here is no better advice than K.I.S.S.

Keep it Simple Stupid.

Simplicity works. Complexity is often a waste of time. The Deadlift, for example, is just about the simplest exercise in existence. Pick up a heavy weight from the ground. That’s it. But this simple exercise will produce more results that the most complex of exercises or any combination of complex exercises. The guy who deadlifts all the time is worlds apart in muscle mass and strength than the guy who stands one-legged on a bosu ball while curling and pressing kettlebells.

If it can be said effectively in one sentence there is no earthly reason to expand it to 4 or 5 sentences. Succinctness and brevity are always more effective than 13 pages of literary diarrhea. If it can be done in 5 minutes there is no reason to stretch it out to 30 minutes.

Simplicity makes things easier. Hard work is its own reward, but making things harder just because is flat out stupid. If it can be done one of two ways 1) the simple way and 2) the complex way, only the idiot takes the complex way for the same (or often inferior) result.

Food cooked with 10 ingredients is always inferior in taste and nutrition to food cooked simply and with minimal ingredients. Steak and eggs cooked in butter and seasoned with salt and pepper tastes better than any restaurant meal with a list of fancy ingredients and a 30 minute prep time.

Paying $5,000 cash for a used pickup truck that you will own is always a better idea than leasing a brand new vehicle with a $2500 down payment, paying $487.92 every month for the next 48 months, limiting yourself to 12,000 miles per year and then giving the vehicle back to the dealership and starting the process over again. You could explain those options to the dimmest of dimwits and have him tell you which is the better choice.

Living simply allows you to live freer. You could buy yourself a bunch of fancy new dishes, eating from a week’s worth of dishes before you have to wash them or you could own 2 forks, 2 knives, 2 spoons, 2 bowls, 2 plates, 2 glasses and a spatula and be just as happy with less clutter.

You could have a collection of 1,000 DVD’s that take up a galactic amount of space or you could get rid of them and put all your media onto a computer or an external disk. You could buy new CD’s or you could simply put 5,000 songs onto an mp3 player and listen to anything you want at the drop of a hat. You could have a nice big book collection or you could get an e-book reader and have only one physical book and thousands to read. You could get yourself an expensive phone that will alert facebook if you’re stranded in the Australian Outback or you could get a cheap phone that makes phone calls and sends text messages. You could constantly buy new clothes and never be happy with what you have or you could buy a few items that you can wear for years.

You could strive to own more stuff and deal with the self-imposed imprisonment or you can strive to own less stuff and be free.

The choice is yours. I have already made mine.

I

n airports all over the world you will see men and women dressed like imbeciles, they wear a giant backpack on their back (it’s absolutely huge and filled to the brim) and then on their front they wear another regular sized backpack like they’re carrying a baby.

Today I’m going to show you how to pack with less clutter and less junk so you can travel light, not be bogged down with 50 lbs of luggage, leave room for souvenirs and – most importantly – have an adventure of a lifetime. To accomplish this you’ve got to eliminate all the extra baggage, you only need to have carry-on luggage (luggage that is not checked with an airline, it is taken onto the plane with you), and you’ve got to make your luggage as light as possible. You need a backpack and possibly a smaller day bag at most. When travelling you do not want to spend all your time carrying 50 lbs of luggage and/or looking after all that luggage, you want time to explore and have a good time. All that luggage gets in the way.

Below is a list of the essential travel items:

Clothing: You’ve got to bring clothing but you don’t have to bring your entire wardrobe. A few shirts, a couple pairs of pants/shorts, a couple pieces of underwear and a couple pairs of socks will be enough in a warm climate. In a cold climate you’ve got to bring just enough to keep warm.

There are two ways to clean laundry while travelling: 1) Every hotel or near every hotel you will be able to find a launder who will clean your clothes for you at a price. 2) You can wash all your clothes yourself with a bar of clothes soap. Most of the world washes their clothes this way. It’s easy, it’s quick, and it’s cheap.

