Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual. Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god.

-Aristotle, Politics

To be part of a society, you need to be socialized. Random House Dictionary defines socialization as “a continuing process whereby an individual acquires a personal identity and learns the norms, values, behavior, and social skills appropriate to his or her social position.” Your family members, school teachers, and peer groups were all part of the socialization process. They let you know exactly what your “social position” was and taught you a set of values which helped you fit in with society. The process you went through is not unique to humans: all mammals are social creatures. For example, meerkat young learn by watching and mimicking adult behavior. Adult meerkats also actively teach their pups.

Unfortunately, human socialization has some unintended consequences. One of these is the seeking of external approval and applying of external goals to your life. When submit to completely, external approval and external goals start running your life. If you are to take control of your consciousness and pursue your own goals, you must first learn to break free from your rat racer values.

The Problem: Rat Racer Values

Here are the rat racer values you may want to break free from:

Money- “I want to be rich”: Falsely believing that you will be happy when you make more money. Becoming a workaholic to make more money.

Things- “I want to accumulate more things”: Falsely believing that accumulating more possessions will make you happy. Valuing things over people and experiences.

Status / Approval- “I want to be liked and fit in”: Pursuing a career path that Mom or Dad told you to go after. Working at a job you hate to pay for your family’s high consumption. Not speaking up at work when you have a good idea, for fear of getting shot down. Falsely believing that once you obtain status, people will like and respect you. Trying to “keep up with the Joneses.” Becoming popular with lots of people, but not building close relationships with individuals.

Power- “I want to dominate”: Using others only as a means to achieve your goals. Trying to one-up others, dominate conversations. Constantly pinpointing other people’s weaknesses and failures.

Each individual has their own unique set of rat racer values. Some may accentuate the value of Money, others may accentuate Approval. Some individuals may not have all of these values.

People who submit completely to these social values, and mistakenly believe that their happiness is obtained only by achieving external goals, are rat racers who never enjoy the present moments of life:

Schools, churches, and banks try to turn us into responsible citizens willing to work hard and save . . . merchants, manufacturers, and advertisers to spend our earnings on products that will produce the most profits for them . . . gamblers, pimps, and drug dealers promise rewards for easy dissipation- provided we pay. The messages are very different, but their outcome is essentially the same: they make us dependent on a social system that exploits our energies for its own purposes.

-Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow

The Solution: Take Control of Your Consciousness

To break free from rat racer values, you must seek personally-selected goals built from your personal values. Going back to Aristotle’s quote, “Society is something that precedes the individual”, isn’t seeking your own goals selfish? No. Society will actually benefit more from you pursuing your own intrinsic goals. A study done by the University of Rochester’s Human Motivation Research Group found that people whose motivation was “self-authored” exhibited more interest, excitement, and confidence, as well as greater persistence, creativity and performance than a control group who were motivated by external demands and rewards.

Read my free happiness handbook for the full solution:

Evolve Your Life Happiness Handbook
You’ve heard the advice, “Go to school, get a good job, get promoted, climb the corporate ladder, and you will eventually find happiness.” All too often, people follow this society-prescribed path to success, falsely believing that it will lead them to happiness. This mini-book teaches an alternative blueprint for happiness, based on research from numerous books and scientific studies, along with Derek’s personal experience.

photo credit: lucyb_22

Related Posts:

• Breaking Free from Social Programming
• Sustainable Happiness: How to Become Happier and Stay that Way
• Breaking Free from the Status Quo
• Using Facebook, Youtube and Twitter Too Much? Create Healthy Habits for Your Free Time
• Launched Evolve Your Life: Mini-Books For Finding Happiness

Risks of Living a Workaholic Lifestyle

For people under fifty, what is the greatest predictor of heart attacks? More potent than smoking, high blood pressure, or diabetes? It’s job satisfaction (Dossey 1992). We’ve known this for more than twenty years, and yet many of us don’t make changes when we get stuck in a toxic work environment. Career stress is the greatest health problem for working adults.

The workaholic lifestyle is becoming a bigger problem each year in the United States. According to the Bureau of Labor statistics, there are an estimated 10 million workers who average more than 60 hours per week. According to the International Labor Organization, Americans work 137 more hours per year than Japanese workers, 260 more hours per year than British workers, and 499 more hours per year than French workers (International Labor Organization 2011).

Workaholics live a very unhealthy way of life. Research shows that they have a significantly higher than average incidence of stress-related illnesses, divorce, and alcohol abuse. There has even been a support group started in the United States called Workaholics Anonymous, with over 50 meetings now taking place on a regular basis.

As further proof of the workaholic lifestyle problem, more Americans are canceling their vacations each year. According to a USA Today survey, 64 percent of Americans canceled their vacations in 2010. One third canceled their vacations due to work-related reasons, 25 percent check into work regularly while on vacation, and 58 percent feel they are more in need of a vacation than last year (Shontell 2010, September 13).

Symptoms of Living a Workaholic Lifestyle

Burnout: You may be burnt out but still continue to push on at your job. Think about lifting weights at the gym. When you push yourself beyond your ordinary work limits, and regularly seek recovery, you will grow. When you don’t allow yourself to recover, you end up getting burned out as a consequence.

Fear of losing your job: You may have a strong fear of being fired or laid off. This is related to the false belief of obtaining 100% job security. Complete job security is never a reality, and becoming a workaholic due to fear only leads to unhappiness. You aren’t changing the fact that you could still be fired or laid off. You’re just losing your free time and peace of mind.

