Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Free Your Inner Gulliver: A Swift Lesson

I received this news release about a book called: Free Gulliver: Six Swift Lessons in Life Planning by Tripp Friedler.

The book has great info about the frugal use of time and other important resources.

I've read a lot of books about how to make millions, how to make the most of every opportunity, etc. The bottom line in my reading: Stay focused & be passionate about your work, your dreams, etc.

"If your life is less than what you want it to be, resist the temptation to say, 'I can live with all these little strings,'" says Friedler. "Break those strings and jump up and chase your dreams. Life is too short, and too potentially rich and fulfilling, not to. When you're on your deathbed, your biggest regrets will center on the risks you didn't take, not the ones you did."


Anyway, here's the news release (with a few edits):

"You're tired of feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, trapped by a life that, frankly, feels more like an endurance race. If you can just get a handle on one corner of it, maybe you can start turning things around. By 2007, everything will be better . . . right?

Well, if you follow your usual path, no, says Tripp Friedler, author of Free Gulliver.

If you're not living a life you love, the symbolic little goals you keep setting (and abandoning) are meaningless. You need to set the mother of all goals--FREE GULLIVER.

STOP OVERSPENDING AND OTHER BAD HABITS

What's interesting, says Friedler, is that once you have freed Gulliver, those little bad habits --smoking, overeating, overspending--will be much easier to fix. Sometimes, they even dissolve away on their own. That's because so many of them are coping mechanisms you use to distract you from what's really important.

TRAVELING WITH GULLIVER

The reference, of course, is to the protagonist of Jonathan Swift's classic Gulliver's Travels.

In case you need a refresher on Swift's tale, Gulliver was a doctor who couldn't make any money on land so he decided to ply his trade on the sea. When his ship was wrecked, he woke up on a beach tied down by hundreds of tiny strings. The strings belonged to a group of equally tiny people--the Lilliputians--who shot Gulliver with little poisonous arrows when he tried to escape. So, not wanting to deal with the pain, he allowed himself to be tied back down for a while before he was ultimately freed.

"To free Gulliver is to slice through all the problems that are keeping you from doing the one thing you daydream about," says Friedler. "You know, that thing you keep putting off until the kids are in school, or until you get the house paid off, or until you retire. That's the resolution you should be setting. All those other yearly promises are just bandages--usually bandages with no adhesive!"

SHED THE FEAR FACTOR

· Freeing Gulliver really isn't that hard. We just think it's hard. But focus and clarity are the keys, and they're not necessarily easy to achieve.

Remember, Gulliver quit fighting the Lilliputians because their tiny darts were causing him pain. But when you realize the temporary pain of change is much less painful than the permanent pain of living in bondage, you'll realize getting clear and focused is worth it.

"Change is scary, but I think it's the anticipation that's the worst," says Friedler. "Once you've made the leap across the chasm, you kind of look back and realize the leap wasn't nearly as big as you thought it was. And if you're like most people, you'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner."


LOCATION! LOCATION! LOCATION!

· Don't be afraid to take an unflinching look at your location. Your location is where you are right now, the good, the bad, and the ugly of your current life situation. Looking at it may be frightening but it's absolutely necessary.

"Denial is the force that keeps people in limbo for many years," Friedler says. "I have found that most people don't want to know their location. They are afraid that they'll discover they don't have what it takes to buy that new house or change careers or whatever. But discovering their location actually reveals what they have to do in order to achieve that dream. It's nothing less than a paradigm shift in your thinking."

JUMP OUT OF THE MATRIX

·Free your passion and your passion will free you.(Gulliver). Of course, passion alone won't get you anywhere; it's just a third of what Friedler calls the "three legged stool," which also encompasses location and vision. But it's the rocket fuel that takes you where you want to go. "We all naturally have passion for something," says Friedler.

"Question is, are we putting it in the driver's seat or keeping it locked in the trunk? It's not my job to create passion in my clients, but I do help them access it and direct it. People are usually surprised to find they really do have the passion to reach what they want. I mean, they have the passion it would take to go one mile, and they think they're six miles away. I show them they're really only half a mile away--they have more than enough fuel."

(Check out his website, freegulliver.comFree Gulliver.

Free Gulliver: Six Swift Lessons in Life Planning by Tripp Friedler(Trost Publishing, 2005, ISBN: 1-933205-00-8, $19.95/).

About the Author:
Tripp Friedler is Gulliver. A born adventurer, he has weathered his share of storms, cut plenty of strings, and now helps others chart their own journeys. Interested in going back to school? Tripp has a law degree and is working on his second masters; he'll help you find the time. Want a career change? Tripp gave up records to manage a restaurant, sold a business to make more time for his wife and three children. As a Chartered Life Underwriter, a Chartered Financial Consultant, and an Accredited Estate Planner, he has studied the financial plans of over one thousand people and helped them create life plans to reach their goals."

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