Rat Race Or Not, You Are Your Own Boss

I think that we follow other people for guidance. In my opinion this is right to do if we filter each information that we receive by keeping what’s working and getting rid of the rest. So, in my opinion, it is not bad to follow other peoples to learn new things, as long as we test them.

I totally agree with what you are saying here. Your actions do influence the direction your life takes. I see a lot of my family members complaining about their current financial situation, yet see them do nothing about it. Only you can make the most of your own life, people need to realise that.

Oh, btw Your e-book Cloud Living is Amazing!!! Great work!

Hey Glen!
Great post man:) It’s so true that initially when learning about this stuff you become a fan, a sheep, and you blindly look for every next nugget of info.

However, I think it’s part of the learning process, and once you realise this, that is the time when you have truly learnt something from all the guru’s and masters, and are well on your way to becoming one yourself!

Right now, I have the same desire to travel the world and have adventures. Maybe later I will find somewhere to settle down, but until then, the spirit of adventure stands strong

Ciaociao!

Aloha Glen,

nice post. I also like being my own boss. I like laying out my life in a way that it is only mine and in some port those whom I love enough to share my life with. It shouldn’t be my boss’. However, if anyone chose this path, our world would end up in anarchy. Being your own boss is good for some people, but not everyone. If everyone would live in the clouds, than imagine.. how could we travel by air (definitely not jumping from cloud to cloud), what would we eat (home-grown vegetables and home-bade bread is a nice dream to have.. however quite unreachable for many), and so on.

At a given moment, you have to stand tall, and even if you have an employer, a leader who sometimes tells you what to do, you have to be your own boss, and you have to have your own opinion. That’s possible to do even if you’re putting resistors on motherboards in a hidden Taiwanese factory.

Cloud living is greeeeaaat. But not for everyone. And cloud living is just one kind of being your own boss. Whatever you do, wherever you are: you are your own boss.

Had to be said, Glen. Mature people speak from their experience, they don’t repeat other people’s words.

Given my ideological past, I have seen a lot of fanboys, to the point that I can’t stand them anymore.

Guru High is a great expression .

A very interesting question – what would Eckhart Tolle think about porn?

I suppose he would think nothing.

Glen, you really didn’t have to go through all that trouble just to justify watching porn.

It all comes down to personal responsibility. Other people can influence our thoughts and our lives for good or for ill, but at the end of the day, we’re each responsible for what we do with our time, energy, and resources.

I laughed when I read about the Guru High – it’s so true. I think it’s a little like living vicariously through someone you admire. It’s tempting, fun, and addictive – but it won’t improve you and your life.

Very timely post as always Glen. I like to think that I have full responsibility for everything happening in my life, sure, some things I can not change, but my attitude and the way I approach life situations make all the difference so actually I am the one in control from my subjective point of view..

Choices! Will I take next “guru fix” or will I practice, take those necessary actions..that yield results! Sometimes the “guru fix” turns into that amazing and precious “aaaha moment” which makes it all worthwhile but sometimes it is just another form of procrastination that takes me further away from my dreams.

Knowing that time is limited and I am the only one in charge & responsible helps me do the right thing and focus my actions better although I need reminders now and then..

Did you make up the “guru high” phrase or hear it somewhere else?

I love it man… I suffer from that all the freakin’ time!

Awesome read…

Great point brought up here, and very appropriate to include Tolle and Dwoskin in this article. One of the things I see in Sedona Method coaching is clients will do a great deal of releasing in sessions under facilitation, but won’t do much, if any, on their own in everyday life. This is not everyone mind you, but there is a significant percentage of people who do this. My thought is that as you mentioned, a large number of people believe they are somehow subordinate.

The greatest benefits one can achieve come from taking what they learn in ebooks and coaching sessions and finding a practical fit in their daily life when they are away from those resources. Instead of imagining yourself to be on some sub-tier level from the resource, know that there are no tiers!

Great post, Glen!

I certainly agree with you. i hate to see people follow others blindlessly. Sure, they are credible, but sometimes, what works for them might not work for others.

-Karlil

The real question is, does Glen approve of porn?

Tolle and Porn, what a combo! I really loved your post Glen. I guess it all comes down to what we can control and what we can. It is much easier to control ourselves than it is to control the life around us. Life has a life of it’s own.

And speaking of that “guru high”…I know exactly what you mean. What a perfect phrase for that!

Thanks for the great read!
Dayne

The whole notion that there might be another way to make a living, and therefore, to live, entered my mind after reading The Four Hour Work Week last year. However, I realized that I had spent the last ten months in search of the next “Guru High” without actually taking action. Or at least that is, any action other than reading about what to do. I subscribed to blogs, read books, even signed up for membership sites that promised to teach me the secrets of the internet marketing universe (for $97 per month, of course). While it was great to increase my knowledge and awareness in these ways, at the end of the day, I still had no tangible business.

I then bought Cloud Living about two weeks ago, and I now have my first affiliate mini-site up and running, and it’s ranked on the first page of Google. I still have some work to do to get my rank (and therefore) traffic up higher, but thanks to Cloud Living, I know how to go about that, and have confidence that I will.