Artificial importance: You may be addicted to your work on a psychological level. Maybe you like the feeling of importance when you become busier. Even when it means being unavailable to your friends and family. This artificial importance will only create artificial success and eventually lead to unhappiness.

Drugs mask the problem: If you rely on alcohol, marijuana or sleeping pills to calm down, you are trying to artificially create relaxation. Similarly, if you rely on stimulants such as caffeine or amphetamines, you are trying to artificially create alertness. These artificial means of relaxation and alertness are masking the bigger problem. You are overexerting yourself without recovery and living your life in a constant state of stress.

2 Approaches for Curing a Workaholic Lifestyle

Approach 1) Keep your current job, but create healthy work habits. Read my mini-book Escape the Rat Race:

Escape the Rat Race: Change Your Mind or Take the Emergency Exit
How can you escape the rat race? Should you change your job? Or can you keep it, while making smaller changes to your daily habits and ways of thinking? This mini-book explores both options, and teaches you when each is appropriate for escaping the rat race.

Approach 2) Explore options for quitting your job. Check out my mini-book Quit Your Job:

Quit Your Job: Decide When to Leave and What to Do After
How do you decide if you should quit your job or take a sabbatical? This mini-book guides you through making the decision to quit, and what to research before quitting.

Sources

• Dossey, Larry. (1992). Meaning and Medicine. Bantam.
• International Labor Organization. (2011). ILO Report. Retrieved November 10, 2011 from http://www.ilo.org
• Shontell, A. (2010). 64% Of Americans Canceled Their Vacations This Year. Business Insider. Retrieved October 24, 2011 from http://articles.businessinsider.com/2010-09-13/strategy/30034977_1_vacation-online-poll-summer

photo credit: patrickgensel

Related Posts:

• Launched Evolve Your Life: Mini-Books For Finding Happiness
• Be Miserable or Motivate Yourself- It’s Your Choice
• What Everybody Ought to Know About Quitting

Here are details for each mini-book:

Evolve Your Life Happiness Handbook
You’ve heard the advice, “Go to school, get a good job, get promoted, climb the corporate ladder, and you will eventually find happiness.” All too often, people follow this society-prescribed path to success, falsely believing that it will lead them to happiness. This mini-book teaches an alternative blueprint for happiness, based on research from numerous books and scientific studies, along with Derek’s personal experience. This mini-book is free, just enter your e-mail address at the top of this page.

Money and Happiness: Why Winning the Lottery Is Not the Answer
Are you happier when you have more money? According to happiness research, no. This mini-book teaches you how to let go of your false beliefs about money and learn research-proven ways to become happier.

Escape the Rat Race: Change Your Mind or Take the Emergency Exit
How can you escape the rat race? Should you change your job? Or can you keep it, while making smaller changes to your daily habits and ways of thinking? This mini-book explores both options, and teaches you when each is appropriate for escaping the rat race.

Your Comfort Zone: Step Outside It, Face Your Fears and Grow
How can you face your fears, take risks, and change your daily routines to grow? This mini-book teaches you how to become knowledgeable about your fears and overcome them by taking small steps outside of your comfort zone.

Modern Moonlighting: Keep Your Day Job, Make Extra Money, Do What You Love
How can you create alternative sources of income while keeping your day job? This mini-book teaches you how to start moonlighting and gain more independence from your job.

Quit Your Job: Decide When to Leave and What to Do After
How do you decide if you should quit your job or take a sabbatical? This mini-book guides you through making the decision to quit, and what to research before quitting.

Related Posts:

• Using Facebook, Youtube and Twitter Too Much? Create Healthy Habits for Your Free Time
• Socialization and How to Break Free From Rat Racer Values
• Are You a Workaholic? Be Careful… Your Job Could End Up Killing You
• How To Stop Your Suffering in the Next 5 Minutes
• 5 Great Ideas for New Year’s Resolutions

How to Prepare for Long Term Travel and Living Abroad

Why Travel Abroad?

Common Misconceptions / Excuses Not To Travel Abroad

My Favorite Books on Traveling / Vagabonding / Backpacking / Expat Life

Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel: This is the go-to book if you are considering long-term cheap travel. Travel writer Rolf Potts gives tons of useful tips for would-be long-term travelers and backpackers here.

The Art of Travel: An intelligent, philosophical take on the motivations behind travel. Not as much of a page turner as the other books I’m recommending, but still a required reading. It leaves you with a much deeper perspective on travel.

Planet Backpacker: Across Europe on a Mountain Bike & Backpacking on Through Egypt, India & Southeast Asia – Around the World: A funny, very interesting book by an American documenting his around-the-world backpacking trip. Each chapter covers his experiences in a particular country. He only ends up meeting 1-2 Americans on his entire trip around the world, most in Western Europe!

Smile When You’re Lying: Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer: This hilarious book tells travel stories that you won’t hear of in other publications. These are the travel and expat stories of a travel writer and editor who was fed-up with his stories being censored by the travel publication industry. This is his way of getting back at them. Very interesting read.

Expatriate Insights – Dissertations on International Living and Deep Comparative Culture Analyses: A very thorough analysis on living abroad, and how to get the best out of each country you live in.

How to Fund Your Trip (Savings / Online Business / Work / Volunteer)

Most people rely on savings or working abroad (ex. Teaching English, Organic Farming) to fund their travels. Others get an international experience by volunteering. Transitions Abroad is a good resource if you are planning on working or volunteering abroad.

