No Playmate!

Steve's pinched a nerve in his back and has been out of commission for the
past three days - no playmate for me! (That hugely heavy starter motor
probably did it!) He's been limited to lying down, reading and sitting up
for just long enough to inhale his food before having to lie back down
again. Luckily we're in the perfect anchorage (beautiful, good holding,
shops, fairly calm and it has wifi!) which has makes the required stillness
much easier on both of us.

One thing that comes to light during times like this is what a team
operation this is, how much of a team we are, and that actually we haven't
adequately prepared for when one of the team is out of commission.

This boat takes two people to run it. You could run it with one, but some
things would need to be set up differently than they are currently. One
reason I haven't moved the boat by myself is that with Steve out, I cannot
get the dingy (actually the motor) back on the boat by myself. There are
some things that it takes two of us to do.

There are also some things that I do not know how to do as I've discovered.
I didn't know how to light the barbeque, I don't know how to bring in the
anchor, I didn't know how to do the morning engine check. In our team,
Steve barbeques and is master of the engine domain. By only one of us
knowing how to do something, we have no duplication in skills, so we're not
prepared for one of us (particularly Steve) to be out of commission. We
have plenty of redundancy in systems (parts, tools, etc.), but not
redundancy in skills. Not insurmountable, but something we have to work on.
I now know how to work the barbeque.

(Btw, while I was barbequing chicken wings the other night, there was a six
foot shark hovering right next to the boat. He hung around for the longest
time. Do you think sharks like buffalo wings? Well, he wasn't getting any
of mine!)

This whole sailing experience forces you to become stronger as a team. You
have to work together to get most of the day to day business done. To run
to the store, it takes two to get the 'car' in the water and put its engine
and other bits (life jackets, gas tank, anchor) on. To move to a new
location, takes two, one to drive the boat and one to pull up the anchor and
arrange the sails. Even dinner takes two, one to cook and one to wash up.
There is this constant interaction and intermingling as we work together
which we did to a certain extent on land, but not anywhere near as much as
we do now. It forces you to be very careful about how you treat the other
person, we're often in high stress situations and it would be easy to take
that stress out on each other, but that isn't really very teamlike, is it?
We've learned a great deal about how to speak to each other so that we end a
day with a hug and a "Well done!" rather than stressed and shrieking at each
other like some folks we've heard about. So if nothing else from all of
this, we've strengthened how we work together and are a much better team for
it!

(But I'll like it much better when Steve is back to his normal self, the
engine room is not for me - and I miss my playmate!)

Play with Your Toys!

Do you have a house or garage full of toys? Things that you just had to have, things that you used for a while and now they are sitting unused and untouched. We spend a great deal of time acquiring our toys, but quickly put them down and head out in pursuit of the next toy. We spent many years eagerly pursuing the next toy and the next and the next, but somehow the satisfaction that came with acquiring the toy lasted for shorter and shorter periods of time. In today's economy, the common advice is to sell your toys and make money off them (to pay bills or to buy other toys). I would like to suggest the opposite, keep your toys and play with them.

Part of the 750,000 Hours philosophy is to have fun now and to have fun along the way. Life is not all nose to the grindstone, work, work, work. And while achieving your dreams is important, if that's your only focus, you miss out on a whole lot of fun on the journey. So how do you build in that fun while you're working towards and saving for your dream lifestyle? Why not pull out some of those toys that you worked so hard to acquire (and loved so much at one time) and play with them?

Bikes in the garage? Take a ride with someone you love, bring a picnic (and your Red Book?!). Roller blades, skates, skis, balls, rackets, the list of outdoor entertainment toys goes on and on. What about indoor entertainment? We've rediscovered games. You know, games, where you spend an evening competing with live people perhaps over a nice glass of wine? Live somewhere beautiful and have the gear to get out and enjoy it (sneakers, hiking boots)? How many 'learn a language' CDs do you have hanging around? What other skills have you really wanted to learn, an instrument, a craft, an art? Are the 'toys' for doing those things sitting right in your house?

We've made a conscious effort to avoid buying new toys and to play with what we have. We loved the things we bought when we bought them so where did that enthusiasm go and how could we bring it back? What we found is if we removed the distraction and pursuit of the next toy, often that love and enthusiasm for what we have comes rushing right back! The result, Steve and I are both learning to play music, the sax and the guitar, and we listen to the music we have. In the evenings, we, our family and our friends talk, laugh and vigourously compete to win at games which have been sitting on the shelf for years. I've made both practical and nice things for us to use on the boat. We love having our family and friends over for 'themed' dinners - Italian, American, French. We're swimming and snorkling, and the Italian lessons will be underway any minute. We've learned how to sail, how to live on a boat, and tons about weather and nature.

It's funny, but we often buy our toys because they're part of our dreams - how many of those dreams do you already have?

Changing the Ratio, Get Paid When You're Not Working

We all understand the concept of getting paid while you're working and for many of us that's where we put 100% of our efforts - into getting paid while we're working. But what about getting paid when you're not working?

What? Getting paid when you're not working! If you have a savings account which generates interest, that's already where you're getting paid when you're not working!

What other things could you be doing to get paid while you're not working? Although the market is not at its best right now (although the prices are low!), how about dividends from stocks? Where you have knowledge that others want to have, how about a book or ebook? If you have a blog, why not put some contextually relevant ads on the site? What about rentals - space (a spare room), stuff, property?

I think of it like this, if you get paid while you're working you are getting a 1 to 1 return on your investment - one hour's pay for one hour's work - and your return will never be higher than that. If you do something that results in you getting paid when you're not working, the return can be much, much higher. But what if you spent a few hours or a few days writing a How to Do X ebook and finding an audience that wanted to learn how to do X, then that ebook written once could earn you income over and over and over - sometimes hundreds or thousands of times over, for that single time investment. A rental property does the same thing, you spend time finding and fixing it up and, except for annual tenant marketing, you keep earning income on that initial time investment - over and over again!

An interesting exercise is to assess what percentage of your income comes from things that you get paid for when you're not working, those income generators that take a set period of time to put in place, but then chug along in the background bringing in income for you. What percentage of your income is money paid for working and what percentage is money paid when you're not working? (We'll talk in a future post about losing money and income stealers.)

It's an interesting shift in perspective and if you focus on driving the up % of income generated from when you're not working, what happens? All of sudden you have choices about what you can do, you have also reduced your risk - all of your apples aren't in just one basket anymore (the basket that can lay you off, make you redundant or fire you!). If more of your income comes from 'not working' activities, then once the set up activities are done, you've gone from a 1 to 1 return on your time investment to something much larger.

Might be worth a concentrated effort to put some of your efforts into getting paid when you're not working!

Making Your Own

Made the mistake of reading What's In This Stuff?: The Hidden Toxins in Everyday Products - and What You Can Do About Them - amazing and slightly (okay, very) scary read when you begin to realise the cumulative contents of all the 'potions' (as Eileen calls them) that we put on every day. If patches on the skin can send medications into one's system in minutes, what can chemicals do?

Anyhow, it made me think about suntan lotion which we slather on all day every day while on the boat, and insect repellent for Steve. After looking through the ingredients (hmm), I wondered whether there were more natural options and after doing some research on the web I came across a website that told you how to (gasp!) make your own. What a radical concept?!! Is it possible to make something really complex like sunscreen all by yourself? Actually, It's a really simple recipe once you take out all the additives / preservatives which make it possible for the suncream to sit on the store shelf for months on end without going rancid. Simple and once you have the ingredients to hand it doesn't take very long to make. I have also found simple ways to make beauty products such as moisturiser, soap, shampoo, toothpaste, etc., and food products like mayo, butter, seasonings, French onion soup mix - the list goes on and on. It's really helpful when you run out or cannot find something - my daughter Jess called last night wanting to know how to make sour cream.

Chemicals aside, this builds upon a running conversation that Steve and I have been having about how as a society we've lost our capability to do for ourselves. We turn to 'store bought' because we don't know how to make things from scratch. Then we work extra hours to pay for the things we can no longer make ourselves.

Generations before us knew how to make 'stuff'. What would happen if people started making their own again?

