The future depends on what you do today. —Mahatma Gandhi

July’s Blueprint: Small Steps to Make Freedom Happen

Walking through Carmona, Spain. Photo by Wendy Stieg.

How Do You Get From Ideas to Plans?

I have had a very strong desire to break free for a very long time. I remember when it was the dawn of the Internet, when it was filled with positivity and promise. There were no such things as trolls, and people seemed to be a lot more authentic. There was some website or other that I stumbled across that talked about self-improvement. This website also stated that a job is one of the worst ways to make money. What did they mean worst? Probably, they meant you had little chance of making significantly more money, changing how much of your life you traded for income, or changing your station in life based on that income. But waking up this morning, I started to think about that. And how do you go from having or needing a job to having your own manageable source of income?

I wish I had the magic answer for that, but I do agree: a job, while predictable, is based on someone else’s ideas of how you need to behave, show up and think for about a third (or more) of your life. That’s if you work full-time. You live for the weekends and you dream about what it might be like to be doing something else. The idea that you have it within you to have, do or be anything in this life has stuck with me for many years. I lived through a lot in my time on this rocky planet, and have found that it is my beliefs that dictate, ultimately, what I think. I have spent many years trying to understand what those beliefs are and, more importantly, how to change them.

If you look at your own life, you will see that this is true. The tricky part is being able to reflect on your life enough to be able to see what those beliefs are. I have found that the freedom I crave is also the hardest part of my life to change. 

If you've ever wondered where that desire for freedom comes from in the first place, I explored that question in I Don't Want to Escape My Life. I Want to Build a Better One. It became one of the first times I realized I wasn't trying to escape my life at all. I was trying to build one that felt more aligned with who I wanted to become.

Wrestling with Freedom and What Feels Real for Me

I did a little experiment many years ago. I wrote down 100 things I would do if I won the lottery. It turned out to be a fascinating thought experiment because after about the first 25 things, the really big ones, I started writing down things I could actually do without winning the lottery. Winning the lottery is a fun fantasy because we imagine it would make all of our problems suddenly disappear. But is that really true? Does having so much money change our need for connection? Does it somehow free us from the relationships that give life meaning? Does it protect us from illness, loss, or death? Does it remove consequences? I don't think so. If anything, greater freedom often comes with greater responsibility.

Thinking that money will fix everything reminds me a little of the Adam Sandler movie Click, where he finds a way to skip over all the parts of life he doesn't want to experience. In the end, he discovers that you don't get to bypass life without paying a price. That makes me wonder what it is we are really craving when we say we want freedom. I wish money were the answer, but at some level we all know it isn't. Money can make life easier, but it doesn't remove the things that make us human.

Where I have landed, at least for now, is that freedom begins with finding something each day that makes me genuinely happy. Not just grateful, but deliriously happy. That feeling of joy isn't something money can buy. It comes from doing work you enjoy, creating something with your hands, spending time with people you love, or simply being present in the life you already have. Do you need to win the lottery to experience that? I don't think so.

What I do know is that freedom looks different for each of us. For me, it isn't about escaping responsibility. It isn't about never working again. It is about creating a life where my work, my time, and my choices are more closely aligned with who I am. I don't know exactly how to get there yet. If I did, I would probably write the book everyone wants to read, thus creating wild success. But I do know this: if you don't learn to appreciate what you already have, no amount of money will ever give you the freedom you crave. That part has always been an inside job.

Recognizing the Detour

Life is filled with possibilities. It is also filled with internal shoulds. Those small voices, whispering what you should do, what is safe, what is expected, and what is realistic. If you pay attention, you begin to realize those thoughts are connected to what you truly believe. Do you believe you can be successful? Do you believe there is enough to go around? Do you believe you have what it takes to create a different kind of life? Those beliefs shape every decision you make. The tricky part is recognizing the ones that no longer serve you. You know when you've just experienced a no-longer-serving-you-belief because your whole body changes. Your thinking becomes smaller, fear takes over, and suddenly the life you were building feels impossible.

That happened to me yesterday. Paul left the house unsure whether he would be allowed to work with his broken wrist. Within minutes, I had applied for two jobs because part of me still believes a job is the only reliable way to make money. There is nothing wrong with having a job, and I will continue applying for work while we need the income. But that isn't the life I ultimately want to build. I want to write. I want to create. I want to build independent sources of income that grow over time. Yesterday reminded me that fear can still pull me back toward old beliefs, but it also reminded me that I don't have to let those beliefs decide where I am going. That choice is still mine.

One of the biggest lessons I've learned while building this blog is that clarity rarely arrives before you begin. More often, it shows up because you begin. That's something I wrote about in Building Best of Both Worlds, where I realized that waiting for the perfect plan was actually keeping me from making progress.

Getting to a Workable Plan

I know plans are imperfect. I understand that we have to keep our eye on the goal. In my case, the goal is freedom. Our goal is to move from employed to self-employed. Today, more than ever, opportunities exist that simply weren't here 20 years ago. The landscape is different. There are people out there who have found ways to build lives that don't depend entirely on working for someone else. Working for someone else can provide a sense of stability, but it often requires giving up some control over your time and your choices. Working for yourself offers more creativity and control, but it comes with its own uncertainties. Neither path comes with guarantees. They simply involve different risks and different tradeoffs. I plan to leverage what I know and what I can do in ways I had never considered before.

Right now, that looks like staying consistent with writing the blog. That means continuing to explore employment. That also means continuing to seek contract labor. I have proven to myself that I can write and that I love to write. It comes naturally to me. So I am leveraging that. I also understand marketing in a very basic way: I taught skiing for 16 years. Marketing was what you had to do in those days if you were going to be successful. I have learned through building my blog how to market what I do. I can do this for other people as well. My path to success doesn't look like one giant breakthrough. It looks like building several skills and several streams of income that support one another over time. 

The Blueprint in Action

So what does that look like in practice? This month, my plan is simple. Publish consistently. Apply for one job each day until I find the right fit. Continue building my marketing business. Continue looking for independent contract work. Keep building the blog because that is the foundation everything else rests on. Paul and I still plan to go to Spain. We may have to fit it around our work schedule instead of waiting for the perfect moment, but the vision hasn't changed. With freedom as the ultimate goal, it becomes much easier to decide where to spend my time and energy. One thing is certain: life will be different in five years. By staying true to that vision and working toward it every day, I know I am already building the life I want.

This month's Blueprint was inspired by another lesson I've been thinking about lately: sometimes success isn't about pushing harder, but recognizing when it simply isn't the right time. If you enjoyed this article, you might also like July's Muse: The Right Time, where I explore what Hawaiian fishermen taught me about timing, patience, and trusting that the right conditions eventually arrive.

One page from my current "100 Things I Would Do" list. Looking at it now, I'm realizing more of these goals are possible than I once believed. Photo by Wendy Stieg

Sometimes the next step begins by quietly thinking about where you want to go. Lisbon, Portugal. Photo by Wendy Stieg.

The road toward Cristo Rei outside Lisbon, Portugal. Progress rarely happens all at once. It happens one mile at a time. Photo by Wendy Stieg.