Jeans and shorts can be worn for several days to a week or more at a time. Shirts can be worn for two days before they start to stink. Socks are at a two day maximum. Nylon underwear can be worn for several days at a time before they start to stink (but I recommend no more than one day).

You can simply plan to wash clothes in the shower every other day and you will be fine.

Toiletries: Toiletries can fit into a single toiletries bag/Shaving Kit.

Toothpaste and Deodorant: A) Bring a tiny sized toothpaste and a stick of deodorant or B) Baking soda can be used as toothpaste and it can be used as deodorant. To brush your teeth with baking soda simply mix some baking soda with water and brush like regular. To use baking soda as deodorant simply wet some baking soda with water and apply underneath the arms (be careful not to use the same brush for your teeth and armpits). This saves room on a bar of deodorant and a bottle of toothpaste (a bottle of toothpaste will have to be thrown away at the airport anyway, unless it’s tiny sized). Bring a toothbrush.

A small bottle of baby powder is essential to keep the feet, and your other unmentionables, dry and stink-free.

Hair care: I like to shave my head before embarking on a trip lasting longer than a week. That way I don’t have to carry around any shampoo or hair gel (both will have to be thrown away at airport checkpoints). Not everyone wants a shaved head so I highly recommend getting a short haircut before embarking so as to not have to deal with extra hassle.

You will not be able to get on a plane with shaving cream and possibly not with a razor. You’ll either need to purchase one at your destination or grow a beard. A small Electric Shaver can come in very handy.

Baby wipes are a must bring item. Baby wipes take up less room than toilet paper, can be used to wash your hands and will come in handy in an emergency. You cannot be sure that any place you are travelling will provide toilet paper. I tend to travel with a Devil-may-care attitude but the thought of having to answer natures call in some 2nd or 3rd world toilet with no toilet paper fills me with unease. It isn’t a chance I am willing to take.

In your shaving kit you can throw in extras like: tweezers, bandages, diarrhea medicine, q-tips, any other medicine you may need.

Electronics: The beauty of the internet age is that everything can be taken care of via a laptop and an internet connection.

Skype can be used to make phone calls from your laptop, you can manage your bank accounts online, you can take care of other business via e-mail and company websites.

E-Book Reader: An e-book reader is a must if you enjoy reading. Gone are the days of packing 5 or 10 books. An e-book reader is the size of one small book and can fit hundreds of books into one nice, little package. Excellent for plane rides, layovers or extra time in airports, and rainy days in hotels or youth hostels.

Cellular phone: Everyone has a cell phone. Whether or not having cell service in another country is important to you is your choice. A sim card can be purchased in any country you travel to and will work for local calls. Some cell phones will work abroad automatically, some cell phones will not work abroad and you may have to purchase a new phone abroad to make calls. Skype can be used to make phonecalls directly from your laptop computer.

Mp3 player if you’re a music lover.

Camera/video camera.

Money: You only need to bring a little cash, ATM cards, debit/credit cards. Travelers cheques are obsolete and a waste of time and space. Money in the currency of the new country can be withdrawn from the nearest ATM directly from your bank account and dispersed in the needed currency, converted to the current exchange rate automatically.

Bring your passport or other needed identification.

Those are all the must bring items.

To recap:

Toiletries:

• 3 pairs shirts
• 2 pairs pants or shorts
• 2 pairs underwear
• 2 pairs socks
• One belt
• Baking soda to double as toothpaste and deodorant (or bring deodorant and buy toothpaste at your destination)
• Toothbrush
• Baby wipes
• Baby powder
• Clothing soap (or just have your clothing washed at your destination)
• Other toiletries that fit in your shaving kit

Electronics:

• Laptop computer
• E-Book Reader (gone are the days of packing 5 books)
• MP3 player
• Cellular phone (remember, skype can be used to make calls from your laptop – or you can have skype forward the calls to your cell phone)
• Camera (I use the Nikon D90, it’s bulky but it’s excellent).

