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How to Set Up a Paperless Office in 2015

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In this article I’m going to share how I setup a paperless office for all of my receipts, bills, documents and everything else that usually clutters up your desk.

There are several things you’ll need to setup a paperless office in 2015.

#1 – A High Quality Receipt / Document Scanner

The first thing you’re going to need is a high-quality, high-speed receipt / document scanner.

Most people today have all-in-one printer / scanner / copier combo that they got on sale for $50 – $100, but that is not going to cut it.

As an average person we go through way too many receipts and documents to waste your time with an all-in-one printer/scanner that is just going to frustrate you and make you quit and go back to a paper system.

If you’re serious about setting up a paperless office, you have to invest in some proper tools that are going to make the job simple, easy, fast and convenient – otherwise you just won’t do it.

So what’s the solution?

After a lot of research I bought the Fujitsu Scansnap IX500 Scanner for the following reasons:

  • It’s fast!  Really, really fast
  • It can scan receipts, business cards, as well as regular sized paper and documents
  • It scans BOTH sides at the same time
  • It can scan receipts that are really, really long (unlike a flatbed scanner)
  • It has a microprocessor that helps with processing the image/scan

This scanner is not cheap.  It will cost you around $400- $500, but it’s worth every penny.

I’ve had mine for about a year now and I just love it.

It makes the process of scanning papers and receipts very quick an painless.

Also, as an added benefit, the way the scanner is designed, when you fold up the lid and bottom tray the scanner doesn’t take up a lot of real estate on your desk and it’s fully protected from dust!

#2 – Software to Convert Scanned Documents / Receipts Into PDF Files

The next thing you want to make sure your paperless office does is convert all your scanned documents into PDF files.

This is where MOST so called “paperless office scanners” and “systems” out there fall flat on their face.

They sell you on the idea that their system is best, but what they do is they try to store all of your documents in a proprietary format that can only be read by THEIR software.

This is the way that they sucker you in with low priced scanner/software combos that only cost a few hundred dollars.

Don’t fall for it.

If you go for one of those systems that doesn’t directly scan right into a PDF file, you will regret it later as your software becomes bloated, slow and unmanageable.

Also if the company you purchase the scanner / software from ever goes out of business you could be left stuck with no way to retrieve any of your files.

The Adobe PDF format has been around for decades and it’s a PROVEN file format that is a standard on all computer platforms and you want to make sure that is what your scanner / software stores your files as.

Luckily for us, the Fujitsu Scansnap scanner comes with a free software that does just that.

All you have to do is place a document or receipt in the scanner, press the blue button, and it automatically scans the document on both sides, very quickly and it automatically loads up the software allowing you to save the document in PDF format.

#3 – File Organization / Management Software

Once you have a system for converting your documents and receipts into PDF files you will also need a way to keep everything easily organized, categorized and easily retrievable.

Most scanners out there come with free software that claims to do this, but from my research and testing I have found that most of them really suck at this part of the paperless office system.

Even the software that comes with the Fujitsu Scansnap is mediocre at best at handling this part of the process.

What I have found to work MUCH better is a software called FileCenter from Lucion Technologies.

With FileCenter you can easily manage and organize your files, automatically do OCR, join and split PDF files, and integrate with various Cloud Services if you so choose to.

It’s a software with MANY features, bells and whistles, but the truth is that you don’t really need to worry about bells and whistles as you mostly won’t use them.

What you really need is a robust, simple and effective software that can handle the process of organizing your PDF files in a way that makes logical sense – and FileCenter does just that.

The software allows you to create “Cabinets” which basically act just like physical filing cabinets, except that these are digital filing cabinets with unlimited storage space.

So for example you could create one “Cabinet” for your “Personal” files, one for your “Business” or “Work”, etc.

Then, within each of the cabinets you can create any number of “Drawers” which are just like the drawers in a real filing cabinet.

Then, within each of the drawers you create “Folders” which would of course represent a folder, and then within each folder you can have any number of actual files / documents etc.

