#043 10/01/2013 Part 3: The First Mountain - 100 days of Solitude
IMHO, A successful ERE accumulation phase (ie. training period) that leads us to early retirement (the Goald Medal) is several recursive iterations of S.M.A.R.T goals (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound).
These goals are like a
Russian nesting Matryoshka doll where each goal is contained within another.
On a simplified high level a set of nested goals may look like this:
1. Get out of debt
2. Reduce Expenses
3. Create surplus Savings
4. Acheive XX% Savings rate (several times over increasing this step)
5. Create passive income
6. Acheive XX% SWR (several times over decreasing this step)
7. Pay off house/mortage free
8. Achieve Early Retirement
Each of these subset goals tells us we are on the way, gives us feedback, a sense of accomplishment and direction, and of course a hit of dopamine.
We refactor, test and modify this system of goals and planning several times over the years to cater to get to where we want.
We realize how empty and hollow the statement "I want to retire" is, without developing the inner workings, the smaller dolls, contained within the bigger one.
My point in mentioning this is because when we do achieve this early retirement, why do we let go of these principles that obviously have transformed us and given us great personal success?
IE how come we are so goal oriented and meticulous in our planning of early retirement, yet do not apply at all the S.M.A.R.T principles to things like
"I want to travel!"
"I want to volunteer!"
or
"I want to do something really important to me that I always wanted to do which is the reason I retired!"
Most of our efforts at these endeavours become half assed, doomed to failure, or a moving target at best, specifically because we haven't planned, defined, thought out what these things mean to us. We thought it would come easy to us when the time came.
Uncertainty and Serendipity
I am not trying to advocate the removal of uncertainty or serendipity from my life by overplanning or goal setting, but rather the opposite:
MY thesis is that S.M.A.R.T. skills developed in my ERE accumulation phase can be applied in a way to lay a fertile ground for uncertainty and serendipity.
I realize now for me to say to myself "I want to travel when I retire" is too vague. It's like a boat going out to sea without a sail. If that is ones idea of serendipity and uncertainty that is fine. But for me, I see applying SMART goals/skills as having the best possible sail for your boat. I still don't know exactly where I am going, but I know I have a greater chance of getting there, and harnessing the wind.
So what exactly does "I want to travel" mean to me?
what am I trying to achieve by travel, what is it I want?
How do I prevent travel from becoming that buffet table, where I gorge myself without restrain, traveling directionless, purposeless, and becoming sick of it?
More on the Education of Solitude
I have been reading/exploring a lot in the area of solitude. I feel drawn to it, despite the fact that I know it weakens me against the greater society as whole.
Part of the thesis for myself is:
If I am single, and have chosen to live as such, and I am an introvert, should I not explore or create an environment that optimizes/maximizes these characteristics? Have I ever placed myself in such an environment, i.e. a fertile soil natural to my roots?
(Quite ironically, I can honestly say that I have been to the extremes of planting myself in the depths of an extreme extroverted environment, ie. working in bars and clubs, parties, busy urban life, facebook, drinking, etc. This was ofcourse when I was a little younger, and also when I was exploring the opposite end of my boundaries.)
I still consider myself an apprentice on the subject of solitude but some of the literary education/readings I have read so far:
-La Solitude - Johann George Zimmerman (Awesome!!!)
-Solitude: A Return to Self - Anthony Storr (Awesome!!!)
-Into the Wild- Jon Krakauer (Awesome!!!)
-The Loners Manfesto (Awesome!!)
-Quiet - Susan Cain
-Book Of Silence - Sara Maitland
-Vagabonding
-Wild - Cherryl Strayed
-Walden-Henry Thoreau
-And several books on meditation
In these readings, the conclusion that I found, is that the pinnacle or mountain of solitude for oneself is often quoted as 100 days.
This is the benchmark for truly stripping yourself from the armour of constructs and clutter around you, and for untethered, naked and humble access to areas of your mind/thought that you never knew existed.
Rules and Friction
Somewhat of an apparent tangent here, but please bare with me.
I have been following this thread discussion of Diana Nyad's epic swim crossing of Cuba to Florida:
110 miles, 53 hours: Questions for Diana Nyad
http://marathonswimmers.org/forum/discu ... na-nyad/p1
The forum thread is 14 pages long. I have read and been following every post with fascination. I learned not only a lot about the sport, but about myself.
In a nutshell, Diana Nyads swim from Cuba to Florida is being questioned by the small/specialized marathon swimming community because she had broken 'several' generally accepted rules (ie. 'THe English Channel Rules').
By Diana Nyad claiming that her swim was "unassisted" it compromised the very integrity of their sport and the accomplishment.
The arguement is that Diana Nyad conveniently removed a significant amount of the friction to her goal, by not having any rules beforehand, and at the very least making them up as she went along.
The rules one places on oneself, are there to enforce ones own integrity.
This discussion of defining self imposing rules before hand was a eureka momment for me. A way to create your friction.
For travel, I realized I should create a set of very tangible rules that guide the integrity of my travel purpose.
For 100 days of solo travel solitude.
My first mountain.
The purpose of the rules are to maximize seredipity and the benefits of solitude and to create adequate friction and constraint, such that travel does not become a buffet table. Travel for me is for growth not indulgence.
The rules are to give me direction, focus and purpose in travel. They are to create a hard floor, and hopefully a limitless ceiling.
Friction.
These rules are still a work in progress but here they are so far:
MBGI's Rules of Solitude Travel (100 Days)
1. No Media
No internet, no TV, no phone, no newspaper, no social media, no skyping, no texting and no music player.