I like the control of knowing what the ingredients are. If something nasty goes on or in me, I'd like it to be conscious choice. I also really like the flexibility of creating exactly what you want rather than buying and trying (and tossing) many products because they aren't quite right.

It's also often cheaper to make your own, requiring less time at work and keeping more of those 750,000 hours for yourself!

Sites that I love for 'How do I...' or 'How do I make...' questions are eHow and Instructables.

Living Appassionato (Cont.)

After spending some time thinking about this further (and getting some direct prods!) I can't say I've found a passione (singular) yet, but I would say I am definitely living appassionato (passionately) and for me that might be the key. Do I have passions or am I doing lots of things that I can get really excited about (my definition of passions)? Are there many things that I look forward to, are there times when I'm so interested in what I'm doing that I lose myself and wonder where the time went? Yes, absolutely.

When I was working, my passion was work. I spent a lot of time at it and spent a lot of time working to become very good at it. But work isn't everything for me and I found that much of my thoughts and conversations were exclusively about work. Life isn't about work, if it is you become one dimensional. If all the passion is focused on on work, what happens when there is no work? It took a while and quite a bit of quiet / introspective time, but I'm finding the things I am passionate about. My 'Passiones List' starts with these things:

My family - Jess, Claire and Chris, both the US and UK branches of family, parents, sisters, brothers. This category also includes my really special friends, the ones who even when busiest I've been able to keep in touch with and visit with (at least now and then). Now that I have time to think, I'm working on connecting and reconnecting. Family is so important and when we're in the midst of the fray, some of these relationships don't get the care and attention that they deserve. This is expanding to connecting with extended family, some of whom I haven't seen /spoken with in 20+ years.
My relationship - The relationship with Steve, being the second time around, is an area that I pay particular attention to.
Exploration - Two areas comprise this, external and internal. External is exploring the world, going to new places and getting to know them well enough to understand how they tick. What are the nuances that are not immediately apparent? Getting to know places in ways far beyond the standard 'American goes to American places in international locations'. Internal exploration is learning new things (sailing, for example) and finding topics that interest me to the extent that I want to know everything about them, that I will read everything written about them. This is where playing music, reading books (exploring beyond the standard genres that I habitually read!), learning Italian and to live in Italy (at some point). Dancing is back on my passions list, cooking well remains there and I'm going to try a sport, bicycling (this should be very interesting for non-sporty me!).
Health - I know it sounds trite, but the past three years of the consultant lifestyle took their toll and I want to be fit!

I'm really enthusiastic about this blog and the fun that I have creating it. I started it just to keep a record, but it's become much more than that. It's a creative outlet at the least!

So, for me, I have passions rather than a passion, and they change, sometimes a lot. There are lots of definitions of passions and passionately, I think perhaps they need to be defined for oneself. Asking oneself, 'What is my individual preference, a passion or several / many passions?' And then defining them from there.

One thing I do know, this isn't a quick process - an hour with a notebook and, poof, I've defined my passions - didn't work that way for me! My list that I'm working with now took me two years to develop and as I explore that list I expect it will continue to grow and change as I explore ideas and try new things. It required quite a bit of quiet time asking myself what I wanted versus what others wanted me to do. All that alone time in hotel rooms in Scotland was quite useful! But for me, the key was just to start making the list, it was amazing how it grew once I had a place to put my passions!

Staniel Cay Days

It's pretty easy to settle in to the lifestyle down here, slower, gentler and quieter. The past couple days have been spent relaxing, exploring and getting to know a bit about the place we're in.

Went to dinner at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club which was very good. Also had a great time observing all the crusiers during happy hour, there is a big variety of folks down here - from the folks on the mega yachts to the ones on the tiny sailboats (how did they get that little boat all the way down here?!). Drinks are expensive, $9 for a glass of wine. We'd be better off having one on the boat, but then we wouldn't get all the visual entertainment!

The pre-dinner entertainment was the sharks! These a place on next to the dingy dock where the fishermen fillet their catch of the day and fling the bones and 'stuff' into the water. That water is teeming with sharks and stingrays waiting for their supper. It is not what you would expect, a feeding frenzy - these are Bahamian sharks. They kind of mosey on in and out picking up a bite as they come through. They are good sized though, ranging from 3 feet to 5 or more. Very weird being in the dingy with sharks all around you!

It's been hot with very little wind, but since we spent all winter moaning about the cold, we are not complaining. Instead we're learning new ways to keep cool. Wet t-shirts are like air conditioners, who knew!

We've also been swimming / snorkeling. Yesterday we went over to Thunderball Cave. Now, we've been snorkeling at just about every place we've been to and I've enjoyed it, but it has been mostly white sand, grass, rock and a few fishes. Thunderball Cave was an entirely different experience! After we got in and gasped over the chilly water, we put on our snorkels and the first thing I saw was a huge brain coral! It looked like someone had left a two foot brain in the sand!

We then went under the rock ledge and into the cave. The ledge was only a couple of feet over our heads and as we entered the cave, we were swimming in fish! All kinds of different fish, stripy black and white ones, gold and white ones, glowing neon blue ones, all different shapes and sizes swimming just inches away from us.

Along with the fish were plants and coral all along the bottom. Lacy fan-like purple, more brain coral, oranges, yellows and greens. Up above in the cave itself were three holes letting the sunlight in and lighting up the water below. We continued on through the cave, the coral and the fishes out to the other side, which was even better coral-wise than inside the cave. You could hover and look for hours and not see it all, there was that much of it.

I thought snorkeling was a fun thing to do before, but now I'm hooked! It was amazing!

Had the laundry done by a little old Bahamian lady and had a chat with her husband who shared his thoughts with us, "You need one of those", he said to Steve while pointing to his wife and me, "Life without a wife is like a kitchen without a knife!" Very sweet.

Steve was Heroic Engineer Guy (it's been very interesting these past couple days!) when he pressed the start button and there was no start. The starter motor had decided to quit. Now as we both firmly believe in redundancy in systems and having backups for everything, he just happened to have a spare starter motor sitting around and seven bolts later, the engine started right up! I made him a carrot cake to reward the heroic engineering efforts.

Last night, after making our way through the sharks to pick up the laundry and have a happy hour drink and munchies, we waited until the sun went down and it cooled off before having a quiet glass of wine and some cheese and crackers. We finished off the day by watching the stars go from hundreds to thousands.

An Italian musical term for passionately. Passione - passion. Joe's comment about finding his art brought this to mind:

"What I would miss from your lifestyle is green........yes I would miss my pallet of green. In these difficult times of reflection, one begins to wonder; what is your talent, what is unique or at the very least, rememberable characteristic about what you can do? I am discovering I am artist of sorts with the color green as my backdrop, the oils are any living plant, and my canvas is anywhere things can grow."

Having seen Joe's garden, it is art, a canvas, a passion brought to life.

It's important to take some time, have some clear space to discover your passions, what gets you excited and makes you leap out of bed in the morning. What's difficult to find is time where it is just you with no outside influencers telling you what you should be or must be passionate about, time when you hear just your voice and not the voices of the media (your life will be perfect if you have this gadget, toy, really expensive thing), society and, yes, sometimes even the folks you love. It's been a long time since I've been able to hear my voice about what I'm passionate about, it's been overwhelmed for a lot of years by those who are much louder. I think our individual quiet voices can get lost or drowned out in all that noise. This trip has turned down the volume and I'm enjoying starting to find what makes me live appassionato, finding out what my passione is.

Daily Dose of Depression

This is a rant. I glanced at a newspaper the other day and was reminded why
I don't read or watch the news - what a Daily Dose of Depression! No wonder
the US / UK economies are in a rut, everybody has been scared / depressed /
frightened into doing anything but sit around and commiserating about how
terrible it all is. It IS terrible, it sucks, it's a rotten place to be in,
we've all done daft things to get us in this place and it's going to take a
while before things get better (economically). There are many people who
have been seriously affected by the economy and the shenanagins that have
gone on in the marketplace. But I wonder how much worse it is because of a
constant, never-ending verbal and visual barrage of HOW BAD IT IS.