This means you have three levels of hierarchy within the system which is plenty enough for all of your needs without getting too crazy and confusing.

You can also create sub-folders within folders if you want so that basically means the hierarchy of files can be expanded even further if you wish.

#4 – A Backup Solution

The final thing you’ll need is a backup solution for your files so that you rest easy knowing that your files are safe.

There are two different routes you can go with here.

Firstly, you can backup all of your files to an external hard drive on a regular basis which keeps all of your files safe in case of a computer failure or theft.

Of course if your backup drive is not stored in a safe location it can be damaged in a fire or stolen in the case of a break-in.

Of course in the case of a fire, your physical files would have been destroyed as well, so it’s kind of a mute point, but if you do want to make sure your files are secure you could create an off-site backup for your files, or subscribe to one of the cloud services out there.

FileCenter Pro allows you to sync your files with Could server services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft SkyDrive, SugarSync etc., so if you want to use a cloud service you can do that as well.

How you decide to backup your files is completely up to you, but just make sure you back them up!

Paperless Office Flow Diagram

This is a flow diagram which summarizes what my paperless office system looks like.

 

 

Additional Tips for the Perfect Paperless Office System

#1 – Dealing With Digital Receipts

One of the realities of today is that not all companies offer receipts, invoices and bills on paper anymore.  You will find that many of the companies you deal with are now switching to a paperless system as well.

Unfortunately, as convenient as it may be for them to NOT have to mail you a receipt or invoice, when it comes time to send your files to an accountant or to look up an old bill it’s not always easy to get access to your files.

Some companies only keep bills around for a certain number of months and then delete them.

So what’s the solution?

Well, that’s where this system really shines.  See, most of the companies that offer paperless systems also save their documents in a PDF format, or they email you their receipts.

The trick is to SAVE those PDF files that they have on their websites OR the email receipt that they mail you to a PDF file and to file it into your “INBOX” in FileCenter.

This is what I do.

When I get digital receipts or emails I’ll just click the SAVE button and quickly save the file as a PDF and put it into my INBOX folder for FileCenter.  Then, later on when I’m ready to do some digital filing I’ll organize the files accordingly, placing them in the right cabinet/drawer/folder.

#2 – Afraid You’ll Lose Your Digital Backups?

One of the reasons I personally procrastinated switching to a paperless office system was because I never fully trusted digital files.

I’m sure we’ve all had one of those incidents where you accidentally erased some files on your hard drive that you didn’t back up, or lost the photos on your cell phone, or had a hard-drive malfunction that caused you to lose important data.

This was something I was a bit worried about, even though I know a good backup system can usually save the day.

So what did I do?

What I decided to do, and what you may want to consider as well is to NOT throw away your paper files after you scan them.

I know that this might sound a bit weird since I’m talking about going to a paperless office system, but hear me out here.

What I do is I simply get some bankers boxes, and when I take physical paper documents that come across my desk, I scan them into my paperless office, and I chuck them all into ONE bankers box labeled “2015” or whatever year it is now.

This is a very quick and painless process.  The beauty of this system is that I don’t have to organize any of these files in physical form, they are just chucked into a box that I should hypothetically never have to ever open again.

BUT, in the case of a complete computer meltdown or a lack of digital backup, in the worst case scenario, I would STILL have access to the physical versions of my files.

This helps me to sleep at night. 🙂

For me this was a great compromise that allowed me to do all my “filing” and “organizing” in the digital realm, while at the same time knowing that in the event of a digital catastrophe I still DO have the actual physical files as a backup of my backup.

After a few years, when I no longer need the physical files I can just shred the files in the banker’s box.

The Real Reason We Struggle to Lose Weight

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Weight loss is one of the most convoluted subjects on the planet.

There are countless so called “experts” out there all selling the latest diet or exercise program, trying to cash-in on our desire to lose weight and get fit.

The interesting thing is that while the weight loss advice industry has exploded and virtually everyone from the latest diet expert to your aunt Judy has a theory on weight loss, the majority of people in North America and now worldwide are just getting fatter and fatter.

