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Celebrating Successful Women – Pretirement Style

March 8, 2012 By 1 Comment

Today is International Women’s Day – a day meant to celebrate women and their successes.  Many business women are being celebrated this week, like newly minted billionaire, Spanx Founder and Forbes cover girl Sara Blakely. Blakely is obviously gifted at making money – to the tune of 20% net on $250 million in revenue (wow). She is smart and savvy and incredibly hard working.  No one would dispute that.  But, it does leave me wondering what she had to sacrifice to get there.

The Forbes article notes that, “Blakely is on the road ‘always,’ she says.” The article also briefly touches on her husband and two year old son, “With six homes…he (her husband) and his wife often miss each other. One of them usually has in tow their 2-year-old son, Lazer…” Sounds like a career with a side of family model to me.   A valid personal choice, but perhaps not the greatest role model for entrepreneurial moms who want to be involved with raising their kids.

Today, in honour of International Women’s Day we celebrate a few moms in business who we think are incredibly successful! To us, these women are in many ways more successful than Sara Blakely.  Sure, they aren’t on any Forbes list and you may not have heard of them because they prescribe to a different definition of business success than we are typically taught to appreciate – one beyond revenue, press coverage and employee head count. These inspirational women have been willing to take risks in business and life in order to forge their own path. Along the way, they’ve proven that business success does not have to come at the expense of their families or themselves. That, to us, is true success.

 

Brooke Castillo
Brooke wrote a blog post on her life coaching school site the other day that made us throw up our hands and yell, “Hallelujah!”  For real.  This woman gets it. She knows exactly why she is in business, what she wants to get out of it and most importantly, what she is (and is not) willing to do to get there.

She understands that bigger isn’t necessarily better and that business success is about more than revenue or press coverage or employee head count.  She has a crystal clear business vision and she inspires us to strive for that kind of clarity in our businesses and lives.

Read Brooke’s inspiring post called Me Big. Business Little.

Follow Brooke at:
http://www.brookecastillo.com
https://twitter.com/#!/BrookeCastillo

 

Heather Greenwood Davis
Heather (AKA the Globetrotting Mama) is a travel writer by trade.  Last year, she embarked on a year-long trip around the world with her husband and two sons, ages 8 and 6, in tow.  They’ve been on the road for 253 days and Heather has been blogging along the way. We recently became enamored with Heather’s blog since being introduced by the fabulous Jillian Walker to posts like Good Mothers about how she struggles with mothering on her own terms, especially when it comes to decisions like taking her kids out of school for a year.  We also love her insight into the places she’s visiting and enjoy living vicariously through her with each post.

Heather inspires us because she’s an avid traveler and she’s willing to take some risks in order to provide her kids with the adventure of a lifetime!

Follow Heather at:
http://globetrottingmama.com
http://twitter.com/greenwooddavis
www.facebook.com/globetrottingmama

 

Tacey Gosling
We had the pleasure of meeting Tacey at a MomCafe event we spoke at a couple of years back.  She was the event’s photographer and was just getting started with her photography business. It was immediately evident that Tacey is one of the beautiful people, inside and out.  We were instantly drawn to her and we’re so happy we’ve kept track of her and her journey!

Tacey inspires us because she had the courage to quit her exciting, lucrative career as a crime analyst where she was the top in her field.  Why? Because she knew it wasn’t right for her.  It had taken a toll on her family and her health and she decided to do something about it. Once she quit, she didn’t immediately know what to do next.  She had the patience and courage to take the time to figure it out before moving forward. Once she established her vision, she worked tirelessly to create it.

Tacey’s contributions through her business make a difference in a way that is so needed in this world.  Her job is to make women look and feel beautiful and she does it extremely well! Tacey continually pushes the limits with her business and is a true innovator.

Follow Tacey at:
http://taceyphotography.com/blog/
https://twitter.com/#!/TaceyPhoto
https://www.facebook.com/taceyphotography

 

Eva Hamori
Eva’s story started one day in White Rock, BC when she turned to her husband and asked, “What if we had one year left to live? What would we do?” His answer (and hers)? Slow down, spend time with their young family, and move to more days of sunshine.

