Do you need to reboot your life? Is your rut as bad as my rut years ago? I laid in bed every morning knowing that day would be as boring as the day before. I had no challenge to get me out of bed. On the exterior, my life was ok. I was happy with my girlfriend. I had a decent job. I was debt-free with money in the bank. But, there was no fire left. I had no project or goal to keep me engaged and working.
All this took place back in the early two-thousands. First I tried going back to school, thinking a change of place would be good. I thought I could explore a new line of work. Maybe, meet new people. Or, at the very least, learn a new skill. I did the school thing for a couple of years part-time in the evenings. I liked it, but that was not what I was looking for. I still had no fire. I still felt empty and bored. So, I made a plan.
I started paying my portion of the rent and utility bills in advance. I built up a four-month cushion where I didn’t have any bills. And, in the spring of 2002, I quit my job and went on a sabbatical. I had a pretty good travel nest egg built up. (I can show you the down-and-dirty basics of how I did it here) Then, I hit the road. I started my tour. I traveled from my home in Wisconsin to the east coast. Then, down through New York, Atlantic City (what a disappointment), DC, and into Virginia. Unfortunately, things didn’t go so well.
My car broke down several times. Repairs cost more than I anticipated. Other regular expenses were more than I thought it would be. Financially, I slipped further than I felt comfortable sliding. So, after about a month I headed home. But, it didn’t matter that I only lasted a month on my trip which I had planned for three or four. I had found what I was looking for. I felt rejuvenated for the first time in years. The fire was back. I finally felt alive and ready to tackle something new.
Reboot Your Life; Break out of your comfort zone and explore
Concentrate on trying new things. Exploring new places. I live in a suburb of a large metropolitan city. I love jumping in my car and just going for a drive. I love urban exploring and trying to find new things.
I love:
- Reboot your life by hitting new niche mom-and-pop shops as opposed to big box stores. On-site store owners put their personality and love into developing their stores. It seems if it is not too busy, the owners or workers love to talk about their store. It seems, that just hearing the passion in their voice about their store will often put a spark back in my life. It doesn’t matter if I’m interested in what they do or not. Hearing their passion can get my mind working again. Just about anything seems interesting when you hear someone speak with passion.
- Reboot your life by going to bookstores. Especially used bookstores. I browse the aisles for hours. These are ideal palaces. You can travel the world. Take a trip to the moon. Learn how to cook different foods. Or even listen to history’s most masterful storytellers tell you a story that will make you laugh or cry; maybe, just plain think. Excellent bookstores often have coffee lounges serving Mushroom Infused Coffee, author readings, and even a little live music once in a while. Whenever I get into even the slightest rut, I tear off to the nearest book palace.
- Reboot your life by planning a major vacation. Vacations have always been a big reboot for me. I get as excited planning, budgeting, and daydreaming about it as I do in the experience. It’s good to vacation. It’s good to dream about the vacation.
I live in the US. I’ve talked to people from other countries around the world. They vacation much more than us. They seem to value and understand the power of vacations much more than us. In the U.S., there appears to be a little thought of laziness around people who vacation too much. Too many ‘on the go’ personalities. Vacationing at regular intervals is healthy. Maybe someday we will value it as other countries do. I like taking a sabbatical once in a while. As I mentioned above, I did this once. Sabbaticals are an extreme reboot method. This spurred a different directional change in life for me. It was much more than just a little directional shift. This was more about reinventing myself. I don’t recommend this to everyone. People supporting families have to be mindful of the well-being of their family. It probably isn’t wise to just quit and take a leap of faith. The smart choice is to take small steps. I needed it, and I did it.
Reboot Your Life; Get away from toxic people and meet new friends
I’m an introvert. I talk about this reboot as a benefit to most of the other people in the world. I have done a bunch of these ideas and met some cool people. But, my life reboots usually come about through travel and education. The most important part of this is getting away from toxic people first.
Unfortunately, this can even include family. People want to be around people like them. They don’t want to see others succeed just to leave them behind. They will stop at nothing to pull you back. They may care, but seeing you succeed, will drive them nuts.
Some might mean to be toxic and jealous. Life is too short to be around people who are like this. Obstacles are too high already without people mentally beating you down. How do you identify people who are holding you back? You’ll need to read deep into the language they use. They may say things like, “We just don’t want you to get hurt if things don’t work out.” They want to lure you back into the safety net. All the while squashing your dreams. They may just deny the fact that a new direction just doesn’t make sense and back it up with reasons like,” That won’t work. Here is why.” Once you rid yourself of the toxic people in your life, you can move to find good supportive people to be around.