You could blame laziness, a lack of exercise, a lack of proper diet or a lack of willpower to stick to a healthy diet, but what’s the real cause of these things?

Why do we find it so hard to stick to a diet, and why are we always so hungry???

I have studied nutrition and weight loss for over 10 years now and have tried virtually every diet under the sun.

I’ve lost weight while on the various diets, but I’ve always gained it back after completing my diet and feeling hungry for all the different types of foods I’ve “deprived” myself of during my diet plans.

But why do we crave so much food, so many calories and all these foods that we know are “bad” for us?

I believe that Dr. Wallach has the answer to this.

Why We Struggle to Lose Weight

In this video Dr. Wallach explains how our inability to lose weight comes from two main reasons:

Reason # 1 – Mineral Deficiency

Unlike the food that our grandparents ate, most of the food we buy today at restaurants or supermarkets is deficient in various minerals.

When our diet is deficient in minerals we develop an uncontrollable appetite for food, and especially carbohydrates.

Dr. Wallach explains how when farmers want to fatten up their livestock, all the have to do in order to get their cows to eat more food is to make their food deficient in minerals and then provide them with a steady stream of cheap carbohydrates (ie. corn).

When you starve a cow of minerals, it’ll eat and eat and eat and just continue to get fat.

In the livestock industry this is not a problem, as fattening up cows is how the farmers make their money, selling the fattened up beef for more money.

But for us, as humans, being mineral deficient is a huge problem because we can try to eat a “sensible diet”, but if our diet is lacking in the proper minerals we WILL have an uncontrollable urge to eat more food – especially carbohydrates.

Reason # 2 – Too Much Carbohydrates

This will probably be of no surprise to most people.

As a society we have become completely addicted to and dependent on cheap carbohydrates.

Bread, white pasta, white rice, corn, sugar, donuts, the latest Starbucks creation, you name it… we’re addicted to carbs.

Anyone who has gone on any diet knows this.

We all know we need to cut these crappy, nutrient deficient carbs from our diets and incorporate more healthy proteins and fats, so why is it so hard to follow through on this?

Well, the reason is because our food is mineral deficient, and so we CRAVE carbs uncontrollably.

So yes, you COULD blame carbohydrates for the fact that you’re eating too many calories every day and STILL feeling hungry, but that isn’t going to help you.

What you need to do is you need to make sure your body is getting ALL the vitamins and minerals that it needs every single day, and THEN you can slowly start cutting out carbohydrates out of your diet without going insane.

Easiest Way to Ensure You Are NOT Mineral Deficient

When Dr. Wallach concluded his research and began lecturing on this topic of us being mineral deficient, many people wanted to know how the heck do we make sure we get all of our vitamins and minerals?

Yes there are many different multi-vitamins and multi-mineral products on the market, but you would have to combine dozens of different pills together on a daily basis to get everything that you need, and even then you’d have to ensure that all of the vitamins and minerals that you need are all in the right proportions for your body and that they’re not coming from synthetic sources.

So to address this issue, Dr. Wallach formulated is own multi-vitamin / multi-mineral product line which contains ALL 90 of the essential minerals and vitamins that your body needs.

He called this line of products 90 For Life, and it makes the process of getting all of your minerals simple and convenient.

Yes you could read his books, and figure out the exact amounts of each mineral and vitamin that you need and then try to create your own set of supplements, but it’s not easy to find the right combination of supplements which gives you EVERYTHING that you need.

Most multi-vitamin/multi-mineral products out here don’t even have 20% of what you need.

This is why I’ve chosen to use Dr. Wallach’s 90 For Life product to make sure I’m getting all of my nutritional needs met for my upcoming weight loss program.

If you’re looking to lose weight, I’d recommend ordering a starter pack and supplementing whatever diet and/or exercise program you’re going to be following with these products.  It will help you to get all the nutrients you need so that you’re not the carb-rich junk foods that you know aren’t good for you.

