takapunch's Path to Renaissance Manhood and FI Freedom

[takapunch]

Hello! I found this blog on happenstance, which led me to the book, which blew my mind. Like many people here, I found some parts of the book revelatory, while other parts crystallized ideas I'd already had but never really put together.

I'm a 26 year-old aspiring jack-of-my-favorite-trades with a B.A. in Japanese, minor in Chinese. I have experience teaching English, managing projects for a tech company, and working on a cruise ship, and right now I'm working in Beijing with a Chinese family as a live-in mentor and teacher for their son. I have always been a self-taught hobbyist. Currently, that means web design, music performance and production, and bodyweight fitness, but I've always loved acting/stand-up comedy, hiking, organizing social events, teaching, and cooking. I've never been good with money, but I've also always had a knack for finding positions that cover most of my expenses, so as of now my net worth, debt, expenses and income are all basically 0.

As I have virtually no net worth or expenses, and I do have a fair amount of time freedom and opportunity in my current lifestyle, my main foci are: income, skill-development, and savings. Luckily, I just landed an interesting contract consulting gig with reasonable remuneration. After finishing the ERE book, I spent several days strategizing and was able to isolate seven "objects" or goals/side effects of my various activities.

They are:

• Networking
• Writing
• Creativity
• Adventure
• Income
• Health
• Frugality

The interconnected (but self-contained) modules that result in those objects, along with the objects each module connects with, are:

• Consulting/Strategizing: N, W, C, I
• Web Design: N, W, C, I
• Copywriting/Editing: N, W, C, I
• Music: N, C, A, I
• Acting: N, C, A, I
• Fitness: N, A, H, F
• Cooking: C, H, F
• Handiwork: N, C, I, F
• Travel: N, W, C, A, F
• Finance: N, W, I, F
• Language: N, W, C, A, I

As an ENFP, I am an extremely social person who thrives on bringing others together and helping them achieve, so most of my modules have a social component. Also, while I am not necessarily skilled enough in all of them at this point, most of my modules have the potential to generate income as my skill level increases, and all of them can be accomplished with minimal recurring expenses.

After analyzing my needs and wants, I dreamed up my optimal lifestyle:

• I live for months at a time in a small apartment or part of a larger shared apartment. When I travel, I couch surf or exchange work for lodging.
• I cook almost all of my own nutritious, inexpensive meals, and eat once or twice a day.
• I have a small wardrobe that works well with itself, and mend my clothes when necessary.
• I entertain myself through creative, skill-developing pursuits that are free/income-generating, and allow me to connect with new people.
• I get around on foot, by public transportation, or by bicycle. Occasionally I ride-share or hitchhike. If airplanes are necessary, I do whatever I can to ensure a free flight.
• I possess a small amount of high-quality, high-utility, portable tools and instruments that enable me to create and maintain my hobbies and environment.
• I actively keep myself in peak physical condition through informed nutritional habits, rigorous bodyweight training and conditioning, good lifestyle choices and regular checkups and maintenance.
• I exercise my power, consciously increasing my discipline, endurance, and mental awareness through meditation, reflection, and proactively building good habits. I do not value having power over others, but acknowledge that it may come as a consequence of my inherent leadership abilities, in which case I must exercise it responsibly.
• I cherish my time, and spend it only on meaningful, passionate endeavors. When I “work,” I generate income from activities and skills that I enjoy anyway. I do not idly throw my time away on being entertained, and realize that every hour is precious and should be spent mindfully.
• I achieve great things with my skills, by creating and building, connecting people, and helping us all accomplish great, difficult endeavors together that improve the world and our lives.
• I base my sense of self-worth on how authentically I live according to my passions and ethical code, and on the opinions of people I respect and admire.

I'm obviously still a work in progress, but it's great to have a clear vision to which I can aspire.

[takapunch]

moved this into its own post for easier editing

APRIL 2014 GOALS

• Mindfully replace passive entertainment with purposeful reading or hobbies
• Begin tracking my expenses and savings. 4/9 DONE! Built a spreadsheet to track expenses, income and savings across multiple sources, with monthly totals and averages.
• Make a large, immediate impact with my consulting/strategizing work, and save >=80% of my income
• Get any amount of income from at least one non-consulting module. 4/12 DONE! Made $42 busking for 90 minutes
• Begin meditating for five minutes a day. 4/14 DONE! Meditated for five minutes, gradually increasing time.
• Build a website for a friend or small business, in exchange for either money or some sort of good/service
• Sort through my objects based on the day/week/month/six months/year rule, and sell or Freecycle what I don't use

It's a good tactic to set several goals with the intention of completing most, so I'll be happy as long as I hit five of these. If I get all seven, it clearly means I'm ready for greater challenges.

