2957: Life Is a Triangle. Master Its 3 Points to Live a Kick-A** Existence by Charlie Brown of Simple and Straightforward

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[00:00:26] This is Optimal Living Daily Episode 2957. Life Is a Triangle.

[00:00:32] Master Its 3 Points to Live a Kick-A Existence by Charlie Brown of Simple and Straightforward.Substack.com

[00:00:39] and I'm Justin Malik, your personal narrator.

[00:00:42] We're going to get right to it today and start optimizing your life.

[00:00:49] Life Is a Triangle. Master Its 3 Points to Live a Kick-A Existence by Charlie Brown of Simple and Straightforward.Substack.com

[00:01:00] Life isn't a circle, it's a triangle with three main focus points working together to craft a life you can be proud to call your own.

[00:01:10] One, slap your finances into shape.

[00:01:13] Two, reject societal norms around your work and career.

[00:01:18] And three, living a simple, meaningful life, the real key that propels points one and two more than you can imagine.

[00:01:26] This triangle is a foundation. Master the way you live, spend your money and work

[00:01:32] and all the other awesome parts of life like relationships, meaning and contentment.

[00:01:38] Have a solid base to build upon. And so far it's worked for me.

[00:01:42] I'm pretty happy with how my weird little life is shaping up.

[00:01:45] Living on the road, writing for a living and achieving my own version of financial freedom.

[00:01:50] I took my personal triangle and I ran with it. Here's how you can too.

[00:01:56] Focus Point Number One, Slapping Your Finances Into Shape.

[00:02:01] Yeah, I know finances can be freaking boring and freaking scary.

[00:02:05] And because I suck at math, I never had much interest in the mechanics of money.

[00:02:09] But we're talking big picture thinking here so I started with the following question.

[00:02:15] What would my ideal life look like if I took charge of my personal finance situation?

[00:02:20] This is where it gets exciting because you can start to think creatively.

[00:02:24] It could be as simple as saying, I want to sleep well at night knowing that my debts are cleared.

[00:02:29] Or as I chose, it could be a bit more out there like,

[00:02:32] I want to have a certain level of passive income, sell everything I own and travel indefinitely.

[00:02:39] Once you have an aim, the mechanics of personal finance suddenly look a lot more appealing.

[00:02:44] It's no longer a boring sh** chore.

[00:02:46] Instead, it's a vehicle that will get you to a destination you actually want to travel to.

[00:02:52] Cheesy analogies aside, the deep detail of tax optimization, index funds,

[00:02:58] debt consolidation and other financial terms that previously sent you running to the hills

[00:03:03] can all begin to look rather interesting.

[00:03:06] Because every minute you financially educate yourself is a minute earned for a better future life.

[00:03:12] Better investments equals more time to travel.

[00:03:16] Clearing debt equals less time working, more time with family.

[00:03:21] Minimizing tax equals more cash to spend on meaningful projects.

[00:03:26] The bottom line is that healthy personal finances are a cornerstone of a kick in life,

[00:03:31] so if yours are in a pickle, it's time to sort them out.

[00:03:35] Focus point number two, rejecting societal norms around working.

[00:03:40] You don't have to hate it.

[00:03:42] One of the saddest career stats I've ever seen is that 85% of people are unhappy in their jobs.

[00:03:49] Somehow we've managed to take something that almost every person on the planet has to engage in

[00:03:54] for an average of 90,000 hours no less and make it an awful experience.

[00:04:00] The worst thing about it is that it doesn't have to be like that for great swaths of our world,

[00:04:05] particularly in the West.

[00:04:07] Many of us, my past self included, have trapped ourselves in crappy working situations

[00:04:12] because we keep getting told there's no other way.

[00:04:16] On the flip side, our companies that exploit our desperate need to work

[00:04:20] with bad pay, long hours, poor working conditions and no potential for growth.

[00:04:26] The whole thing sucks.

[00:04:28] The day I realized there is another way was the day my working life started to slot into place.

[00:04:34] Again, I asked myself a simple question.

[00:04:37] What would my working life look like if it was solely up to me?

[00:04:41] In my case, the answer was to become the best of the best in the UK wine trade and to work for myself.

[00:04:48] A vague probably unachievable goal, I know, but it was a start.

[00:04:53] From there, I formulated more of an achievable plan, something that was realistic,

[00:04:58] but still hit my triple goal of entering the wine trade, being good at what I do and working for myself.

[00:05:05] I landed on owning a wine shop and bar that eventually was awarded UK Independent Wine Retailer of the Year.

[00:05:12] So dream with me here.

[00:05:14] What would your dream career look like?

[00:05:16] If it's something that's been shelled for many years, gathering cobwebs in the back of your mind,

[00:05:22] why is that?

[00:05:23] Is there a way to make it happen for you?

[00:05:25] Side number three of the triangle can help with that final question.

[00:05:30] Focus point number three, living a simple, meaningful life.

[00:05:34] This is the magic point, the one that pulls everything together.