If I am around people who constantly talk about depressing things, how
terrible this is, woe is me, moan moan moan, I find myself getting depressed
and start focusing, looking for everything around me that is wrong. And
boy, if I look for things that are wrong, can I ever find them! The media
which we let (or even pay) to come into our homes is worse than the most
dreadfully depressing person we know - you know, the one that when you see
him walking down the street, you cross to avoid talking to him; the one who
sucks the life out of a room. If the media were a person, would you spend
time with him or would you cross the road to get away from him?

There are toxic people in this world, people who make you feel bad, who skew
your perspective, damage your confidence, spread rumors and inuendos, and
lie to you. If the media were a person, would any of these apply to him?

It would be fine if news stories were accurate, well-researched and
fact-based, but they are often just that - stories. Bits and pieces of
unverified data spun with someone's personal opinion and then
sensationalised even further for ratings purposes.

There are plenty of sources available now via the Internet which give you a
more accurate, unspun view of what is happening. The data that the media
picks and chooses bits of is available in its complete form on the web,
usually providing a very different 'story' than the one that is presented on
the screen or the page.

Does the focus have to always be on the negative? There are just as many
positive things that happen on a daily basis, but unfortunately those don't
improve ratings or sell papers so we don't see them. I need a more objective view which
looks at the positives which are happening along with the negatives. One
study I looked at found that the average amount of positive news on American
TV stations ABC, CBS and NBC was 25.1 per cent. This is not to say that the
rest is negative. Almost half, 46.8 per cent, was found to be negative. The
other 28.1 per cent they called "indeterminable." How much press is given
to the positive impact of the drop in interest rates and the resulting drop
in mortgage payments (tens to hundreds of pounds per month)? How much focus
is there on people who are getting ahead in this economy or using this time
to discover other things of value besides the economy? How many stories are
there about people who are reconnecting with family or friends, discovering
talents that they never had time for, or activities / interests that they
never explored?

Like I said, I don't read the paper / watch the news and generally I'm
pretty positive about things. A question I do get is, "How do you stay
informed, what if something happens?" I can catch up on all the news in a
two month period usually by reading one day's paper or having a quick skim
of the news sites, but I miss out on two months of repititious gloom and
doom. And if something really big happens, somebody will always tell you or
it will be posted on one of the blogs I read. One site that offers a more
positive view is http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/

Not being Pollyanna-ish or putting my head in the sand, but I think I'll
pass on the Daily Dose of Depression...

Dream Delivery System

In yesterday's post we talked about your Red Book, an approach for defining and planning out how you will achieve your dreams. Like many planning activities, there is often a great deal of enthusiasm around the initial plan, but then time passes and your wonderful plan slips away, only to be thought of with guilt for not doing anything more with it. That's why this approach is not just about creating a plan, but also about how you work the plan until you reach your dreams.

But, by the way, there is power in just going through the planning process and turning your mind to what you want. I went to a financial planning seminar many years ago and one of the night's exercises was to write down ten things we wanted to accomplish financially. I got busy with other things and tossed the list in a drawer, didn't take a look at it until five years later. Guess what? Every single thing on that list had been accomplished!

So we've already got even more omph that simply writing a list and tossing it in a drawer with the first part of the Red Book Process. The next part is to ensure that you rapidly and consistently progress towards your goals. Here's how to 'Work' the Red Book after you've come up with your plan:

1.) Put 12 meetings in your diary for you (and your partner). This is one to two hours per month for thinking, discussing and planning what you have done and what you will do next in moving towards achieving your dreams. Make the meeting in a special place where you can talk and spend a couple hours uninterrupted.
2.) Bring your Red Book and your To-Do List(s). And when I say To-Do List, I am talking about your Work To-Do list. Yes, I want you to put your personal stuff on your work to-do list! Why? Because your work to-do list is the one you focus on, put the most importance on and get the most things done on, why wouldn't you put your the most important activities of your life (achieving your dreams) on there too?
3.) Have a cup of coffee and go through each of the items under each of the categories, discuss and check off the things that you have done, enjoy what you have accomplished so far. Each and every check gets you closer to your goals
4.) Look at each of the items under each of the categories, what needs to be done next? Assess, is it something we can do during the coming month? Break each task down into something that can be done in 15 minutes or less (we can always find 15 minutes, right?!). Decide who will do it and put it on that person's To-Do List.
5.) Make sure the next meeting is in both of your diaries!

This monthly meeting is the key to making progress, along with putting your 'Dream Delivery' activities on your work to-do list and breaking the tasks down into 15 minute chunks. Steve always says that we over estimate what we can do in a day and under estimate what we can do in a year, and we've found that to be very true. Each month you'll see the progress that you've made (even if it is just one little thing!) which will motivate you to do more - you're making progress, that's exciting!

Might Have Found the Perfect Anchorage (Although it has Sharks)

Moved a bit further south after our windy adventures in Exuma Park. It was
a downwind sailing day so we decided to head for Farmers Cay, with a drop
out point at Staniel Cay if the wind didn't hold. It was a very nice
sailing day for me, Steve was having a little black cloud day (one where
things go wrong - the dingy was bouncing, I managed to get the rope tangled
in the winch when we were lifting the dingy out, there was just silence when
we pressed the starter button for the engine - it's a good thing he didn't
go fishing, who knows what would have gone wrong for him there!). After the
engine decided not to start as we were sailing up to Staniel Cay and after
Steve beat it back into submission with his hammer, we coasted into Staniel
Cay and found an anchorage that we just love.

We are anchored just a short ways off the entrance to Thunderball Cave, of
James Bond fame. Staniel Cay is famous for that and for being a haunt of
Jimmy Buffett. It is beautiful here with two large main cays with lots of
little cays dotted around. If you haven't Google Earthed any of these
places, this would be a good one to take a peek at. The island itself has a
few shops, laundries and restaurants. Today was mailboat day and everyone
on the island was in a tizz because it was so busy getting stuff off the
boat and onto the shelves. This is the only time you see fresh fruits and
veg, and if you wait, it's all gone. The green bags are doing a fantastic
job of keeping our veg fresh (still have crisp green peppers from Nassau) so
we didn't get very much. Our provisions are starting to go down, but that's
okay because we have to eat them all before we close up the boat for the
summer.

We had a wander around the island on foot and by dingy. Same gentle
Bahamian lifestyle, everyone says hello whether they are walking by on foot
or driving by in a car. We checked out the fuel dock, although all the Cays
seem to be completely out of diesel right now, everyone is waiting for the
boat - which has left Nassau we heard on the VHF this morning.

The VHF radio chatter is a very interesting thing. It's like an old phone
party line that everyone listens in on. Everyone monitors Channel 16 which
is the hailing and emergency channel. Once you've hailed and met someone on
Channel 16, then you go off to another channel to have your conversation. I
wouldn't say anything private though because everyone follows you to your
conversation channel. It's how the restaurants announce their specials, how
you hear about the mail and diesel boats coming in, and how you get the
scoop on what's going on. It's sort of like the local news, but without the
polish.

As we were coming back from the grocery store, I saw what I thought was a
long black rock in the water. However, it kept moving as we went towards
it. Steve got really close and IT WAS A SHARK! It was two feet from our
dingy! Wow, very cool. It was just moseying along and didn't seem bothered
by us at all. Needless to say, we did not pet it.

Lunch was at Club Thunderball, set up on a hill overlooking the bay and the
anchored sailboats. Great burgers! The burgers down here are really good
and Steve likes the Kalik beer too. The American owners bought the place in
December and seem to be working really hard to make a go of it here. There
are a lot of Americans running businesses or working down here.

Tonight is dinner at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club which is quite funky and
fun, but certainly not what you would think of as your typical yacht club.
You have to make reservations if you want dinner and that includes placing
your order for what you want to eat. They ring the dinner bell at 7:30 and
that's when you sit down to dinner. Should be very interesting.

Our criteria for the perfect anchorage is sheltered, good holding for the
anchor, groceries, restaurants and wifi - it's all here!

Tomorrow we're going to take a peek inside Thunderball Cave.

Oh, But You're Different, You Have...