Before the end of this six-month program, I'd like to accrue a reasonable amount in my savings account, establish a professional reputation and contacts within two or more fields, gradually build skills and knowledge, and take great strides towards building my idealized lifestyle mentioned earlier. That last one is the most important: the process is the product, and the product is my life!

As I gain more capital, I'll be able to begin investing, but to me, the most exciting aspect of the Renaissance Man lifestyle and financial independence is the freedom they offer me to choose the projects that I find exciting and rewarding. The goal for many of us here isn't "no work," it's "only my favorite work". I've always wanted to live this way, and now I have a strategic framework for navigating my way there. All it takes is time and effort, and I have those in abundance.

BONUS ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Moved up to Advanced Tuck Planche, Advanced Rings Front/Back Lever, 45* RTO Push-up
• Read 6 books: Early Retirement Extreme, Way of the Peaceful Warrior, Less, Mindset, Pride & Prejudice, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

[1taskaday]

Impressive journal to read so far!

I'm learning new information from your interpretations of the ERE goal setting technique.

Will be following and learning with great interest.

[LonerMatt]

Fascinating.

I'm a HS teacher in Australia who is considering moving OS to do some work/travel and advance my skills a bit. Got any advice?

[takapunch]

Impressive journal to read so far!

I'm learning new information from your interpretations of the ERE goal setting technique.

Will be following and learning with great interest.

Thanks! I do find myself checking the forums too often, but it's better that my guilty social media pleasure is still quite in alignment with my stated goals. Just by browsing various threads, I pick up a surprising amount of useful information.

Fascinating.

I'm a HS teacher in Australia who is considering moving OS to do some work/travel and advance my skills a bit. Got any advice?

What sort of work would you like to do? Most people immediately opt for English teaching, which can be quite fun or extremely depressing and meaningless, depending on your country, company and situation. If you can actually do something that happens to incorporate your native English ability, I'd give that preference.

Choose a country and language you find interesting, and hit the ground running. Think of the sigmoid curve: immediately putting a ton of effort into seeing your city, learning the language, establishing friends and involving yourself in the community/activities will yield huge dividends that will set you on the fast track towards getting as much as you can out of your time there.

Negative example: I lived in Japan on two separate occasions totaling three years, and never carpe'd the diem. I immensely regret those thousands of hours wasted on poor habits.

Positive example: I've been in Beijing for one month, and have already made dozens of acquaintances, several solid friends, and one contract job position. My Chinese ability is increasing rapidly, I formed a band and have two shows going down this week, I have strong leads on additional sources of income doing things I enjoy, and in the course of all my activities I have incidentally come to know a fair amount of the city.

It's very easy to float around in a foreign environment while basically living the same lifestyle you had back in your home country. You will absorb some of the new country this way, but it's extremely inefficient. Many people who think they're "diving in" to a foreign country are actually just floating. Diving takes much more independent proactivity, but the rewards are exponentially higher. The great news is, by taking yourself out of your normal environment and routine, you will place yourself in an extremely fertile situation for radical change and growth. I doubt I could have really begun to follow through with ERE and the road towards Renaissance Manhood living with my parents back home, but when my environment is already full of change and excitement, I feel confident that anything is possible.

[Hankaroundtheworld]

Impressive, you follow ERE into the Extreme for sure, I can see that you not only read the book carefully, but really implemented into your life, especially the link between skill development and what value it brings to you. Impressive indeed.

[LonerMatt]

Taka, your response was incredibly helpful and thought provoking. It's late now and my thoughts are a bit messy, but I'll come back tomorrow and share a bit more - I hope that your experiences and focus can help me clarify a few things.

EDIT: I think you've done an incredible job of honing in on the real reasons one would move overseas to work. That is to actually learn and develop in ways that one can't at home. Language is the most obvious skill that is much easier to learn abroad than at home, but there's also the chance to network, use hobbies (I play way more music overseas than I do here), etc, etc, etc.