Money:

• A small amount of cash
• ATM card(s)
• Debit/credit card(s)
• Passport/ID

That’s everything you need to bring. Now let’s look at some extra stuff you may want to bring.

Miscellaneous Items:

Sunglasses – Especially if it’s a warm, tropical sunny climate.

Condoms – Some souvenirs you don’t want to bring back.

A padlock – You never know when you will need to lock your stuff up at a hotel or at a beach somewhere.

Don’t Bring:

Lighters, liquids, travelers cheques, your girlfriend.

Travel Tips:

Always say “no” to the first price when locals are trying to sell you something. They will always try and rob you at first, and the price will always go down when you say “no”. If you can’t get a price you like simply start to walk away and they will say “stop” and go lower on the price for fear of losing a sale.

Taxis and other private drivers will always try and rip you off. It’s best to always get a metered taxi or agree on a price upfront. The sharks hang out at airports, bus stations, and train stations preying on gullible newcomers and foreigners – the prices for transportation at airports, bus station and train stations will always be outrageously high. Either haggle to death with these drivers or walk a little ways away from the station and find a better priced ride.

Don’t get drunk in random places if you want to keep all the money in your pocket. Either A) Don’t get drunk or B) Leave everything of value at the hotel and only bring a small amount of cash. 3rd world tourism providers are masters at extracting money from drunken foreigners.

Tuesdays and Thursdays are the cheapest days to book plane tickets.

Cheapoair.com is the cheapest spot I have found for tickets.

That’s everything you need to know.

Where Should You Go?

Well, where have you always wanted to go?

Float down the Mekong river on an inner tube in Laos.

Take a Black Sea Run.

Celebrate Carnival in Brazil.

Meet the notoriously beautiful women of Colombia.

Start a business in the world’s freest economies Hong Kong and Singapore.

Take a train through Russia on the Trans-Siberian railroad.

See the pristine beauty of Albania.

Have fun. Everything and everyone will be waiting for you when you get back.

It doesn’t matter where you go, it’s the experience, not the destination that counts. Pick some place you’ve never been that you want to to go to and head that way.

Be sure and stop anywhere along the way that grabs your attention.

You could plan the trip but that would take all the energy and spontaneity out of the trip. Have only some brief guidelines to follow and you will have an adventure of a lifetime.

Several months ago while I was leaving the gym, I had that euphoric feeling I always have after a brutal workout.

I called up a buddy and said “Let’s take a road trip.” He said “When.” I said “Tomorrow early afternoon.” He said “Let’s do it.”

He invited his brother along and we all left Dallas around 2 the next afternoon.  We decided to go to Florida by way of Savannah, GA (to see the trees).

The first night we ended up at a motel outside of New Orleans, LA. The next day we spent a bit of time in N’awleans and headed for Georgia. We hit Savannah late that night and rented a room. We spent the next morning checking out Savannah.

You can sit at home wondering what’s out there…

or you can go pack some clothes, pack a cooler, get in your car and start driving.

Later that day we headed down the Atlantic coast of Florida and ended up on Miami Beach. After endlessly searching for a hotel room on the beach we finally got one (and the bathroom door had a giant, and I mean GIANT, peephole in it!).

We headed out to get some dinner and drinks (costing us around $250) and we went to some club right on the beach with a whole bunch of other travellers, many from abroad. After a couple drinks we went back to the hotel and jumped in the pool, realized the ocean was a mere few hundred feet away, and went in jumped in the ocean in the middle of the night.

We left the next day for Key West, our goal destination. We drove down through all the keys and I have to say it really is a breathtaking view. We get to Key West, the southernmost point of the continental US, found a nice place to rent, rented a golf cart for the rest of the stay and we had a fucking blast down there. We ended up doing all kinds of fun shit that never would have happened if we had stayed home.

