The Journal of the Wandering Engineer

How to Change Your Life

Changing your life is simple. All just need sufficient Dissatisfaction, a compelling enough Vision, and a good enough Plan, to overcome the Cost of Change.[1] In equation form, DVP>C.

If your life isn’t changing the way you’d like it to, think through which components of this equation needs work. It’s an easy exercise to sketch out:

Dissatisfaction:

  • Lack of autonomy;

  • a First-World average ecological footprint;

  • fragility/exposure to risk;

  • uncertainty about the efficacy of my Work;

  • stress;

  • workaholism;

  • lack of quality time with friends and family;

  • a widening chasm between my idealized sense of who I am and the real-world evidence of who I actually appear to be becoming;

  • the sense that my one precious life is slipping through my fingers one thumb swipe at a time.

Vision:

  • Lots of free time;

  • money occupies a very small fragment of my attention;

  • interesting adventures;

  • a significant amount of time spend in craft;

  • a household equipped with high quality analog goods that focus and channel creative energies;

  • resilience to world system shocks and local disasters;

  • a strong and healthy body;

  • 1-3 evenings/wk spent in deep quality time with friends and family - a consistent and robust social life;

  • the sense that my actions are no longer part of the problem;

  • the sense that my actions are part of a solution.

Plan:

  • Spend the time necessary to develop strong “Foundational” life skills;

  • lay in reasonable preps to buffer short-term system shocks;

  • minimize all forms of waste and eliminate counter-productive actions;

  • learn at least an intermediate level of personal finance;

  • pursue skills and activities of interest that have potential value for others that are also likely to throw off incidental income;

  • steadily drive cost of living expenses down until $5k/yr is habituated and requires no special effort;

  • experiment with radically decreasing my exposure to digital tools.

The Cost of Change:

  • Effort;

  • the perceived sacrifice of curtailing consumer activities like long road trips in cars, eating out often, extreme mountain biking, and frequent flights;

  • no longer giving in to instant material gratification;

  • navigating relationships with a wide difference in lifestyle;

  • the nagging doubt that I could be wrong about all this.

[1]Early Retirement Extreme, Jacob Lund Fisker

Project Analog: Six Screen-Free Days per Week

Lifestyle Constraints