When was that last time that you did something truly inline with your spirit, that you had fun with, that made you feel alive. Looking back, I have a few truly amazing memories that I like to think about and reminisce on, and none of those things involve more and more work. I love working. But I love working on work that I feel is worth doing. Not what other people tell me to do.

This post is a little counter to the culture that we talk about in this newsletter. It’s a little counter to making money and learning and growing. But this post is absolutely necessary in its own right. Far too often I find myself grasping to a life I don’t desire because it is what society has given to me. I am eternally grateful for my life and work, but there is always something about riding a desk for 40 hours a week that makes you crave more.

Riding a desk is not living. If what we do everyday is not living, how can we pivot to live while also pursuing our dreams, our goals, and having the balance of making money?

Why We Need To Live As Much As Possible

You most likely didn’t wake up at 5 years old thinking that “hey, I want to be an accountant or an analyst or a sales man at the local corporate office”. This is normal. Most of us as kids have dreams, big dreams, and nothing gets in the way of holding that creative spirit back. We want to be big stars, doctors, lawyers, business owners, fireman or whatever, but for some reason along the way we forgot those dreams.

That’s not a bad thing. It’s a function of both life as an adult and the economy. We can’t all be a rockstar. Then rockstars would lose their dramatic appeal. But really what happens to a lot of people, and what happened to me, is I went to college, found out I didn’t like the career I thought I was going to like, and then ended up with a business degree and a good job out of college. Now I am eternally grateful for my work, but I wouldn’t call it my dream job either.

Somewhere in my spirit is a calling for more. No money can solve it. No flexibility of PTO can solve it. And no benefits of work can solve it. I have a craving for freedom, autonomy, and the ability to build something myself. You might have different cravings or desires inside. Maybe you just want to go fishing. Either way, I think a lot of us have this calling inside for more than what we currently have.

We can combine this with the idea that we only have so many resources. So much money, so much time, so much usable health and ability to climb mountains to travel the world or take risks. A lot of life is finite so we have to take advantage of it while we can.

Its like what options do you take and what chances do you act on? Do you work for the job in your 20s and early 30s building the nest egg so that in your 40s you can travel? Do you vagabond in your youth, forget the career, and spend your late 30s and 40s catching up on retirement? There is no right answer, but I think we have to strike as much of a balance as we can in order to do it all, all at once, all the time.

The video I linked at the beginning of this post is from a guy who lives in a trailer/van/truck combo. I’m not sure that you really want your life advice from someone in a van, but maybe you need life advice from someone in a van. We need their perspective. This is someone who is so far the opposite way of this newsletter that they live on $600 a month. They travel every week where ever they want to be, and they reject the modern consumerism lifestyle.

If all of us took a look at our life and lifestyles, I am sure we could find a few areas where we wish we did a little bit more with our resources in this regard. I wish I traveled more and built memories nobody could take from me. I wish I went more all in on my businesses, relationships, adventures, investments, and so much more. It’s very easy to be tired and worn out after work, but life is for the living and I want to burn out as ashes that burned bright. I don’t want to wither away with the wind silently like dust.

How Am I Implementing This Into My Life To Become Free

That’s all great. How do we actually implement this to live more whether that is travel, relationships, business, or anything we find important in our life outside of the standard issue items that society says we have to have.

I know I want to be a business owner. I just like the lifestyle. So I built and am building a business. It’s not easy and it takes my resources. But I am happy when I am working on it. I count that as living.

I know I want to travel more, so I built a bucket list and am aiming at crossing things off. Even if it’s just one a year.

I have spent the last 4 years piling up as many investments and savings as I reasonably could. I know that I have done a good job because I sort of started resenting myself for not capitalizing on some of my goals or dreams that I have.

A good example of this is a sports car. I love cars and have since I was 10 or 11. For the last 8 years I have been driving a beat up, hail damaged pickup from 2009. It was paid off. It made sense. And it helped me to become wealthy. But it was not my dream.

This year it has really started kicking in that if I don’t eventually take the leap, I won’t ever take the leap. There is always more money to save into the account. Another number to save for. A new goal to be had. But at some point I just need to cross the goal off the box, and it’s good to do it in youth when I can enjoy it. So a few weeks ago I bought a new (to me) sports sedan that is much faster, sporty, and fun.

1. Build the base investments and savings

2. Start the small adventures to make life more enjoyable

3. Realize that you don’t need as much money as you think

4. Prioritize what would make you truly happy and optimize for it

We all have to have that base financial structure to be more able to live a full life. These van life guys even had to build up enough cash to buy an RV or a van or something of substance to sustain themselves. We all have to get our financial life in order as step number one.

Step number two is just do some things so you can realize what you truly want. The worst thing you can do is deprive yourself of opportunities to even know what you want to optimize for. Imagine you have this huge dream of living by the beach but you’ve never even been to the beach. You don’t want to save for 5 years for a beach house and then get there and realize you prefer the mountains.

Step three I have come to be familiar with as I see more of my relatives go through retirement. We all have these huge financial aspirations, but as you move through life, you probably don’t have to optimize for these huge financial milestones. This is good because you can allow yourself to live in the present and not delay money for a massive future day that might not come. You don’t want to never vacation because you have huge travel plans in retirement. You want to learn to spend some of that now on vacations today.

Finally, we have to know what is truly important to us in order to truly live. If you really want to be the best lawyer in the world, how do you optimize for that? If you want to travel America, how do you optimize for that? If you want to build a homestead with your family and in laws, how do you optimize for that? You can just wake up one day and decide that you want to find yourself without letting the world tell you what to be.

My base plan, which can definitely change a ton, is to build a life of freedom through a business. I see this as a path that provides my freedom, finances, and fun as I genuinely love the lifestyle and challenge of business ownership. Maybe you’re 45 and are tired of working, you don’t have millions but you could sell your house and travel America as a dream. You could start today by just posting content and building an audience around this lifestyle. Once you gain traction, you can take larger trips with your family. Eventually you can replace your income and become a full time traveler.

I mean you read my newsletter. And I don’t even make money on this. I just do it for practice and fun. And that makes me an influencer.

There are so many opportunities to live and play in life. Don’t let the dreams of your youth fade away. The world wants that version of you to come through.

Here is a picture of my new Audi RS5. It brings me good joy. Next up I have to go snowboarding to cross it off my list. I think I’ll go early in 2026. Please find your version of this with the opportunities you have left.

Thanks,

Dawson