We came home by way of the gulf coast of Florida, stopping to see some Alligators along the way. We spent a couple more nights on the Florida beach, spent a night in New Orleans, and finally hit home.

All in all it was a 9 day trip and it was a blast. It cost a bit of money but we all had a bit to spare. If money is an object I would suggest camping out. That sounds even better to me than staying in some posh resort.

For you, I have two questions…

1) Where have you always wanted to go?

2) When are you leaving?

When you make up your mind to do it, do it soon! You don’t want the excitement to die down. If it dies you may not go.

Decide to go and then go! Have an unplanned adventure of a lifetime!

Disposable razors are vile, worthless inventions meant to dupe you out of your hard earned cash on a regular basis. Disposable razors are useless for 2 reasons.

1) They give an inferior shave compared to a safety razor
2) The blades are absurdly expensive and must be purchased frequently

So why would people use these pieces of junk when superior technology exists? That’s an easy answer. You don’t see ads every day for a razor that will last you a lifetime and cost less than $20 for a year’s supply of blades but you DO see ads for the latest plastic gizmo that will give you the shave of a lifetime!! (until you have to buy new razors in a couple weeks for $20).

People have been duped into thinking the new 3 bladed piece of plastic is the greatest shaving technology ever invented. That is completely false. For a close shave nothing in the world beats an old school straight razor. For a safe shave that is extremely close, nothing in the world beats a safety razor. Best of all, you buy the razor only once and it will last you a lifetime. The blades for a safety razor are dirt cheap. I shaved for an entire year on a box of $6 blades. I would spend more than that every month on the latest mach3 nonsense. The real story is that Gillette had the patent on the safety razor. The patent was due to expire, meaning many companies could produce these quality razors. Gillette came up with the disposable razor and put the marketing machine behind it, guaranteeing that they get paid again and again when you buy new razors every month.

You can get started for around $100. After that you never have to buy another razor, this one will last a lifetime. Blades are only $6 for a box of 10.

Things you need to start wet-shaving:

1) Safety Razor – Merkur makes the best. This razor will last a lifetime.

2) Merkur Double Edge Safety Razor Blades

3) Badger Hair Shaving Brush

4) Proraso Shaving Cream – When it comes to shaving cream nothing beats Proraso.

5) Proraso Pre and Post Shave Cream – This stuff is optional but I highly recommend it. My face feels incredible after using this stuff.

How To Wet Shave

I would sooner stop shaving completely than ever go back to using disposable razors. A disposable razor can’t come close to the clean, close, fresh shave of a good quality safety blade. I typically shave once a week because…

A) I can

B) Chicks dig facial hair

When I do shave it is a nice little ritual.

• get out of the shower.
• don’t dry my face.
• run some water over my badger hair brush.
• squeeze the shaving cream into a coffee mug.
• mix up the shaving cream with the badger hair brush into a nice creamy mixture.
• apply the mixture to my face with the brush, making sure to get the shaving cream in between every whisker.
• shave off all the whiskers in just a couple minutes.
• towel dry my face.
• apply aftershave and I’m done. My face feels as smooth as a baby’s.

If you’re sick of shaving altogether you have another option.

Grow a beard.

Why should you grow a beard? Easy answer:

Beards are awesome.

Beards are manly.

Beards command respect.

Beards are cheap and easy to maintain.

Beards look cool.

Simplify your lives, gentlemen. It makes things so much easier.

“Buying” or leasing a brand new vehicle is just about the silliest thing you can do. I say “buying” in quotation marks because when you purchase a brand new vehicle more often than not you finance it. You don’t really buy anything, you put yourself into massive debt, or what I like to call debtors prison.

What happens if you think you have a secure job, you purchase a brand new car to keep up with the Jones’ and six months down the line you get laid off or fired? You still have the car payment barreling down on you like a semi going full speed on your direction. Let me tell you, as a person who has both financed a car and been fired many times it gets very worrisome trying to come up with that car payment every single month when I’ve got no income.

