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Episode-1391- Designing Your Life for Personal Liberty — 24 Comments

  1. Haven’t listened to this episode yet but know it will be good.

    We can only work for our personal liberty through everyday preparedness. The system is not designed to help us with our liberty. Have the strength to change what you can, the strength to walk away from what you can’t change, but most important the critical thinking to know the difference.

  2. My favorite part is when you ask someone to design your life then you have no freedom. You know I think what stops people is fear of making a mistake. But it is better to make a mistake then to not do anything.

    • “But it is better to make a mistake then to not do anything.”

      BA ZINGA! You recieve one million points and a free game, ding ding ding.

      In interviews for business I have been asked what the single biggest reason for my various successes is, I usually smirk and say, likely my multiple failures that out number the successes 4 to 1. I even told a VC one time when he said I think it is a guarantee that if I bet on you I will win. I told him honestly if you want a gaurntee you better bet on me 5 times.

      Even just in my jobs I always did something rather than nothing and it was always better than nothing. Now of course one must use one’s brain and do something at least remotely intelligent. If your choice is jump off a cliff or do noting most times doing nothing is a better option, yet seldom are their only two choices. Winners find 15 options and pick the best apparent one and do so fast.

  3. Jimmy Buffet fan…PermaEthos PDC was released at 5PM GMT its 5 o’clock somewhere. This made me smile while waiting for the PDC open and again today, thank you and keep up the good work.

  4. I was listening to the liberty rant and the part about the wheelchair made me remember a friends post. Even in a wheelchair do ppl sell themselves short of what they could be/could do? The post is sort of long, I sanitized it of names and as you read it consider this guy has one arm… one arm, no legs.

    i want to share a story with you. years ago, when i was knee high to a grasshopper (yeah, i grew 2 inches since then what s so funny?? , i was about 15 at the time. it was 3 years after my parents had been killed in an auto accident south of town. we had lived in our foster home for 3 years already at the time and i remember this day very well like it was yesterday. the foster parents that dedicated their lives to raising us were R&J and it was awesome. I had J wrapped around my little pinky. if i wanted to get up to the table, she would lift me up at the table. if i wanted to go outside she would let me outside. But i remember on this particular afternoon she called us upstairs for lunch. Lunch, by the way was my favorite some venison stir fry that was so delic! ! i havent had it that good since mom cooked it. i wouldnt be suprised if she is the head chef in heaven at the banquet table, she was that good among all of her other gifts she was good at. So i make the trek across the house (i didnt use my chair in the house back then) and up the steps to get to the table where i sat there and batted my eyeslashes at mom and as politely as i could i ask, “mom could you help me up to the table”. she again without thought came over and was going to pick me up (at that time i think i may have weighed 34 lbs) when asked her”what are you doing?!” and she said, “honey how is he going to get up to the table”. He said, (in an archie bunker style), ” well honey, he is almost to adulthood” and then he said these words to me. which have changed my life forever, “if there was no one else in the world what would you do” Later that week i wanted to go outside (didnt use my chair then either if it was close to the house) and so i was let outside. our house was like a split entry and from the kitchen window upstairs you could look out and see down at the front door. When i knocked, i heard the window open, looked up and saw dad smiling as he said, what do you want? when i told him, he said if there was no one in the world what would you do. he followed that statement with, ill provide anything you need but you have to come up with the list and a plan of how you are going to get in. i thought for a few seconds and came back with, “ill need a rope, the wagon and a stick”. come on, we lived in the boonies what were you expecting? lol. he provided as he said he would and i began instituting my plan. i took the rope and my stick, climbed in the wagon. i tied the rope to the door (or maybe he did when i asked, cant remember). i put the other end of the rope in mouth with minimal slack between the door and myself. i then took the stick and pushed the button to unlatch the door while turning my head to pull on the rope to open the door. then while holding the door open with my rope in my mouth (im telling you, there is not much that cant be done with teeth and rope, even mcgyver never figured that out ;)) i jammed the stick in door to keep it open while i climbed out of the wagon and whoala, I WAS IN! to this day, i remember that and it continually impacts my life. Thank you R&J(dad and mom). i love you guys and am so grateful and blessed that God wrote the sheet music of my lifesong the way he did. please read part ii as it is kind of another chapter of reflection from today.