To learn more about 90 For Life and to order your starter pack click here

If you have any questions about which product might be best for you, feel free to contact me with your questions.

How to Double Your Chances of Sticking to a Weight Loss Plan

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Making the decision to start a weight loss plan is always the first step towards weight loss.

But how do we increase our chances of actually sticking to the weight loss plan we create for ourselves.

Over the years I’ve gone through many different weight loss programs I created for myself, and in most cases I’ve reached my goals, and sometimes I didn’t.

Looking back on it now, I realize that there has been one differentiating factor that really helped me to stick to my weight loss plans when I’ve succeeded.

It’s something that most people avoid doing when making the decision to lose weight because they don’t like putting pressure on themselves.

However, the social pressure behind doing this one thing is what makes it so effective!

What I’m referring to is blogging about your weight loss journey.

When I’ve done my previous weight loss plans and I blogged about my journey from setting a goal to recording my starting weight and doing my “before” pictures, all the way through to actually reaching my goals and everything in between, I’ve always found that blogging about it was a tremendous help.

There have been numerous studies done that show that publicly announcing your weight loss plans has a positive effect on achieving your goals.

The perceived accountability and gentle social pressure we put on ourselves can be exactly what we need to keep us on track during the inevitable tough times we may run into during a weight loss program.

I’ve even gone to the point of challenging several of my friends in weight loss challenges where we put up hundreds of dollars and public humiliation on the line to make sure we hit our goals.

You don’t have to do that, but blogging about your weight loss journey can be a HUGE motivating factor for losing weight.How to D

The support you’ll garner from friends and supporters online could just be what you need to keep going.

When I’ve ran into challenges with my weight loss in the past, such as when I’ve hit plateaus, I’ve had my readers posting comment of encouragement and recommending various resources to help me out as well.

If you are a blogger, I STRONGLY recommend blogging about your weight loss journey, publicly declaring what your goals are and sharing your progress on a regular basis.

Even if you have ZERO followers and nobody reads your posts (they will), just knowing that someone out there could be watching can be just what you need to keep you accountable.

If you haven’t started a Blog yet, I would also strongly recommend getting started with blogging by clicking on this to get access to one of the most powerful blogging systems on the planet with the best training as well.

My Public Declaration

I would be a hypocrite if I wrote this post but didn’t publicly declare my weight loss plans as well.

Losing weight has not been a priority for me for several years now, and truth be told I’m actually currently at my heaviest weight I’ve been at all of my life.

As of this morning I weighed in at 243.8 lbs which is pretty much the heaviest I’ve ever been.

I don’t yet know every detail of the weight loss plan I’m going to follow to lose this weight but I have a pretty good idea and I’m organizing the resources to get started shortly.

For example, about a week ago I purchased a recumbent exercise bike to help me with my cardio training, and I’ve been gathering other resources as well.

My ultimate target goal is to lose 75 lbs of fat from my current frame, as well as to start building some more lean muscle mass after that.

I don’t know how long it’s going to take me to reach this goal, but that doesn’t really matter.

One way or another I’m going to hit the goal, that’s all that I know.

How to Make Your Public Declaration

Declaring your weight loss goals publicly isn’t easy for most people.

Especially when the majority of people tend to give up on their weight loss plans after just a few weeks.

However, I promise you that if you declare your weight loss goals publicly, it WILL help you to stick to your plans.

As human beings we tend to stick to things that we tell someone else we are going to do way more than to things we just tell ourselves, so why not use this part of human nature to your benefit!

If you’ve already got a blog, just write a post sharing your plans.

I do not recommend setting a deadline for reaching your goal though, just set a target and start working towards it.

I realize that most gurus out there say that a goal without a deadline is not a goal, but that’s not true.

For a more thorough explanation of why I don’t recommend putting deadlines on your weight loss goal, check out this video:

If you don’t yet have a blog, I highly recommend joining the Empower Network of bloggers where you’ll not only be given access to the world’s most powerful blogging platform, but you’ll also get the best training and team support from thousands of like-minded people.