...so much time, so much money, so much more energy - rubbish! When we started, we didn't have anything more than anyone else and to tell the truth, we actually started in a worse off position than most. We didn't have more money, certainly didn't have more time, we're not significantly more energetic than most, and there are a whole lot of people out there who are smarter than we are. But there is one thing that we have and use that most people don't, The Red Book.

The Red Book for us is actually a red book, but it is also our approach to life planning and dream achievement - a way to define, work towards and achieve what you've been dreaming about, in a way that is eminently doable. We've found it to be a great tool for rapidly achieving our goals and also for strengthing our relationship. Much of it is commonsense and uses things that you hear about, but the approach for 'working' the Red Book is different and effective. In six years it has enabled us to acquire three houses, launch a successful consulting business, get an MBA from Duke, visit 20 countries, motorbike 20,000 miles around Europe, find and fix up our sailboat, 'retire' at 46 and 48 with a self-sustaining income, and spend our time sailing around the Bahamas. It is simple to put together and easy to use, sound interesting?

Today's post is Part I, Creating the Red Book. 'Working' the Red Book will follow. Okay, here's how it works:

1.) Get yourself a book (it can be red or not, but make it a nice one), this is the place where you're going to put all your dreams and your plans for achieving them. It's a very important book
2.) Set aside some uninterrupted thinking time, and I am talking somewhere in the neighborhood of 1-3 days. We typically do this around New Year's Day or during our holiday / vacation. Long weekends are good for this too.
3.) If you have a partner, you both must do this together (and if you've ever tried to reach a goal when your partner isn't involved, doesn't understand or isn't bought into it and achieved a stunning lack of progress, you'll understand why!). If you're a singleton, this piece of work will be shorter and involve less negotiation.
4.) With your partner, define the six to eight most important 'Categories of Your Life'. Some examples are Relationship, Children, Family, Health, Finances, Travel, Personal Growth, etc. These categories must be agreed upon by the two of you. Don't just rush to the sample categories I've listed, really think and talk about what is important to you - and they can be things that are not currently present in your life, new is okay.
5.) Once you have defined / agreed upon your categories, it is time to think about the contents of those categories. For each one, ask this question, 'If this could be great, what would it be like?' If our relationship was great, what would it be like? If our finances were great, what would they be like? Make a list of all those things for each category.
6.) There are some rules which come into play at this point, everyone's dreams are okay, a person's dreams are their dreams - no one's is better than another. This is not the place for judgement or criticism.
7.) Think about / discuss the interesting things that are emerging during the questioning and list making. Although the fear when embarking on this may be that the list will be too long and you won't be able to do it all, typically that does not happen in Year 1. Bigger and more dreams tend to emerge as you get used to using the Red Book and gain confidence in your ability to achieve your dreams with this approach.
8.) When the lists of 'how it could be great' are complete for each category, it is time to refine them and select / agree which things you will do for this year. We do discuss and look at things over a longer horizon, and plan for them, but keeping the activities to this year makes it immediate and somehow doable. If something is three years out, you don't really have to do anything about it, do you?
9.) This is NOT the time to be a martyr and say, 'Oh, fine, if that's what you want (big sigh). It is not time to criticize the dreams, it is time to build upon them. The rule here is you cannot say, 'I don't like that' to any of the ideas, you MUST come up with a better one if you are not comfortable with the idea as it stands (and I think this may be a core difference in this approach to dream development and planning). If a dream / goal doesn't work for you, you must come up with a better one. this is hard to do and this is where it takes a lot of time because we are so used to creating win/lose situations and have very little practice creating win/win situations - but for you both to get excited and want to do this, it must be a win/win.
10.) Once you've agreed your lists, take a break, do something else for a while and let the list percolate for a bit. Do any new thoughts or ideas emerge? Is there any goal that still needs to be worked on to make it right for both of you?
11.) For each item in each category, write down the high level things that you must do to make it happen.
12.) What are the things on that list that you can do now or in the next few days? Launch your plan, make it start, make it real and do them!

The next step is to 'Work' the Red Book over the course of the coming year and continuously complete the activities which move you closer to your dreams, we'll talk about that in an upcoming post.

Living Out Childhood Dreams

This blog is about 'spending' one's time in the way that maximizes it, in a way that is meaningful and focuses on thinking through and deciding what are the things you really want to do in your lifetime. I recently read an interesting book on just that topic, written by someone who had not 750,000 hours, but just over half that - Randy Pausch, author of the book The Last Lecture. It is the story of his life, his learnings and his struggle with pancreatic cancer.

The book doesn't focus on the cancer although it does discuss values and priorities which emerge when dealing with cancer. It deals more with the things Randy got out of his time here and what he learned along the way. And it embellishes upon his last lecture, given at Carnegie Mellon University called 'Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams'.

In thinking about what to write for this lecture, he asked, "What do I, alone, truly have to offer?" And his answer, "Whatever my accomplishments, all of the things I loved were rooted in the dreams and goals I had as a child...and in the ways I had managed to fulfill almost all of them. My uniqueness, I realized, came in the specifics of all the dreams - from incredibly meaningful to decidedly quirky..." He lived out his dreams and used his last lecture to help others to find a way to live out theirs.

From being in zero gravity to being Captain Kirk to play in the NFL and at Disney, he lived out his dreams. He had a 'book of life' of experiences and things that he learned along the way that was worth reading, both for himself and for those who cared about him.

For inspiration and a look at a life well lived, The Last Lecture is definitely worth a read.

A Minor Inconvenience Versus a Big Problem

Hoooo boy, did we get a dose of new learnings yesterday! Yesterday we got
slapped with a big 'Don't you get cocky now' message! We've been having our
first big Norther since Marathon and the day before yesterday we
congratulated ourselves because we 'thought' we were finally getting the
hang of this stuff. The weather gods and Murphy must have had a good
chuckle and decided they'd teach us cheeky monkeys a thing or two. Okay,
okay! We're humbled again!

The anchorage has gone from still, flat and calm to rocking and rolling.
The wind has been clocking around S, SE, and spent yesterday from the SW.
The only points our anchorage are open are SW and W which means that the
waves and wind from the SW rush right in off the sea. Now we're tied up to
a mooring ball and we didn't think the wind was going to be that strong so
even though there was a mooring ball available in the more sheltered harbor,
we decided to stay put. And the wind actually wasn't that bad, but for some
reason the waves rolling were much bigger than what the wind would normally
generate. So we bounced and bounced and bounced all day long. Key Learning
1 - If a more sheltered anchorage presents itself when there is going to be
a blow, take it.

It's been hot so we've been keeping all the hatches open. A key learning
from another day was to close the back ports just over the bed because
otherwise the exhaust blows in when you run the engine, so we closed those
during the running of the engine and then I reopened them once the engine
was shut down. We spent some time up on deck keeping an eye on the waves
and bouncing around. When I came down below I heard some splashing in the
rear cabin, ooooohhhh nnnnnooooo! Those big splashy waves had backwashed on
the back of the boat and onto our bed. Ugh, seawater bed, not nice.
Seawater takes forever to dry and the salt which remains on the fabric gets
damp at the slightest hint of moisture (and we're sitting on top of the
OCEAN!). I was probably the closest I've been to a major meltdown than I've
been on the whole trip, most things I can handle, but not a wet bed.

Steve was an absolute hero, totally calm, checked things out and discovered
that because of all of the padding, sheets and quilts on the bed, the
mattress had not gotten wet. All of the padding, sheets and quilts had
gotten wet, but the mattress was dry - yyyiiiippppeeee! Sanity was
restored, the bed was remade and at some point we'll get the bedding dry.
Key Learning 2 - If there are waves and you don't want to have a wet bed,
keep the bed ports closed!

We played various dingy games during the afternoon trying to get the dingy
tied up properly after we found it wedged under the swim ladder. The seas
were too bouncy to put the heavy outboard motor back on the big boat (it
weighs 80 pounds and we have to use a winch and halyard to lift it). A
heavy outboard engine is not something you want swinging around on a rope in
big wind and bouncy seas so the dingy and motor stayed in the water often
bouncing as high as the lifelines. Steve finally got it tied on to the
stern to his satisfaction this morning. Key Learning 3 - If it is going to
be blowy, put the big heavy outboard away before it gets too blowy to get it
off the dingy!

