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How To Escape The Status Quo.
The Path to Unconventional Success
Beep beep. Beep beep.
You reach over and slam your 6am alarm.
It’s Monday morning. Again.
(Your internal monologue pipes up — “Be grateful for a brand new day!”)
You jump out of bed, shower, and throw on whatever's closest.
You chug some coffee, inhale a protein bar, and race to get your day started.
(It seems like there’s never enough time... “but rushing 24/7 is normal”, you tell yourself.)
It doesn’t matter if you're running to catch a train or running 15 steps to your home office… because you're already tired.
It's not even 8am and somehow the day's already taken a toll on you before it's truly started.
(“But that doesn’t matter”, you tell yourself, “you should be grateful to be working”)
Second coffee in hand, you start work at 8am sharp.
The calendar says it's a new day, but you already know exactly what the next 10 hours look like…
Mundane tasks that do everything but excite you...
Two or three meetings that should have been emails…
…then a bunch of emails that should have been meetings.
(“Feeling trapped in your inbox is totally normal and healthy”, you tell yourself)
A scoffed-down lunch that never feels like enough.
(“No, it wouldn’t be more exciting to be on a beach right now”, you tell yourself)
A few more meetings, bookended by a third and fourth coffee…
Invoices. Emails. Bills. Pitches. Proposals. Projects. Rejections.
You wish you had time to take a break, enjoy some sunshine, breathe in the fresh air...
You fill your day with anything and everything to try and get your never-ending “To Do” list a little shorter…
…But then you add a little extra on top because that's what people do, right?
Finally, it's 6pm.
You dash out the door to catch the train or power down your laptop for the night.
You scramble together some dinner with whatever is in the fridge… which isn’t much because you’ve been too busy working.
(Who has time to think about meals these days?)
You’re spending what feels like very few minutes with your family before your mind remembers your unfinished to-dos, and suddenly that’s all you can think about
(Your family doesn’t need to see more of you. They understand… right?)
You’re in bed by 10pm and close your eyes… but not before checking your phone.
You sneak in a few emails...
A few scrolls through LinkedIn…
A few new tasks scheduled for tomorrow.
And then some for the next day that might bleed into the weekend.
(Working all the time is just what successful people do…. right?)
You set your alarm for 6am.
You fall asleep thinking about everything you need and want to do tomorrow...
“Tomorrow is a brand new day.”
… but is it really?
A brand new day
If you can perfectly predict what tomorrow looks like, then it’s not a brand new day.
If your today looks exactly like your tomorrow, then it’s not a brand new day.
If every single day of your life is
Prosaic
Prescribed
Predictable
Then you’re not waking up to brand new days.
You’re waking up to another day of the Status Quo.
The Status Quo – or the invisible boundaries you’re currently living your life by – is what’s making your days feel monotonous at best, and indistinguishable at worst.
One of the most dangerous parts of the Status Quo is the impact it has on your quality of life without you even knowing it’s there.
Societal pressures.
Traditional expectations.
Limiting beliefs.
The Status Quo hides in all the nooks and crannies of your everyday “sameness”
It’s in the way we follow rules we don’t agree with because “it’s easier that way”...
It’s in the way we avoid adventure, because “now’s not the right time”...
It’s in the way we speak to ourselves, hiding doubt and fear by picking on ourselves first…
That’s the Status Quo.
And that’s what I’m here to set you free from.
How to break free
With the Status Quo so ingrained in every part of your current life, it can seem overwhelming to even think about breaking free from it.
I won’t lie to you… it’ll be difficult.
It’s difficult because you have to unlearn everything the Status Quo has taught you.
Abandon everything you thought you knew about what you “should” be doing.
What “success” means, what you do for work, where you work from, and how much you can earn…
That’s a lot of unlearning to do, which is why it’ll be difficult… but not impossible.
So, how do you get the ball rolling?