  5. Nice show Jack,
    I agree credit cards are brutal but they are a basic fact of life in the modern age if you have to travel on a regular basis. The key is use them only when you have to and pay them off every month.

  6. Another great podcast.

    Over many years (decades, because I am an “old man”) I have spent lots of time reading and studying where I am going and spending literally thousands of dollars on doing such.

    However what you put into this 1:27 minute podcast FOR NOTHING encapsulates everything!

    My biggest concern, because I have already been following this advice for some time now, is that I do not want your dissemination of your wide-ranging needed topics to cease.

    Your very broad, relatively short lifetime (mid-forty’s compared to my sixty-nine year old) experience and personally gained experience/knowledge is extrodinary!

    So, PLEASE, take care of yourself! With everything you do – Paleo diet and all I agree. My only suggestion, might be, lose a bit of weight, although, Lord knows, I love good food very well. However, I maintain a very slim weight, almost too slim. My “X” used to hate how much I could eat without gaining weight. Admittedly I ran a lot then. Now, my two dogs say, “John, its time we take YOU out for a walk, because YOU need it.”

    Finally, I love your compassion for others. When the other day, you went on about the strengths and differences between men and women, I loved how right-on you are, it only increased my admiration for you.

    Now, don’t get the idea I agree 100% with all you say, there are a few points I disagree with and if ever you are down here on a well-deserved self-imposed “break,” I will be gladly treat you and Dorothy to whatever kind of dinner you choose, and we will discuss those differences.

    However do NOT hold back your convictions just because I am treating.

    John

  7. Ya know when you make that change it can be so exciting. Hold on to that. Stay strong. Sometimes I have to remind myself daily that I am doing what is right for me. I don’t want to be in a debit prison. I don’t want to eat crap food. Nor do I want to depend 100% on others. I want to do for myself. It can be hard sometimes especially when family comes down on you for it.

    We have been told and heard these words “Well you will never amount to anything if you don’t have debit” That was not even the worst things that were said. At some point you really do have to say I don’t give a shit. Stand strong eventually they will back off. Sometimes it’s best to contain your own excitement and not say anything.

    I think the hardest was when my kids told me I was crazy and that I had to stop listening to that crazy bastard on the pod cast. Maybe I needed to get more normal friends. I don’t know what I’m talking about the store is just 2 miles away. Of course to some extent I had to tell them to back the hell off and not forget who they were talking to. Which they replied you guys are just working to hard and it’s not like we will ever want a farm. That can be a hard blow to take.

    From time to time I do question myself. Wonder about going back to the old ways. For about a nano second. Then laugh and press on. I just make sure when I talk about what we are doing I only mention the happy non stressful (hahaha yeah right) The perceived non stressful things. How cute the baby ducks piggies lambs are or how the trees are giving us apples.

    When people come to visit (and things are picked up and clean like the barn & no poop in the yard) and they bring friends I hear them talking with pride. Showing off all mom has done. So even though they say they think I’m crazy and doubt that all debit will be gone. They are watching with a very close eye.

    Even the neighbors that have poo pooed the hugle beds and the logging and all the animals are watching. They stand at the fence for long periods of time just looking at every thing. That is when they don’t think I’m watching. They are curious about what this crazy lady is doing. That is a good thing. When they try to bully me to pay for the road they wanted I just smile and say you destroyed my gravel country road I will not pay for your mistake. You wanted it you pay for it. They get mad but I DON’T GIVE A SHIT 🙂

  8. Who knew the answer to one question would span three shows.

    Thank you for taking the time to cover this so well. I think that even if a total Zombie listens to these, they wouldn’t be able to help but to stir at least a little bit.

    Evidently this is what many of your listeners needed to hear.

