3008: Why You Should Quit Your Job and Travel Around the World by Chris Guillebeau on Living Fully

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[00:00:30] Now, before we start, you might want to check out our other podcasts covering topics like personal development and minimalism, money, health, relationships, and more. So, to optimize your life in other areas, just search for Optimal Living Daily in your podcast app. Now, on to the show.

[00:00:49] Hello, everybody. I am your host, Greg Audino, back with you again on this fine Sunday with our weekly bonus episode. So, if you're unfamiliar with this, what it means is that each Sunday, in addition to our regular ORD episode, we've also been sharing an older episode from one of our other shows in the network that we feel has some crossover with our relationship audience. As you might know, our other shows cover things like personal development, health, and finance, and oftentimes these topics cross over with relationships.

[00:01:19] So, when we do find those articles and narrate them, we think it's important to share those excerpts with you too. So, let's send it on over to Justin now and optimize your life. Why You Should Quit Your Job and Travel Around the World by Chris Guillebeau of chrisgillibeau.com It happens to me every time I travel overseas. I talk with people who hear about where I'm going and they always say the same thing.

[00:01:47] That sounds amazing. I wish I could do that. My reply is always the same. What's keeping you from it? I'm not being judgmental. I'm just trying to figure out what people's motivations and priorities are. There really could be a good reason why someone doesn't travel much, but the responses I hear back is usually variations of these answers. I don't have money to travel. Fair enough if it's true, but for many people who say this, it would be better to say, I've chosen to spend money on a lot of other things, so now I don't have money to travel.

[00:02:17] America is a country of great wealth, and many of us living here throw things away every week that'd be prized possessions to lots of other people. We choose what we value, either consciously or unconsciously. Many people, young and old, have no problem happily spending their money and even going into debt for luxuries each week. I've chosen to focus my own spending priorities on meaningful experiences. One time someone told me that she couldn't give to a charity event because she did not believe in going into debt,

[00:02:46] and that her husband believed that a pledge to give money was effectively a debt. I must have surprised the person making the comment, because I agreed and said that I also believe in living a completely debt-free lifestyle. She nodded and said, Yeah, we don't have any debt either right now. Well, just the two cars and the student loan and the credit card, and of course the mortgage doesn't count. I was too shocked to say much of anything in response to that statement. The rest of the world is dangerous.

[00:03:14] Most people don't come out and say it that way, but that's what they mean. If I leave home, something terrible will go wrong. Aside from the fact that bad things can happen in your own country just as easily as anywhere else, there are very few places in the world that are outright hostile to visitors. The more you travel, the more you realize you are at least as safe in many places around the world as you are at home. Sure, you probably shouldn't plan a trip to Baghdad or Mogadishu right now, but the list of inhospitable places is really short.

[00:03:42] The list of amazing places is incredibly long, so get started. Intelligent people usually recognize this fear to be somewhat irrational, so as long as you don't let it keep you home, it's not worth fighting. I like staying at home. This is another way of saying, I'm afraid of change in different experiences. Before you write it off, understand that most of us feel this way at one time or another. It's just something that needs to be overcome. A small group of people will be brave enough to do it,

[00:04:10] and the rest will stay home, never venturing out beyond their own culture of comfort. However, it's their loss. Don't let it be yours. I'll do this kind of stuff when I retire or at some other distant point in the future. I see nothing wrong with the general concept of delayed gratification. I have an IRA. I look both ways when I cross the street, and it's reasonable to give up something now in expectation of greater future benefit. What is dangerous, however, is when delayed gratification becomes an excuse

[00:04:38] for not living the life you want. How many people do you know that actually do the things they say they're going to when they reach arbitrary ages of leaving the jobs they've given their lives to? Far more common is the downsizing of dreams along the way. If you want to play golf all day and take your medication at regular intervals, the 40-year career track plan should work well for you. If you have other ideas or ambitions, though, don't kill yourself as a slave for the future.

[00:05:05] Instead, go and figure out where you want to travel and do something about it. Four important questions to ask yourself. One, am I satisfied with my work? Does it meet my needs and fulfill my desires? Your work should not exist merely to provide income for the rest of your life. Ask yourself, what am I working for? Am I working to make a living or to make a life? If your work supports your goals, that's great. If it doesn't, maybe it's time to make a change.

[00:05:34] Two, think back to the times you have left your home country. What did you learn on those trips? Do you think you have more to learn? For me, the more I've traveled, the more I learn, and the more I realize how big the world really is. When I was younger and had spent a fair amount of time abroad, I used to say that I had traveled all over the world. More than 60 countries later, I laugh at that idea. There are still many, many countries I've yet to visit, and even after I achieve my goal of visiting every country in the world,

[00:06:03] there will still be many places within those countries that I still won't have experienced. Three, if you could go anywhere in the world, where would that be? Don't think about reasons why you can't go there. Brainstorm through the six inhabited continents, Africa, Australia, Asia, Europe, North and South America, and think about cities or countries on each of them that you've always wondered about. Chances are there's somewhere, and probably several places, that you've always wanted to see.

[00:06:30] Finally, while I believe that international travel is not nearly as expensive as the lifestyle many people wear themselves out to maintain, it's true that it does cost money to travel around the world. Therefore, you should also understand the answer to this question. Number four, what are your financial priorities? If you don't know the answer offhand, it's easy to get it. Just look back at your bank statements, financial software, or credit card statements for the last six months. Whether you like it or not, where you've been spending a lot of money is where your priorities are.

[00:07:00] If you'd like to value experiences more than stuff, you may need to make some changes. You just listened to the post titled, Why You Should Quit Your Job and Travel Around the World, by Chris Gillibeau of chrisgillibeau.com. And thank you to Chris for letting me share his work. What I liked about this one is that he opens it up to a series of questions to ask yourself. And those questions are great ones. Are you satisfied with your work? Have you traveled before?

[00:07:29] And if so, what did you learn? Where would you go if you could pick anywhere? And then figure out if it's a priority for you. Maybe it's not, and that's totally okay. But like he said, many of us assume it's not possible when it really can be in most cases. We all have obligations in certain circumstances, but chances are you can make it happen if you put your mind to it. I've been doing a bit of traveling myself, not very far, but it's still more than I've done for a very long time. It's been nice. So definitely something to think about today. If you've thought about traveling and haven't done it in a while,

[00:07:58] or even if you haven't thought about it, and definitely share with me your experiences with traveling. I'd love to hear it. But I'll leave it there for today. Hope you're having a great day, and I'll be back tomorrow as usual, where your optimal life awaits.