I’ve tried to put my finger on what it is about Cloud Living that broke me out of my pattern of just reading about online business into actually doing it. Part of it is that it provides detailed steps to take all along the way. Part of it is that Glen is very transparent, and you don’t feel he’s holding back any important details. But I think for me, the difference was that he gives permission to be imperfect, and emphasizes that action is more important than getting everything perfectly right before you even get started. Having done so, I now know that the “Action High” feels even better than the “Guru High”.

*reads post* Ah that is some good guru. I got to try the 100 sit-ups.

Good to see you posting again, I hope your other projects are doing well too.

Does this mean you won’t be my Guru anymore? Hmm…

I guess if we say the word PORN enough times in your comments, you’ll get a zillion page views today, right? porn, porn, porn, porn, porn?

Oh, how about this combo… PORN GURU.

Glen,
Really interesting post. I love the phrase “guru high” that so perfectly captures what so many are seeking. Interestingly, I just posted an article called “An Explanation Of Karma” that supports your assertion that “your current life situation is based on nothing more than the actions you’ve taken throughout life” and takes it to the nth degree. You might find it interesting (or, at the very least, controversial).

Best,
Alex

I think Eckhart Tolle’s work might lend itself to pursuing the Guru High because his writing doesn’t have much substance. I read a bit of New Earth and he kept extolling the virtues of egolessness while simultaneously alluding to how great he was. I’m also skeptical of any “guru” that makes blanket concrete statements of any kind and he’s quite fond of those.

It’s that sort of statement that encourages blind followers. True wisdom is a more subtle shift to awareness that informs decisions rather than a radical change just to be doing something different.

FWIW I’m still processing the Tao Te Ching, but one of the ideas there is that the Master will step back so that people trust themselves. She never insists on control.

What a great way of thinking about life! It’s so, so true that we are our own bosses, even when we’re working in an environment where we have a boss. I’ve never thought about it this way before and I love it. Great post!

Awesome post Glen. I completely agree that the key to all of it is taking action. I can imagine alot of people would do something like buy cloud living and say “well, this doesn’t work” and it would be those who have taken no action. I think that it’s also important to be your own guru. Part of why I started a personal development blog was because I realized you learn so much yourself in the process of teaching other people. I’ve learned so many different things by writing on The Skool of Life. I’ve already implemented many of the blogging recommendations in Cloud living, and I’ve built my first affiliate site and now I’m in the process of building the backlinks.

Hey Glen,

Recently someone told me that it is idealistic to think that he can work for himself because he have mouths to feed. But if he did not even bother to try to do something about it, he will stay stuck forever in that situation. Inaction = same result. Isn’t that true?

Vincent

Action is everything, but a little luck helps too.

I have a phrase that I use often, “You have to be in business to do business.” What that means is that the greatest idea and best plans mean nothing until they are implemented.

When you start doing, living and breathing your idea, you quickly find many other opportunities and people to support you. People who do a lot create a lot of luck for themselves. Browsing websites and wishing you were rich is not going to make it so. Get off your ass and build something great.

I just read a blog at Psychology Today http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/predictably-irrational/200907/the-value-advice by Dan Ariely that discussed research that demonstrated that people often abandon their decision making ability when faced with the advice of an expert.

Sometimes it is more easy for some people to avoid tough decisions by having someone tell them what to do.

Hey Glen,

Your post made me realize something big. You say that your life is based on the actions you take. This simple thought is so powerful, but it made me realize that the actions you take are based on the beliefs you hold. For example, if you believe you aren’t good enough, you won’t try to achieve big goals. Your core beliefs shape the actions that you take, so if you don’t have positive or worthy beliefs to base your actions on, you will be constantly taking the wrong actions. Or not enough action. Thanks for my ah-ha moment for the day.

I like the concept of a guru high… it’s funny how personal development can be like a drug. But, it’s an addiction that I’m okay with.

Another good post

oke oke…. u got me

I so agree with your post Glen. (Loved Lisis comment too!) I too have to sift through what I read and learn and then decide what would work and what wouldn’t. I must say though, that I too like that genre of reading and then afterward tend to use them as a reference from time to time. For the most part, its alright to hear what someone else has to offer, but you need to filter it a bit. If your head, heart or your gut don’t feel the same, (what you think and what you are feeling) don’t do it. You could be sending mixed messages through your body. This too is not healthy. After all, you do want to be able to enjoy the life you are helping to create for yourself.

Job well done with “Cloud Living” too.

Great post Glen, love your stuff.

However, I totally disagree with your fitness advice!

Sit-ups do not give people flat stomachs. The burning sensation you feel when doing sit-ups is NOT fat burning, it is lactic acid filling your muscles. You actually burn very little fat from doing sit-ups. This is why they are useless for improving an overweight person’s physique. At best, sit-ups will strengthen your abdominal muscles, but what good is that if your muscles are burried under a mountain of fat?

To get a flat stomach, there’s one thing you must do: burn more calories than you consume. It’s as simple as that. If your body is burning more calories than you’re consuming, then your body is burning your fat stores to make up the difference. This is how people become slimmer. You can achieve this by restricing your caloric intake, and (even better) by doing high-intensity exercise such as running or weight-training. There is no other way to do it, apart from liposuction

Sorry Glen, but the 100 sit-ups thing is a load of baloney!

“around 15 blogs that make it on my RSS Reader” – Can you share the list with us?