I combine savings, eBook income, work and volunteering. I’m also using frequent flyer / hotel points that I accumulated in my consulting career and various offers (ex. credit cards ) to pay for some of my flights and gear. Check out the Art of Non-Conformity Frequent Flyer Master eBook for a how-to on getting free frequent flyer miles to use on long-term travel.

Where to Go

Check out Where to Go at Travel Independent. You will want to start with a list of places you have always wanted to go. Then determine what places you can afford. I decided on a $30 / day budget, and narrowed down my options to Central America, South America, China, India and Southeast Asia. Check out Travel Budgets For Around The World to determine where you can afford to go on your budget.

What to Do

This really depends on where you will be traveling to and how long you are staying in each area. Some people prefer to travel slowly, as it is more affordable and you get a deeper experience in each country. Others opt for moving around often, sometimes doing an around-the-world trip to see as many countries as they can in a shorter period of time. The fast travel option will be a more-touristy, less-deep experience, but if you are time-constrained or get bored easily, that is the way to go.

I prefer traveling slowly. I like to study the language and culture of the country I’m visiting. Right now I’m in South America. I started in Argentina and am making my way north. I don’t plan very much out ahead, as I don’t have a time constraint, so my travel schedule is very flexible.

Before You Leave

Check out Before You Go at Travel Independent.

Get your immunizations: Don’t wait too long, as some of these require a series of shots over a period of 1-6 months. If you are in a hurry, some can be accelerated to 21 days, such as Hep. A / Hep. B, if needed. Here are the ones I got before leaving. These are all recommended for most parts of the world on the Center for Disease Control website:

• Measles/Mumps/Rubella (MMR) vaccine
• Diphtheria/Pertussis/Tetanus (DPT) vaccine
• Poliovirus vaccine
• Hepatitis A and B
• Typhoid
• Yellow Fever

These shots were not very painful. My arms were just a little sore for a few days. Typhoid can even be taken in pill form now. Yellow Fever is the only vaccine that some countries require. I opted out of Rabies vaccine as it is $600 and is only recommended if you are a veterinarian or going to be in bat caves a lot. I also opted out of Japanese Encephalitis, as it is expensive as well and very rare (mostly in Southeast Asia, only 1 reported case of it by a U.S. citizen abroad last year). Additionally, I opted out of Malaria medication, as it has some pretty bad side effects, and I am going to be traveling for such a long time. I will be relying on bug spray instead. I might also pick up some Malaria medication if I decide to go to a region where it is more common, such as the Amazon.

Forward your snail mail to a friend or family member: Most services now offer to send your bills electronically, but for everything else, have them sent to a trusted friend or family member.

Backup Important Documents: E-mail yourself or use a service like Legacy Locker to store important documents and copies of your passport, credit cards (make sure to get the back copied too with the international lost & stolen number), and immunization records. Legacy Locker is more secure than e-mail and you can store all your online login/passwords as well. If you pass away while traveling, Legacy Locker will hand over your online assets to a beneficiary. This sounds a little morbid but it’s actually a great idea given how much of our lives we manage online.

Figure out your banking strategy abroad: I recommend you keep most of your money in separate “safe” bank account or an investment account, and don’t take the safe account debit card with you abroad. Make online transfers from that account to a separate bank account as needed. This way, if your debit card is stolen, there is no way you will be completely wiped out.

Get an international-friendly debit card and credit card: Check out Which credit and debit cards are best overseas article for details. I went with a Capital One no hassle cash rewards credit card. There is no international surcharge with this credit card, and you get cash back with every purchase. I chose a Schwab Bank Account debit card. This debit card has not ATM fee for any bank in the world (they will even refund any ATM fees charged), and has great exchange rates. Plus, their bank accounts have no low balance fee.

Dentist / eye doctor: You may want to go to the dentist before leaving if you haven’t had a recent cleaning. Also, if you wear contacts, make sure you bring enough to last you through the trip. Bring your eye glasses/contact prescriptions just in case.

Staying in touch while you’re abroad: E-mail and Facebook will let you send messages and share pictures. Google Voice and Skype make it easier than ever to stay in touch with friends and family. Check out Staying Connected Overseas with Google Voice and Skype for more details. You can even port your current cell phone number to Google Voice, and use that number for free calls and text messages in the U.S. and Canada. Or have your Google Voice number forwarded to your Skype number (Skype works with Wifi, so you can use an Ipod Touch to make calls). If you get a cell phone in the country you are visiting, you can even have your Skype number forward to your number in that country (Google Voice -> Skype -> International Cell Phone).

Travel Insurance: At the very minimum, you should have some kind of medical and evacuation insurance. This is pretty cheap. I went with World Nomads, which is recommended a lot of places including Lonely Planet guidebooks.

After You Leave

Making friends with travelers: The best way to make friends with other travelers is to stay in hostels or join a language school. In both cases, you will instantly have a new group of friends from all over the world. You may even end up traveling with them for a week weeks or longer.

Making friends with locals: The best way to make friends with locals is to find a homestay with a family. Do a Google search for “homestay” to see websites which can help you arrange this. If you join a language school, most will offer a homestay option to you. Also, sometimes you can ask the people that work at your hostel about this. For example, when I was in Salta, Argentina, I stayed at the aunt of my hostel manager’s house for one month.

Getting Burnt Out: It happens to all long-term travelers. The remedy is to change your routine. Join a volunteer program. Travel slower or faster than you normally do. If you normally stay in a hostel dorm room, try a private room for a few days.