By first focusing on the Three Pillars of Personal Sovereignty:
Location Independence
Financial Freedom
Self-Actualisation
Each of the Three Pillars represent an area of self-development you need to develop in order to escape the shackles of the Status Quo.
The Pillars are mini journeys on their own, with concepts to understand, milestones to achieve, and ways to experience growth.
But if “Escaping the Status Quo” were a cake, well, each Pillar is a critical ingredient.
Without them, you’ll just have sludge in a cake tin… (and nobody wants that)
Let’s get into it.
Pillar #1 — Location Independence
The first Pillar is Location Independence, which is almost exactly what it sounds like:
Having complete freedom over where you decide to live.
Location Independence might seem scary to think about, especially when you start considering all the possibilities that it comes with.
“Backpacking as a digital nomad in Vietnam? No way.”
“Going off-grid with nothing but a wifi hotspot and a laptop? I could never!”
“I wish I could have a winter home in Mexico… but maybe in another lifetime.”
That’s your Status Quo talking, and Pillar #1 helps you shut it up.
Location Independence is all about reimagining and redefining your understanding of “home.”
Choosing where you live, how you live, and how long you stay there… and not basing that decision on how close you are to your business, your office, or your boss.
By reframing your mindset to a Location Independent mindset, you get to choose.
You could move back home to be close to your family…
You could spend an entire year country-hopping every few weeks.
You could build an isolated cabin in the woods to reconnect with nature.
Location Independence rips the “living where you work” part right out of your Status Quo, so you can start living where you want and how you want, no matter what.
Pillar #2 — Financial Freedom
This Pillar challenges what you think you know about your earning potential.
“Financial Freedom” may seem like a big, nebulous word that can mean everything (and maybe nothing) at the same time.
But it’s actually composed of three stages with specific goals and ideas in each.
Stage 1 is Financial Confidence, and focuses on building up your perception of how earning relates to freedom.
Financial Confidence comes from knowing that you have high value, transferable skills, and deep resilience, so you know you can handle anything that life throws your way.
After you build your Financial Confidence, you move into…
Stage 2: Financial Security.
This stage is about asset accumulation.
Taking your income and investing it into assets that will give you a safety net in case life takes an unexpected turn, or that set you up for long-term wealth.
This stage is not about not so much about developing income streams as it is about developing your net worth.
Once you have a solid base of wealth, you can shift more of your focus to…
Stage 3, which is Financial Independence.
This is the final stage of your journey, unlocked when your assets start to generate more passive income than your active income… but it comes with a word of caution.
You might be tempted to go balls-to-the-wall and spend whatever you have because you feel “safe,” but that’s not what freedom is — that’s recklessness.
Financial freedom isn’t about excess, but about access.
Access to a life where you can wake up every day, knowing that you never need to work again, you can travel if you want to, or write that novel you’ve always dreamed of.
It’s about getting to a place where you can do everything you’ve ever wanted without sweating the smaller financial stuff.
(For a deeper dive into each financial stage, check out “The Three Stages of Financial Freedom”)
Pillar #3 — Self-Actualisation
The third – and final – Pillar is Self-Actualisation.
Self-actualisation is “the complete realisation of one’s potential, and the full development of one’s abilities and appreciation for life”
But to me, that definition is missing something.
Yes, self-actualisation is about continually refining yourself, finding ways to grow, learn, and improve, becoming the best version of yourself in the process…
But what about the “Why?”
What about the “Who cares?”
Why are we “self-actualising” in the first place?
Well, I think the answer to “why” is simple: it’s for you.
Self-actualisation helps you become the best version of yourself so that you can have an impact on the world.
You can live a life that aligns with your personal mission, your goals, and your values...
You can live a fulfilling, empowering, adventurous, and successful life…
We self-actualise to break the box of expectations that we’ve come to learn.
Self-actualisation gets us to where our past selves only wish we could be.
But more importantly, it elevates us far beyond the Status Quo.
(By the way, if you want to read more about this, click here)
Now what?