Click here to get access to a special trial offer and start your blog today.

3 Weight Loss Tech Gadgets You’ll Need If You Want to Lose Weight in 2015

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I love gadgets.

If you ask any of my friends and family members, I’m always playing with some new fitness gadget, tracker, system or website.

Sadly, in reality, the majority of the gadgets I end up buying or getting sent to me for review end up sitting around collecting dust.

Most of them I never use for more than a few days, or perhaps a few weeks.

However, there are three gadgets that have stood the test of time and I think are absolutely essential to helping you achieve success with your weight loss plan.

#1 – The Fitbit Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale

This scale is just awesome.

It connects to your Wi-Fi network and allows you to automatically track your weight so easily that you’ll actually step on it on a daily basis.

Over the years I’ve had many different scales, and I’ve tried various ways to track my weight, and my body fat % etc., but I always ended up giving up as the tracking process just took way too long.

Meaning, I would go into the bathroom in the morning and step on my scale, and then look at my weight and then have to remember what I weighed and what my body fat % was…

…THEN I would have to walk from the bathroom to my computer, load up a tracking spreadsheet of some sort and type in my new weight…

…that’s IF I wasn’t interrupted by someone or a phone call, or if my dogs didn’t need me to let them out or if someone didn’t text me or some other interruption didn’t cause me to completely forget what my weight was.

I hated the process tracking my weight using such a manual method, so I ended up giving up.

Since getting the Fitbit Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale though, it’s been super easy to track my weight.

I simply step on the scale, it automatically detects that it’s me (based on my weight), and it measures my weight, my body fat %, and it connects to my Wi-Fi network and uploads my data to the Fitbit website where I can get a detailed analysis of my weight, and my body composition.

It’s simply awesome.

And the FitBit website is a great tool as well for tracking your weight and activity levels.

Although I haven’t actually been on a weight loss plan for the past few years, since getting the scale about a year ago I’ve been tracking my weight pretty consistently every few days and now I have all that data available to me, so I can see exactly how much weight I’ve put on in the past 12 months etc.

I’m a firm believer that in order to lose weight you must track your progress regularly on a daily basis while on a weight loss plan, and several times a week if you’re just on a maintenance plan.

This scale makes that easy.

If you don’t keep track of your weight daily, it makes it way harder to lose weight as you then have no idea what’s working and what isn’t.

This brings me to the 2nd tech gadget that I think is a must-have for a weight loss plan.

#2 – The Fitbit Activity Trackers

The Fitbit family of activity trackers is awesome for tracking your daily activity.

I had a Fitbit Force activity tracker for the first half of 2014 and loved it, except for the fat that there was a recall on the rubber they used for the band which caused a little bit of irritation in some people.

I ended up sending mine back in order to get a $140 credit from Fitbit as I wanted to try out using the Samsung Gear watch instead, which also tracks activity and also heart rate.

I like the Samsung watch I have, as it syncs with my Samsung cell phone and I can answer calls on it, read emails and text messages, but I’m not too impressed with it’s activity tracker system.

Yes it counts steps like the Fitbit, but what I like about the Fitbit system of activity trackers is that they integrate with the Fitbit website.

This way I have my weight tracking and graphing and my activity tracking and graphing all in one place.

I can also track my meals on the Fitbit website as well, or track my meals using MyFitnessPal and then synchronize automatically with Fitbit.

Overall, after testing several different bands from Nike, BodyMedia, Samsung etc., I still like the Fitbit system the best.

I’m currently using a Fitbit Flex but will be upgrading to the new Fitbit Charge HR bands when they come out in the near future.

#3 – The MyoTape Body Measuring Tape

The MyoTape body measuring tape is not really a “tech” gadget but it’s still really cool and I think it deserves a spot in my top 3 favorite weight loss tools.

This very simple tape measure allows you to easily measure your body measurements such as your waist, hips, thighs, biceps, forearms, neck, chest or whatever else you want to measure without the need of a second person.