[00:05:38] The way we're taught to live our lives doesn't work anymore.

[00:05:42] We're all busy, stressed, tired.

[00:05:45] Life is rinsing us for all we're worth.

[00:05:48] I bang on about simple living a lot because it's a very practical antidote to the stresses and strains of modern life.

[00:05:56] Master simple living and the other two sides of the triangle slot together.

[00:06:01] Think about it, you're in a financial state, debt up to your eyeballs,

[00:06:05] multiple cars on the driveway costing you hundreds or sometimes thousands of dollars every month,

[00:06:11] a house that's too big for your needs, struggling to make the rent or mortgage payments.

[00:06:16] If you simplified it all, how many of these stresses could be eliminated?

[00:06:21] If you stopped spending in areas you don't care about, you could start to repay debt.

[00:06:26] If you looked to downgrade your car lease, perhaps making do with just one car or buying second hand,

[00:06:33] you could minimize your transport costs.

[00:06:35] And if you downsized your house to something that better suits your needs,

[00:06:39] you could reduce rent or mortgage payments.

[00:06:42] These are just examples. Your situation could look very different,

[00:06:45] but I guarantee there will be some area of your life that you could look to simplify and minimize.

[00:06:51] As Tim Denning recently wrote,

[00:06:54] You can be twice as rich by deciding you need half as much.

[00:06:59] He's right.

[00:07:01] Then say you've applied simple living techniques and you're bossing your finances.

[00:07:05] What could that mean for your career?

[00:07:07] I see you unhappy at work dreaming of a new life with a job that gives you meaning

[00:07:12] and, dare I say it, a little bit of joy.

[00:07:15] There are so many ways simple living can do this.

[00:07:18] With lower living costs, you could go part-time at work

[00:07:21] leaving more room for a side hustle that could eventually become your main source of income.

[00:07:26] You could save what you would ordinarily spend on whatever you used to mindlessly spend cash on,

[00:07:31] saving enough to start your own business.

[00:07:34] You could take a position in a company that you actually want to work for, even if it pays less.

[00:07:39] Or you could land a part-time gig giving you more time for friends, family,

[00:07:44] or yourself because not everything is about making as much money as possible.

[00:07:49] If life is a triangle, it's not equal-sided.

[00:07:53] Simple living is the long line at the bottom, the foundation of it all.

[00:07:58] There's a reason why careers and entrepreneurship,

[00:08:01] finances and simple living are the top three categories I write about on this platform.

[00:08:06] It's because they're the foundation of a good life,

[00:08:09] one that's in your control.

[00:08:12] You may have to get creative.

[00:08:13] You may have to pin some people off with your different ways of thinking and living

[00:08:18] because as Theodore Roosevelt said,

[00:08:20] nothing worth having comes easy.

[00:08:23] But the result, a life that works for you, one that is lived on your terms,

[00:08:28] The result is totally worth the effort.

[00:08:32] Let's get to work.

[00:08:37] You just listened to the post titled,

[00:08:39] Life is a Triangle, Mastered 3 Points

[00:08:41] to Live a Kick in Existence by Charlie Brown

[00:08:44] of simpleandstraightforward.substack.com.

[00:08:48] Thank you to Charlie.

[00:08:49] Like I mentioned in many episodes on this show,

[00:08:52] the first step is usually awareness.

[00:08:54] Awareness of an issue we could resolve.

[00:08:57] Awareness of what we're actually doing

[00:08:59] since so much of it is unconscious behavior and so on.

[00:09:04] That's definitely the case with finances.

[00:09:06] I'm still thankful that a grad school professor

[00:09:09] gave us the homework assignment

[00:09:10] of tracking every penny we spent for a week back in 2010

[00:09:15] because I never stopped doing it.

[00:09:17] I found that practice that valuable.

[00:09:19] And I find that even if you do just that one thing,

[00:09:22] not much else is required.

[00:09:25] Of course, you can analyze your spending,

[00:09:27] see what percent of income is going to what.

[00:09:30] You could also see if your net is positive or negative,

[00:09:33] that is are you spending more than you earn?

[00:09:36] But generally what seems to happen

[00:09:37] is that your spending naturally goes down

[00:09:40] because you start to catch certain things

[00:09:43] when you track it.

[00:09:44] Like a subscription to something

[00:09:46] that you never actually use

[00:09:48] or you realize you eat out a lot more than you thought.

[00:09:52] Something happens and your spending begins to shift

[00:09:56] all by simply tracking it.

[00:09:58] And this applies to other areas of life too,

[00:10:00] but her first focus point was money.

[00:10:03] Something I've been tracking for over a decade

[00:10:05] and never stopped so I do recommend it.

[00:10:08] If you wanna use the same app that I use

[00:10:10] to track my income and expenses,

[00:10:12] just go to oldpodcast.com slash track for a free trial.

[00:10:17] Love to see you start that trial and give it a shot.

[00:10:20] With that have a great day or night

[00:10:22] and I'll be back tomorrow as usual

[00:10:24] where your optimal life awaits.