From there, they decided to sell everything, pack up and move the family to Southern France to make a go of a family business that would allow them to maximize their time together. Eva is unique in her openness and courage to change basically everything about her and her family’s life. That really inspires us, as well as her resiliency and adaptability as she figures out her new life living abroad.

In five months the Hamoris have found a home in the small French village of Capestang and have started a cool little business renting out Westfalias. They also just wrapped up filming an episode of House Hunters International (we’ll keep you posted on when their episode will be aired).

She’s been sharing insights into her journey with us here.

Follow Eva at:
http://www.thatshamori.com
http://twitter.com/thatshamori
https://www.facebook.com/thatshamori

Filed Under: Business

5 Fave Posts of All Time

March 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

It’s a very exciting day here at Pretirement Living!  This marks our 100th post. Woo hoo!!

There’s been so much to say about Pretirement, as it relates to a wide variety of subjects from business models to personal finances to parenting.  Thanks so much for joining us on this journey and helping to expand the conversation around success beyond money! We hope the blog has helped you demand more from your business/career and life.

We’re only just getting started! There is certainly much more to say.

Today, we take a moment to look backward. We’ve taken stock of all the posts we’ve written here and chosen our 5 Faves (so far). We’d love to hear if any of them impacted you and if so, how?

 

1. 20 Things We’d Like to See Happen in 2012

Excerpt:
Instead of resolutions, we’ve created a list of things we’d like to see happen in 2012. Some are professional, some personal and some slightly random. We encourage you to add yours in the comments below!

1. May 2012 be the year that people learn to value time more than money.
2. May 2012 be the year that people spend more time connecting with real-life heroes (they are everywhere!) than watching self-appointed “celebrities” on reality tv.
3. May 2012 be the year that people learn cell phone etiquette and realize it is not ok to text or talk on a cell phone when you are being helped at a store or a bank. It is not ok to text while eating dinner with friends or family. Instead of texting while waiting in a line, why not chat up a stranger?
4. May 2012 be the year that people discover there are many ways to make money other than a traditional 9-5 job.
{See the Full List}

 

2. You’d die for your kids. Will you live for them?

Excerpt:
“I would die for my children, and more importantly I would live for my children.” (Rosie O’Donnell)

We work darn hard to teach our children to:
- say please and thank you
- be respectful and gracious
- eat healthy food and exercise
- brush every tooth
- learn how to read and write

We tend to be less conscious about other important life lessons that are mainly taught by example.  The types of lessons that teach them how to live… {Read More}

 

3. Do Something. It’s All We Ask.

Excerpt:
We believe that drastic changes need to happen to fix our dysfunctional relationship to work. Work is running (and ruining) too many people’s lives. Too many children are suffering due to their parents’ relationships with work. It’s time to redefine success and expect more from work than just money. We also believe that parents are going to be the change-makers that reinvent work into a more inclusive, supportive model that adds value to an individual’s life on many fronts, not just financially. After all, we parents have the most to lose with the current model and, therefore, the most to gain if it changes.

Do me favour? Fast-forward 20 years and picture someone who knows you well discussing your career. Perhaps they’d say “He would have done some really cool stuff…but his boss wouldn’t let him.” {Read More}

 

4. The Death of Retirement

Excerpt:
What we’ve been sold since our first day of work is that if we work hard and contribute to our retirement savings diligently, we will be rewarded with “golden years” filled with time and freedom to pursue our hobbies and dreams. Sounds great!  There’s a small problem. Today’s reality is significantly different from the sales pitch. The traditional retirement model worked 50 years ago, but now it is broken. Quite simply – the numbers just don’t add up anymore.

Instead of accepting a model that doesn’t fit our reality when it comes to work and when to stop, why can’t we change the terminology and therefore how we think about it?   {Read More}

 

5. The Pretirement Manifesto

It’s hard to express the love we have for the Pretirement Manifesto that our friend Heather graciously designed for us to communicate what Pretirement stand for in a “snapshot” format.

