3412: My 6 Life Focuses by Colin Wright of Exile Lifestyle on Self-Reliance and Personal Freedom

[00:00:00] Before we start, please check out our new podcast, Good Sleep. Have you ever noticed how a calm mind can really set the stage for a good night's sleep? That's the idea behind our new podcast, Good Sleep. Greg, our host from Optimal Relationships Daily, is here to help ease you into a peaceful night's rest with some positive affirmations. And these affirmations aren't just comforting, they can help ease anxiety and nurture positive thoughts, setting you up for true good sleep.

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[00:00:38] This is Optimal Living Daily by 6 Life Focuses by Colin Wright of ExileLifestyle.com and I'm Justin Malik. Welcome back to Optimal Living Daily or the OLD podcast where I read to you from some of the best articles I can find and get permission from,

[00:00:52] covering personal development or self-help, minimalism, productivity, and more. So with that, let's get right to it and continue optimizing your life.

[00:01:06] My 6 Life Focuses by Colin Wright of ExileLifestyle.com

[00:01:11] The basics of what keep me motivated are deceptively simple and easy to relate as 6 main points of focus.

[00:01:19] Number 1. Increased self-reliance.

[00:01:22] It's important to me that I'm able to operate without crutches as much as possible, and dependencies and addictions get in the way of having a fully developed,

[00:01:31] internalized living mechanism that can get you through anything and help you achieve whatever you want to achieve.

[00:01:37] To that end, I try to make sure I'm always on the path to greater self-reliance and, as a result, self-confidence,

[00:01:45] so that other people and things in my life can be happy additions rather than desperately sought-after saviors to my lifestyle.

[00:01:53] Number 2. Increased personal freedom.

[00:01:56] Freedom can mean a lot of different things to different people, but to me, it represents options.

[00:02:02] Being a financially independent and physically capable person gives me the option of traveling full-time,

[00:02:08] and right now I'm exercising that option.

[00:02:11] I also have the freedom to stop traveling should I want to, and to open up a restaurant, or become a clown,

[00:02:18] or spend my life in a library paging through ancient manuscripts for no other reason than I want to.

[00:02:24] In my mind, personal freedom is the gateway to personal evolution.

[00:02:29] It gives you the time and excuse to do whatever, whenever.

[00:02:33] That's a powerful thing.

[00:02:34] As such, I do what I can to remove anything from my life that hinders my personal freedom.

[00:02:41] Number 3. Continue personal evolution.

[00:02:45] Some people, myself included, have wondered aloud if I am addicted to change.

[00:02:50] Let's say that addicted is probably too strong a word, but I do enjoy it.

[00:02:54] Change allows you to grow as a person, and sometimes by leaps and bounds.

[00:02:59] My personal development is important to me, because I remember a time in my life when I plateaued,

[00:03:05] and it was the only time I've ever been utterly discontented and somewhat depressed.

[00:03:10] The static nature of my existence was a weight on my mind and well-being.

[00:03:14] These days, I have the ability to immediately put into practice what I learn,

[00:03:19] and to try out new versions of myself and my life whenever I like,

[00:03:24] which makes me happier than just about anything else I've encountered thus far.

[00:03:28] As such, I make it a key part of my everyday mission

[00:03:31] to continue to grow and change and evolve as much and as quickly as possible.

[00:03:38] Number 4. Learn more about more.

[00:03:42] The pursuit of knowledge is important to me, and being a ridiculously curious person,

[00:03:47] I'm fulfilled when I'm learning new things and expanding my mental map of how the universe works

[00:03:53] and where each and every detail is pinned on that big picture.

[00:03:57] To this end, I spend a great deal of my time reading all kinds of things about all kinds of things,

[00:04:03] talking to folks who know things I don't know,

[00:04:06] and trying my hand at different professions and skill sets

[00:04:09] in an effort to better understand how it all fits together.

[00:04:12] Perspective is also key as being able to see the world from new angles

[00:04:16] gives me the ability to solve problems before they become problems.

[00:04:21] Learning more about more makes me happy and increases my ability to evolve,

[00:04:26] which in turn increases my level of personal freedom.

