I was born in Hawaii, and I've been aching to return ever since we moved away when I was six years old.

As a teenager, I decided I would work hard for all of my 20s so I could travel in my 30s.

Now I'm 30 years old, and I'm about to go on vacation for the first time in years.

There's been no doubt in my mind as to where I wanted to go: Hawaii.

I chose the island of Kauai for our vacation because it is home to some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. It’s known as the garden island. Parts of Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park were filmed on Kauai.

I love beaches, and I love mountains, and Kauai is everything in one package.

But we're not going to just any beach.

We're venturing on a multi-day, epic hike along what is considered to be one of the most beautiful and difficult trails in the world.

The 11-mile Kalalau Trail also makes the top 10 list of most dangerous trails, but your courage is rewarded with unparalleled views of the dramatic Na Pali Coast which can only be described as "out of this world".

If the scenery doesn't take your mind off the grueling 8-hour hike (which includes a gain of over 5,000 feet in elevation each way), reaching one of the most exclusive beaches in the world at the end of the trail with your own private waterfall surely will.

To view more photos, visit sabbatical.blog to read my Kalalau Trail post.

Non-negotiables are things you've decided you will not negotiate on. They're not up for debate. They're happening and that's final. Everything else can work around them.

Your non-negotiables can be anything you want.

Here are a few of my daily non-negotiables:

• Write

• Stretch

• Read a book

• Sleep 8 hours

• Recite Definite Chief Aim

• Close my Apple Watch Rings

I also have other non-negotiables that don't happen every day:

• Record seanwes podcast on Tuesdays

• Seventh Week Sabbaticals

• etc.

These are the things I've decided I will do no matter what. It's not that I "have" time for them. I "make" time for them because I've decided they are important to me. I start my day with these things as a foregone conclusion. Everything else has to work around them. That's what makes them non-negotiables.

It starts with a decision: decide the things that are important to you.

Next comes ordering. Begin with your non-negotiables and build everything else around them. This may require a complete reset.

By intentionally setting your non-negotiables, you can shape your day, your habits, and your life.

Why is there a chapter on sex in the book, Think and Grow Rich?

What does sex have to do with growing rich or acquiring wealth?

And what in the world is "transmutation"?

The very first sentence in this chapter defines what the author of Think and Grow Rich means by the word:

“The meaning of the word ‘transmute’ is, in simple language, ‘the changing, or transferring of one element, or form of energy, into another.’”

The human race is perpetuated by the desire for sex. It is one of our primary drivers because it's in our nature. It is inherently a creative urge.

Sex transmutation is the process of redirecting the mind from thoughts of expressing this desire physically to thoughts of another creative effort.

“The transmutation of sex energy calls for the exercise of will-power, to be sure, but the reward is worth the effort. The desire for sexual expression is inborn and natural. The desire cannot, and should not be submerged or eliminated. But it should be given an outlet through forms of expression which enrich the body, mind, and spirit of man. If not given this form of outlet, through transmutation, it will seek outlets through purely physical channels.”

Mastery of the skill of redirection of sex energy from physical expression to creative effort is what the book, Think and Grow Rich, says is necessary for the attainment of genius:

“Fortunate, indeed, is the person who has discovered how to give sex emotion an outlet through some form of creative effort, for he has, by that discovery, lifted himself to the status of a genius.”

Don't be scared away by the title of today's chapter of the book, Think and Grow Rich. The subject is not at all explicit and there's a lot of wisdom to glean.

As this is a book club, we (as always) encourage you to read the book first and then listen to the accompanying book club podcast to get the most out of it. 👍🏼

Life is busy, but things are more or less fine. You don't feel burned out right now. A little tired, maybe—exhausted, sometimes—but not burned out.

Sure, a break would be nice, but you can't afford that right now.

You can't afford to slow down. Too many things rely on you. Too many things depend on you. You're focused on making ends meet.

Taking time to rest seems out of the question. Even if you wanted to, it's not like you could.

The bad news is, burnout is in your future if nothing changes.

The good news is, we're going to flip that around today and help set you free.

Find margin, discover guilt-free rest, and avoid burnout—all while getting everything done on time.