Getting Homesick: If you are homesick, realize that it is only temporary. Adopt the mantra “this too shall pass”, and accept your feelings for what they are. Give your family a call or e-mail to let them know you miss them. Then try to keep a busier schedule for a few days so you don’t have time to dwell on your homesickness.

Disclosure: I only recommend products/services that I personally have tried and found useful. I make a small commission on some of the links above. The commission helps support this blog, so if you are interested in any of these products / services, and supporting the blog, please use the links in this blog post.

photo credit:byJoeLodge

Part of the South of the Border Series

Related Posts:

• How to Fit Everything You Own Into a Carry-On Bag
• Launching My First Profitable eBook: The Secret Ingredients
• With a Mission, But Without a Plan: How to Travel Like James Bond
• Getting Robbed in Peru (South of the Border Series)
• My Second Family In Salta, Argentina (South of the Border Series)

NYC Apartment- Before

After living in the apartment for only one year, I accumulated quite a bit of stuff. While this stuff made my apartment more comfortable during my time there, it (along with my cost of rent) hindered my ability to travel for an extended time. So I sold or donated almost everything:

NYC Apartment- After

I started selling the larger items (couch, bed, TV, TV stand, air conditioner, desk, book shelf) on Craigslist. This got very addictive and I ended up selling even more stuff on Craigslist (books, Blue Ray Player, sound system). Then I stuck a bunch of smaller electronic items on eBay (old digital camera, old PDA, bluetooth headset, iPods, etc). eBay made more money on the small electronics than I could have gotten from Craigslist. But it also has a listing and selling fee, so it made more sense to put the larger/local stuff on Craiglist (completely free). I  donated a lot of stuff (furniture, books, shoes, clothes, kitchenware) that I no longer needed to Goodwill and local thrift stores. A NYC donation service even came by my apartment to pick up some of the larger items.

Everything I Own Now Fits In A Carry-On Bag

Carry-On Backpack with Everything I Own Inside (Deuter Futura 32)

After selling or donating all of the stuff in my NYC apartment, and shipping some remaining clothes to my parents’ house, I was ready to travel. My only three rules for packing:

1) Everything needs to fit in a carry-on bag. I want to travel internationally with one carry-on bag.

2) Use technology to travel as green as possible. No bottled water or paper books. Do my own laundry.

3) When I want to, be able to write and work on my online businesses from wherever I’m at.

Useful Blog Posts and Websites for Ultralight Long-Term Travel Packing

I did a lot of research and the following blog posts / websites were the most helpful:

What To Pack (Travel Independent- very thorough, feedback from multiple backpackers)

Travel Light, Travel Anywhere: The Ultimate Light Packing List (Ridiculously Extraordinary)

How to Travel Long Term With Only Carry-On Luggage (Never Ending Voyage)

How to Travel the World with 10 Pounds or Less (The Blog Of Tim Ferriss / 4 Hour Workweek)

3 Days to Go – RTW Packing List (Living The Dream -> not minimalist like the others, but still a great resource)

After doing my research on blogs, websites and local hiking/outdoors stores, here is what I packed. I purchased some of the items specifically for traveling, and already had some of them. Yes, it looks like a lot, but everything fits in my 32 liter carry-on backpack, and I don´t buy souvenirs.

Backpacks

Guidelines: If you are traveling for an extended period of time, it’s best to pack light and use a smaller (28 – 35 liter) backpack. This will make you more mobile, and you will thank yourself for packing lighter after you’ve been traveling for a few weeks and see other backpackers struggling with their larger backpacks. You will also want to bring a smaller day pack which can fit inside the larger backpack.

Carry-On Backpack with Everything I Own Inside (Deuter Futura 32)

Deuter Futura 32: This carry-on hiking backpack fits all my gear inside. It´s very comforable and sturdy. I originally read about this backpack on Ridiculously Extraordinary (Karol Gajda). Karol has been using it for quite a while during his light international backpacking without problems. Then I read another traveling post that recommended it at Globe Troopers. I tested the Deuter Futura 32 out, along with the comparable Osprey Kestrel 32 at a local hiking store. I ended up buying the Deuter Futura 32. At the time of this post, the Deuter Futura 32 2010 model sells for $90, and the 2011 model sells for $135. The only difference I can tell between the two is that the 2011 model has different colors available. I went with the 2010 model and saved $45. Karol secures this bag with the Pacsafe 85 Anti-Theft Backpack And Bag Protector, but I opted to secure it using the PacSafe WrapSafe Adjustable Cable Lock.

Daypack- Pacsafe VentureSafe 300

Day Pack: Pacsafe VentureSafe 300: After reading about PacSafe on Karol Gajda’s blog, I became very interested in their products. They sell slashproof anti-theft bags and gear. This small day pack fits inside my larger backpack, and holds all my electronics (EEE netbook, Canon digital camera, Kindle, iPod touch). It is slashproof, the zippers can be padlocked easily, and the bag can be locked to a secure fixture easily.

Clothing

Guidelines: To keep your backpack light, pack 3 pairs max of each clothing item. Consider washing your own clothes, as it’s better for the environment and easy if you buy quick-dry clothing. Look for high-quality, fast-drying, light material. Pack for the weather you will be traveling in, and use layers to pack lighter.