There's probably a 4th learning in there, don't just pay attention to the
wind, the waves can be as big, if not bigger, problem. The wind is a good
10 - 15 knots more than it was yesterday, but because the wind has clocked
around some more to the N, now coming at us over the island rather than
directly from the sea, the waves are much smaller even though there is more
wind.

We continued our bouncing on through the rest of the afternoon, through a
steak and pasta dinner (excellent comfort food!) and a cup of tea on deck
with the stars. We bounced off to bed and spent the night bouncing on our
dry mattress.

At about 3:00 in the morning, Steve got up for a look around and said there
was a boat where it shouldn't have been. I took a look and there was a boat
behind us. Now behind us is a short space of water and a little inlet
ringed with rock walls. The boat was pointed bow in towards the rock walls.
It had come untied from its mooring ball or the mooring line attaching the
boat to the mooring line had snapped, and during the night it drifted until
it was facing (and possibly on) the rocks. The boat was completely dark
except for its anchor lights. Just as we were getting out the VHF radio
and figuring out what to do, their lights came on and they backed off the
rocks and headed back to their mooring ball. We couldn't see what damage
was done, but they were moving so that was a good sign.

All of sudden our problems of yesterday became minor inconveniences - theirs
was a really big problem.

Why Do People Give Up Before They Start?

"Oh, I'd love to do that, but we'll never be able to."

We hear this one on a regular basis and it's a really interesting statement. My normal response used to be, "Of course you can, all you need to do is this and this and this..." Then the person who said they'd love to do that would look at me and respond with all the reasons that it couldn't possibly be done. Now I used to go on to try and work through those reasons with the person, but I've come to realise that there will be a neverending litany of 'why it cannot be done' responses to all of my 'how it could be done' suggestions. That person has given up before he or she ever got started.

Think of that, before even starting to dream, starting to make that big list of all the great things you want to do in this lifetime, you shut it all down and don't even consider it. Is it fear that prevents people from even thinking about a dream before immediately deciding they cannot do it?

It certainly is interesting to hear all the reasons that folks come up with for not being able to live out their dreams, work, family, finances, friends, pets, plants, etc., etc. - all of which are surmountable should someone really want to figure it out. Just a few options - work can be virtual (and many other things which we'll discuss in future posts), family can come along, friends can visit or you can keep in touch via the Internet (video with Skype, perhaps), pets can travel too, perhaps some gardening can be exchanged for something you do well. Those are just a few options, there are dozens of other ways that people have found a way around those 'reasons' for staying put.

The most interesting thing is what is going through your mind while reading the above, are you thinking of all the reasons why you cannot do what you're dreaming of or or are you thinking of all the ways you can?

A Barren Landscape and Brave Birds

It's a bit windier this morning, which means it's less hot - yes! We like
breeze flowing through the cockpit when the sun is on full blast!

I understand Sue, Mark, Ellie and Louis are on their cruise somewhere in
'our' bit of the ocean, Hi Folks! Hope you have a great time cruising the
Caribbean!

When we checked in yesterday at the Park Headquarters, we spotted the Book
Exchange. The Book Exchange is very important because there are no Borders
or Barnes and Nobles out here, none, nada, so for me to get my book fix I
either pack them in (and we only have so much space on this boat) or I trade
in the ones I've read at the book exchanges we encounter along the way. I
was getting dangerously close to being 'bookless' so needless to say I was
very excited to see two long and well stocked bookshelves! Five books
traded in and five new books for me!

On the porch at HQ, there was a very poised 'boat kid' with birds literally
eating out of her hands. She asked if we'd like to try and I said yes. The
rangers put out sugar for the birds and she put some in the palm of her hand
and they would perch on her fingers while eating the sugar. I tried it and
the birds were very tame and immediately flitted onto my fingers - very
cool!

We went for another walk down one of the island trails. It's really
interesting because as soon as you leave the beach, the island becomes this
rocky, arid, hot bowl. Lots of flora and fauna (particularly lizards), but
not a breeze to be found. The rangers and volunteers have done an excellent
job here. The trails are all well marked, the whole place is immaculate and
there are lots of informational signs about telling you what you're seeing.

Too bouncy for snorkeling today so I had Skyped with Jess, with video!
She's doing great, the house purchase is progressing and this is 'go live'
week for the programme she works on so it is nice and busy! It is amazing
to be anchored next to an island with two buildings on it and have wifi.
Steve's halfway through his first book and I need to get going with mine, I
think. Tomorrow is supposed to be windier still so I think we're staying
put!

You Inc. - Treating Yourself Like a Business

Thinking about what you would like to do is all very well, but the question that comes out immediately after those thoughts (or sometimes simultaneously!) is, "Yeah, great, but how would I afford it?!"  It's a good question.

This is a huge topic and financing the dream is something there will be a lot of discussion about (how to get out of debt, becoming financially free, homebased businesses, creating an income that allows you to live out your dreams, etc., etc., etc.), but there are some fundamental mindshift things that can make the journey much easier.  The one I am particularly thinking about is the shift in your mindset from employee to business owner.

Whether or not you run an actual company, you are running a business.  There are sales of your time to an employer, there is payment for sales or income in the form of salary paid for your time, there are expenses which are both fixed and variable.  You make strategic decisions about what you will do with your 'business' in job choice, salary negotiations, business development (development of your skills / knowledge).  You have growth in expenses and leakage or wasted cost (in terms of the spending choice you make and fritter away).  Sounds like a regular business, doesn't it?

So put on your CEO hat for a while and think about where you're taking this business?  Do you have an operating plan, a direction for where you will take your company (You Inc.)?  Do you have targets?  Are you aware of 'business opportunities' when you encounter them or do they simply slip by?

Then put on your CFO or Finance Officer's hat for a bit.  Do you have tight financial controls or are costs leaking all over the place?  (We did a run through of automatic withdrawals / direct debits from our checking / current accounts before this trip and were amazed to find some things that we no longer wanted or needed which were still coming out of our account - online services are worth keeping an eye on here.)  If it is your business (and it is), doesn't it deserve the same rigor and attention to spending that would be taken on an Inc. or a Ltd. company?  

Because we worked in / ran big organisations, we spent quite a bit of time on income, expenses, budgets and return on investments for those businesses.  It made a lot of sense and seemed natural to apply that approach to Us Inc. in our personal lives.  Steve keeps a running balance sheet in his head which he periodically compares to a real balance spreadsheet and the bank accounts so there's a check to validate what we estimate with reality.  We look at what we have for assets, can we get a better interest rate, where are costs leaking, where can we get a better price, and what return on investment do those assets provide?  Are there any ways to get a better return on investment?  

We think about these things at least annually when doing our 'strategic plan', but usually more frequently than that.  Treating us like Us Inc. means that we focus on income, expenditure, and ROI in a way we never would if we merely considered ourselves as employees.  If you were running a business, wouldn't you focus on those things?  Well, you are...

Is Work All Bad?

A lot of my posts focus on pointing out that we only have a limited time here and do we really want to spend what little time we have on work. But sometimes you gotta work and sometimes you like work and sometimes you'll work at the same time as living out your dreams. I've had jobs that I absolutely loved and I adored running our consultancy, Steve had to pull me out of that one! The point that I'm trying to bring out is that work should be a thoughtful, considered action - not something you just do because that's what you've been told to do and that's everyone else does. To put it really simply, I think there is good work and bad work.

Here's an example, I knew a man from New England who worked in a retail store and hated it! He hated it for the 17 years that I knew him. Can you imagine, going into work every day for 17 YEARS and counting the minutes until you were done? In 750,000 Hours terms, that's 37,000 hours wasted doing something you don't like - a huge amount of life time spent which could have been spent on something this man liked to do. Steve knew people in the service who were 8 years away from retirement and were counting the days until they were done. That's a heck of a long time to be counting down the days!

That's bad work.