I've resisted the urge to go OS for awhile, mainly because I thought I'd basically be living the same life I had here, in which case the moving OS thing seemed like a waste of time. However, more and more I'm realising I'd like to learn a new language, try some new hobbies, meet some new people with a completely different cultural outlook, leave a lot of Australiana behind for awhile.

I'd like to stay teaching - I enjoy it and I like the challenges that come with the job (managing behavior, understanding how learning works, creating something educational but engaging). I realise that there's a lot of hit or miss jobs, but having met a lot of the people who teach OS there's a lot of hit or miss 'teachers'. I think I'm a significant cut above average, and I already have some serious networks open to me there.

A lot of what you talked about in regards to 'diving in' is excellent - its how I travel and holiday. Meet a bunch of locals, wander around for ages, try a lot of new things. I was doing some thinking last night and I kept asking myself 'why is this the way I travel, and not the way I live?'. Reflecting on that it seems wasteful to float through most of life and really only dive in 2-3 times a year.

Strangely enough, what you've written here (and one or two other things) are the impetus for reflection I needed. Thanks a lot, I'm not sure if you intended to be so engaging, but you have been! If you're still in Beijing next time I'm there I'll hit you up.

[takapunch]

Language is the most obvious skill that is much easier to learn abroad than at home, but there's also the chance to network, use hobbies (I play way more music overseas than I do here), etc, etc, etc.

Exactly. Consider it an extension of the lock-in: you live in a certain way at home, and have accumulated powerful inertia in that way of living. You have a fixed identity based on what others think of you, and how you relate to them, born of years and years of interaction which cemented those traits. Daily habits, opinions, judgments, interactions...they all become an invisible prison for your identity. Living abroad is one of the most powerful single ways to break out.

Even though I didn't take my first time in Japan for all it was worth, it was hugely instrumental in my development. I was a much angrier, anxious and more cynical person beforehand. Plunged into the cool indifference of an entire country of people whom I'd never see again, away from all the stifling judgments and interactions of my friends and family and culture back home, I had the first real opportunity to choose the kind of person I wanted to be.

I'd like to stay teaching - I enjoy it and I like the challenges that come with the job (managing behavior, understanding how learning works, creating something educational but engaging). I realise that there's a lot of hit or miss jobs, but having met a lot of the people who teach OS there's a lot of hit or miss 'teachers'. I think I'm a significant cut above average, and I already have some serious networks open to me there.

Excellent! There are tons of great opportunities teaching, and since you're passionate enough to do the research, I've no doubt you'll find something great. Have you already settled on a few countries/languages?

Strangely enough, what you've written here (and one or two other things) are the impetus for reflection I needed. Thanks a lot, I'm not sure if you intended to be so engaging, but you have been! If you're still in Beijing next time I'm there I'll hit you up.

I wouldn't find it strange, but that's because I'm a self-acknowledged ENFP who gets off on this inspirational nonsense Assuming I can make great progress sharpening my skills and focus, I think Beijing is going to be a great place to start a life-coaching/mentoring business where I help young Chinese people accomplish the same goals. There's a huge desire among 20somethings here for the kind of independence and proactivity that Chinese culture and parents don't often provide, and I'd love for inspiring, learning and teaching to become a large source of my income. Let me know if you end up coming here--first round's on me!

[jacob]

Wait, what? Should ERE be translated into Chinese? (I know it's an almost total failure in Japan)

[LonerMatt]

Language is the most obvious skill that is much easier to learn abroad than at home, but there's also the chance to network, use hobbies (I play way more music overseas than I do here), etc, etc, etc.

Exactly. Consider it an extension of the lock-in: you live in a certain way at home, and have accumulated powerful inertia in that way of living. You have a fixed identity based on what others think of you, and how you relate to them, born of years and years of interaction which cemented those traits. Daily habits, opinions, judgments, interactions...they all become an invisible prison for your identity. Living abroad is one of the most powerful single ways to break out.

All true - while we'd like to be able to break out, realistically I find that much easier to do away from people I've known for ever. One of the reasons I moved 600km away from where I grew up was to try and live the way I wanted - it was much easier to do exactly that without knowing people expected me to be a certain way.

