Going To Denmark!
I booked a flight to Copenhagen, Denmark for June 30th. I also gave notice to my employer that June 29th will be my last day. This may not seem like that big a deal, but frankly I spent the last 15 months or so working at a job that had absolutely no purpose other than to pay off debt, save money, and position me to get back into business again. I haven’t really spent much time writing on here about my business plans or aspirations, although I’m sure you may have gotten that sense based on the way I talk about business within a lot of (all) of the posts I write on here. The last 15 months I have felt like I was in prison, serving time for poor business decisions, and inexperience. I have less than two weeks left to serve and I am getting antsy.
So what am I doing in Denmark? I’m starting production on a badminton instructional program with Peter Rasmussen. Some of you may know him, most probably won’t. The point is I’m going all out for my dream. Two years ago I read Tim Ferriss’ Four Hour Work Week, and I decided that I wanted to join him in the ranks of the New Rich. I wanted to have the freedom to do what I wanted, when I wanted to, wherever I wanted to do it. I’m going to do a terrible job defining for you what the hell I’m talking about here, but maybe if you read this post over at David Risley’s blog about Lifestyle Design, you might understand a little bit better.
I am scheduled to return to Canada on July 17th, but I am considering just staying there indefinitely. Not really sure at this point, but the idea of just doing something major like that on a whim really excites me. I have never really bought into the whole, get a job, build a career, retire at 65 thing. I refuse to spend my life doing something because I need the money. I don’t want to spend my days working so that I can have some freedom in the evenings. I don’t want to work so that I can live, I want to live for my work. I want to be passionate about what I spend my time doing.
Everyone I know is either in real estate, or oil and gas it seems. That’s the case in Edmonton more or less. The other alternative is a dentist, doctor, lawyer etc etc. Not for me. If you want to help people then by all means go be a doctor, but if you’re doing that because you want the money and prestige, I pity you. Maybe you get off on the money and prestige, but there are easier ways to get money and prestige than going to school for that long. There are so many things that I want to do with my life, and the idea of working for someone else forever just isn’t going to happen.
In no particular order here are some things I AM GOING TO DO:
- Play on the professional badminton tour – I used to dream of being world #1 when I was a kid
- Help to make badminton a REAL pro sport – I want it to be like tennis
- Learn chinese fluently – took it at school for a while, but never reached fluency
- Live in Barcelona for a while – loved it there for 4 days, maybe that’s all I need, but I want to go back
- Direct/Produce/Act in feature films – I went to film school, then dropped out because the school sucked, or maybe I was just scared?? And yes, I do want to act, in spite of my shy nature. I want to make movies that shape the way people see the world. I’m unlikely to be some activist, so this could be my way of making a difference
I know a lot of these may seem selfish and you don’t see “save the whales” or anything like that on here, but is that so horrible? I’m only 26 years old, I hope I have another 74 or so years left, and perhaps when I get older I’ll have more of an interest in social issues, but for now being a pro badminton player and Hollywood film director seem like pretty cool aspirations.
Anyway, I’m going to Denmark to produce this badminton thing. Thinking that I might just stay there til Christmas time. Play some badminton, develop the badminton project, and have fun. Check back here and you’ll find out what happens next, cause right now I don’t even know.