In late April, 2023 I was in the city of Mussoorie to do a couple of hikes and blow off some steam.
I had completed coding up a new SaaS project and had worked a lot and the plan was to spend some time in nature and off work.
I completed a few hikes and decided to take a day off to recover from the fatigue (I was hiking on low carb for the extra challenge).
That day was 26th April, 2023. Instead of hiking, I was gonna explore the city on foot.
In the morning I went down to the market road and stood under a bridge to get some rest (I was doing all these climbs and exploration on thirty carbs a day).
India is full of cows on the street, and one showed up behind me and literally put its head under my ass and gave me a strong push away from that place.
The whole cow thing annoyed me, but I went back to standing under the bridge once it was gone. I don’t know why I did that, but I did.
Then a guy showed up on a fucking scooter and asked me if I wanted to see the city with him as a pillion rider. He said he’d show me all the major points for ₹3000 (~$45).
Normally I would NEVER agree to something like this because I strongly prefer cars to two wheelers, but on that day I just said yes.
I just blankly said yes, took his phone number, and sat on the back of his scooter. Total stranger, I had just met him, and here I was getting on his scooter.
I didn’t even negotiate the price and the whole interaction took maybe 2 minutes.
Then 2 minutes after I left with him, the bridge I was standing under collapsed and a truck fell over right where I was standing.
It fell right where I was standing and would have been standing had I not gotten on this guy’s scooter.
I would have been crushed to death. In an instant, it would be all over.
I don’t know if it was just sheer luck that my life was saved or divine intervention (first the cow kicking my ass, and then the guy showing up).
Whichever it was, the gravity of what happened didn’t hit me until I got back home from the trekking and had more time to think about it.
If I had died:
- The money in the bank would just be a number.
- The last post on this blog would be How to Sell 10,000+ Copies of Your Book (published a few days before I left and not a bad piece for a final post).
- It would be an irreparable loss to my parents and family.
- You get the point. Everyone except family would eventually move on but it would have been the end for me.
What if you had only 10 years left to live?
This begs the question – what would you do if you had only 10 years left to live?
Stop and think about it. This is a question that deserves actual thought.
If you only had 10 more years left to live, how would you live your life?
What would you do?
Would you continue to live as you do?
Or would you travel more and have more time for hobbies and family – think about it and form a coherent answer in your head.
If you are smart, your answer would involve living your life more, being more happy, and not sweating the small things.
The Big Regret a Lot of Old People Have
I own a tax/law firm and I’ve dealt with thousands of people and seen their lives play out and heard their stories.
There are many common regrets old people have, and one of the most common one is “I wish I had enjoyed my life more”.
What are they talking about?
They are talking about working really hard across their entire life, taking no vacations (usually 1 a year at most), spending very little time with their family, and earning money they never got to enjoy.
They find themselves at 60 and beyond with a burnt out body and they can’t enjoy life because of age, joint issues, obesity, and other health problems they’ve developed (diabetes, blood pressure, etc.).
Most know they will likely be dead within the decade from a heart attack.
If they could be young again, the main change they would make is having more fun and spending more time with people they cared about.
Live Life While You Are Alive
Someone who had just had children once told me “Getting married and having children changes your life. Earlier I could just do what I wanted and go where I wanted. If I wanted to go to a different country, I could just catch a flight and go”.
I asked him if he ever actually did that – catch a flight and go to a different place on a whim just because he wanted to.
“No.”
I didn’t press further because the point was made. A “why not” was not needed.
He knew he wasted the freedom of his younger years and if he wanted to he could still travel but he was a p***y and just didn’t have it in him to do it.
He could do it still but we both knew he wouldn’t. To travel, you just have to buy a ticket but most people can’t bring themselves to do it.
Look, you’ve got to live your life in the years you have alive.
You are alive now but you could be dead this year, next year, in 5 years, 10 years, or 50 years. No one knows.
You could be in perfect health climbing mountains and find yourself crushed to death by a literal truck falling on you in a second.
It can happen.
My friend Jay from Zylvie was just out for a run and woke up in the emergency room. He had been hit by a Toyota SUV and is lucky to be alive.
You’ve got to live and enjoy your life while you can. While you are still alive.
This is not a license to indulge in self-destructive behavior. I’m not talking about dumb things like getting drunk, frequent partying, eating junk food, etc.
That’s not “living” – that’s just hedonism and self-destruction.
When I say “live your life” I mean schedule time to do things you care about:
- Travel
- Play sports you like
- Trek and hike mountains
- Read books you like and enjoy
- Spend time with your family (everyone misses their parents when they’re dead but sadly few do when they’re alive)
- etc.
Spend some time each month doing the things that you would do if you had only 10 more years left to live – whatever those things are.
If you don’t do them now, you’ll realize that time flies, the decades pass, and suddenly you can’t do those things anymore.
How to Make it Happen
If you’re a regular reader, you’re already on the right track because you’ve already established a few sources of WiFi money.
If you haven’t, making money from the internet or some kind of location independent business needs to be priority #1.
If you don’t know where to start, my recommendations as usual are:
- X if you like social media
- Web design
- Copywriting
- Graphic design (less recommended than the others because it’s not as lucrative)
Pick anything you like and just work on it. Don’t over-complicate it. You don’t need to start the next Google to be financially and locationally independent.
You have to understand that you cannot live a good life if you have to work a regular job. It just isn’t possible for 99.99% of jobs.
- You got to beg your boss for a leave to go anywhere and you are unlikely to get leaves frequently.
- The pay is usually a pittance compared to online business. Most people will pull $10k+ a month with online business within 5 years of doing it no matter which country you live in.
- You are likely to be forced to work long hours which leave you little to no time for anything else.
In other words, it just doesn’t work if you have a regular job.
Regular jobs are for bozos and losers. If you are smart, you will find a way to make money from the internet because it gives you the most important thing – FREEDOM.
Note: While you build your business from scratch, don’t expect to have any fun. The first few years you have to work like a dog. This might mean working 16 hours a day.
Once you have a few cash flow sources set up (shouldn’t take longer than 3-5 years), you will be free. 3 to 5 years is the price you have to pay for freedom.
Once you have that, it’s up to you.
Here are my recommendations:
- No more alarm clocks.
- Train in the afternoon when the gym is empty.
- Talk to family for at least an hour or two a day.
- Schedule at least 3-4 days each month for travel and trekking. This will improve your life experience by a lot.
- Go on more dates with women. If you are married or have a girlfriend, go out with her more.
The main thing to keep in mind is that you have to live while you are alive.
You have to work like a dog in the first 3-5 years of your life but unlike the wage slave, you don’t have to work like a dog for the rest of your life.
Schedule time for fun things you enjoy and actually do them.
Don’t be the guy who says “I could have travelled where I wanted” but then didn’t do it at all.
If you want to travel, all it takes is money to buy a ticket and the freedom to travel (location independent business).
Nothing hard. Anyone can do it.
We’re not talking about creating the next Google. We’re just talking about making an extra $10-20k a month from the internet which is something anyone can do if they put in the effort.
Most people are just loser wage slave types who are surrounded by other loser wage slaves and think being a salves working like a doggy their entire life for their boss is “normal”.
Don’t be one of them.
Take the FREEDOM path so you can actually live the one life you’ve got.
Ask yourself what things you’d do if you had only 10 years left to live, and then find a way to do all of those things.
Until next time.
Your man,
Harsh Strongman
P.S. If you’re ever in the Mussoorie area, I recommend Benog Tibba as nice starter trek.
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