Filed Under: Business, Family, Life Tagged With: , , ,

You’d die for your kids. Will you live for them?

March 2, 2012 By 5 Comments

“I would die for my children, and more importantly I would live for my children.” (Rosie O’Donnell)

What a profound statement. We all know we would throw ourselves in front of a runaway truck to save our child.

But have you ever turned it around and thought about LIVING for your children and what that really means? It’s something Shannon & I talk often about in the context of Pretirement.

Think about it – we work darn hard to teach our children to:
- say please and thank you
- be respectful and gracious
- eat healthy food and exercise
- brush every tooth
- learn how to read and write

We tend to be less conscious about other important life lessons that are mainly taught by example.  The types of lessons that teach them how to live.  Lessons like:

1. Love Your Work
You have taken control of your work and use it to serve your life. You show your kids every day what it means to steer your own ship and love what you do.

2. Accept Each Day for What it Brings
Whether it’s an amazing day for your business/work OR it’s a day you’re primarily focused your child’s needs, you exemplify adaptability and resiliency.

3. Give Back to Your Community
You have the time and energy to make charity an integral part of your family life. Your children have known the meaning of the word charity from a very young age.

4. Keep Dreaming and Go After Big Goals
You’ve never used having kids as an excuse to stop pursuing your dreams. Your children are your main motivation to keep pushing boundaries and trying new things. They know it.

5. Have a Spirit of Adventure
You take your kids on exciting adventures, even though you are keenly aware that some days traveling with kids is it’s own special circle of hell.

6. Be Yourself
You are not afraid to deviate from the norm.  You see the world differently than most and act accordingly. So will they.

7. Be Present with Those You Love
You work for quality time (not quantity time) with your children. You are engaged and present when you are with them.

When you look forward the next 12 months, what 3 things will you do to LIVE for your children?

To living life now,

Diana &  Shannon

P.S. Did this post ring true for you? Then please Like, Tweet or Share it up!

Filed Under: Family, Start Here

How to Save $12,000 in 12 Months by Living in Paradise

February 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment

As the global economy continues to expand, opportunities for geo-arbitrage also increase. This is great news for Pretirees!

Arbitrage, by definition, is the practice of taking advantage of a price difference between two or more markets. Geo-arbitrage takes advantage of a price difference between two or more locations.  Geo-arbitrage is most commonly applied to labour costs (i.e outsourcing parts of your business to lower priced virtual labour in other countries), but it can also be extended to real estate and living expenses.

Do you know someone who has moved away to a less desirable location in order to secure a better job?  That’s geo-arbitrage – moving to a different location to take advantage of a higher pay scale.  It can work the other way, too. Moving to a location with a lower cost of living creates the same net effect as getting paid more.

I’m going to share in detail in this post how my family and I used geo-arbitrage in 2011 to lower our cost of living substantially by splitting our year between living in Whistler, Canada, one of the top ski destinations in the world, and Santa Teresa, Costa Rica, a small surf town where we live across the street from one of the Top 10 beaches in the world.

I felt the need to write this post because people tend to assume that the locations we live in must equate to an extravagant lifestyle. To me, more money in the bank means more freedom in my life, so we actually lead a relatively frugal lifestyle.

In fact, the Pretired lifestyle that we live now costs less than the one we lived prior to Pretirement – to the tune of $12,000 savings per year.

How can this be possible?  Let me show you.

The table below compares the difference between renting in Vancouver for a year vs. renting in Whistler for 8 months, Santa Teresa for 3 months and living in Victoria for 1 month – which is the exact equation of where/how we lived in 2011.

Cost of Living Comparison

The Facts Behind the Numbers
- The Vancouver rental cost is based on what were paying to rent a 2 bedroom coach house in East Vancouver (unfurnished) prior to Pretiring.
- The Whistler rental cost is for a furnished 2 bedroom condo on the mountain.  The pricing is indicative of what you can pay if you live in the resort during the off-season. During the high season, we moved to Costa Rica.
- We incurred the cost of a storage unit in Vancouver, as we rented furnished places in Whistler and Costa Rica.
- We lived at my in-laws’ rent-free in Victoria for one month during the  Christmas season.
- I didn’t count the expense of airfare to and from Costa Rica into the equation as we would fly to a tropical location for a holiday each year if we weren’t Pretired.
- There are other, less significant, areas of savings and expense (power and internet in Costa Rica are covered, living in Whistler required us to buy winter tires, etc.) but for the purpose of simplicity I’ve left them out of the equation.