[00:04:31] Number 5. Maximize value created.

[00:04:35] In everything I do, I see opportunities to increase efficiencies and effectiveness.

[00:04:40] It's a fun game I play with myself to see how far I can push to achieve greater gains in this area,

[00:04:45] but it's also a goal that allows me to create more value with less effort,

[00:04:51] which bears all kinds of fruit.

[00:04:53] I see value creation as a ratio.

[00:04:55] I spend X amount of time to create Y units of value.

[00:04:59] My goal is to increase X to Y so that less effort is required to create more value.

[00:05:05] For example, I could spend one hour creating one blog post, one-to-one,

[00:05:09] or I could spend 10 hours writing one ebook,

[00:05:12] which contains 100 times more value than a blog post, one-to-ten.

[00:05:16] This gives me more personal freedom, of course,

[00:05:20] but it also gives me the ability to create excess value,

[00:05:24] which I'm then able to give away,

[00:05:26] increasing the quality of other people's lives and my community for the better in some small way.

[00:05:32] In my mind, both of these outcomes are equally important,

[00:05:35] as benefiting myself is good for the short term,

[00:05:38] while benefiting others is a solid investment for me and for everyone else in the long term.

[00:05:44] And number six, have fun always.

[00:05:48] In my mind, life without fun, even an incredibly successful life,

[00:05:53] is a little pointless.

[00:05:54] Sure, there are other biological drives you can pursue,

[00:05:57] and you could become fulfilled by dominating your career or having kids or whatnot,

[00:06:02] and that's cool if that's what you want,

[00:06:04] but for me, there's little point to accomplishment

[00:06:06] if part of what you're accomplishing isn't having a good time.

[00:06:11] You have exactly one life in which to do everything

[00:06:13] you'll ever do.

[00:06:15] After those hundred or so years, you've got nothing.

[00:06:18] Everything you've done will eventually be forgotten,

[00:06:21] and everything you've built will be gone.

[00:06:23] But even so, if you can look back at your life while on your deathbed and say,

[00:06:28] you know what?

[00:06:28] I had one hell of a good time.

[00:06:31] You've accomplished a level of success

[00:06:33] much greater than an unhappy tycoon or restless politician.

[00:06:37] Find what makes you happy,

[00:06:39] and figure out a way to do more of it.

[00:06:41] Bonus points if you can help others do the same along the way.

[00:06:49] You just listened to the post titled,

[00:06:51] My Six Life Focuses by Colin Wright of exilelifestyle.com,

[00:06:55] and I'll be right back with my commentary.

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[00:08:08] Thank you, Colin.

[00:08:09] He had a tiny update to this post, which says,

[00:08:13] Update February 14th, 2017.

[00:08:15] The seeds of my book, Act Accordingly, came from this post.

[00:08:20] And these are all still true, though I might explain them differently today.

[00:08:25] It's good to hear they're still true.

[00:08:27] For me, I've always enjoyed maximizing value to the point where it's actually fun to do.

[00:08:32] But sometimes with this podcast, well, you know, the title is Optimal Living Daily,

[00:08:37] so maybe you've noticed this too.

[00:08:39] We can get caught up in constantly trying to optimize and improve and be more productive.

[00:08:45] But at what cost?

[00:08:47] If we're not enjoying the journey, then what's the point?

[00:08:49] I remember when I first started this podcast back in 2015.

[00:08:53] There was definitely uncertainty and some stress involved, but I was having fun with it.

[00:08:58] And my business partner and I were trying new things, learning as we went along.

[00:09:02] Even though we had no idea if it would work out, we were enjoying the process.

[00:09:06] I think that's made all the difference.

[00:09:08] But like pretty much everything we talk about on this show, it's about finding that balance.

[00:09:12] So find that balance today.

[00:09:14] And hopefully this sparked something in you,

[00:09:16] maybe got you thinking about your own focuses in life or

[00:09:19] areas where you might want more freedom or growth.

[00:09:23] Thank you to Colin for this one.

[00:09:24] Thank you for being here every day.

[00:09:25] Have a great rest of your day and I'll see you tomorrow,

[00:09:29] where your optimal life awaits.