Ever try measuring your bicep with a regular measuring tape?  It’s nearly impossible.

With this tape it’s really easy!

And it’s very inexpensive, so I definitely recommend getting one of these.

Keeping track of your measurements is extremely important especially if you’re embracing on a weight loss program that is going to combine dieting and exercise/fitness.

The reason for this is that if you’re building muscle, your weight might not drop, but your body measurements will improve.

By combining the scale measurements you get for body weight, and the body fat % and your body measurements with this tape you’ll have a very good way to measure your weight loss progress with a lot of accuracy.

These are the three tech gadgets that I recommend picking up if you want to lose weight in 2015.

Out of all the things I’ve bought and tested, these are the gadgets I have used the most and continue to use.

Little Known Secret that Will Change the Way You Think About Freedom

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Most of us think that what we really want is freedom.

But is that what we really want?

Have you ever thought or said to yourself that what you really want is total freedom to do whatever you want, whenever you want, with whomever you want?

I know I have!

I’ve heard many personal development gurus using that kind of language as well, encouraging you to become financially wealthy so that you can do whatever you want, whenever you want, with whomever you want.

When I do coaching with people, and I ask them what they want to manifest in their lives, they will often say something along those lines as well.

At first glance “total freedom” sounds like a cool dream / goal to have, but here’s the truth that I realized about total freedom.

Chasing Total Freedom Is a Fantasy That Will Destroy Your Life

The truth is that so called “total freedom” is impossible for us as human beings.

The moment we as free spirits decide to incarnate on this earth, we give up “total freedom” in exchange for a chance to experience life as a human being who doesn’t have total freedom.

I mean ask yourself… can you REALLY ever have this so-called “total freedom” to “do anything you want, whenever you want, with whomever you want”?

Is there anyone on this planet who has this so-called “total freedom“?

No – there isn’t.

Yes there are people who have MORE freedoms than others – that is absolutely true, but there’s a HUGE difference between wanting to have more freedoms in your life, and trying to just have “freedom” in general.

Let me explain…

Some Freedoms That I’ve Manifested

Way back in 1996, shortly after graduating from high-school I got a job at a tech company that was located about 45 minutes away from where I lived.

Every morning I would wake up and either drive or car-pool for 45 minutes to get to work.  After work, it would take me another 45 minutes to get home.

That was a total of 1.5 hours of driving in traffic, every single morning, 5 days a week.

After a while, I just started to really hate having to deal with spending 1.5 hours every single day in traffic, so one of the FREEDOMS that I decided to pursue in my life was to find some way to NOT have to spend so much time in traffic every day.

Fast forward to 2003, and I was living in a house that was literally less than a block away from my work.

I could walk to work in about 2-3 minutes or roll down the hill in my car and be there in about 30 seconds.

Manifesting this very specific freedom from spending such a big part of my life in traffic was important to me, and so I manifested it.

Today I work from home so I don’t have to even spend one SECOND in traffic on a typical work-day.

Here’s another one of the FREEDOMS that I’ve manifested for myself.

I used to have to wake up to an alarm clock to get to work at a certain time.

For someone like myself, who is a night-owl, waking up early is the equivalent of torture to me, and absolutely hate it.

So about 5 years ago I decided that another one of the freedoms I’d love to manifest was the freedom of NOT having to wake up before 9am.

Today, I have that freedom.

On a typical day I can wake up at 9am, 9;30am, 10:00am or even later – just depending on when I went to sleep the night before.

Most of the people I know who have jobs, they don’t have that specific freedom – because it’s not something they specifically got clear on and pursued.

Specific Freedoms vs Total Freedom

Now you might be wondering, what’s the difference between these two freedoms I mentioned and “total freedom”?

Aren’t the two examples I gave just two examples of having total freedom?

If we pursue total freedom, aren’t we going to get all these other freedoms automatically anyways?

No.

From my experience, when people say that they want total freedom, or the freedom to do whatever they want, whenever they want, with whomever they want, what they’re really saying is that they don’t know WHAT they want.