Full disclosure – our situation isn’t quite as simple as the above example. We own a condo in the downtown Vancouver neighbourhood of Yaletown.  We rent it out rather than live in it, as it affords us more freedom.  When the income vs. expenses for that property wash out, we end up saving approximately $11,000 per year living the way we do, as opposed to living in the property. We continue to build equity through that investment.

So, there it is. Pretty simple, right? By approaching location creatively and taking advantage of geo-arbitrage (both regionally and globally), I’ve effectively given myself the equivalent of close to a $15,000 pre-tax raise. The bonus is living in some of the most amazing places on earth!

If you build a Pretirement-based business that affords the freedom and flexibility to determine where you work and you’re willing to do things differently than everyone else, you can live like a rock star AND save more money than your 9-5 working, suburban dwelling friends. Yet another reason Pretirement rocks!

Filed Under: Life

Do Something. It’s All We Ask.

February 24, 2012 By 1 Comment

Let me first say, we don’t expect you to agree with everything we post on this site, but we do expect you to do something. If you disagree with what we say – speak up. Disagree loudly and make some noise!

4 years ago Shannon and I had a choice. Keep doing things the same way and accept our lives as they were, or do things differently and strive for a better life for ourselves and our families. Different was scary, completely unknown, and definitely against the grain…but we had so much more to lose by inaction. And the ‘more’ was precious time. Time with our family. Time with our spouse. Time for ourselves.

So, although we had fear, we took a leap into the unknown and it worked! Now we work every single day to pave the path for others to do the same. Our goal is to make some serious NOISE.

We believe that drastic changes need to happen to fix our dysfunctional relationship to work. Work is running (and ruining) too many people’s lives. Too many children are suffering due to their parents’ relationships with work. It’s time to redefine success and expect more from work than just money. We also believe that parents are going to be the change-makers that reinvent work into a more inclusive, supportive model that adds value to an individual’s life on many fronts, not just financially. After all, we parents have the most to lose with the current model and, therefore, the most to gain if it changes.

Do me favour? Fast-forward 20 years and picture someone who knows you well discussing your career. Perhaps they’d say “He would have done some really cool stuff…but his boss wouldn’t let him.”

Or picture yourself talking with your child the night before they graduate high-school, “I really wanted to do that special project/take the special trip with you, but I waited – and now you’re graduating and leaving for college. Where did the time go, buddy?”

I know that when I’m sitting around talking about Shannon in 20 years I’ll say – “She really saw the world differently. Her dreams turned into reality. She didn’t wait. She didn’t put anything off. She didn’t say “I wish I could but…” She had courage and she made things happen.”

So, I ask you – would you prefer to kick yourself for the business idea you didn’t pursue OR for a failed business endeavor? If you said the latter, you’re a Pretiree because you are willing to DO SOMETHING and we welcome you to our family. We’d love to hear what you’re up to and what you’re thinking, so please comment whenever you read something here that speaks to you.

To living life now, Diana and Shannon

Filed Under: Life Tagged With:

Fear vs FUD – Know the Difference

February 23, 2012 By 1 Comment

Diana and I began our careers in the technology industry.  When we started out, there was a particular marketing tactic that was being used heavily throughout the industry. It was called FUD.  FUD stands for Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.

The most memorable FUD campaigns centred around Y2K, at the turn of the century.  You probably remember vividly where you were on New Year’s Eve of 1999, not because it was an exciting time to be a part of human history but because part of you thought this might be the end of human history!  In the months leading up to Y2K we were all sold a message of fear on a grand scale and many of us bought it. In the end, of course, nothing all that bad went down on Jan 1, 2000 and we’re all still here. So what was the purpose?  To sell us stuff.  The same goes for everything from end of the world scenario movies to the nightly news to bank ads for RRSPs (retirement is a huge FUD factory).  Fear sells.

