Valiant Growth: Earn Self-Esteem, Build Amazing Relationships and Achieve Freedom through Radical Personal Development

So you've followed the advice my previous talk with Jake Desyllas and set up your own basic productivity system. You know that a system like that is not a pedantic badge of honour, but is in fact the best way to add actions to your ideals – to LIVE your values.

You also know the three components of any successful productivity system:

1. Capture: Get things out of your head
2. Review: Check everything regularly

Organize: Put things in their right place

You probably are in a happy place - so allow me to flame some dissatisfaction.

At this phase, your system can be quite clumsy. That means more effort. More effort is more fragility - will you be able to keep things going when you a hit a lower motivation cycle?

I've invited Jake Desyllas of The Voluntary Life podcast once again to help us sharpen the edges of this new set of tools we are building together.

Make Your Reviews Easier

How do you make sure everything's covered in your weekly review? And how do you make sure you actually do it?

A Handy Checklist

Going through these steps will give you the confidence that you aren't missing anything:

1. Clear the decks

Get all the emails, text messages (known as Inbox 0) and social media that slipped through. Everything relevant must be in your capture system (notebook, index cards, Evernote etc.) before you start. Remove old notes from the system itself if needed.

2. Look at your projects list

A project is anything composed of more than one step. It's really helpful to keep a list of these so you know everything's moving forward. Looking through it weekly will generate most of your next week's tasks/to-do list.

3. Review your ideas

Now that the past and present is under control, look towards the future. It's well-worth keeping lists of someday/maybe projects, to-read lists, ideas lists - this where things will go when the inspiration strikes for things you'd like to do in the future. Check on these as part of your weekly review - maybe the time is now for something and exciting!

Jake likes to do step one and then step two and three separately, since they require a different mindset - one is a more administrative kind, the other a more strategic and visionary one.

Making Sure You Actually Do It

As with everything else, habituation is very powerful (maybe necessary) to get this done week by week. Pick the time and day that makes sense in your life. This could be a great time to put some great work music on, or even go to a nice cafe (just don't tell me about it).

I like pleasant company, so I've got a running weekly appointment with my buddy Nick Hazelton the Anarcho-Yakitalist where we do a large part of this process together. This has been by far the most successful approach that I took and it made not missing weeks really easy.

You can get some inspiration on how different people do this by looking up the early episode of the Getting Things Done Virtual Study Group podcast.

Not Just Weekly

Weekly reviews aren't meant to cover everything. Different intervals make sense for different parts of your life.

Consider including a quick morning recap into your start of the day where you overview what you can accomplish today (if you are going to the city, check to see everything you need to get done there etc.) and pick out the most important tasks of the day (three is a popular number).

Jake's and I both do financial reviews on a monthly basis - might as well have that in your system too! I also have month plans, prepared near the end of the month for the next one.

Yearly reviews are also a very powerful tool for big picture overview. Even the dreaded New Year's resolutions are a form of recurring review.

Better Tools

There's always a risk when adopting something more complicated. In Jake's own words:

"when you feel you can trust them" (19s)

That said, there comes a time when you want something more organized and efficient than a simple notebook or note capturing software. In some cases, it's about learning to use what you have better, other times it's about learning about something entirely new.

Paper-based

I'm not a big fan of paper (my handwriting comes out pre-encrypted) but many prefer the simplicity, ease of use, and even elegance that comes with a physical, paper-based system.

Probably the biggest downside of simple using a notebook is that is very hard to quickly and easily overview what's going on. Notebooks are designed to be used in a linear way, start to finish, where a good productivity system is more like Lego.

Inbox 0

Index Cards

...to the rescue! They have been and are used to great effect - they're easy to add in or discard, they are sturdy enough to written on almost anywhere. If you don't mind a little bulk, consider transitioning your capture system to them.