Good work is a job you love, you really get a lot out of doing it. You might even do it for free, you're having so much fun (but don't tell your employer that!). You get up every morning looking forward to the day and it flies by, before you know it, it's time to go home. That's good work.

There is a caution here about the good work though, sometimes we fall into it and are having such a good time that we never raise our head above the parapet to see if there is anything else that we might like more. Even though you enjoy good work, make sure that you are still living out your dreams or working to live out your dreams. You still need to take the time to think about what you want out of this life and to make sure you get it. It may very well be that your work is so good that that is exactly what you want, but often times when embroiled in good work people forget to consider all of their options and they may have other things they want to do in this lifetime. Even in good work, make sure it is a conscious choice after evaluating ALL your choices!

If you think about the 'Book of Your Life' that you'll be looking back over when you're 85 (or 90 or 95...), you'll enjoy reading about the good work and be really sorry you spent all that time on the bad work.

Key points here - stay away from bad work and if you're in bad work, don't stay there - those hours will be spent, you won't get them back! And even if you're lucky enough to have good work, make sure it is a considered choice after looking at all your options - not just the one you were pushed or fell into!

Allen's Cay / Warderick Wells Photos

Couldn't get a picture of the starry sky from the deck or the clear water in
the moonlight, but here is a shot of us snorkeling at Allen's Cay and the
views at Warderick Wells.

Allen's Cay to Warderick Wells

Time to travel again!  Up early in morning to peruse the weather and the maps for where to go next.  Carefully planned out our next stop, a little anchorage just south of Highborne Cay after a stop at the fuel dock.  Pulled up the anchorage and left the very lovely Allen's Cay anchorage and the funny iguanas behind.  

(Met some very nice folks from Montreal, Merrill and Cindy of S/V Ambition on the beach the day before while we were snorkeling and had sundowner drinks with them yesterday.)

Our carefully crafted plan was in tatters as soon as we left the shelter of Allen's Cay and put the sails up - wait a minute, that's a south west wind, we can SAIL on that!  We can also make good time SAILING on that!  So, to heck with the plan and we headed south!  

This is following one of the rules (yes, it takes us a while, but we are starting to get it!), 'when the wind allows you to move, GO!'  

Rather than Highborne Cay, we headed for Warderick Wells - after selecting a variety of drop out points should the wind decide to disappear along the way.  It was a beautiful sail in emerald green water, so clear that at 20 feet you could still see the bottom!  

Managed to keep the sails up until mid afternoon when the wind died down and it got hot, hot, HOT!   Luckily, we weren't far from Warderick Wells.  This is one of the Bahamian National Parks, a group of cays clustered together surrounded by light azure water and white sandy beaches - no fishing or shellfishing allowed.  It is absolutely pristine.  We picked up a mooring ball on the west side of the island.  The water was so inviting that we jumped in as soon as we could get the dingy away from the swim ladder.  Snorkels on and we just drifted about in the cool water.  

Watched the boats come and go, had dinner after the sun went down and it started to cool off just a bit.  By about 8:00 it was dark, but still very warm - too warm to sleep in the back cabin.  The moon was out and when I had a wander around the deck, I could see right to the bottom - in the moonlight!  I watched a 2 foot long fish swim by.  

A high point of the trip here!  Still too hot to sleep down below so we took the cushions out of the cockpit and put them up front on the deck - right underneath the half moon and all the stars.  The sea was so still there wasn't even ripples, just gentle rocking from some residual waves.  We laid out on the deck in the cool air and gentle breeze, looked up and our view was the starlit sky from one end of the horizon to the other.  

Today was to be hot again so we got out the awnings to drape over the back cabin and cover up the cockpit enclosure - what a difference a little shade makes!  There's slight breeze and that and the shade keep it nice and cool inside the enclosure and the interior of the boat is cooler than yesterday too.  Won't help much when there's a lot more wind, but then it would be cooler anyhow.
 Went to Exuma Park Headquarters to check in.  There's another beautiful anchorage in front of it, water all shades of blue graduating up to white (where you will run aground as we did with the dingy this morning - have to keep in practice, I guess!) and it is filled with sailboats, just about every mooring taken.  We walked up to Boo Boo Hill where the sailors put their boat names on driftwood and leave them at the top of the hill to ask for good luck from the weather gods (we need to find some driftwood!), the view from up there was amazing.  Steve said this was the most beautiful place we'd ever been and I have to agree with him.

Back to the boat for a little swim, siesta and snorkel!  I think we might stay here for a while!

Any Numpty Can Make It Go

Here are some reflections one month into the Bahamas Cruise. We are in the Exumas which is where we expected to get to this year. We left Marathon a little over one month ago on return from our Uk “break”. The short version of this is …..

This is more like it!!

I guess the question that arises is what has changed from the shakedown cruise before we had the UK trip to this one. Here I think are the key differences and the key learnings:

Differences:

Location!

Learning & Key Success Factors

Patience, patience, patience!! Waiting for the weather before you move makes for a more pleasant experience all around.

Weather means wind and waves. The wave height and direction lag the wind by up to two days. The forecasts tell you about wave height and direction, the learning is that you need to pay attention to it!! After a few days of wind it takes a couple of days for the sea to settle back down again.

Don’t break the rules in respect of you can choose where you go, when you go, how you go (motor or sail) but you cannot choose them all at once. Maximum conditions are as follows:

- Motoring into the wind force 0-2 (10 knots or less with virtually no waves)
- Close Hauled or sailing as close to the wind as the boat will sail, force 3 (10 to 15 knots with waves of a couple of feet)
- Close to a Beam Reach or with the wind between about 75 degrees and 110 degrees off the bow) force 4 (15 to 20 knots with waves in the 3- 5 feet range)
- Broad Reach to Running or with the wind between about 120 degrees and 165 degrees off the bow) force 5 less than 25 knots with seas in the 6 to 8 feet range.

Recognising that this means you may spend a few more days than planned in an anchorage or go somewhere different than the original plan is a big step forward. To be able to wait for weather requires that you are able to entertain yourself with reading, thinking, writing, boat chores, snorkeling or whatever else takes your fancy. Waiting in marinas is expensive and will quickly bust the budget. Six nights in Nassau, as pleasant as they were and as pleasant as the sail was across to the Exumas after the wait cost $560 which is more than we spend in a month on food and is a third of our planed monthly expenditure.

The most important skill to master is anchoring!! Making the boat go is relatively easy, getting it to stay put reliably in wind is more of a challenge. We seem to be getting the hang of this:

- The bottom where the anchor is going to go needs to be capable of holding a properly set anchor. No anchor will hold in smooth rock or very fine sand or very thin silt/mud.
- We have learned to find the sand and drop the anchor into it with the boat slowly going backwards, lay the anchor by hand flukes down.
- Let out some rode so the anchor is pulled along the bottom and not up when you put tension on the rode.
- Apply the tension gradually to dig the anchor in, first by hand, then the weight of the boat, then use the engine (1000rpm, 1200 rpm, 1500 rpm, 1800 rpm in stages with pauses in between) when you have the rode out to the required scope.
- If possible dive on the anchor to check it is set.
- Set the anchor alarm.