There are two things I’d like to ask you to do now that you’re familiar with the term FUD that will empower you to be a discerning consumer and a more powerful decision maker in all aspects of your life.

1 – The next time you’re consuming media (Internet, TV, movies) consider if there is a FUD factor being used to try and sell you something.  Modern advertising is sneaky and it might be hard to recognize at first, but once you can link the fact that what you are watching is meant to make you fearful for the sole reason of buying something, the fear automatically lessens and you can distance yourself from it.

2 – The next time you’re feeling fearful, decide whether it is rational fear or a form of FUD.  If it’s just FUD (either external or self-imposed), then walk away from it.  Decide that you’re not going to buy into it this time.  You’ll be amazed at how empowering it is when you can make decisions knowing they are not based in FUD.

Fear is important. It serves a purpose to keep us away from harm and we should listen to ourselves when we are fearful.  But we should also learn to recognize FUD and reject it if it is keeping us from what we truly want.

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: , ,

The Death of Retirement

February 15, 2012 By 5 Comments

Retirement should be your last breath. If you’re under 45 and think this article doesn’t apply to you – it does.

I plan to work until I die.  Whenever I happen to mention it in conversation, the person I am talking to looks at me like I’ve just told them I regularly smoke crack. As a Pretiree, my approach to retirement differs significantly from most others.  Why? I don’t believe in retirement.  I think it’s a myth and buying into it will put my finances, family and happiness at risk.  Here is why:


The Retirement Myth
What we’ve been sold since our first day of work is that if we work hard and contribute to our retirement savings diligently, we will be rewarded with “golden years” filled with time and freedom to pursue our hobbies and dreams. Sounds great!  There’s a small problem. Today’s reality is significantly different from the sales pitch. The traditional retirement model worked 50 years ago, but now it is broken. Quite simply – the numbers just don’t add up anymore.

The Numbers Behind Modern Retirement
Advances in healthcare have afforded us longer lifespans made up of healthier years.  That’s fantastic, but how do we pay for the additional years we live beyond age 65?

The Simple Dollar points out that when the national US retirement age of 65 was established for the Social Security Act in 1935 (over 75 years ago!), the average American lifespan was 61.7 years. Today, we still think of retirement age as 65, but the average lifespan is now 78 years—16 years more. Also, note that you were likely to die BEFORE you retired back then, so saving wasn’t really much of an issue.

Today, assuming you start working at age 20 and retire at the typical age of 65, you need to save for a minimum of 16+ years retirement. Or, in the case of my grandmother who recently turned 90, she needed to save for 25+ years of retirement. That’s the equivalent of 55% of the total years she worked!

The Economic Realities of Retirement
As our economy shifts from manufacturing to knowledge-based work, people are more likely to change jobs frequently over their careers. The average person will change jobs 10-15 times over the course of their career.   The notion of “job security” and staying with the same company throughout your career is outdated and unrealistic.  People simply don’t work at places long enough to realize traditional retirement benefits, even if the benefits are available.

Due to current economic conditions, the emphasis on personal responsibility for your financial future has become critical. Mix in questionable social security, stock market volatility and the disappearance of the corporate pension and it becomes clear that the traditional retirement safety net has some major holes in it.

So where does that leave us?  For most, the notion of continuing to work after 65 is undesirable at best and a personal nightmare that keeps them up at night at worst.  Buying into a model of working to age 65 as a “hard stop” date has other consequences that many tend not to realize until it is too late.

The Consequences of Buying Into an Outdated Model
When we accept traditional retirement as our goal, we agree to exchange our time and energy while we are in our prime for less valuable time and energy when we are older and our possibilities for enjoying our free time are limited. For instance, it is highly unlikely that I would take up surfing in my 60s but I was able to take it up (and enjoy it) in my 30s.

