Part 2 Apr 25, 2014

Show notes

Part two in a series on developing your own independent moral compass. Four criteria are outlined that can be used to assess whether any law or rule of behaviour is moral. The criteria discussed are:

Enables conflict avoidance regarding scarce resources
Universal
Logically coherent
Actions always speak louder than words (any rule can't involve a so-called performative contradiction)

151 Your Own Moral Compass Apr 17, 2014

Show notes

An episode about developing your own independent moral compass. Topics covered:

The huge influence of morality and moral arguments.
Examples of different approaches to morality.
The real purpose of shared moral rules.
The benefits of developing your own moral compass.

150 Becoming an Entrepreneur Apr 14, 2014

Show notes

An episode about my new book Becoming an Entrepreneur: How to Find Freedom and Fulfillment as a Business Owner. Topics covered include:

First reviews of the book from readers.
What the book is about and why I wrote it.
The process of writing and self-publishing, including my struggles along the way.
My experiment in crowdsourcing feedback with "beta-readers" from TVL listeners.
Future plans.

Show Notes:

149 Career Breaks and Travel Apr 04, 2014

Show notes

Pete Blacow has taken two career breaks to travel the world. In this episode he shares his experience of long-term travel and taking time out from working. Topics covered include the practical issues of taking a career break, the pros and cons of long-term travel, and Pete's recommendations for anyone interested in travelling the world. Show Notes:

The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss

148 Mental Decluttering Mar 31, 2014

Show notes

This episode is about freeing your mind by decluttering all your mental baggage on a regular basis. Topic covered include:

The benefits of going on an information and media diet
The importance of having a trusted system for how to declutter your mind and control the information buildup around you.
The role of a weekly clear-out, as part of a weekly review
Applying the "inbox-zero" approach beyond email to digital inboxes, physical inboxes, social inboxes, and life in general.

Show Notes

Getting Things Done by David Allen
Inbox Zero talk by Merlin Mann

147 Financial Freedom and Personal Development Mar 19, 2014

Show notes

Comedian Rosie Tran (@FunnyRosie) interviews financial freedom advocate, investor, and host of The Voluntary Life Podcast, Jake Desyllas (@jakedesyllas). They discuss the various ways to escape the rat race. Jake talks about the different techniques he has discovered, including unjobbing, extreme saving, business ownership, investing, and more. Also, in depth discussion on the importance of personal and self development in the process of financial freedom.

146 Living In Mexico Mar 13, 2014

Show notes

This episode is an interview that I did with Kevin Koskella from Freedom Lovin podcast. Kevin and I talk about expat life in Mexico: the pros, cons and experiences.

145 Win-Win Negotiation Part 2: Strength and Value Mar 08, 2014

Show notes

Part 2 in a series on win-win negotiation. This episode explains the process of principled negotiation and answers two key questions for any negotiation:

What determines your negotiating strength?
How do you create value in a negotiation?

Show Notes

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