They are undecided.  They are uncommitted to manifesting ANY kind of freedom.

They are deluding themselves by saying that they want this concept of “total freedom” but in reality they know damn well that they will NEVER achieve such a thing, and so they don’t even bother trying.

You see, the way our minds work is that our minds are AMAZING goal seeking / goal achieving machines.

If you give your mind a SPECIFIC goal to go after that it believes you can achieve, it WILL activate all the faculties of the mind – conscious, subconscious and superconscious – to help you achieve it.

But if you give your mind a VAGUE goal that it DOES NOT it can ever achieve – it will do NOTHING.

This is why I say that chasing total freedom will destroy your life, because by telling your mind you want total freedom, you are essentially setting yourself up to never achieve ANY of the wonderful freedoms that you COULD have in your life.

In other words – the main reason for the lack of specific freedoms in your life that you DO want and that you COULD have already achieved by now is that you’ve been chasing TOTAL FREEDOM – which is a flawed / impossible concept.

Why is Total Freedom Impossible?

Now I know some of you might be thinking that I’m being negative or pessimistic by saying that total freedom is not possible.

Let me explain why I’m simply pointing out the truth.

Let’s say that you tell your mind that you want “Total Freedom”… okay…fine…your mind gets the message and it tries to manifest “total freedom” in your life…

… okay, the next morning you wake up and you have the idea that you’d like to manifest a new car to replace your current car, and you’ve decided that you want that new car to be a BMW.

… okay, so a part of your mind is now being told that what you want is to manifest a specific car – a BMW – yet another part of your mind is still trying to manifest “total freedom”.

Now, think about this for a second… total freedom would mean that you have the freedom to choose to drive ANY car, at ANY time… but if your mind helps you to manifest a BMW, which is ONE type of car, then it’s also going to be cutting you off from the freedom of having a different car – such as for example a Mercedes.

In other words, by helping you manifest ONE car, such as a specific BMW, your mind is also taking away one of your freedoms (the freedom to choose a different car).

Also, if buying the new car means that you’ll be having to make monthly payments for 5 years to pay the car off, that also takes away some of your financial freedom as well, which your mind will not like, so it will fight you on it.

Here’s another example…

Let’s say you want to manifest a wonderful relationship with someone that you can see yourself marrying.

Well, by getting into a relationship with one person and marrying them, you are also cutting yourself away from the “freedom” to marry someone else, right?

No matter how you look at it, every time you gain one type of freedom, you are giving up another type of freedom.

If you manifest the freedom of driving a Ferrari, you are also potentially giving up the freedom of being able to park your car anywhere you want without having to worry about someone stealing it.

I mean if right now you drive a piece of crap car, one of the freedoms you DO have that a Ferrari owner doesn’t have is the freedom of not really worrying about someone stealing the car. 🙂

Let’s say you decide to join a gym and work out every day because you want to have a buff body…okay, but isn’t that giving up the freedom to NOT go to the gym and instead to just sit and watch TV?

See, every freedom we manifest and gain in our lives, carries with it some other freedom that we are giving up.

This is why “Total Freedom” is IMPOSSIBLE.

There’s always a trade off.  You give up one freedom to gain another.

What’s Exciting About This

Now at first you might be thinking that the realization that you’ll never achieve “total freedom” as a human being on this earth sounds a bit depressing…

…but in reality it’s actually VERY LIBERATING and exciting… here’s why.

See, the second you realize that chasing “total freedom” is MENTAL TRAP that paralyzes your mind and accomplishes NOTHING,  you can begin to ask yourself which FREEDOMS are important to YOU (not someone else) and activate your mind to help you achieve those specific freedoms.

You see, a mind that is instructed to go out and create very specific freedoms in your life that are important to YOU is a very powerful mind.

But a mind that is just generally told to pursue “freedom” as a whole concept is a very weak mind.

You MUST get specific with the freedoms that you want.