    • It’s worth three shows. In fact it’s worth a lot more. You cannot thrive and survive if you don’t get your personal shit together. In order to do that, you have got to have your mind on right, which means not jumping both feet in on any particular thing. Everything in life is context based which requires answering the “it depends” with a given scenario.

      When you throw yourself into supporting or doing one thing or another you have mentally closed yourself off from observing all possibilities, whether good or bad. This only leads to one thing, and that is pain. What’s worse is when people become obsessed with things so far out of their sphere of influence, that the ONLY thing it does is bring you pain. A. You can’t help the situation, which disempowers you and B. The continued focus on negativity also disempowers you and leechs to all aspects of your life.

      In my opinion this all relates really to fear. Fear of being wrong and making the wrong choice. Or fear of losing what you’ve worked for and not being able to get it back if you fall down. Fear of the unknown.

  9. Jack mentioned in the podcast that when someone brings up global warming, he just refers them to a book, or a documentary. What was the name of that book or doc? Skeptical something or other?

    • I used to use “The Skeptics Hand Book” and while very good it left a lot of room for BS arguments. Then I found this, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c4XPVPJwBY#t=308

      I have now challenged dozens of “true believers” to refute even one claim and prove it with fact in this video, zero have done so. Quite a few didn’t know what to say and admitted it, quite a few are now exploring rational objection to the BS which is awesome. The true zealots just call the guy a shill or something stupid and fail to provide any objection.

      This man is stellar, he checks, double checks, triple checks his facts and sources and then does so one more time before publishing. There isn’t a single argument that can be successfully made against what he shows here.

      Is climate change real? Yep. Did CO2 do it? No.

  10. Does anyone remember the semi-recent episode where Jack talked about “you deserve what you want” ? Seems like it fits with this one.

  11. A quick tip on credit cards. Me and the wife exclusively use the TJX credit card. With every purchase we earn points. We use this card to pay for everything, food, fuel, to bubblegum. We pay off the balance every month so we don’t pay interest. The points we earn we use to buy clothes, sometimes we walk out of Marshalls with out spending a cent.
    http://www.tjxrewards.com

  12. I think the sterculia tree in the history segment is Chinese parasol tree (Firmiana simplex) with big tropical looking foliage. Quite a few at Fort Worth zoo.

  13. Jack,

    I’m one of your longest-term listeners, and I really enjoyed this show. Yes, it was “back to basics”, but life has a way of sometimes pushing you off your desired path, and I for one need reminders to change direction back toward the goal. You stepped on my toes some in this episode, but as hard as that is to take, I appreciate it, because it will help me to take my journey to personal liberty that much more seriously.

  14. One of the best critical thinking questions I’ve heard, from Napoleon Hill, is to ask someone after they’ve made a statement:

    ‘How do you know?’

    The answer to this question will quickly establish if the statement is worth considering/pondering, or if it can be immediately discarded without further thought.

  15. I just finished listening and I was planting when you asked us to look around at our property, I was in my garden, listening, sunny day, and it was like you were sitting on the deck having a conversation. This was the best episode of my five year tenure.. I am one of a hundred thousand listeners and I try to think through my questions before posting or calling in. This community is golden (old Canadian beer commercial). Getting close to Jalapeno bacon time J. a week or so more

  16. Just listened. Great comments. Had questions on your using a car lease for business purposes. Have considered doing, even though the deduction is less than it used to be. Jack, would be a great podcast topic to delve into for those who own their own business.

  17. Loved this episode. I am always the odd one out and I don’t care any longer!

    One comment on credit cards. Not sure how it works in the US but I have mine set up to pay automatically. Here in Canada most people (and banks!) don’t know that’s an option but it is. Instead of sending a cheque, it automatically draws from a checking account.

    I use my credit card for everything. It’s a paying method that is quick and convenient.

    I also don’t think it leads to more spending. I decide what I buy and how much I pay for it long before I get to the check out. At the check out I decide how I pay for it (debit, cash or credit card). This is NOT related in my opinion.

    A credit card is a tool, you just need to know how to use it like with every tool out there.