Declaration of Independence - From Shame to Motivation in Less Than Five Minutes
As you may have discovered by now, I’ve spent much of my working life wanting and wondering how to stop spending my life working. I’ve read books
Often times I’ve felt like I should be able to do it. I’m smart enough. I’m college-educated. I know it’s in my blood. Then, in a matter of weeks, or months if I really mean it this time, I go back to being thankful, but ashamed for settling on, the blessings that have become mine: Income for a job that is not bad if I have to do it - even stimulating at times, two awesome children, Joshua (4 1/2) and Jacob (almost 3), my always-more-beautiful wife of almost 10 years, Carol, friends that accept me with all of my quirks, too many to list by name for the risk that I’ll exclude some, an opportunity to live a brisk 5 minute walk away from my brother Michael and his wife and daughter, a short one-hour drive or less to any of my immediate family members’ homes, less than a day’s drive to my in-laws’ families who’ve most graciously and unconditionally accepted me, just to name a few 
This morning, Jacob came in our room and climbed into bed with us. He laid there quietly for about five minutes before starting to complain for his thirst, and the downstairs that needed him, and before long, he would need a snack. I roled over to see if I could get a little more sleep while Carol lovingly endured Jacob’s picking and whining - but Jacob saw me! I could play dead no longer. His attention immediately shifted to my side of the bed. I was his new hope for salvation this morning. Here he’s thinking, “Maybe Daddy will get up with me.”
He started out very peacefully. He put his soft two year-old hand on my neck and whispered something, audible only to him in his mind. Still, I could hear loud and clear. I want to experience that every morning until he’s no longer interested. Minutes earlier, I laid in bed thinking of how we were going to turn this blog into something that interested readers and into a place where others might experience the same feelings of desire and want - so that we might motivate each other in ways planned and unplanned. There was my motivation. What’s yours? I plan to live that experience, or to take my kids to school, or to go get my haircut with them when they get theirs cut. I plan to have lunch with Carol on days when she’s not busy with her own endeavors. I intend to go on every field trip with my kids until it’s no longer fun for them to have me tagging along. I plan to write, here and elsewhere, for as long as it pleases me. All these things are mine to enjoy. If I just choose to enjoy them.
How will I do these things? That’s not nearly so important as my will to do them. I intend to make it so and the how comes to me in opportunities that I create. But please stay tuned, for I will share my journey with you. For one thing, I’ll be signing on to Steve Pavlina’s Million Dollar Experiment. I plan to increase my earnings through this dedication and people like him serve to motivate me, without hesitation or reservation.
This time it’s different. I don’t know if I’ve said that before or not but this time, I declare it’s true. I declare independence from that rat race that binds most families to society’s expectation of 9-5, five days a week. From hereon, I shall use the generous income that I earn 5 days a week as the means to live while I pave another road for us. Like many of my role models, I’m destined for a different life and I believe in my big heart that a previous lack of confidence is all that stood between me and prosperity. Now, confidence is mine and so shall be the life I’ve been longing for. I will generate passive income with ease. I will do so morally, helping as many others as I can along the way. Creativity abounds within me and ideas never imagined flow through me like water in a river. I can no longer be satisfied spending more waking hours with colleagues than with those I love most. In one year’s time, if independence is not yet mine, it’s light will shine brighter than ever and my drive toward it will be faster and more glorious than today I can imagine.