(Editor’s note: this is not exactly a Productivity post, more of a personal update. Skip it if you like, or if you want to learn about the next exciting chapter in this journey we call life, read on…)

I have been Tweeting about “John Galt” quite a bit recently, as the lovely bride and I have been preparing to simplify our lives and try something new. As of 31 October, and for the foreseeable future, we no longer have a permanent physical address.

Are you guys crazy!?!?

That has been the typical response from many of our friends, family, and associates over the past three weeks. No, we are not crazy. We just have not found the right place to settle down, nor has the lovely bride found just the right job. We have enjoyed living in Maine for the last year, but it just did not work out the way we had planned.

So we have packed up our belongings, keeping only the most important and meaningful things, and put nearly everything in storage. The “stuff” that we did not really need we gave to charity, or to friends. This includes a lot of books that we’ll never read again, clothes we never wear, and a bunch of mis-matched furniture that we have accumulated over the years. It is quite remarkable how much “stuff” you can collect.

It’s time to focus on what is important

We have both been so busy with work and our “careers” that we have not really taken any time to enjoy life and each others’ company. We have not taken an actual “vacation” from work where we spent any meaningful time together. In fact, for the three years that we’ve been married we have bounced from city to city looking for a place to call “home”, made nerve-wracking trips across the country to be with family at Christmas, and had more jobs than I care to think about.

That is all over now.

We were frequently talking and fantasizing about where we would like to retire and how we are going to get there. What we were not been thinking about was how we wanted to live now. Three weeks ago the lovely bride saw this list of tips for achieving your personal success. Most, if not all, of these maxims are things that I have written about before, individually. I have even spoken to my lovely bride about these concepts when she was in a bad mood about her job, her boss, or a client. Suddenly they were all collected in one place:

1. It’s okay to fail.
2. Don’t be afraid to start.
3. Dare to dream big.
4. Don’t be afraid to try something new.
5. Take things one step at a time.
6. Keep moving forward.
7. The only thing that can stop you is you.

~Pat Williams

The last tip is the one that tipped the scales. The only thing that can stop you is you. We now have an opportunity to do something we have always wanted to do: live an exciting life!

Road Trip!

For the next three months we are going to take an extended trip around the country. We are going to load up the family truckster and go visit some friends and family in Connecticut, Ohio, Illinois and Wisconsin. The trip coincides nicely with my sister’s wedding on Thanksgiving weekend (in WI), and a get-together with my college buddies in Chicago the first week of December.

After that, who knows? We may point the truckster West and take a look at parts of the country that neither of us have been before. No matter what happens it is going to be exciting, educational, and a lot of fun. We will be posting to a blog about this trip, and to my Utterli account via camera-phone. This blog will go on as usual, as will my new consulting biz, as we have all of the equipment that we need to go mobile and stay online.

I am looking forward to sharing this journey with you.

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