Have an awesomely different life by this time next year

Well I think that I’m well on my way to achieving my goal of having a completely different life from last year. This week my wife and I will be moving to Portland Oregon and buying a catering business (something we’ve wanted to do for a while but not had the courage). Wish us luck!

It’s amazing that so often when people describe changing their life it’s primarily a physical concept. They discuss quitting their job to sail around the world, or they talk about wanting to have a child, or go back to school.

The changes that I’m experiencing at the moment are more internal and have to do with confidence and perspective. It’s been a long journey, but I’m finally starting to see myself as a trader and not as someone who desires to be a trader. I see this as a major milestone towards achieving the physical goals that I’ve set for myself.

So if you have the chance and haven’t already done so, I encourage you to think and dream towards your goals. I think you’ll find that this will make the physical accomplishment of those goals that much more accessible.

I have a friend who trades stocks and futures every morning – from his yacht. His favorite hang out is down in Baja. When he was up at Dana Point a month ago we met and had breakfast and talked about trading. He told me he’s been trading about 15 years and it took him about 3 years to get to the level of trading that he does today.

After talking with him it occured to me that the real reason that I aspire to have his lifestyle isn’t actually about the money. It’s about the freedom. This guy gets up, trades his account for a couple of hours and has usually met his daily goal by the time most of us are getting to work. Then the rest of the day is his to enjoy. Not to mention the fact that he can take this lifestyle with him anywhere. How many of us can say the same (even if we are successful)?

So is there a point to this story? Yes. When I get home from a long day of the 9-5 which is a requirement right now, the last thing I want to do is spend another 3-4 hours in front of the computer testing new trading methods, simulating trading, or reviewing my current trades. And I’m sure that when you get home you don’t wish to spend the 3-4 hours to do whatever it takes to satisfy your dreams. Why? Because getting there is hard (no matter what anyone says).

But every time I think of giving up or calling it quits early for the day, I think about my friend from Baja. I think about living a relaxed lifestyle set at a pace that I dictate (not my boss or traffic) free to live my life on my terms. And that’s why I won’t quit and if you have a dream that eats at you the same way you won’t quit either. May you have a totally different life by this time next year too.

Edward

I think the key to making this goal happen is determination to change by any means possible. Right now my wife and I are working towards finding new jobs in Portland (to escape Los Angeles) and also she is going to back to school to change her career and become a nurse, while I am building a new investment business. Both of us are hoping to make both short term and long term changes:

Short-term

1. Exercise more
2. Apply for jobs in our current careers outside of LA (especially Oregon)

Long-term

1. Change of career (for my wife)
2. Become a full time entrepreneur (for myself)
3. Move out of the country (we’re thinking part-time in South America and part time in either Europe or Canada).

My wife and I feel pretty stuck in our current careers and our current location. She’s working on becoming a registered nurse and I’m working on becoming a world class trader :)

It seems like a long road sometimes. Additionally we would love to escape the Los Angeles/OC empire and move to Oregon or abroad.