Same scenario: you get laid off or fired. This time, however, you were smart enough to save up a couple grand and you purchase your vehicle in cold, hard cash. All you have to worry about now is paying for gas and paying for insurance. Average liability only insurance premiums for an American are $900 per year, and if you were smart you pay six months in advance. That means all you worry about is gas.

The average price paid for a new car is $28,400. At a modest 6% interest rate over four years you pay a grand total of $32,014.79 (assuming no down payment or trade-in) and $666.97 per month. That much money per month can let you live comfortably in a decent apartment. Imagine getting rid of those six hundred bucks per month in expenses. You can save up for a few months and buy a car in cash and never worry about making another car payment again. Taking the bus for a few months is a great trade-off in never making another car payment.

Even if you pay for the car in cash there is no reason to purchase a brand-new vehicle. As soon as you drive that car off the lot its value plummets. Purchase the same car a year or two old and save yourself some money. In one year that brand new car you bought is now an old car and you wasted several thousand dollars.

Of course, if you live in a city with a good public transportation system you can get rid of the car permanently. Even better because then you save money on gas and insurance AND get you don’t have to drive in grid-iron, bumper to bumper traffic.

If possible, riding a bicycle or a moped (I know it looks stupid) is an excellent money saving method of travel and if you ride a bike you will get tons of great exercise. I dare you to find a fat person who rides a bike every day. Driving a car is one of the most dangerous things you can do. As an added bonus you save yourself a 1 in 84 chance of dying in a car accident. You could die thousands of times in a car accident before ever winning the lottery or being eaten by a shark.

There you have it, trade in that money hemorrhaging hunk of junk, get rid of those payments, save up and get yourself a cash car that gets good gas mileage and has a reputation for being a quality vehicle.

I won’t go into much detail about the absurdity of leasing a car other than to say you are paying an arm and a leg to rent a car, you have to carry full coverage insurance, you are limited to a certain number of miles…you might as well drive a car with a gas leak. You could just give $20 to every single person you meet and make some new friends.

Simplify your lives, gentlemen. It makes things so much easier.

Wallets are stupid.

There is no point in a man carrying around 80 different bits of paper and other junk. Wallets are also bad for the posture. It’s like sitting on one brick each time you sit down. Throw away the wallets and simplify your life!

When I used to carry a wallet I would usually just leave it in my truck and take out the few things I needed. Yet, I still held on to the scraps of paper, old insurance cards, old credit cards, and other nonsense.

Get rid of it!

Now: I carry around a money clip with only the things I need. These things I need consist of:

1) Drivers License. Obviously this is something everyone needs to carry around. Except for criminals. I have learned that criminals avoid the DMV like the bubonic plague.

2) Personal debit card. If I want to buy something I hand the clerk my debit card. No need for wadded up dollar bills.

3) Business debit card. Same reason as above.

4) Personal credit card. Same reason as above.

5) State issued ID. This is probably redundant for me to carry considering I carry a Drivers License. This is a leftover from my dirt poor days when I drove less than legally (illegally) and needed an ID to get into bars. Priorities for the young and dumb.

6) Starbucks gift card. Occasionally I meet with clients at a Starbucks and I like to use this gift card which I received for free instead of using my own money. When there is no money left I will toss the card in the garbage instead of putting it back in wallet (money clip, actually) purgatory.

7) One business card. This actually serves as somewhat of a bookend for my stuff. It helps me fill out the clip. I carry more business cards with my padfolio so there is no need for more in my money clip.

That’s it. What else could a man need to carry around every day?

Let the women carry around all the extra junk in their purses. That’s what they are for. Purses. Not women. That’s why we don’t carry around man-purses everywhere. We don’t need all that extra clutter.

Simplify your lives, gentlemen. 

Television exists for one reason: To so completely mold you into a managable piece of chattel with little hope of forming your own opinions or see just how much you’re being screwed.