Thermals, Underwear x 3, Socks x 3, Pants x 2, Long Sleeves x 2, Short Sleeves x 2, Rain Jacket

Marmot Precip Rain Jacket: Very compact rain jacket / windbreaker, can be used with layers in colder weather. It has zippers under the armits to provide some ventilation. I haven’t been in a heavy rain storm yet to test out the waterproof functionality, but as a windbreaker, I like it.

exOfficio Boxer Briefs: Their motto: “17 Countries. 6 Weeks. And one pair of underwear.” I went with three pairs since I will be traveling for a while. These are very comfortable!

Smartwool PhD Outdoor Ultra Light Mini Hiking Socks: Quick-dry socks with merino wool. I have three pairs of these. They don´t dry as fast as I thought they would… Probably the slowest drying of all my clothes.

ExOfficio Men’s Nomad Pant (Regular): Quick-dry pants. Water-resistant. Very comfortable.

ExOfficio Men’s Flexcord Pant: Quick-dry pants, a good alternative to jeans. These are a lot more compact than jeans, and look nicer than the Nomad pants. But not as many pockets. I wear these most of the days since they look better than the Nomad pants, but they get a bit warm when it´s hot outside.

Columbia Men’s Silver Ridge II Long Sleeve Shirt: I originally tried the Columbia Men’s Tamiami II Long Sleeve Shirt quick dry shirt after reading rave reviews of it on Amazon. Unfortunately,  it was way too big (I wear a medium), so I tried the Silver Ridge style instead. It is still quick-dry and sun proof, but is a much more fitted look, and I like it a lot better. I have two of these. They are very versatile as there are straps to roll up the sleeves, making it a short-sleeve for warmer weather.

ExOfficio Men’s Exo Dri Tee Shirt: Short-sleeve quick-dry shirt with sun protection.

ExOfficio Men’s Give-N-Go V-neck t shirt: I got a V-neck so I can use this as an undershirt or regular shirt.

Thermal Base Layer Top and Bottom: I have BVD brand but this brand (Duofold) looks about the same. Synthetic thermals are great for colder weather, easy to hand wash, and take up almost no room. Before leaving, I tested this base layer with a long-sleeve shirt, Marmot jacket, hat and gloves in 28 degrees fahrenheit. It was surprisingly warm and breathable.

Not pictured: I bought a second light jacket as I got too cold when I was in northern Argentina. It´s made of material similar to the North Face jackets. Very compact.

Shoes

Guidelines: You should not need more than one pair of shoes and one pair of sandals. Make sure they are high-quality. When looking for shoes, try to find a gore-tex (waterproof) hiking shoe. Do not go with a boot unless you plan on doing a lot of hiking, as it will be more bulky. When looking for sandals, try to find the kind that are made for walking longer distances, with good foot support. The sandals should also be waterproof, so you can use them instead of flip flops.

New Balance Gore-tex shoes, Keen Sandals

New Balance Men’s MW955 Walking Shoe: These a very comfortable, sturdy gore-tex waterproof hiking shoes. The best part about them is they come in 1/2 sizes and wide, so you can get a perfect fit. They worst part is they aren´t very breathable. In warm weather, my feet start to sweat with these. I really wanted to wear the Lowa Men’s Renegade II GTX Lo Hiking Shoe after hearing so many good things about them. Unfortunately, after trying two different sizes from Zappos, the Lowa shoes just didn’t seem very comfortable with my feet (I needed a half size and they didn’t have it). But even though they aren´t very breathable, overall I am very happy with the New Balance shoes. Unless you are doing a lot of intense hiking, it’s better to go with hiking shoes versus hiking boots.

Mens Keen Newport H2 Shoes: I’m very picky about my sandals, most that I have bought in the past ended up hurting my feet after a long walk. These are the best sandals I have ever owned. They are waterproof, breathable, have toe protection, and comfortable after walking in them the whole day.

Toiletry

Guidelines: Try to find multi-use items, such as soap that you can use for shampoo / body wash / washing clothes. Also, most of these items can be found anywhere you travel to, so don’t overpack.

Toiletries

Dr. Bronner’s 18-in-1 Hemp Pure-Castile Soap, Peppermint 16 fl oz (472 ml): This all-natural soap can be used for everything (body wash, shampoo, laundry, even mouthwash). It is very powerful and lasts a long time. I bought a big bottle and transferred to smaller carry-on size bottles.

Gripit Floss Holder: This is the same idea as the disposable floss “plackers”, only it holds a whole roll of floss. Using the Gripit  saves a lot of floss, and makes it easier to reach between your back teeth.

Gillette, Mach3 Turbo Shaving System, 1 system: I’ve been using this shaver for a few years now. I am also testing out the Razor Gator to use less razors. Beware of buying your razors online, apparently there are a lot of fakes being sold that don’t work as well.

All Natural Shaving Oil – Three Pack: A very smooth shave, good alternative to shaving cream. Takes up a lot less space, one small bottle provides 100 shaves!

MSR Packtowl UltraLite: Compact towel with super-absorption and fast-drying. I bought a large. The towel can also be used to dry clothes before hanging on a clothesline by rolling them around it.

MSR Packtowl Nano Lite: This towel is more compact than the UltraLite. I got a small to use as a handkerchief that I can wash out daily. It dries very fast.

Rick Steves Clothesline, White: I do my own laundry. This clothesline will be used for drying clothes. It is elastic like a bungee cord, so it could become multi-use.