Hipster PDA Bullet Journal

On the other hand, bullet journals solve the problem of notes being lost in a notebook by implementing a very clever system of transfer and review and push the medium beyond what I though was possible:

Digital

Digital has some strong arguments for it too. Most people will have a smartphone on them at all times, whereas carrying paper has to be habituated. Your data in cloud is very unlikely to get lost, get wet or burned down.

The truly powerful benefits get unlocked with more learning though (and that's a rabbit hole engineer-minded know all too well ;) )

#call #Nick about the #yaks when I'm #sad

People who try contextual lists rarely go back. It's really, really convenient to be able to look with one click at everything you want to do:

• At a certain time (eg. everything I want to get done tomorrow)
• At a certain place ( eg. when in Rome, ask for their to-do lists)
• With a certain tool (eg. list of annoying neighbours when I'm driving my monster truck)
• With a certain person (eg. everything I need to talk about with a coaching client)
• In a certain mood (eg. things I can still make happen when low on energy after work) etc.

The problem is, I don't want to copy and paste my yak consolation call idea on 5 different lists, digitally or otherwise.

That's where something like Evernote's tagging system comes into play. I can take a single note, and add any number of contextual tags to it.

Feeling better already!

I got this idea from The Secret Weapon website. Brett Veinotte at School Sucks has also talked about his Evernote system.

And Finally: All Singing, All Dancing

If you are ready to take the leap, you could go all out and just purchase and learn to use a tool such as Omnifocus (Mac/iOS) or alternatives, such as MyLifeOrganized (Win/Mac/Android/iOS).

These tools can be quite overwhelming, but have a very wide range of features, which you can see in their sales copy on their websites. If you are into systems building, you will probably really enjoy these apps.

I've not yet tried these out, but Jake swears by Omnifocus.

Continue With

If you want a review of the basics of productivity as a laid out in conversation with Jake, you can choose to listen to p, or the audio-enhanced article based on it.

David Allen is the creator of Getting Things Done, and also of Ready For Anything and Making It All Work. Jake recommends all three of these for further reading. Another book recommended by Jake is Manage Your Day to Day, as well as the Power of Less as a counterpoint to Getting Things Done.

And of course, if you haven't already, see Jake's own The Voluntary Life podcast for concise, high value productivity. He'll teach you more in 20 minutes than others will in hours.

It's All In Your Hands

If you've been hitting roadblocks with running a consistent productivity system, this is your opportunity to make it better. Cycles in life are natural, but having a system see you through them makes the downturns a lot more manageable - even enjoyable?

I've found that the hardest times are not when I'm not creating as much as I'd like to, but when I lose my sense of being in control of my life. A productivity system that sticks with you even in the difficult times will help you take advantage of lulls, and turn them into great opportunities to relax and recreate without panic. If you take Jake's advice, you can improve what you are doing out of a desire for more efficiency and impact and also give a loving, caring gift to the future you that might need a little bit more help when the going gets rough.

Sometimes people tell me: "Philip, it's all fine for you, but you can't do this stuff with a family and car based culture". That makes a lot of sense to me: in many ways, being a single, young person is the easiest way to keep costs on the low end.That is why I was very happy to ask Nicola, a listener who called in about his story on how he biked and lived in his tent in backyards to travel Europe to tell me more on how he, as a married man with a child, living in the sometimes less than hospitable of Montreal, Canada, find ways to work towards financial independence.

Housing and transport are the two biggest expenses in a US household, and that is what came up in our discussion too.

Transport

Nicola has chosen to live within walking distance of his job, grocery store and daycare. He estimates that he walks about 10 km (6.2 miles) each day, which he finds a pleasurable range. Even in Montreal's -20 °C (-2 °F) winter days, all it takes is a good jacket.

In the summer, he uses a local bike share, costing him 55 USD/season - this way he doesn't have to worry about maintenance and security. When he needs some extra range, he'll use public transport or an occasional car share in the late evenings - a more efficient system than individual car ownership, which sometimes means cars stay idle for 95% of their lifetime.

With these strategies, he manages to meet his transport needs without owning a car, for a fraction of the cost.