Returning home occasionally is fun for exactly that reason, though, I'm back to who I was, and that's OK for a few days once or twice a year.

Even though I didn't take my first time in Japan for all it was worth, it was hugely instrumental in my development. I was a much angrier, anxious and more cynical person beforehand. Plunged into the cool indifference of an entire country of people whom I'd never see again, away from all the stifling judgments and interactions of my friends and family and culture back home, I had the first real opportunity to choose the kind of person I wanted to be.

It's a lot of freedom, and I think that people who do these things unconsciously necessary just become a slightly confused and out of place version of who they were.

Excellent! There are tons of great opportunities teaching, and since you're passionate enough to do the research, I've no doubt you'll find something great. Have you already settled on a few countries/languages?

Yeah, there's a really cool website - reachforteach which is basically about only finding good teachers and good schools in a limited number of locations. Taiwan is top of the list for lifestyle and language and conditions. I'll need a TEFL (annoying as I've got 3 years experience and a masters, oh well, can claim it on tax return), so it goes.

I wouldn't find it strange, but that's because I'm a self-acknowledged ENFP who gets off on this inspirational nonsense Assuming I can make great progress sharpening my skills and focus, I think Beijing is going to be a great place to start a life-coaching/mentoring business where I help young Chinese people accomplish the same goals. There's a huge desire among 20somethings here for the kind of independence and proactivity that Chinese culture and parents don't often provide, and I'd love for inspiring, learning and teaching to become a large source of my income. Let me know if you end up coming here--first round's on me!

That sounds like a really cool idea. When people share those ideas with me I have a lot of admiration for them, I'd have no idea how to get something like that started. I've thought of doing something similar with English teaching, but (as I said) would have no idea what to do and how.

[takapunch]

Wait, what? Should ERE be translated into Chinese? (I know it's an almost total failure in Japan)

I don't know; as a country that copied the Western Capitalist model to great economic (and disastrous environmental) effect, China is afflicted with a particularly nasty case of "consumption = success." The people who come to me for independence and proactivity training might only be doing so to advance their salaryman or businessman careers and thrive while locked-in. I do hope that I can impart values of sustainability and critical thought as part of my whole package, but if I try to make my lessons too extreme I'll lose out on a large section of the market that wants to learn something simpler.

I suppose I could offer different tiers/lengths of classes, ranging from basic independence and proactivity on the one end all the way to complete freedom and radical life change on the other. "How much independence can you handle?" Bear in mind that the bar is currently quite low. The government works hard to instill obedience, harmony, and patriotism in the people, and their educational system is about what you'd expect based on those values (memorize, test, memorize, test). But on the other hand, I feel that anyone who has the interest and wherewithal to come to me has more immediate development potential than average.

Did someone translate it into Japanese? I can imagine the fact that its entire premise is "status quo = absurd" probably didn't sit well

[takapunch]

Yeah, there's a really cool website - reachforteach which is basically about only finding good teachers and good schools in a limited number of locations. Taiwan is top of the list for lifestyle and language and conditions. I'll need a TEFL (annoying as I've got 3 years experience and a masters, oh well, can claim it on tax return), so it goes.

Taiwan is a lot of fun, and Chinese is clearly a good language to know. Please do keep me updated with your search.

That sounds like a really cool idea. When people share those ideas with me I have a lot of admiration for them, I'd have no idea how to get something like that started. I've thought of doing something similar with English teaching, but (as I said) would have no idea what to do and how.

Once you get established, I'd imagine the overall strategy is the same as any other entrepreneurial venture: identify a need, make a plan to fill that need, test and revise as necessary.

Is your idea something similar? English teaching + life coaching? As long as you have English + (any skill), that helps you stand out as a unique service. Learn guitar...in English! Private tennis lessons...in English! I'm considering something like that as test run for the mentoring company idea.

[LonerMatt]

Yeah, there's a really cool website - reachforteach which is basically about only finding good teachers and good schools in a limited number of locations. Taiwan is top of the list for lifestyle and language and conditions. I'll need a TEFL (annoying as I've got 3 years experience and a masters, oh well, can claim it on tax return), so it goes.

Taiwan is a lot of fun, and Chinese is clearly a good language to know. Please do keep me updated with your search.