Another important skill is interpreting the weather information you get and planning the activity accordingly. Since leaving Miami we have had two basic sources of weather data. The NOAA Offshore Weather Forecast a “GRIB” file (this is a file which contains data on wind speed and direction and sea state across a defined geographical area, not dissimilar to a weather chart but more interactive in that you can put your cursor over a particular spot and get the data displayed. Both are downloaded from Sailmail once a day (see communications). Having got the data the key skill is interpreting it along with “local factors” to produce the forecast of where you are or intend to be. Then you need to plan your movements/activities in light of this. The anchorage we are in at the moment is great for wind with South in it, it is going to be a lot less great with North in it (we would have a large chop and if we drag would be on some rocks or a beach very quickly. We still want to go South. The weather for the next few days is:

- Today. South force 4 (moving today would break a rule)
- Tomorrow: South force 3 (we can move tomorrow assuming we are going to tack and/or motor sail)
- Day After: East Force 2/3 (we can go South in this)
- Day After: South East Force 3 (bit marginal for going South)
- Day After that: There is a cold front coming that will probably give us North West Force 6 (we need to be in a suitable anchorage for that one)

Beyond this we are likely to see a reduction in wind strength and the wind going back to East or South East. This gives us another opportunity to move South. As well as these considerations we are getting ready for some fuel and there is a Marina a few miles south of here where we could get some, so the plan goes like this:

-Today: snorkelling, writing, reading, etc., in the current anchorage
- Tomorrow: sail down to Highborne Key which is only a few miles and the course requires us to go round some obstacles which will mean a leg of South West followed by a leg of South East into a light South wind. Should work fine
- Day After: go into the Marina and get some fuel (much easier to dock and undock in light winds!!). Sail on South to Normans Key to an anchorage that is good for East and South East, but also has a nearby anchorage which would work for the passage of the front as well
- Day After: dependant on the approach or otherwise of the front move around Normans Cay for the passage of the front
- Day After that: Wait out the front

Beyond this we should be able to move South again maybe after waiting one more day to let the seas settle after the front. A few months ago we would not have been capable of understanding the impact of the weather and producing this plan!!

Building skills takes some time and rarely do you master things at the first attempt. The use of sailing books is a good way of doing this, reading these with the benefit of having done what you are reading about really helps for understanding and assimilating the knowledge e.g. anchoring and working with the weather, other examples include manoeuvring under power, docking, trimming sails.

Food is incredibly important; the evening meal is one of the highlights of the day. Katherine has done a fantastic job of having enough of the right stuff on the boat to be able to produce high quality meals with lots of variety, This is an incredible achievement on her part given in our previous lives we cooked really only at the weekends and then only one meal a day. We are now adding fish and shellfish we have caught (more skills to learn and develop) into the mix which really is making a difference.

Communications took a while for us to get right. Out here access to the internet and mobile phone networks are pretty patchy. Getting to a serviceable HF Radio even though it cost over $3k was definitely the right thing to do. Through this equipment we can get weather and e-mails that we would not otherwise be able to get. The ability to stay in touch with family is very important.

In respect of the rest of the boat systems. Refrigeration has proven to be great. The guy who did a lot of work on the boat tried to persuade us that we should ditch the engine powered system for an electrical one, we were unconvinced and had a new compressor fitted. It has been brilliant, I don’t think an electrical one would be half as good and even if it were then we would run out of electrical capacity.

On the subject of electrical capacity, this is OK when it is windy (the wind generator can run the electrics by itself in 15 knots or more of wind) or when we are motoring for a few hours a day. If there is no wind and we are not motoring and we are using computers a lot then we do use more than we produce. This we need to watch so we always have enough left to start the engine.

The addition of a chart plotter has made a big difference and I wouldn’t be without one now. It has made getting into and out of anchorages, cuts, marinas, etc., a lot easier than would otherwise have been the case. The autopilot is a great help on longer passages where it can give you a couple of hours rest from having to steer the boat, especially in light conditions or when motoring. The plumbing has settled down, the daily engine run easily produces enough hot water for us both to have showers (we have a deck shower as well which is basically a plastic bag which absorbs the sums rays to heat the water, at the end of the day it is as hot as you can stand it). The heads (toilets) have to date been fault free and the holding tanks easily allow us to go a week between pumping out.

Thinking about next year then I think that we need to continue from where we left off, do the things that worked well again (spending time getting the boat ready), not do the things that haven’t worked so well (breaking the rules) and build on the learning we have had and the skills we have developed to cover more ground than we have this year with less stress!!

100 Times the Cost, the View is the Same

There is an absolutely gorgeous sailing yacht anchored behind us today. It pulled in last night just as the sun was setting. It must be 80 feet long, dark blue and of the 'sailboatus elegantus' variety. Minimum crew of 5 and looks like it hails from the Marshall Islands (South Pacific). Probably one of the most beautiful examples of the species. Called S/Y Tenacious.

Steve figures it must have cost about 100 times more than our wee sailboat and the running costs are probably about 100 times more than ours.

We've been having a very interesting debate and a bit of analysis on these lovely palaces of the sea. There's been a lot of discussion of the differences between the two experiences, what would be different aboard an 80 S/Y versus the 41'6" version? Well, obviously space would be a big difference, interior 'poshness', and crew / wait staff. I guess it really comes down to what you like, space would be nice, but actually we have plenty of space for two with two 'stories', two bedrooms, a living room and a 'conservatory'. And 80 feet, twice the size of ours, with 5 more people on it, would it be more crowded? Probably not, but that's a lot of people in quite a small space (1 person per 11.5 feet versus 1 person per 22 feet on ours). The staff does the sailing, cooking and cleaning on the big boat, but we like to sail and cook (the cleaning could be done by someone else, but it takes all of 30 minutes to clean the boat from end to end so it isn't really much of a bother).

I think part of the reason there has been so much discussion about this is there is still some of that knee jerk, consumerist reaction, in me particularly, that when I see something nice I say, "Ooohhhh, I want that!" And it takes some time to analyse and thinking through to realise that, no, actually I don't want that. Steve and I have a debate about this, but I think if we wanted one of those big boats we could have one, but at what price? Probably another 15 years of work, another 15 years of going to the office, 14 hour days and being road warriors.

But when we sat up on deck last night, next to S/Y T, our view and theirs of the lagoon, the white sandy beach, the crystal clear blue water was exactly the same. If someone were to give us one, we wouldn't refuse it, but working for 15 years? I'd rather pass on the poshness, have the extra 15 years and be here now.

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Anchorage Antics

Here we are at Allen's Cay relaxing on deck and watching the boating activity around us. Various dingys bustling about from sailboats to shore, a big boat of tourists dropped off behind us on the other iguana island. People taking their kids and dogs back and forth to the beaches. Lots of folks seem to come up from the south (Highborne Cay?) in powerboats to see the iguanas.

About mid-afternoon a good sized boat anchored just off the beach and dropped off a good sized group of people, 8-10. Obviously there for sand, sun, sea and iguanas. There was quite a bit of wandering about checking out the iguanas and paddling in the water. Perfect afternoon for playing in the water (I know, I have the sunburn to prove it!).

Eventually these folks climbed back on the boat to head back to wherever they came from. The engines roared to life, there was much splashing of water off the back of the boat from the engines - and the boat didn't move an inch. Now this boat had not one, but two 225 horsepower engines on the back - a significant amount of power - more power than the V12 Jags. As we watched, the people on the boat moved to the back of the boat to try and push it forward. We couldn't believe it, but they were pushing right next to these roaring engines, think big rotating propellers. Then we watched them all get directly in front of the boat and attempt to pull it forward with a rope, and again the engines were going at full throttle. Luckily the boat didn't move at all. Can you imagine what would have happened if that boat had jerked forward at full throttle with all those people in front? Frightening!

Super Steve got into the dingy once it was clear they were well and truly stuck. High tide wasn't due until 3 a.m. so they potentially had a long wait and he wanted to make sure they had water, food, warm stuff, etc., if they had to wait out there that long. He spoke with the captain who said they had a cooler full of beer (the other people were pretty stand offish) and that someone was coming out to pull them off. The someone came out, took one look at the boat and made no attempt to do any such thing. He took the standoffish passengers away leaving the captain sitting forlornly on the side of his boat. The captain wandered about on the beach and in the water until a couple of fellows bearing a backpack arrived on the tender (dingy) to M/V Octopussy. It was a big tender which means big yacht (perhaps that was where the standoffish people came from?).

Sometime in the night the man and the boat disappeared. We wondered if the iguanas would eat him.

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It Doesn't Just Magically Happen

As we go through our busy day-to-day lives, we work to make sure that the job gets done, we work to make sure that the errands get run, we work to make sure that the house and car get taken care of. But for some reason, we don't work to ensure that we get to do the things we really want to do in life, we don't work to ensure that we have the time and ability to live out our dreams.

Now I'm not sure why mowing the lawn or going to Home Depot should take priority over getting whatever one's dream lifestyle is. But it seems to. I don't know why going to the mall happens more frequently than defining, planning and achieving one's dreams, but it does. Perhaps it is prioritisation - those things need to be done NOW whereas living out one's dreams, oh, that will happen 'someday'.

