I just realized that I start every new year the same way.
I re-read one of my favorite self-help books.
It’s an awesome kick-start for the next 12 months.
So I’m re-reading the late Harry Browne’s How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World.
I first read it in college.
Hell, it may have been the first self-help book I’d ever read. (I know it predated Napoleon Hill, Dale Carnegie, or Maxwell Maltz for me.)
Anyway, this is my fifth or sixth round with Browne’s book over the years, and I’m really enjoying it.
The chapter “Freedom from the Treadmill” is especially brilliant. I know I’ve quoted from it before, but let me share this with you…
“The treadmill enslaves many people who can’t conceive that life could be any different. They stay where they are, leaving things as they are, making changes only when someone else initiates them.
“But why should it be that way? You’re a sovereign human being with numerous talents and a great many alternatives available to you. Whether you want to increase your income, reduce your working hours, get out of debt, or work in a less monotonous job, there’s always a way. More than anything, the need is to use your imagination to look for alternatives.”
Great stuff, huh?
Now here’s the best part…
“The keys to a non-treadmill life are to find out what other people will pay for and to recognize what you’re capable of doing.”
That should be the mission of anyone who’s desperate to leave 9-to-5 wage slavery behind.
Come to think of it, that’s the basis for my whole Coffee House Kingpin philosophy…
Harry Browne’s book is still in print after 40 years. That’s proof enough that it’s a classic, and certainly worth your time.
Read it now instead of later.
2013’ll be over before you know it.
