Living Radically Ambitious

photo by orangeacid

Ah, the elusive 5 year plan, 10 year plan, 20 year…. You get the point. We all tend to look at life like there is always something to strive for. in high school it’s getting into a good college. In college it’s working hard to get an internship and land a great entry level position. When working your job its planning for marriage, kids, vacations and everything else that evokes planning further than than this weekend.

Yesterday my brother approached me with a difficult question. He has been offered a promotion, sounds like a good problem to have. Only problem is that it comes at a pay cut as he loses tipped wages (he is a card dealer). The added responsibility will add to his resume credentials and open doors for opportunities down the road. If he stays in the current position, he will enjoy the busy fall and winter seasons, increase his income, save some money and be able to enjoy the things he loves now - like snowboard retreats and random road trips.

My advice to him, much like all the young people that I get the opportunity to talk to, went like this:

• In a perfect world, where are you in 5 years?
• Are you dealing cards?
• Are you working for the same company?
• Where are you living?
• What is your income?
• What do you do for fun?

Doesn’t sound much like advice, but it got him to see that what we DO today, will have an impact on where we want to be in the future.

So we started chatting about his future. His ideal vision was to be working in Lake Tahoe, or somewhere out west, spending his days mixed between working and some type of boarding (snow in the winter, wake in the summer). He wants to see the opportunity for finances in both positions - dealing and supervision at resorts in the areas he wishes to move to.

His goals were move aligned with lifestyle rather than day-to-day work activities. This meant he would sacrifice what he is doing in order to do the things he wants in life - the boarding stuff.

We concluded the chat by setting a small action plan to get him on the right path. This included:

Calling different resorts and casinos and looking at what would make him more attractive. What would give him the best opportunity to live the kind of lifestyle he envisions? Next he will look internally at his current position, finances and lifestyle (happiness factor) and create an open conversation with his supervisor to fully understand the opportunities that a promotion may allow for. Lastly, he is going to look at the lifestyle costs of his future life and see which opportunity gives him the maximum potential to rock his daily grind.

Being Young and Going For It

(that’s not me, but the same tree I did jump out of)

This conversation we had may be a little off the norm for those in the lifestyle design space. Generally advice is shared to take down the man, escape the rat race, etc. Lifestyle design is about working your life to where you enjoy waking up everyday, not about starting your own business and putting your brain on autopilot.

My bother is young and has had the opportunity to GO FOR IT for the last 5-6 years. From traveling with a cheerleading sales group to tournaments all over the world to working at a ranch in Colorado to bull riding in Georgia to dealing BlackJack in Illinois and now Kansas City, his life has been about going for the opportunity when it knocks.

We all have opportunities that knock us in the face, sometimes we have blinders on, people in the way or roadblocks. Looking at the person we want to become is something very powerful - finding out how to become that person is the next step towards being that person. Taking the actual action to get there is what I hope to be able to write about on this site.

Rock Star Question

So, who do you want to be? What is your ideal lifestyle in 5 years? Do you have a plan to get there?

-Greg Rollett