It exists to keep you thinking you’re being entertained while your “opinions” are being formed for you.

Television is genius. It has brainwashed people so well that they don’t know, can’t even fathom that they have been so completely duped.

Any time I go to someone’s house and I see them watching the boob-tube they are completely zoned out like an automaton dummy.

Television completely takes over your mind when you watch it, to the point that the subtle hints on TV become your complete opinion like you thought it up yourself.

The other day I pulled up to the gym at peak hours, around 6 pm. I saw through the window that all the treadmills were filled with people and they were all, each of them down to the last man and woman, were staring up at the TV’s in front of them.

It was like something out of a science fiction movie where aliens take over the Earth and no one notices because they were busy watching jersey shore and being spoonfed their news and culture.

Think for yourself and come to your own conclusions.

They say religion is the opiate of the masses, and that used to be true.

Television and other media advertising are now the opiate of the masses. Prevailing opinions are those that are espoused on television and other media.

No matter how asinine, if it’s on the TV then it must be true!

Other than the obvious fact that TV makes you a dimwit it’s also a complete time waster.

No man who ever accomplished anything watched TV all the time like a dummy.

No one who is trying to accomplish something should waste their time rotting their brains away watching the moron tube.

Just turn off the cable, pick up a book, go for a walk, go work out, or make some money.

Save the $100 a month you used to pay for cable and turn it into a fortune.

Simplify your lives, gentlemen. It makes things so much easier.

Going to get a haircut is an inefficient time-waster.

• You have to drive to the salon
• you have to sign in to reception
• you have to wait for a stylist
• you have to explain what you want (and they never truly understand)
• you have to get your hair washed (the only enjoyable part)
• you have to put up with small talk about whatever nonsense is happening in pop-culture
• you have to put up with them not doing it right the first time “no, it needs to be shorter so I don’t have to come back for a while“
• you have to look at it in two mirrors, then style it, then finally give it the A-OK
• you have to pay and then you have to pay extra (a tip) for them doing their jobs
• you have to drive back home with an itchy neck and an itchy back
• you have to take a shower and change clothes

All in all you’ve wasted at minimum an hour.

Now let’s look at the Spartan way to cut your own hair:

• buy some clippers for the price of one haircut
• cut your hair in the bathroom
• sweep up the mess
• take a shower
• go kick some ass

How to Cut Your Own Hair

Step 1: Buy Some Hair Clippers Here. All hair clipper sets will come with different length hair guards that can cut your hair at any length you so desire. Most of them come with facial hair trimmer attachments as well, so you can rest assured knowing you can trim your beard and your hair with one apparatus.

I picked up my clippers at Walmart several years ago for about $25 and have been using them ever since. Of course, I have lost most of the guards so I only cut my hair in two lengths: short and really short.

Step 2: Dive right in and cut your hair. One of three things will happen:

1) You will like the haircut.

• If you like the D.I.Y. haircut you can skip the stylist forever.

2) You will do a poor job, panic, and drive to a stylist to fix it.

• Better luck next time. Try again until you get it right.

3) You will have to shave it all off.

• If you decide to shave it off you don’t have to worry about doing anything to your hair for months. Keeping a shaved head saves time on styling and saves money on shampoo and hair gel. With a shaved head you’re ready to walk out the door at any time of the day or night without doing anything to your hair. Win win.

Step 3: Clean up the mess, sweep the floor, take a shower. I usually put a stopper in the sink and cut my hair into the sink, when I’m done I can just scoop the hair out of the sink and throw it away.

Some home haircut tips to remember:

• Cut against the grain.
• Keep pressure on the clippers, if you hold them delicately they will not cut your hair even.
• If you don’t want to do it yourself you can have your girlfriend, your mom, your sister, your best buddy, your wife, or your brother cut it for you.
• It’s just hair, it will grow back in no time. If you make a mistake you won’t even notice it in a week’s time.
• Dry hair is easier to cut with clippers, wet hair is easier to cut with scissors.