You have to have a plan, but a plan is useless without sufficient power to translate those plans into action.

"POWER is essential for success in the accumulation of money."

Well then. We'd better figure out what power is!

"POWER may be defined as 'organized and intelligently directed KNOWLEDGE'."

This chapter discusses difference sources of knowledge, which may be organized and intelligently directed as power.

More specifically, the book goes into how to gain power through the "Master Mind".

"No individual may have great power without availing himself of the 'Master Mind.'"

You either have margin or you get burnout.

There's no other way around it.

Margin is not a luxury you can't afford. Margin is a necessity.

If you don't have margin now, you will fall apart in the future.

You must create margin in your life before you think you need it.

Margin is the space between activities. It is scheduled nothingness. It is the intentional setting aside of time for the sake of reflecting, de-stressing, and resting.

Margin is time you don't fill.

Sabbaticals are one form of margin. There are Weekend Sabbaticals, Seventh Week Sabbaticals, and Seventh Year Sabbaticals...

But you also need margin in each and every day. Let's talk about how to get it.

This is the last episode of Ben and Dan's podcast "takeover"! Sean will be back on the podcast next week.

We don’t think about time like we do money.

We all know (hopefully we know) that if you spend more than you earn, the debt will pile up. It might not hurt you today, but over time it will continue to hold you back.

Burnout has been recognized by the World Health Organization; that’s how prominent it’s become—or perhaps it’s always been this bad, and we’re just now recognizing it.

When we talk about burnout, we don’t talk about it as though we’re suffering from a disease.

But it is that damaging.

We’re wired to be transactional. It’s linked to our survival. And in the modern world… that means we’re driven to make money. To make money, we need to do valuable work using our most precious resource: time.

Hence the expression Time is money.

It can be hard to imagine spending—squandering—that valuable time on activities that don’t yield a financial reward. As adults, we feel guilty at best when we engage in hobbies “just for fun”. We cram them into the weekend, into the few vacation days we allow ourselves (or each other) each year.

But what if doing things “just for fun” is more important than we think?

Stuart Brown, founder of the National Institute for Play in Carmel Valley, California, says

“Play is easy to recognize in children and animals — like, say, an impromptu game of tag or chase — but what does it look like in adults? How we play is “as unique to an individual as a fingerprint” and could mean collecting stamps, tossing a football, reading a book or climbing Mount Everest.

“What all play has in common is that it offers a sense of engagement and pleasure, takes the player out of a sense of time and place, and the experience of doing it is more important than the outcome.”

Let’s talk about when and how it’s okay to just play around.

Sean is taking off the month of July to write his next book, Sabbatical. During his absence, Ben and Dan will record new episodes of the show. Sean will return in August.

At Craft + Commerce, Ben and Dan both started to get uncomfortable about something:

“Doesn’t it seem like everyone else in here has a newsletter already?”

It seems like everyone else is already doing content marketing—certainly, we all know the arguments for why we should be.

So why aren’t we doing it?

Ben has some ideas for what’s holding us back, and we’re going to address them in this episode:

- You don’t know what content to make

- You don’t have the time

- You don’t have a process

- You’re not writing

- You’re trying to make it perfect

- You think you need permission

- You’re trying to do too much

- You think you have to build it from scratch

Hey, it's Sean McCabe with a sabbatical episode. Today's topic is on depression. Specifically, it's an update on my recovery from depression and a continuation of episode 380: Recovery From Depression (Part 1). If you haven't heard episode 380, go back and listen to that first.

It's been nearly a year since my last episode on recovering from depression.

What inspired me to record a second episode on this topic was a message from a listener. He told me he had pushed himself too far because he was comparing himself to me some years ago.

"Sean's not burned out, so who am I to be?"

Little did he know I actually was burned out! Of course, I didn't know it at the time.

I talk about comparison in this episode and why you can't go off of what someone else is projecting. You don't know anyone's full story or what they're really going through. You have to focus on yourself and your own health. It's not worth ignoring the warning signs.

If you're going through a hard time right now, know that it's temporary. It's not forever. You will get through this. You will come out on the other side, and you will be stronger for it. There's a reason you're going through this. I know it feels hopeless sometimes, but there is hope.