Housing

Nicola spends about a third of his income on housing, while staying in a central location. His philosophy: he sticks to the old way of looking at space, and thus has a much smaller place than is the standard. Many houses built at the turn of the century that were meant for families with five children or more are now occupied by couples with no children, or one child.

He also rents - he's seen many renovation costs go out of control, with expensive upgrades in our one area making spilling over into other rooms just to maintain a uniform look.

So far, he's gotten no comments about his house. :)

More Nicola

Nicola Berube is a French language journalist for La Presse in Canada, and is working towards bridging the English and French personal finance worlds, for instance with his interview of Mr. Money Moustache.

Please consider supporting the show at valiantgrowth.com/support

Imagine that you have a magic marker. It looks like the usual whiteboard companion, but it has secret that only you know about. You see, with this marker, you can go into any store, pick any item off the shelf, and write your own price on it. And when you go to the checkout, they accept your price, no matter what it is, and everybody walks away happy.

Where can you get this magic marker? You already own it! It's called creativity. It's also called adventurousness. Or flexibility. With those tools, you can name your own price for almost anything, especially travel.

In this episode we are talking about a great strategy for frugal travel for the bold and time-rich.

Travel is a prominent goal for most people in the personal development community. And while travel in itself isn't personal development, many people have found the change in surroundings to be a powerful stimulant of creativity, finding new angles on old problems, inspiration and introspection. That is why it's an important topic for Valiant Growth - especially how do it in a way that is light on your finances. Burning through your savings can take the fun out of a lot of things, travel included. I've talked previously about my own story of hitchhiking through Europe, both as part of an interview on Radical Personal Finance (which went into a lot more strategies, and has been released just before this episode on the feed) and also in episode 32 of Valiant Growth.

At the end of that episode, I invited listeners to get in touch if the have an interesting and informative travel story to tell. That's the offer that Nicolas, a listener and supporter of the show has taken on and he's got a strategy that I'm convinced many of you will find quite appealing.

Nicola has taken upon himself to travel in South-Western Europe with nothing but a (well-equipped) bike, his tent and good fortune on his side.

His story has left me with a lot to think about. That it's not unreasonable to say that adventure is truly a matter of creativity and daring and not of money. That we often underestimate the kindness of strangers, and thus miss out on opportunities that could really positively influence our outlook on the species in general. That for the cost of a fancier gym membership, you could do what Nicola did, and make getting in shape and staying active an organic part of your life rather than a jarring interruption of the day in a sterile, artificial environment.You may think that this kind of stuff is not something you can do, that there's no way you could take the brake, or convince your family, or bike the distance. To that I say - it's up to you. If this sounds like an adventure worth remembering, you can make it happen.

If you have any questions on the subject, please post them in the comments section of this episode at valiantgrowth.com/48 - Nicola assured me that he'd be very happy to give you some pointers to get you on the road! I was also interested to hear Nicola's tactics for staying frugal given his different life station and circumstances - that will be the subject of our next episode.

I've started releasing guest appearances I've made on other podcasts. The first one is an interview with Joshua Sheats on Radical Personal Finance about hitchhiking and budget travel in general. I share my experiences and we both go in depth on tactics around hitchhiking, housing, transport and ultralight backpacking. Here are Joshua's show notes:

Do you wish to set out and travel but feel like you lack the money? Well, what if you did it anyway and just adjusted your style of travel to fit a more modest budget?

My guest today is long-time listener of the show, Philip Frey. A few years ago he did exactly that.

He set out across Europe with a schoolmate and they managed to cobble together a very fun trip on a very modest budget!

In today's show we discuss Philip's experiences and advice for how to replicate a trip like his.

I also share some of my tips and ideas for how I would approach a trip like this for myself.

Enjoy the show!