With our eye on retirement at 65, we also agree to focus the majority of our time and energy on work at a time when our family needs us most. In exchange, we are promised a large block of time later in life when our children are grown and out of the house building their own lives.  It is also possible that by that time our marriage has broken and we have few friends left because all we learned how to do during our prime years was give ourselves to work and not to each other.

By accepting traditional retirement as our goal, we are also buying into a culturally-imposed “expiration date” of age 65 that is based on a reality that hasn’t existed in 40 years. For example, if someone had spent their years from 18 to 65 doing physical labour in a factory, they would likely be in a position that would render them physically unable to do their job properly and therefore should stop at 65.  For the majority of workers these days, this is far from the reality. Some estimates cite the percentage of knowledge workers as high as 45% of the US labour market. Knowledge work is very different from manufacturing in that it is not as physically demanding and tends to be intellectually stimulating and provides us with a means to engage with others.

If 50 is the new 30, then it stands to reason that many 65 year olds are still able to contribute significantly in a modern work environment. If we, and our brains, are vital at 65 why can’t we can keep going if we want to?

In fact, keeping some sort of engagement with the working world might just be the thing that we need to stay mentally and socially engaged in order to fight off the effects of aging.

Changing Our Perceptions of Retirement
Instead of accepting a model that doesn’t fit our reality when it comes to work and when to stop, why can’t we change the terminology and therefore how we think about it?  When you break it down, retirement is the most common form of financial independence.  Instead of the current all-or-nothing model, why can’t we work toward increasing amounts of financial independence as we progress through our careers and our lives? Why can’t we view financial independence on a spectrum rather than the all or nothing approach that is currently in play?

A New Model to Replace Retirement
If we focus on financial independence through earning, investing and spending wisely then we really can have it all – now AND in the future. The result will be a more fluid mix of work and free time to do typical “retirement” type activities, like travel, pursue hobbies and spend time with those we love. We call it Pretirement.

Retirement as we’ve known it all our lives no longer exists and that’s ok.  In fact, the death of retirement might just mean that was have a chance at living more fulfilled lives because we won’t be saving it all until the end like our parents and grandparents did.  If that means working a bit more when we’re older, that’s ok too.  We no longer have an expiration date for working. We can allow ourselves to ease out of work and into financial independence based on our personal needs and desires, not some arbitrary number.

I personally hope never to retire.  I want to continue to contribute until I die. As Loretta LaRoche put it, “retirement should be your last breath.” It’s time to let go of how things have always been done.  It’s time to write some new history.  Are you willing to accept the realities and make them work to your advantage?  If you are, there is no better time to be in the working world. You can choose to pursue your career in any way you choose with no fear of the hard stop.  Doesn’t that feel better already?

To living life now,

Shannon & Diana

Filed Under: Business, Start Here Tagged With:

Top Travel Products 2012 – Luggage and Bags Category

February 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Travel is a huge part of many Pretirement plans. We travel a lot, so we’ve put together our Top Travel Products picks for 2012 to share. Today, we’ll start with luggage and bags, the foundation of travel products. Whether you’re traveling for a weekend get-away or a multi-month, multi-country adventure these are the bags and accessories to take with you!

Top Travel Products: Luggage & Bags

Heys Packing Cubes $$
Heys Packing  Cubes will change your traveling life – seriously.  Not only do they allow for organized packing so that everything fits in ‘blocks’ into your suitcase but when you arrive at your destination simply take out each cube and place it on the shelf or in  drawers. No more unpacking and repacking. (These cubes also provide peace of mind that no large insects or other critters get into your clothes).

We have a set of 3 (small, medium and large) for each family member and everyone gets their own color for easy recognition. The beauty of the cube comes down to this. Can’t find something? You know immediately which cube to go to.

 

Tumi Hanging Travel Kit $$$
These cases are on the pricey side, but worth the investment.  They are well designed for maximum capacity and efficiency. We can’t believe how much you can get into this little bag!  The Tumi is also waterproof so if anything spills inside, you’re safe. And it has a few pockets and compartments that make it easy to organize. Make sure to get the bag with the hook. It hangs from virtually any fixture or can sit on the counter. We have always found a place to hang it in the bathroom, which means it’s off the counter giving us a lot more room! And it’s also out of reach of little hands.