Cutting your own hair is just common sense. Pick the length you think you want and test a section first. If it looks good, go over the whole area. If you want the top longer than the sides then just use a different guard for the top. Use the naked guard to trim the hairs on the back of your neck. A second mirror will come in handy but I almost never use one (can’t be bothered to go and buy one) and it always turns out fine. Hair stylists go to haircut school but I have taught girlfriends how to cut my hair in less than 5 minutes. It is just about the easiest thing in the world and my home haircuts turn out better than paid haircuts 100% of the time.

Recap:

• Home haircuts save money.
• Home haircuts save time.
• Paid haircuts cost money.
• Paid haircuts are a waste of time.
• Cutting your own hair makes you look cool 112% of the time.
• Self-sufficiency, DIY, no BS.
• Save that money, save that time.

Spartans were notorious for living a simple, frugal, minimalist lifestyle. They ate only what they needed, kept their bodies fit, did not spend money wastefully.

A minimalist lifestyle is much more rewarding than the standard consumer lifestyle. To live a minimalist lifestyle you get by on the least amount possible and don’t concern yourself with over-indulgence. That’s gluttony.

It’s quite easy to live like a Spartan. All you need to do is get rid of the junk, the clutter. Go through your belongings and sell or give away anything you don’t absolutely need.

Start small at first, but once you get rid of the junk it can feel quite liberating and you may want to have that feeling again. Great! Do it.

Take a look at your finances and see where you are spending money thoughtlessly and cut back on it. If you’re spending $40 a month on haircuts invest a few bucks on some clippers and cut your own hair. If you’re eating out all the time start actually buying groceries and making your own food. Restaurant food is garbage and will make you fat, quitting it is win-win.

If you’re paying $600 a month on the cool new car sell it and buy yourself a cash car. $2000 a month on rent, move to a less expensive place. It’s not as hard as it sounds. All it takes is the commitment to do it.

We have all been in the situation where we are having a difficult time making our outrageous rent payments, mortgage payments, credit card payments, car payments, lease payments. All for stuff that does not increase our happiness or make our lives better. That shit is like a weight on our shoulders, crushing us little by little. Get rid of all those burdens and it feels like a huge weight has been lifted off our shoulders.

How to Start a Business the Spartan Way

Imagine this scenario: a man wants to be self-employed, hates his job and wants to be in business for himself. He feels that he cannot do so because he has so many payments to make there is just no way he can make enough money right away to take care of all those obligations. So he just endures. He keeps at his soul-stealing job so he can keep making those payments, keep consuming, keep himself down.

The opposite scenario is this: a man wants more than anything to start his own business. He feels extremely passionate about it. He will do anything to make to succeed. He has all the same bills and junk to pay for as the other man.

This man, however, is willing to do what it takes. He sells his car that he is making payments on and he buys a cash car. He cuts up his credit cards and is determined never to use them again. He turns off his cable TV, and instead sends the money in to pay off those credit cards. He sells all his extra junk, electronics and so forth, anything that is not absolutely needed he gets rid of. He sells his house and moves into a cheap little apartment. He cooks his own food instead of eating out all the time.

He uses all his energy and resources to make his business work. He doesn’t care about having the latest cool phone, he knows it doesn’t matter. It’s hard but he finally makes his business work. It’s 5 years later and the man is basically retired. His business is on auto-pilot and he is living the good life. The other man who was scared to quit his job is still going into the same miserable job, buying the same miserable junk, living a miserable existence.

It’s hard to leave a steady job knowing you have bills to pay. But is it harder than living a miserable existence dependent completely on someone else?

If you’ve got a job making 50k a year and you have 30k worth of bills per year why not get rid of all those bills, make 20k on your own and live freer and happier?

That’s how you live like a Spartan. Get rid of all the bullshit and live with what you need, not what you have been spoonfed by advertising to think you need.

Simplify your lives, gentlemen. It makes things so much easier.