I also packed 6 months of contact lenses, contact lense solution, sunglasses, small first aid kit (band-aids, neosporin, anti-diarrheal, pain relief), deodorant, nail clippers, tweezers, tooth brush, and tooth paste. I also ended up buying a different brand of Shampoo since the Dr. Bronners doesn´t work very well for that. I only use Dr. Bronners for body wash and washing my clothes.

Electronics

Guidelines: If you want to work on the road, you may need to bring a few more electronics than the average traveler. Think about how often you will be using each item and try to get by with the bare minimum. I brought an EEE Netbook, Kindle, iPod Touch, portable hard drive, and Digital Camera. While these items are not bulky (and fit inside my day pack), they do add some weight to my backpack. Also, bringing electronics  means you have to worry about securing them while traveling and storing them securely in your hostel.

Netbook, Kindle, Ipod Touch, Hard Drive, Power Travel Adaptor, Extension Cord w/USB

ASUS Eee PC 1000HE 10.1-Inch Black Netbook: I bought this netbook a year and a half ago and have no complaints. It has a 10 inch screen, 9.5 hour battery life and weights 3.2 pounds. I checked the newer model out (ASUS Eee PC 1015PED-PU17-BK 10.1-Inch Netbook) and it didn’t seem like that much of an upgrade… So I opted to upgrade the RAM on my 1000HE to 2GB, and will use it for longer before getting a new netbook. I use this carry case for my netbook, it works great and fits snug: Case Logic LNEO-10 Ultraportable Neoprene Notebook/iPad Sleeve (Black)

Western Digital My Passport Essential 500 GB USB 3.0/2.0 Portable External Hard Drive (Midnight Black): This is the smallest hard drive I could find. It will upgrade to USB 3.0, so I can keep it after I decide to upgrade my netbook. I keep travel pictures and important documents on this drive. I use TrueCrypt to encrypt any sensitive documents stored here. This way, if the hard drive is stolen, I  only have to worry about items I didn’t backup to an online service like DropBox.

Apple iPod touch 64 GB (4th Generation): I sold my iPod Classic and iPod Nano when I upgraded to this. I was interested in getting an Ipod Touch  for the Skype app and music player. World traveler blog posts at Living The Dream and AhTim provided more reasons for me to have one. I like the World Nomads Free Language Guides apps for a starter in learning a new language. I use this case for my iPod touch and really like it: Speck Rubberized PixelSkin Case for iPod touch 4G (Black)

Kindle 3G Wireless Reading Device, Free 3G + Wi-Fi, 3G Works Globally, Graphite, 6: Most of the hardcore traveling bloggers that I read about decided to ditch their paper books (including travel guides) and opted for the Kindle instead. With free 3G access in 81 countries, who could blame them? It’s so lightweight, and the screen looks just like a regular book. I sold most of my books on Craigslist and Cash4Books before upgrading to this. I’m a prolific reader, and the Kindle will allow me to continue my reading while traveling. I love it!

Canon Digital Elph Camera

Kensington 33117 International All-in-One Travel Plug Adapter: Power plug adaptor that can be used in more than 150 countries. Includes a fuse in case of a power surge.

Outlets To Go Power Strip with USB – Black: Very compact power strip with USB charger, and quite a bargain for $3. I had to crimp the ground plug a little bit to fit the Kensington Travel Plug Adaptor.

Comfort

Guidelines: These are the items that you don’t really need, but they don’t take up much space and make the trip more comfortable.

Cocoon Ripstop Travelsheet (Silk), Eye Mask, Earplugs

Cocoon RipStop Silk TravelSheet: This is a 100% silk travel sheet that you can use if no sheets are provided at a hostel, or the sheets don’t look clean. I got this brand because it is supposed to be made of stronger silk, and has a velcro side entry. It can also be used if you think there might be bed bugs. I use mine mostly for comfort… It’s so tiny that it makes sense to bring along. And if you are worried about infesting bed bugs in your bag after you use it, you can pack it inside a sealed bag.

Lewis N. Clark Comfort Eye Mask: Comes in handy as you can take a nap anywhere with these. I’ve also packed ear plugs.

Security

Guidelines: There is no stopping someone with a wire cutter, but it makes sense to take the basic precautions so your gear doesn’t get stolen.

Pacsafe Chain Lock and Wallet

Pacsafe VentureSafe 300: Slashproof day pack (picture up above with backpack).

PacSafe WrapSafe Adjustable Cable Lock: I use this cable lock to secure my backpack to a fixture in my hostel room, to make it more difficult for someone to steal it. Someone could still take it if they had wire cutters, but this makes things more difficult.

Pacsafe WalletSafe 100 Tri-Fold Travel Wallet: Slashproof travel wallet with zipper and chain to attach to belt.

I also carry an extra lock for my day pack.

Other Gear

Guidelines: I highly recommend bringing your own water bottle and water filtration system. This is better for the environment, your health, more convenient, and saves money. Also, if you are directionally-challenged, bring some sort of compass. Don’t skimp out and buy one of those cheap carabiner compasses (I tried that and they don’t work!). Get a good standalone compass, or digital compass that is built in to a watch.

Lifesaver Botle, Klean Kanteen

Lifesaver Bottle 4000 Ultra Filtration Water Bottle: The best personal water filter system on the market, launched after the Thailand tsunami and Hurricane Katrina. Gets rid of all nasty viruses / bacteria in the water. I am using this filter instead of buying bottled water. It is a little bulky (about the size of a 1 liter bottle), but was worth it for me… If I had chosen something more compact, I would’ve gotten the SteriPEN Adventurer Opti Handheld UV Water Purifier. The SteriPen is a UV purifier that is a lot smaller than the Life Saver, but requires rechargeable batteries and a charger (or solar panel). Also, the UV system is not as powerful, and requires a pre-filter. If you buy a Life Saver, you will also need to buy pre-filter replacements (to replace every 6-12 months) and optional carbon inserts (to be replaced every 250 liters of filtration).

