July 16th, 2010

Why You Should Drop Everything and Travel

Ahhhh. Travel. A luxury that was once only reserved for the wealthy. While international travel is becoming increasingly cheaper by the year, many people still put it off. They say things like, “I can’t travel. I don’t have the money” or “There’s no way I could get the time off of work” or even the cringe-worthy “I’ll travel when I retire”

You know when the best time to travel is? Now.

Three years ago, I ditched my law school dreams and headed to Taiwan to teach English. People asked me, “Why Taiwan?” or said, “Wow. I wish I could do that”. I would just laugh because not only did have no idea why I was doing it (I just HAD to) but it was also something that ANYONE can do. Not only CAN anyone do it but I think they SHOULD.

There are so many reasons to drop everything right now and travel. I’m going to give you what I think are the best reasons. However, once you do actually drop everything and go for it, you’ll find that your reasons will differ greatly from mine.

1. “It’s the economy stupid”.

Alright, so I hate that quote. But seriously, the recession IS a good reason to travel. You might think, but I’m broke and how do I get the money to travel? International travel is a great way to leverage the money that you do have (or can earn) to buy you a better lifestyle than you have at home.

For example, in Taiwan I had a furnished studio apartment. It was small and Spartan. It had two queen sized beds pushed together in the bedroom. I had a small balcony and an amazing view of the mountains just outside Taichung. For this, I paid $300 USD. AND I found out later that I was actually get “ripped off” with the price.

Now that I’m back in California, I can’t even find a ROOM for $300 USD.

Now, if you can either find a job abroad or find a way to have cash flow coming in from another source then you’re well on the way to traveling in countries with low cost of living. Look at Asia first for the sweetest deals. But I’ve also heard great things about Central and South America.

2. I’ve got friends (bros?) in different country codes.

Traveling has allowed me to meet the most amazing people on Earth. Not only that but I can literally pick a destination off a map at random and I either know someone who lives there now or I know someone who has traveled there and can give me pointers. That’s invaluable. Relationships are really the key to be happy and successful. When you travel, you meet and network with people who are like-minded, adventurous, and just plain fun. These are the people that you want to know.

3. Experience AKA It makes you cool

Experience is a funny concept. All it means is that you’ve done __________ for a decent amount of time to warrant some type of wisdom.

Travel doesn’t just give you travel wisdom. Travel, international travel in particular, gives you a global knowledge that sets you apart from the pack.

So many people are struggling to find jobs in this economy. You know what can give your resume that extra edge that it may need? Travel. Always put any international travel longer than 1 or 2 months on your resume. Even better if you gained work or volunteer experience. This tells your employer that you’re well-rounded, willing to take risks, and that you can deal with unfamiliar situations. Or, at the very least, it gives you something interesting to talk with your interviewee about. They might remember you just based on that crazy story you told about being stuck on a bus in Vietnam for 12 hours.

These are just a few of the reasons that I give my friends when they whine to me about how they can’t travel.

However, I think the biggest reason to drop everything and travel depends entirely on YOU. What do you dream about? What excites you? What makes you motivated? If you know what your passions are then you should get out there and do them. However, if you’re unsure about any of these things then you probably just need to get out of your comfort zone. You may have become complacent and happy with the day-to-day humdrum existence that so many of us fall into. International long-term travel IS the cure. It will push you directly out of your comfort zone and make you question just about everything. It’s good for the soul.

If you’ve been putting off that dream trip, I urge to make plans TODAY. Just go for it. If you think you CAN’T then talk to me and we’ll figure out how you CAN. I assure you that you CAN. And when get back, drop me a line and we’ll trade stories.

February 28th, 2010

The Millennial Generation: Gen Y’s greatest social impact

“What is the greatest social impact your generation has made so far and what do you predict for the future? The impact could be in the area of politics, technology, religion, the arts etc.” – Leo Briones

Wikipedia defines my generation as Generation Y or the Millennial Generation. We’re the successors of Generation X, the tech savvy resilient bunch that is said to be born from 1977 – 1998 or so.

We’ve grown up in an age where the Internet has played a major role on our development. We are the “Napster” generation where we expect things, like the music industry, to work different than they did in the past. I mean, really, it’s the new millennium, isn’t it?

We witnessed 9/11 and the changing political climate that followed. We’re staging anti-war protests, we’re fighting for our right to love, we’re voting and we’re dying.