Here’s a quick exercise you can follow to help you gain some clarity on this:

  1. Write Down a List of Freedoms – Get a pen and paper and write down a list of very specific freedoms that you’d like to manifest in your life.  Be specific.  The more specific you get, the better it will be.  Instead of writing down “I want the freedom to always wake up whenever I want.” it’s better to say “I want the freedom to sleep in until at least 9am most days”.   Instead of writing down “I want to never worry about money ever again.” it’s better to write down “I want the freedom of having at least $25,000 cash in my emergency fund, and a net worth of at least $5 million dollars.”Concepts like “Never have to worry about money again” are too generic, too hypothetical, too confusing as to what you really mean by it.  I mean are you asking your mind to help you manifest a specific amount of money, or are you asking your mind to figure out a way to get you to stop worrying about money?  I mean technically speaking, your could get into a car accident and hit your head and go into a coma and never wake up and never have to worry about ANYTHING ever again, right?  But is that what you want?  Probably not right?  So you have to be specific.Try to start with some simple freedoms that are more easily believable and achievable for your mind.
  2. Prioritize Your List of Freedoms – Next what you’ll want to do is to go through your list and get clear on which freedoms are most important to you right now in your life.  You’ll want to give priority to the most important things, but also to the things that are most easily achievable as well which can take you towards more important freedoms.For example, before I manifested the freedom to not spend ANY time in traffic (by working from home), I manifested the freedom to NOT spend 45 minutes in traffic, instead cutting that down to about 25 mins in traffic (by changing jobs), followed by manifesting the freedom to only spend about 1-2 minutes getting to work (by buying a house literally a block away from my office), to finally manifesting the ability to work from home full time.The idea here is not to necessarily pick which specific freedom you’re going to focus on first, but more to just help you gain more clarity as to which freedoms mean more to you than others, and which freedoms might be more achievable more quickly.
  3. Track and Recognize Your Current Freedoms – Another important aspect to this process is to become aware of the freedoms you have already manifested in your life and to express a feeling of gratitude towards them.  The truth is that most of us have SO MANY more freedoms than others on this planet, but we take those freedoms for granted and never feel any gratitude for them.For example, do you have a drivers license?  Do you drive a car?  Can you get into your car and drive somewhere if you wanted to?  Then that is a freedom you manifested already in your life that other people may not have.  They might not have a driver’s license or a car, and might be stuck taking the bus everywhere.  See my point?You already have MANY freedoms right now, that other people may not have.  That doesn’t mean you should feel bad for other people who don’t have the same freedoms you have.  That is not the point.  The point here is to simply become aware of the fact that you’ve already manifested a whole bunch of freedoms in your life, and if you did it for THOSE freedoms, then your belief will go up that you can manifest the NEW freedoms your currently working on.

Don’t underestimate the power of this key distinction between trying to manifest FREEDOM vs trying to manifest SPECIFIC FREEDOMS.

Trying to manifest FREEDOM is a fools errand…

… you’ll never manifest TRUE FREEDOM as a human being…it’s impossible, and that’s not why we are here on this planet.

We are here to DECIDE and CHOOSE which SPECIFIC FREEDOMS are most important to us and then to pursue manifesting those freedoms and then to enjoy them!

I remember the day when I stopped chasing FREEDOM as a whole, and realized that I’ve been trying to manifest this massive, impossible fantasy…

… it felt like a huge burden was lifted off my shoulders…

… not having to pursue this concept of FREEDOM anymore…

… and instead to just pick specific freedoms that are important to me now, in my current life, and in comparison to ‘Total Freedom” , those individual, specific freedoms seem so much more achievable and believable!

NOT chasing FREEDOM is one of the most freeing and liberating experiences you will ever experience in your life.

Try it out…you’ll see what I mean.

Give yourself permission, right now, to STOP chasing this stupid illusion of “total freedom” that NOBODY in the history of humanity has ever achieved.

You’ll see how liberating and fun it is to instead decide which freedoms you want to go after and to then go after and achieve those freedoms!