That sounds like a really cool idea. When people share those ideas with me I have a lot of admiration for them, I'd have no idea how to get something like that started. I've thought of doing something similar with English teaching, but (as I said) would have no idea what to do and how.

Once you get established, I'd imagine the overall strategy is the same as any other entrepreneurial venture: identify a need, make a plan to fill that need, test and revise as necessary.

Is your idea something similar? English teaching + life coaching? As long as you have English + (any skill), that helps you stand out as a unique service. Learn guitar...in English! Private tennis lessons...in English! I'm considering something like that as test run for the mentoring company idea.

No, not at all, more along the lines of speedy and effective English teaching. I've noticed that most English teachers - world over - seem to float by on luck and stubbornness. I think there are really efficient ways to teach people basic literacy and fluency, but I don't see them used often. There's probably a strong market for that sort of thing.

[takapunch]

No, not at all, more along the lines of speedy and effective English teaching. I've noticed that most English teachers - world over - seem to float by on luck and stubbornness. I think there are really efficient ways to teach people basic literacy and fluency, but I don't see them used often. There's probably a strong market for that sort of thing.

Oh, absolutely! I ran into basically every bad foreign language teaching method during my two years working in Japan, and there's tons of room for improvement. Any resource written by a current (or former) teacher of English in Japan will have tons of good info, like this one. I could easily see you building your brand as a "renegade teacher of REAL English" who ignores test-takers and focuses on practical application. I have a friend teaching English in Taiwan if you'd like to ask him some questions.

[LonerMatt]

Excellent article. A lot of what good educational research (and there isn't a lot) is showing us currently is that great teaching is the same no matter who you are or where you are and that we can identify and measure these traits with some degree of accuracy. Countries like Korea, China, Singapore are making huge gains because they are using the research - countries like Japan, Australia, USA are not making much progress because we aren't.

I'd love to chat to your friend in Taiwan, that'd be great.

How are you going about learning Chinese? I've started learning to speak, which is quite fun, and I think I'll start using Mixxer to help me a bit more.

[jacob]

@takapunch - No translations of the ERE book. Just the observation that during the past 4 years, less than 5 books have been sold in Japan. Judging by comments/emails, all but one to expats. On a related note, there aren't many sales in France either. Initially I speculated that it was the language, but I frankly think it's the cultural incompatibility. It was therefore surprising to me if Chinese culture was compatible when the Japanese is so strongly biased against.

[takapunch]

I'd love to chat to your friend in Taiwan, that'd be great.

How are you going about learning Chinese? I've started learning to speak, which is quite fun, and I think I'll start using Mixxer to help me a bit more.

I asked him about linking up with you; PM me your email address so I can get you guys in contact when he replies.

I have a solid foundation for Chinese from a few years of college study, many years studying Japanese, and a general proclivity for languages. My company gives me a couple classes a week, and I also make a point of learning new hanzi and vocabulary when they come up in my daily life. As I get more of a handle on things, I'd like to turn that into a fixed daily habit. I had never heard of Mixxer, but it looks cool! You definitely need to speak a language to learn it.

No translations of the ERE book. Just the observation that during the past 4 years, less than 5 books have been sold in Japan. Judging by comments/emails, all but one to expats. On a related note, there aren't many sales in France either. Initially I speculated that it was the language, but I frankly think it's the cultural incompatibility. It was therefore surprising to me if Chinese culture was compatible when the Japanese is so strongly biased against.

I actually think your initial speculation is correct. I can think of many Japanese people who'd be interested in the concepts laid out in ERE, but I can't think of a single Japanese person I've met (who doesn't have extensive international schooling/living experience) who'd be able to actually read and understand the book. English education in Japan really is that terrible.

[takapunch]

APRIL 2014 SUMMARY (4/9-4/30), dollar values calculated at $1 = ¥6 exchange rate

INCOME

• Consulting: $187
• Stipend: $150
• Music: $132
• Total: $469

[/color]
EXPENSES

• Food/Drink: $249
• Entertainment: $16
• Transportation: $64
• Health: $12
• Skills/Production: $71
• Total: $410

[/color]
SAVED: $59
SAVINGS RATE: 12.7%

Now that I have some data to work with, I have an idea of which areas I should focus on. Savings = Income - Expenses. So, I can make more money, and spend less. Duh! Here are my ideas on how to accomplish those immediate goals in May:

Income: Put in more hours! I only "worked" 6 hours busking and 7 hours consulting, with an hourly rate of $20-25. If I bump that up to even 2 hours a day, that will be 62 hours in May, and I can expect to make about $1500. Furthermore, ramping up my production will sharpen my skills in those areas, improve my reputation and production efficiency, and open up more challenging and lucrative opportunities. Since my effort : production follows a sigmoid curve, it's very worthwhile to put in a lot of effort to reach the point where effort yields great production as quickly as possible.