Some call us the “Trophy Generation” as we expect lots of positive feedback and ample high-fives. We grew up in the “no one loses” era of sports and competition. We’re finding our bosses hard-line stances harder and harder to swallow. We’re rejecting the idea that hard work alone will guarantee anyone success.

So far, our biggest social impact has been our ability to change. We’ve seen huge changes during our time on earth and we’ve adapted accordingly. We will be known as the generation who spawned such social networking giants as Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter. We see opportunities for change and jumped on them like no other generation has in the past.

However, our legacy, will be so much more than just tweets, and #hashtags, and wall posts, or even high fives and slaps on the back.

We’re here for our revolution. We’re here to change what so desperately needs to be changed. We’re here because we believe in our own imaginations more than any other generation has believed.

In this time of economic crisis, we’re seeing that the deferred life-plans of the past are no longer relevant. We can no longer depend on getting a job out of college, working for 50 years and then retiring. There are no promises of the American dream that we grew up believing in.

However, we are choosing to create our own American dream instead. We are changing the status-quo. We’re giving a big high-five to entrepreneurialism, to lifestyle design, to vagabonding and extended travel, to volunteerism, to working abroad, to learning new languages, to accepting new cultures, and most of all; to accepting ourselves for the great creators that we are.

We’re exercising our right to quit jobs that suck and make us depressed. We’re building our empires. We’re unwavering in our resolve to be different and to adapt quicker than the last generation. We’re opening our minds and our hearts.

Our biggest impact on the world will be political, social, technological, artistic, revolutionary, global, and really damn fun too.

Our biggest impact will be that of passion. We’re going to bring passion back into a world where it has taken a backseat to being realistic. We’re not thinking about the future, we’re thinking about NOW. We’re not unemployed, we’re funemployed. We’re not putting off our dreams, we’re living them now. We’re putting passion back into the American dream and because of that, we will bring that dream alive with a millennial kind of spirit that has never been witnessed before.

Hey, I’ll give a high-five to that. Just don’t leave me hanging.

February 24th, 2010

Generation Y and a sense of entitlement

I was recently asked, “Do you think Generation Y has a sense of entitlement?”

I was born in 1983 so I fit the bill for Gen Y. While I agree that people in my generation do feel like they can do ANYTHING and that they deserve the best that the world has to offer, I don’t think that labeling it a “sense of entitlement” is the correct spin to put on it.

I prefer to think of it as an imagination revolution. Gen Y-ers are realizing that their dreams can really come true. We don’t think that the world owes something but we DO think that the world has more to offer than previous generations.

Look at how far we’ve come in the last 20 years. The Internet, overcoming the Cold War, Web 2.0, 9/11, a biracial president, and what’s next? Why shouldn’t we feel like life has more to offer us than ever before? Why shouldn’t we look to all the possibilities of the world with wonder and excitement and ask, “What’s next? What’s next for me? What’s next for us?”

I encourage people my age to reclaim their sense of worth. I don’t call it a sense of entitlement. Maybe that exists but I just don’t see it. It’s an imagination revolution. We’ve figured it out and we’re going places with it.

-Heidi Briones, Lifestyle Designer

February 17th, 2010

What is a lifestyle designer?

What do you mean by “lifestyle designer”? – D’An

I got the term from Tim Ferriss’, author of The Four Hour Workweek. You should definitely buy this book immediately. It WILL change your life.

A lifestyle designer is someone who decides to reject the notion of the deferred life-plan that so many subscribe to. Most people think they should go to school, get a job, work at that job until they retire, and then do whatever they want.

A lifestyle designer chooses to do what they want to do NOW. That’s right, right now. There is no reason to defer your life until you can no longer enjoy it. Why spend your healthiest years working (read: slaving) for someone else? It’s time to take control of your life and do what makes you happy now.

A lifestyle designer is time-wealthy. They may not be “rich” but they have automated some cash flow so that they can have lots of time at their disposal.

A lifestyle designer chooses to live NOW. To be more productive, have more fun, automate more income, and LIVE more.

That’s why I consider myself a lifestyle designer and I strive to be a part of this movement.

If you want to be a lifestyle designer then the first time is think about what you really want. What would you do, daily, if you have $100 million in the bank? Chances are that it’s a lot more doable than you realize. Write down exactly what you want and strive to make that happen in the next 3, 6, or 12 months. Always have a goal, set it HIGH, and stick to it.

I hope that helps you to understand more about lifestyle design. Pick up Tim’s book for more info.

-Heidi