 

Heys Hardside Spinner $$
The Heys Hardside Spinner is Diana’s favorite luggage because when they open up they become two drawers (due to their hard case). If you’re staying in a place that’s short on space open the suitcase, tuck it under the bed and there are your drawers. Bonus: As it is Heys brand the Heys packing cubes fit perfectly inside!

 

 
Ogio Terminal Bag $$
Shannon’s luggage of choice is the Ogio Terminal Bag because of the sheer amount of stuff you can cram into it and the mesh packing panels on the inside.  Also,  it’s rugged enough to handle anything baggage carriers can throw at it and be pulled successfully along a dirt road once you reach a remote destination.

 

 

Heys xScale Luggage Scale $

This is the world’s smallest portable luggage scale and it’s digital! With airlines being so strict on suitcase weight these days, this is an essential. Know the exact weight of each bag before you leave for the airport. If you use Heys packing cubes, simply swap cubes between suitcases until the weight is evenly distributed and under the required allowance.

 

 

Adidas Sackpack $
These type of bags are typically found on soccer fields and at swim practice, but they make a great beach bag as well. We love them because they are lightweight, compact and big enough to fit the beach essentials. Just throw one on your back and go!  This bag is a low-priced alternative so if you happen to lose it you won’t be heartbroken, either.

 

 

Happy travels!

P.S. In case you were wondering, all the products included here are simply because we love them.  There were no kickbacks or anything of the like involved!

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Train Yourself to Do More in Less Time with Productivity Sprints

January 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment

There is a brand new video on the Pretirementliving.com home page. We think it communicates “what Pretirement is all about” better than anything we’ve produced before. In fact we’d love your feedback on what you think of it!

So, what does the video have to do with your productivity? It reminded us of a key productivity tactic that we haven’t used in awhile. We call them “productivity sprints”. You see, we turned the video around in 3 days including storyboarding, scripting, design and production. It required a full-on sprint to get it done. It was stressful and challenging, but it was also  rewarding and we’re really happy with how it turned out!

Productivity sprints go directly against the traditional approach to project management. People assume that creative projects need time to develop and take shape and that they need be meticulously created and continually massaged to get to their final form. This project reminded me that not all projects are like that. All the massaging and letting things take shape isn’t possible with a tight timeline. These type of projects require sitting down and just getting it done. For many projects, a tight timeline can create better outcomes than if you had all the time in the world.

Of course, as with running sprints, you don’t do productivity sprints every day (would only lead to burn-out), but every so often they are a great way to up your productivity game.

The tight deadline we had for the video was external, but is a great idea to set tight timelines for certain internal projects just to achieve the same effect. Just make sure you’re accountable to someone external for the deadline so you can’t let yourself off the hook (see the bottom of the post if you need someone to keep you in line)!

Pretirement is about creating time. In order to do that we have to be able to do more in less time. Of course, outsourcing to other people to do the work for you is optimal, but not always an option. You have to do at least some of the work yourself and the goal is to get it done as quickly as possible so you can get back to living.

Heightened productivity doesn’t just happen magically. It takes practice and training. By employing productivity sprints to your training, you’ll get that much further ahead faster!

Ready to take this week’s Productivity Sprint Challenge?
Step 1. Take one of your deadlines and cut in half (at least).
Step 2. Tell someone the new deadline or tell us in the comments section or email us at pretirement (at) ontrackco.com. You better believe we’ll follow-up to see if you were true to your word!
Step 3. Get to work!!

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On Traveling and Letting Go of Expectations

January 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I’m a Pretiree, dammit. I’m living in paradise and life should be awesome! Except it isn’t, yet. Before you stop reading or find a way to virtually smack me, let me qualify that. It’s not bad…don’t get me wrong. I’m living in a beautiful little surf town in Costa Rica for the next 3 months. The awesomeness of that fact isn’t lost on me.