Klean Kanteen Stainless Steel Water Bottle: If you are using a water bottle every day, stainless steel is the way to go. It’s the best water bottle choice for you (hygienic, no nasty chemicals) and the environment. The screw top on these creates a very strong seal, so you don’t have to worry about it leaking into your bag.

Timex Men’s T42761 Expedition Adventure Tech Digital Compass Watch: This is a standard watch / compass / alarm with a leather strap. It’s not flashly like some other watches, so it won’t attract unneeded attention. Simple to use versus a competing Casio model.

Alok Multi Pak: I got the larger (12 x 12) pack and a set of smaller bags. These are great for carrying anything that needs to stay waterproof. You can also use them to do laundry in and carry dirty laundry. Very handy, so many uses!

Moleskine Pocket Notebook with Travel Pen

Disclosure: I only recommend products/services that I personally have tried and found useful. I make a small commission on some of the links above. The commission helps support this blog, so if you are interested in any of these products / services, and supporting the blog, please use the links in this blog post.

Part of the South of the Border Series

Related Posts:

• How to Prepare For Long Term Travel and Living Abroad
• Launching My First Profitable eBook: The Secret Ingredients
• With a Mission, But Without a Plan: How to Travel Like James Bond
• Getting Robbed in Peru (South of the Border Series)
• My Second Family In Salta, Argentina (South of the Border Series)

Soon after quitting my job (late 2010), I launched an eBook that I had been working on: The Two Week Lucid Dreamer. I have been able to generate a small automated monthly income every month since (except the first month of tuning my Google Adsense campaign).

Five Books That Helped Me Get My eBook Right

The Four Hour Workweek

How To Launch The **** Out Of Your EBook: If you are interested in launching an eBook, this eBook is a great starting point. Yes, it’s expensive, but it was worth every penny for me… This was a daily go-to resource for me while I was planning and developing my eBook. It had the most detailed information on marketing/launching a successful eBook because it written by people that have walked the walk.

Note: The How to Launch …  eBook does not mention the eBook reader stores (Amazon Kindle Store, Apple IBookstore). A 26 year old woman made $2 million in the last year selling Kindle eBooks for only $2.99 each! eBook readers have become very popular over the last few years. If you research how to publish your eBook to these eBook reader stores before you write the ebook, you will save yourself a lot of time on formatting later. I learned this the hard way! Check out Amazon.Com Kindle Direct Publishing and Smashwords (or scroll down) for more details on formatting an eReader-friendly eBook.

Moonlighting on the Internet: This book helped me determine all the options for me to make an income with the Internet. It covered Information Products, Affiliate Marketing, eBay, E-Commerce Stores, and Blogging. Ultimately, I decided that an Information Product (eBook) was the best option for me.

Mastering Online Marketing: This book helped me get my online marketing (which has always been my weak point) right. It told me exactly how to created an automated online marketing system. Now that I know how it works, I can re-use this system for my other products.

Winning Results With Google Adwords: The first month that I started to advertise my product on Google Adwords, I lost money. This book helped me recoup that money, and tweak my campaigns into fairly automated income generators.

Services I Use To Keep My Online Business Automated

This is a comprehensive list of the services I am using to keep my online business running. There are other options for many of these (ex. ClickBank instead of eJunkie), but I went with the  most affordable service for my type of business.

ServInt (Web Hosting): For $49 / month, I keep all of my websites on a managed dedicated server here. It has been extremely reliable, and I’ve been using them since 2008. If you are only hosting one website, go with a cheaper solution (like GoDaddy web hosting). But if you have several sites, using a service like ServInt makes the most sense.

GoDaddy: All my domains are hosted here, for $12 / year each. GoDaddy has a lot of “extras” that they try to sell you on when you buy a domain. If you just pay for the domains, they are very reasonable.

Google Adwords: This is one source of prospects and customers for my eBooks. I advertise on specific Google keywords using this tool. My monthly budget for Adwords campaigns varies. I lost money when I started, but recouped it after educating myself by reading Winning Results With Google Adwords.

aWeber: My automated e-mail campaigns and e-mail lists are hosted here ($19 / month). The interface is extremely user-friendly, and I know my messages are actually getting to my readers (versus getting flagged as spam by ISPs).

e-Junkie: While my customer payments are actually taken by Paypal, e-Junkie takes care of the shopping cart and digital delivery of my information products ($10 / month).

Amazon.Com Kindle Direct Publishing: Publish your eBook here to get it on the Amazon Kindle Store. Right now Kindle is the most popular eBook reader. Amazon pays you 70% Royalty. HTML format seems to work best (you can export Word Documents to HTML), then import into the free Mobipocket software which outputs a Kindle PRC file.

Smashwords: Publish your eBook to the rest of the eBook reader stores here (Sony eReader, Apple IBookstore, etc). Smashwords pays 85% royalties if purchase is made through their site. Lots of special eBook reader formatting guidelines to follow before they will publish it. Smashwords will convert your MS Word document into other eBook reader formats.