Okay, so you’ve worked your way through all Three Pillars, and you’re finally breaking free of the Status Quo…
…now what?
How do you go from a free clean-slate to truly living, finding, and achieving your definition of success?
Well, that’s where The Four Cornerstones of Unconventional Success come in.
The Four Cornerstones each represent an essential area of understanding and growth.
They’re the core concepts and ideas that keep your Three Pillars standing.
They’re what you need to learn before attacking the Three Pillars and smashing the Status Quo.
Ready?
Cornerstone #1 — The Art of Business
This cornerstone is all about the transition from age-old models of business (the ones that don’t work anymore) to a brand-new model of business.
A model of business that breathes freedom back into your life instead of making you feel like you’re in shackles.
Mastering this cornerstone means immersing yourself in the Art of Business.
How to start and grow a business, how to develop a team and systems, and how to create a business model that supports you in achieving the life you truly deserve.
Cornerstone #2 — The Science of Wealth Creation
This cornerstone jumps from business to money, refocusing how you handle your funds.
It’s about what you can do with the funds that you have, how you can make them work for you through investment, and how you can keep more of the money you make.
The Science of Wealth Creation means learning – and fully understanding – why traditional saving isn’t enough, exploring new ways to maximise your wealth, and creating a portfolio of assets that support the life you desire.
Cornerstone #3 — The Craft of Lifestyle Design
This cornerstone is about how you can build the life of your dreams, customised exactly how you want it.
The Craft of Lifestyle Design focuses entirely on you - what you want, not what society has told you to want.
Cornerstone 3 throws society’s blueprint of “a good life” right in the bin, empowering you to create your own blueprint for the life of your dreams.
Cornerstone #4 — The Journey of Personal Evolution
This final cornerstone is about understanding the essence of self-actualisation, unearthing a new mindset and a new approach to personal growth.
This cornerstone focuses on learning how to become the best version of yourself, diving deeper into the elements of self-actualisation and personal development.
Here you’ll focus on unlocking your potential, introducing habits and rituals that catalyse growth, and doing everything you can to become the best damn “you” that you could ever be.
Putting the work and effort into these four Cornerstones is integral to your journey to escape the Status Quo.
Without the Cornerstones, you don’t have the Pillars.
Without the Pillars, you can’t escape the Status Quo.
And without escaping the Status Quo… well, things stay exactly as they are.
And we both know you don’t want that.
A new day
Beep beep. Beep beep.
You reach over and hit your alarm.
But this time you’re not in a mad dash to whip open your laptop or catch a train.
You’re up early for a sunrise hike in Bali.
Maybe you live there, maybe you’re just visiting…
You hike, go for breakfast, and work on your laptop until lunch…
You explore the local shops in the afternoon then meet your found family at the beach.
You enjoy a bonfire with friends, and sand between your toes, a memory in progress that is so enjoyable, so thrilling, so fulfilling, that you can’t think of anything else but how good it feels to be alive.
Now, you’re working how you want, where you want, and doing what you want.
Why?
Because you escaped the Status Quo.
So maybe you’ll wake up at 6AM tomorrow.
Or maybe you’ll sleep in instead…
Either way, one thing is certain: you’re the one in charge of your life now.
And I bet it feels damn good.
Until next time…
Stay Awesome, and Stay Powerful.
P.S: Whenever you are ready, here are a few things you might be interested in:
Learn More About Me: Check out this video to discover how I went from being homeless and broke to generating over $20m in revenue in under four years, and now travelling the world as an 8-Figure nomad.
Escape The Status Quo Quiz: Uncover your personal potential in the areas of Lifestyle Design, Business & Entrepreneurship, Personal Evolution, Financial Freedom, and Mindset.
1:1 Growth Consulting: Want to grow your business fast? Work with me directly to rapidly grow your business and unlock more freedom. Very limited. By application only.
Youtube: Every week, I release a new video designed to help you succeed in Business, Lifestyle Design, and Personal Evolution.
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