Expenses: Eat and drink less! I spent more on Food/Drink than every other expense combined, so I'll focus on decreasing that expense. My schedule allows me to eat most of my meals at home, and if I only go to restaurants a couple times a week I can keep my monthly food expenses at <$50. I enjoy drinking socially (musician!) so I don't want to give it up entirely, but I can buy a larger proportion of my drinks outside of bars, and drink less in general. I have also become a regular at two bars through music, which has given me a couple business opportunities and frequent free drinks. My Skills/Production expenses will be much lower in May, I spent that money on textbooks and supplies that I will use for a very long time.

APRIL GOALS: 3/7

• Mindfully replace passive entertainment with purposeful action.
• Begin tracking my expenses and savings. I built a spreadsheet to track expenses, income and savings across multiple sources, with monthly totals and averages.
• Make a large, immediate impact with my consulting/strategizing work, and save >=80% of my income.
• Get any amount of income from at least one non-consulting module. I played busked for 6 hours and made $132.
• Begin meditating for five minutes a day. I meditate every morning for about 15 minutes.
• Build a website for a friend or small business, in exchange for either money or some sort of good/service.
• Sort through my objects based on the day/week/month/six months/year rule, and sell or Freecycle what I don't use.

BONUS GOALS

• Moved up to Advanced Tuck Planche, Advanced Rings Front/Back Lever, 45* RTO Push-up
• Read 6 books: Early Retirement Extreme, Way of the Peaceful Warrior, Less, Mindset, Pride & Prejudice, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
• Started recording The Crossroads, a personal development podcast, with a friend.
• Opened a Chinese bank account to hold my savings.

I definitely need to start accomplishing more goals, and my very low proactivity all comes back to the first goal: "Mindfully replace passive entertainment with purposeful action." I've identified my critical point, which is when I sit down at my computer. When I don't have a specific plan, I am extremely likely to spend at least an hour mindlessly distracting myself. I started reading The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and I believe the best thing I can immediately do to benefit my entire life is to increase my proactivity.

As with saving money, Savings (accomplishments) = Income (proactivity) - Expenses (distraction). To increase my proactivity, I will schedule my actions in advance, and plan how I will overcome obstacles. To decrease my distraction, I will continue meditating, and I will remove distracting environmental factors that hinder my proactivity.

[takapunch]

My goals for May center on improving my mindfulness, proactivity and focus. I aim to reduce my distractions and increase my purposeful actions. Within my various modules, I aim to direct those efforts towards concrete, achievable goals (learning a particular song, creating a simple website) instead of unfocused effort (playing whatever I feel like, reading an HTML tutorial). Basically, I would like to increase my time frugality in addition to my money frugality. If money frugality is spending your dollars more efficiently, time frugality is spending your hours more efficiently. I believe focused, goal-oriented effort will be a more efficient way to spend my time than unfocused, directionless effort.

MAY 2014 GOALS

• Begin tracking my proactivity and distractions the same way I track my income and expenses.
• Work an average of 2 hours a day, for a total of 62 hours.
• Save >=80% of my income.
• Build a website for a friend or small business.
• Sort through my objects based on the /day/week/month/six months/year rule, and sell or Freecycle what I don't use.
• Record at least one song.
• Stretch every day, improve my posture, and begin swimming 3x/week to eliminate the clicking in my collarbone area and prevent any serious injury before resuming strength training.
• Expand my mental hygiene habits: meditate every morning, and reflect in my journal and plan the next day each night.
• Orient my effort (input) towards focused production and completion of concrete goals and projects (output).

Seeing as proactivity is the theme of this entire month, I increased my number of goals, and I truly believe I can accomplish at least 6 of them if not more. The last goal is the most subjective, and I'll have to use my own judgment to decide whether I was focused enough to say I accomplished it.