Disclosure: I only recommend products/services that I personally have tried and found useful. I make a small commission on some of the links above. The commission helps support this blog, so if you are interested in any of these products / services, and supporting the blog, please use the links in this blog post.

photo credit: claude.attard.bezzina

photo credit: Tommyvos

Related Posts:

• How to Prepare For Long Term Travel and Living Abroad
• How to Fit Everything You Own Into a Carry-On Bag
• With a Mission, But Without a Plan: How to Travel Like James Bond
• Getting Robbed in Peru (South of the Border Series)
• My Second Family In Salta, Argentina (South of the Border Series)

Sushi + Mastermind Group = Raw success

Mastermind Group: A powerful alliance between people who support each other on the road to success.

Napoleon Hill formally introduced the idea of a mastermind group in his classic book Think and Grow Rich. In it, he describes a mastermind group as “The coordination of knowledge and effort of two or more people, who work toward a definite purpose, in the spirit of harmony.” Many famous entrepreneurs, such as Andrew Carnegie and Thomas Edison, were known to have their own mastermind groups, which were critical to their success. Mastermind groups bring together a synergy of energy, commitment, sharing, and brainstorming that you cannot get otherwise.

For several weeks now, my coworkers and I have held weekly mastermind group meetings over our lunch break. This has been a great way for each of us to stay accountable to our personal goals, help each other by sharing knowledge and brainstorming, and share our personal networks.

5 Reasons to Start a Mastermind Group Over Your Lunch Break at Work

1) It’s like having your own personal board of directors

In a mastermind group, the agenda belongs to the group, but each person’s participation is key. Your peers give you feedback, help you brainstorm new possibilities, and set up an accountability system that keeps you focused and on track. You create a community of supportive colleagues who will brainstorm with you to move the group to new heights. You gain tremendous insights, which can help improve your business and personal life. In a real way, your mastermind group is like having an objective board of directors.

-Joe Vitale and Bill Hibbler, Meet and Grow Rich

Being part of a mastermind group is like having your own board of directors. After meeting once a week over lunch, you’ll notice that you have a lot less trial and error due to running new ideas by your mastermind group beforehand.

Example from my group: I discussed what I eventually wanted to do with my side business to other group members- I received a couple great ideas I hadn’t thought of, implemented one of them, and it has helped out tremendously.

2) Knowledge sharing and The Wisdom of Crowds

James Surowiecki explains that the group has a larger intelligence than any individual member:

If you can assemble a diverse group of people who possess varying degrees of knowledge and insight, you’re better off entrusting it with major decisions rather than leaving them in the hands of one or two people, no matter how smart those people are.

-James Surowiecki, The Wisdom of Crowds

Your group will have knowledge and experience in different fields, allowing you to overcome your lack of knowledge in certain areas. Likewise, you will be able to help other group members in areas where you are an expert.

Example from my group: One member of my mastermind group has a very successful real estate side business. Another member just moved, and is considering renting out his old house. There have been significant benefits to information sharing between these two members.

3) Staying accountable to your goals

This is one of the best reasons for starting a mastermind group at work. During each meeting, you give yourself a homework assignment. The group members can keep you accountable to your homework assignment, along with your long-term goals, such as losing weight, starting a new business, writing a book, or getting into the real estate market.

4) Sharing personal networks

Mastermind groups multiply the size of your personal network.

Example: One group member might mention that they are interested in writing a novel, but don’t know how to get it published. Another member has a cousin that recently had their book published, and offers his cousin’s contact information.

5) Holding the group meetings over lunch is a time saver

By having a mastermind group at work over lunch break, you are not spending your time meeting during an evening or weekend. This also keeps the meetings more consistent.

These five reasons alone aren’t enough to get you started- based on my own experience, you’ll need these 4 tips to help you start your own mastermind group at work:

A small mastermind group (3-4 members) is more manageable for meeting over lunch breaks

4 Tips for Starting a Mastermind Group at Work

1) Choose a diverse group of individuals

Compared to a normal mastermind group, the individuals that join one at work will be less diverse. Diversity is one of the keys to success in any mastermind group, so try to find people with different ages, different backgrounds, and different personality styles. If possible, each member should be from a different department or have a different area of expertise at work.

2) Choose individuals you can trust

Trust is fundamental to the success of any mastermind group. Coworkers may become worried that you will share their personal goals with other coworkers, or use it against them in the workplace. Make sure you choose group members that trust each other, and set ground rules beforehand that you won’t talk about each other’s goals with others outside of the group.

3) Meet once per week, and let each person talk for 15 minutes

Meet over lunch at the same time each week- block the time off on your calendar. Choose a group coordinator, who will be in charge of making sure each person gets 15 minutes to discuss what’s on their mind, and get feedback from other members. The group coordinator should also record each person’s goals, to keep the person accountable at the next meeting.

4) Keep the size of the group small

Normal mastermind groups ideally have 5-6 members. But mastermind groups at work need to be half that size. If you are meeting over lunch break, and each person is talking for 15 minutes, then the group should be no larger than 3-4 people. My group currently has three members. Any more than that, and we would be rushed to discuss each member’s goals.

photo credit: yatenkaiouh, Ikhlasul Amal

Related Posts:

• How Does The Law of Attraction Explain The Holocaust?
• How Significant Changes in Your Routine Can Threaten Your Daily Positive Habits
• Extreme Failing: Learning from the Pros
• Defeat the Multitasking Virus: The Power of Finishing 2 Mission-Critical Tasks Each Day
• The Power of Doing What You Love (versus Doing What You Think Will Make You Money)