- Take a class at a community college or some other workshop venue. This is an easy way to meet people, but still, stay in your comfort zone if you are shy or introverted. You can still enjoy the class even if you don’t feel a connection to the other people in the class. You also get the bonus of learning something new. This is another reboot technique I talk about later.
- Get to a conference. There is something magical about conferences. Many offer a bunch of opportunities to meet people. Some might become lifelong friends, mentors, or people in which to mastermind. Many times, conferences schedule breakout sessions to network with other people. I’ve seen some conferences that have Facebook groups attached to them. Fellow attendees will get in the group and meet before the actual event. Some even look for other people to share rooms with at the conference.
- Join a “meet up.” There is an organization online called Meetup.com. They have clubs of people who get together at regular intervals around different topics. I’ve belonged to and have met many new people through “Meetups.” I even met a business associate through a local WordPress Meetup. Even though we’ve only talked in person a couple of times, we do stay in touch through social media.
- Most cities have clubs or groups you can join. In my area, there are book clubs, professional organizations, entrepreneurial organizations, and special interest clubs like the Sierra Club. Look online or at places like your local library bulletin board for club ideas or meeting details. These are really for meeting people around a particular topic.
Reboot Your Life; Learn something new and expand your knowledge
If you haven’t noticed by now there are tons of bleed over in ways to reinvent or reboot your life. Learning something new has always been one of my favorite methods of breaking out and rebooting my life. I’m always looking for the next thing. The next big thing usually requires learning as much as I can about a particular topic. I don’t think you can ever go wrong with education. My life reboot process usually goes something like this.
- I search social media like Facebook or Pinterest and something interesting will catch my eye. It usually takes a couple of months of exploring and dabbling to find something interesting enough to keep me learning. I’ll read some news posts. Maybe I’ll watch some videos. Then something will hit.
- Next, I usually do a Google search and read a bunch of the top search returns on the topic to find out a little more. There might be some user forums or Facebook groups to explore so I can get a real sense of what it is all about. Keep an eye on who are the top people in these groups. Most of my focus is usually on business or money. So, when I look in forums or groups, I’m looking for people who are making money or successful in that particular niche.
- I’m a big podcast listener. I usually try to find a bunch of podcasts on the subject. I listen to these off and on for a month or two while I’m still dabbling in the last step or I’ve gone on to the next step. I love podcasts. They are a free way to dig into the inside scoop within a particular interest. I like listening to them in my car as I drive or when I do simple household chores. I’ve even plugged into them when working at simple menial which doesn’t require a ton of concentration.
- Then, I’ll usually buy the top couple of books on the subject. Often, people in forums or Facebook groups will have recommendations on books to buy. Audiobooks are also one of my favorites. I chew on audiobooks just like I do podcasts.
- Finally, I just get out there and do it. I build it. I love it. I do it. I’ll buy what I need to get it done and jump right in. I’ve always been a believer in action spurring action. Doing something digs me deeper into the activity. The deeper I dig, the more I become obsessed with learning. I buy more books on the subject; I get involved in more forums and groups, and I take classes and workshops to find out more.
I’ll give you a direct example of something I did years ago that took me down the direct path I outlined above. It was the middle of the winter, and I wanted to start a garden in the spring. While researching gardening ideas on YouTube, I stumbled across hydroponics. If you are not familiar with it, it is the growing of plants in water instead of soil. Hydroponics is synonymous with the illegal activity of growing certain types of illegal vegetation in water. My hydroponics was the legal kind. I grew cucumbers and tomatoes.
Anyway, I started with a couple of YouTube videos, progressed through some books, took a workshop at a local hydroponic farm, and then I dug in. I went to visit the local Cheech and Chong hydroponics store to buy the stuff I needed. Within a month, I had a small hydroponic set up in my kitchen growing tomato and cucumber plants to put in my garden in spring.
That whole process became one of my better life reboots. I met new people, learned a new skill, and had a pretty good garden that summer. The reboot has become a necessity for me. All these tried and true methods help me keep reinventing myself over and over. It’s actually kind of a joke in my family, “What is Kevin up to now?” If I listed all the things I’ve tried in all of my life reboots, we’d be here for hours.
I love hearing about what other people have tried and done with their reboots. Tell me about your reboots in the comments below. I will read them all, no matter how long the list gets.
Be well,
Kevin