I cannot connect with how my stocks are doing, no checking the ERE forum, the sports box scores, or any other news which is local or from back home.
EXCEPTION 1.1 : I am allowed to use the internet to book hostels, transportation, check weather or research where I might be travelling to. IE. Internet is only allowed to aid my trip logistics.
2. No social communication with friends
No contact with the 'security blanket' of friends that I already had before my trip began.
EXCEPTION 2.1 : This does not including making new friends, which I find perfectly fine and consistent with maximizing serendipity.
EXCEPTION 2.2 : I am allowed to communicate with my mother via phone or email once a week, just to let her know I am okay.
EXCEPTION 2.3 : I am allowed to connect and trouble shoot with my tenants of my rental properites.
3. Budget of $2500
This budget does include the aifare ticket that get me to the destination and back.
$2500 works out to about $830 a month or $25 a day for 100 days. This $25 a day must include lodging, food, transportation, visas, entertainment and medical insurance. A private hostel room usually runs about $15CAD a night, just for some solo travelling perspective (ie. solo travelling is generally more expensive.)
The purpose of the budget is to create a sense of voluntary discomfort. In places where the standard of living is significantly cheaper, it is quite easy to develop a buffet mentality (ie. shopping, eating, drinking, etc).
Having the hard budget will help me to stay true to the voluntary discomfort purpose and to guide my travel towards truly find value in the 'free things' the destination has to offer.
4. Read 25 books
Works out to about a book every 4 days. This is to ensure that I am excercising my brain. My general pace is a little over a book a week, so this doubles my reading pace.
5. 7 days of Intermittent Fasting
Not consecutive, but sprinkled throughout the trip, I want to complete 7 days of 24 hour periods of no eating (intermittent fasting). This is to encourage healthy body.
6. Daily journaling
To examine deeper my mental workings and thoughts.
7. Fill a 100 page sketch book
This is to spur help creativity. When was the last time you drew or doodled?
8. No Drinking or Drugs
No mind altering substances. My general view now on drinking and drugs are they are shortcuts, easy/artificial ways of putting yourself in certain states of mind, that are much harder to do naturally.
9. Must Maintain Weight
Must stay within a range of +2 lbs to -4lbs of my departure weight. Right now I have gotten myself down to 169 lbs so if I were to leave today, the weight variance allowed would be 171 to 165 lbs. Again, this is to regulate health.
10.No Check in Luggage
Living out of a ~35 litre backpack and messenger bag.
100 Days of Solitude Logistics
The execution of the 100 days of solitude travel with probably look something like this:
4 countries, 25 days each in South East Asia. (I guess I am stating the obvious, but South East Asia is to travellers, what the Pacific North West is to minimalists ;p )
When I was 30-34, my goal was to travel five continents in five years, which I did: 1. Asia-Korea, Japan, Thailand, 2. South America-Peru, 3. Africa-Namibia, 4. Europe-Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, and 5. Oceania-Australia and New Zealand. I've also been to Cuba, Jamaica and Domican, but those were 'vacations'. Last year I travelled to Italy and Nepal. Through it all, south east asia has always been my favourite. Right now the list of possible countries for the 100 days of solitude include: Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Phillipines, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.
By having each stay less than 30 days, I minimize travel Visa hassles (i.e standard visas are usually 30 days), I stay long enough in a country to slow things down but not long enough such that I get too complacent. I want to indulge my transient nature, but I also want to keep things slow enough so things are absorbed.
I want to keep the trip flexible enough such that the itinerary is extremely loose, but structured enough such that I have focus and direction.
The biggest dilema right now for me and these rules as they stand now, is whether or not bringing a laptop is okay.
Discipline/willpower being the removal of temptation, bringing a laptop on 100 days of solitude is way too much temptation. The reason I will like to bring it is I would like to work on some personal projects, and it makes writing and journaling easier, but violating rule #1 and #2, become far too easy. So, the decision on the laptop is still up in the air at this point.
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Since I've converted the thought of "I want to travel when I retire" to "100 Days of Travel Solitude" with my catered rules, it's been night and day the amount of anticipation and focus/direction I have now for travel.
It is almost as tangible as the difference between way back when I would say to myself "I want to retire" versus the plan and execution of putting into practice many of the ERE methodologies and strategies. One was just a dream, the other was reality.
It's still 2+ years away, but I am already planning and 'training' for this trip, the journey for this mountain has already begun.
A few months back, I booked a trip to Vietnam which I will be going to in mid-November 2013. I got a great deal on my flight since I booked so early, and also got a flight that flies in approx 20 hours each way, which is great for south-east asia.
Because I used up the majority of my vacation days this year for moving into/renovating my co-op, the trip will only be two weeks instead of three. Half the trip will be in Ho Chi Minh, and the other half will be in Mui Ne.
For my Vietnam trip, I will be implementing all my rules, except for rule 4-adjusted to 5 books, rule 7-adjusted to 25 page sketch book, and Rule 3 - Budget is $1000 (not including flight).
The rules have taken me a while to formulate, and began around the same time I was reading about the Marathon Swimming community.
To create my rules, I thought about and deconstruction my past trips, and what I liked about them the most, and what I thought was most challenging and gave me the best conditions for personal growth and serendipity. My trip to Nepal adhered to these rules the most, and it was no coincidence that it was the trip I grew and learned the most.
I hope that my trip to Vietnam in November will play a role in developing my rules further and getting me closer to climbing this mountain.