Joshua

• Philip's website: http://www.valiantgrowth.com/
• A stand-alone episode that Philip did on his podcast "Extreme Travel: My Story of Hitchhiking Through Europe on Under $40 a Week" http://www.valiantgrowth.com/e32/
• Also, "How to Spend $2/day on Food" http://www.valiantgrowth.com/e14/
• Steven Harris's website on "How to Keep Your Phone Charged All the Time Anywhere in the World That You Go" http://www.cellphone1234.com/
• Hitchwiki: The Hitchhiker's Guide to Hitchhiking the World http://hitchwiki.org
• Support RPF on Patreon! www.radicalpersonalfinance.com/patron

Early Retirement Extreme may be one of the four ways to quit the rat race on the surface. I think, however, that underlying ERE is a much deeper philosophy. In fact, I'd say that saving a lot of money, investing it and living of the income is a completely optional part of ERE.

What this approach has taught me is the value of resilience, independence and living a well-rounded life. Through looking at our needs (and the strategies handed to us by the mainstream to meet them) critically, we can continously uncover new, more optimal ways of life - irrespective of what of what is in our bank account/investment portfolio.

A more detailed discussion of the ERE philosophy at http://valiantgrowth.com/e30

Get Early Retirement Extreme The Book at http://valiantgrowth.com/ere

Donate to the podcast at http://valiantgrowth.com/support

On the final day of the 21 day ERE makeover (but only penultimate of the series), Jacob addresses a simplified approach to investing, called Dogs of the Dow.

Original article at http://earlyretirementextreme.com/day-21-investing-for-early-retirement.html

A more detailed discussion of the ERE philosophy at http://valiantgrowth.com/e30

Get Early Retirement Extreme The Book at http://valiantgrowth.com/ere

Donate to the podcast at http://valiantgrowth.com/support

On the final day of the 21 day ERE makeover (but only penultimate of the series), Jacob addresses a simplified approach to investing, called Dogs of the Dow.

Frugality and high-quality products are not antithetical - you just have to own classics.

Join http://forum.earlyretirementextreme.com for ERE specific advice, and http://valiantgrowth.com/community to meet fellow Valiant Growth listeners.

Original article at http://earlyretirementextreme.com/day-20-own-classics.html

A more detailed discussion of the ERE philosophy at http://valiantgrowth.com/e30

Get Early Retirement Extreme The Book at http://valiantgrowth.com/ere

Donate to the podcast at http://valiantgrowth.com/support

A TV (or insert other entertainment technology here) will cost you some money, but it will cost a lot more than that for your growth - if you aren't aware of what you are doing.

But entertainment is not the greatest threat - in fact, for many of you, it may not even be all that significant. The allure of narrow technical skills over broad life skills (personal development) can just as well cost you in terms of your long-term happiness.

Presentation on personal development (skip intro): https://youtu.be/-k8TQ5oXSUc?t=17m50s

Original article at http://earlyretirementextreme.com/day-19-getting-rid-of-your-tv-addiction.html

A more detailed discussion of the ERE philosophy at http://valiantgrowth.com/e30

Get Early Retirement Extreme The Book at http://valiantgrowth.com/ere

Donate to the podcast at http://valiantgrowth.com/support

Self-imposed constraints (a.k.a challenges) can be a great tool for accelerating your frugality, building your self-esteem, and having fun at the same time.

Original article at http://earlyretirementextreme.com/day-18-join-a-challeng.html

A more detailed discussion of the ERE philosophy at http://valiantgrowth.com/e30

Get Early Retirement Extreme The Book at http://valiantgrowth.com/ere

Donate to the podcast at http://valiantgrowth.com/support

We throw things out too easily sometimes. The good news is that you can become a handyman perhaps more easily than you'd think. And perhaps one day you can start building your own things!

Original article at http://earlyretirementextreme.com/day-17-maintaining-andrepairing-things.html

A more detailed discussion of the ERE philosophy at http://valiantgrowth.com/e30

Get Early Retirement Extreme The Book at http://valiantgrowth.com/ere

Donate to the podcast at http://valiantgrowth.com/support