Unfortunately, it doesn't magically happen, we don't suddenly wake up one day and find ourselves living out our dreams and doing the things that make us happy. Unfortunately, some of us do wake up and realise we missed out - we're too old, family demands are too important, the stock market went kaput and we don't have the money anymore. We thought our dreams would take care of themselves and magically appear someday, and they didn't.

Most of the magic I know is sleight of hand and actually that takes a lot of work too. Achieving one's dreams does take time and effort, they don't magically happen. But most of the things we do in life take time and effort, the difference is the results that you get with the time that we 'spend'. The time and effort you spend going to the mall and running errands results in nil, no gain, status quo unchanged (or epending on how much money you spend, status quo reduced!). The time and effort you invest on achieving your dreams results in step-by-step progress closer and closer to your goals, each step improving one's status quo and results in you doing the things you want to do with your life.

Aren't your dreams worth investing some time in?

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Conch and Iguana

Today we moved a bit further south to Allen's Cay. This is one which we have read about in a lot of the sailing blogs and is one of the 'must see places' in the Exumas. It's a nice tropical island anchorage, but it gets even more interesting when you get to land.

As you step off the dingy, you hear rustling in the bushes and see dark shadows flitting through the grass. Then shooting out of the brush towards you comes an iguana! Shooting right out of the brush TOWARDS YOU!

And he's brought 9 or 10 of his friends!

Some of them are quite big, about the size of a small dog, certainly much larger than the pet ones you see perched on people's shoulders. I took some great pictures (which I will post when we encounter wifi next) of Steve and the 'Big Boy' iguana. And after a little stroll on the beach, we thought Big Boy had gone away, but no! He was hiding under our dingy and rushed out in front of me as I went past!

The water was so clear and beautiful off the beach that I went for a snorkel. Steve had already been earlier to check the anchor and then he went hunting for conch (he had asked me if I had taken anything out of the freezer for dinner and I said no, "You're expecting me to catch some conch for dinner, aren't you?" "Yes." "You better take something out of the freezer." Then he paddled about, dove down several times and came back with two lovely conch.

Then they had to be taken out of their shells and cleaned. We had bought conch back in Bimini because we weren't ready to take on this particular challenge, but now we were mentally and physically prepared. It's gross, really gross. The first one was a bit of a handful and very slimy, but very quickly Steve mastered the technique and the second one was much easier. Since he caught them and cleaned them, he got to pick what to have for dinner which means he gets his favourite, Conch Pasta!

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Enoughness

(Pardon if any of this is repeat - no wifi, no peeking back to see what's already been written!)

Came across a couple of really interesting quotes:

"In the context of losing wealth and job security, more people are choosing to seek the experience of being alive." (Attribute to follow)
"Real Wealth – What are you worth when you don't have any money?" (Anonymous)

These quotes remind me of two things – the Mexican Fisherman story and Steve's Concept of Enoughness

The Mexican Fisherman story comes from a book called The Four Hour Workweek and goes 'something' like this:

There once was a Mexican fisherman mending his nets on a dock A Harvard businessman walked up and and started talking with the fisherman and asked him what he did all day. The fisherman replied that he does a little fishing, spends time with his family, plays guitar with his friends in the evening.

The Harvard businessman rubbed his hands together and said, "I can really help you, have you never thought of expanding, getting a couple of boats and catching more fish?" The fisherman replied, "Then what would I do, Senor?"

The businessman said, "Well, if you got even more boats, you would catch even more fish and you could set up your own canning plant and really make some money!" "Yes, but then what would I do, Senor?" asked the fisherman.

The Harvard businessman was really rolling now, "Then you could expand even further! You could open a chain of fish restaurants and go public and make a fortune!" The fisherman thought about this for a moment and then asked, "But then what would I do, Senor?"

To which the Harvard businessman replied, "Well, then you could retire to a little village in Mexico, do a little fishing, spend time with your wife, play guitar with your friends…"

The key thing that strikes me in this story is that a critical step is missed when one pursues financial wealth without knowing specifically what you want it for. "I want to be rich." But what are you going to do when you have more money? Is it the same thing you do today? Well, then you don't need to work for years and years to be rich, because you don't need that much money. This is a missed step in the constant push for people to keep going until they are rich. If you are going to do the same thing or something that requires a similar (or lower) income, why waste your precious years working rather than living?

And this is exactly where Steve's Concept of Enoughness comes in. When he said he wanted to 'give up serious work' (i.e., retire), I was concerned about two things – what would we do all day when we didn't fill the time with work (we've managed to fill the time) and how could we do it, we weren't rich. That is when Steve introduced the Concept of Enoughness, he said, "Well, what would we do?" And we talked through and came up with a list of all the things we would love to do if we weren't working – walking trips, learn to dance, sailing, motorbiking, spend time with family, spend time with each other, etc., etc. As we went through the list, I realised that none of the things we were talking about required a fortune to be able to do them. They did require some money though and we had to do some work to get there. Essentially enoughness is understanding what it is you want to do and then working to get to the point where you have enough to do it, and working no longer.

I think there is a critical step that needs to take place before one works for years to become rich. This is not taught at school, the consumer culture doesn't share this little insight, and without it you will never know when to get off the treadmill. That first step is critical, defining - what is it that you want to do and how much is enough to do it?

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How Much and How Long?

Came across a couple of really interesting quotes:

"In the context of losing wealth and job security, more people are choosing to seek the experience of being alive." (Attribute to follow)
"Real Wealth – What are you worth when you don't have any money?" (Anonymous)

These quotes remind me of two things – the Mexican Fisherman story and Steve's Concept of Enoughness

The Mexican Fisherman story comes from a book called The 4-Hour work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich and goes 'something' like this:

There once was a Mexican fisherman mending his nets on a dock A Harvard businessman walked up and and started talking with the fisherman and asked him what he did all day. The fisherman replied that he does a little fishing, spends time with his family, plays guitar with his friends in the evening.

The Harvard businessman rubbed his hands together and said, "I can really help you, have you never thought of expanding, getting a couple of boats and catching more fish?" The fisherman replied, "Then what would I do, Senor?"

The businessman said, "Well, if you got even more boats, you would catch even more fish and you could set up your own canning plant and really make some money!" "Yes, but then what would I do, Senor?" asked the fisherman.

The Harvard businessman was really rolling now, "Then you could expand even further! You could open a chain of fish restaurants and go public and make a fortune!" The fisherman thought about this for a moment and then asked, "But then what would I do, Senor?"

To which the Harvard businessman replied, "Well, then you could retire to a little village in Mexico, do a little fishing, spend time with your wife, play guitar with your friends…"

The key thing that strikes me in this story is that a critical step is missed when one pursues financial wealth without knowing specifically what you want it for. "I want to be rich." But what are you going to do when you have more money? Is it the same thing you do today? Well, then you don't need to work for years and years to be rich, because you don't need that much money. This is a missed step in the constant push for people to keep going until they are rich. If you are going to do the same thing or something that requires a similar (or lower) income, why waste your precious years working rather than living?

And this is exactly where Steve's Concept of Enoughness comes in. When he said he wanted to 'give up serious work' (i.e., retire), I was concerned about two things – what would we do all day when we didn't fill the time with work (we've managed to fill the time) and how could we do it, we weren't rich. That is when Steve introduced the Concept of Enoughness, he said, "Well, what would we do?" And we talked through and came up with a list of all the things we would love to do if we weren't working – walking trips, learn to dance, sailing, motorbiking, spend time with family, spend time with each other, etc., etc. As we went through the list, I realised that none of the things we were talking about required a fortune to be able to do them. They did require some money though and we had to do some work to get there. Essentially enoughness is understanding what it is you want to do and then working to get to the point where you have enough to do it, and working no longer.

I think there is a critical step that needs to take place before one works for years to become rich. This is not taught at school, the consumer culture doesn't share this little insight, and without it you will never know when to get off the treadmill. How much time do you want to work and how much time do you want to spend being alive? That first step is critical, defining - what is it that you want to do and how much is enough to do it?

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