However, I’ve been getting a bit down lately because things aren’t going exactly the way my husband and I planned this trip. I figured that many of you could understand because you may be like me – a Type A Planner. Planning is WHAT I DO BEST and when plans don’t work out the way I..well…planned, it frustrates me to no end.

You see, coming to Costa Rica is what I consider a retreat every year. It is a time I set aside to get away from the typical pressures of everyday life so I can really focus on the important things – my family, my health and building my business. In past years, these elements have fallen into place rather easily.

One of my 'offices' in Costa Rica

I have been particularly focused on the health and wellness aspects since we arrived last week. In my quest, I vowed to meditate and do yoga every day we are here. So far, I have meditated 3 times and done yoga 0 times. Yesterday I worked 14 hours and barely even went outside. Um, not winning.

Then, there’s the food. Costa Rica offers an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables and it can be a culinary adventure to eat here! In fact, a friend of mine who lives down here runs a world-class raw, vegan chef service complete with celebrity clients. Did I mention that this friend also has a gorgeous bikini model body despite being in her late 30′s and the mother of two? This also inspired me, or made me jealous enough to take action…but really what’s the difference?

I decided to make only super-healthy meals for my family from then on. The first thing I did was voraciously scour the Internet for raw, vegan recipes and soon enough my Pinterest Food Board was teeming with them! And that’s pretty much where it ended. I have made all of 0 of those recipes so far (but they look really great, you should try some!). Oh, and I had fried cheese for dinner last night. Woops.

Then, last Saturday, I went to the weekly organic market held on the beach. “Wellness, here I come”, I thought. I would buy a ton of healthy, organic vegetables to make all my awesome raw, vegan Pinterest recipes! Yes! What I didn’t know is how seriously people in this town take their organics. There was a minor free-for-all once the green light was given to start shopping! It was a bit like a crunchy version of Black Friday at WalMart.

I got caught up in the moment and my competitive nature *may* have gotten the best of me. The results?:

- $45 worth of vegetables (not as many as you might think, the prices were at Whole Foods level)
- 2 vegan “burger” patties that tasted like cardboard
- $14 jar of almond butter that tasted like ground-up cardboard (the ultimate prize!)

Shortly after opening the almond butter, my husband smashed it onto the floor “by accident”. I have a suspicion it was the on purpose type of accident so I wouldn’t make him eat the rest of it – because we paid $14 for it, dammit!

We’ve also had transportation challenges since we arrived. Outside of a $100 a day car rental, we have no way to get my son from our vacation rental to the preschool we have him enrolled in. The rental was supposed to be an expensive, but necessary short-term solution until we found a car or ATV to buy. This has been much more difficult than expected with lots of time wasted chasing dead ends. We are living in a small community and there are only so many vehicles to go around. I shouldn’t have assumed we could just snap one up like we would on Craigslist in Vancouver.

What makes it worse is that there is actually a solution to the school transport issue. My son could take the bus. There is a bus service to the school and about 15 kids his age (3 and 4 year olds) take it every day. But I can’t bring myself to put him on it. It is just too much. He’s only 3! Isn’t it enough to send him off to school in a foreign country every day?

I suppose what I need to remember is that the chaos and figuring things out through trial and error is actually what traveling is all about – new and unexpected experiences and stretching outside of your comfort zone. If I wanted to know exactly what was going to happen everyday (or at least have the illusion of such knowledge) I should have stayed home. I also have to remember to take it one step at a time. The point is not to get it all done in a week. I have 3 months. That’s the beauty of Pretirement. There is time.

So, I will carry on and hope the transportation gods smile upon us. For a good day at the ‘office’ I will reward myself and surf, hoping the waves will be forgiving. I will rejoice in the fact that my son is being taken care of and taught by loving people who are introducing him to new experiences. Most of all, I will look up at the sky and remember to not focus too much on the obstacles and just keep on living.

Update: I wrote this post a couple of days ago and hadn’t had a chance to post it yet. Our luck has turned and we found a bought an ATV (yay) and can now get to my son’s school and to all the neighbouring beaches. I’ll try the organic market again tomorrow and use a bit more restraint with my purchases! Have a great weekend everybody.

Filed Under: Life
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