#10: A Focus on 3 Try Life On Principles

Lifestyle itself is built through trial, error, and practice...daily practice.

You can practice how to build a business, invest, travel hack to different countries, exist with time freedom, build meaningful relationships, and even have 3 full-time careers at the same time – whatever makes sense for you.

The key to it all is mindset.

It’s understanding you have ability to make your extraordinary, ordinary, now.

Understanding if people around you talk about doing average, typical things, and you accept that dialogue, then you too will do average, typical things.

But that’s not what we want.

My coaching students redesigning lifestyle deep dive into 20+ Try Life On principles with me. The principles are a “starter” that gets us thinking critically about how we approach and solve “blockers” to designed lives.

I’ve added the Try Life On principles sheet for you to review and keep handy.

But in this newsletter, I’m going to explain a few.

(Note: The Try Life On Podcast will have mini-episodes explaining each principle in the coming weeks. You’ll receive an email when the episodes are released).

Download the TLO Principles here

1. Status quo is a default language

Status quo is a default language I choose not to follow.

I was told coming out of college just follow the corporate ladder, you’ll be fine.

That didn’t sit well with me. I wanted to be mobile in the world, build relationships, and have unbelievable experiences to fill my life book.

Even in my 20s, everyone was giving me a “standard” answer to life. Everyone was speaking a “default language”, which I chose to ignore.

Everyone seemed to focus on money and titles as goals. That seemed fleeting. Seeking experiences and meaningful relationships as goals made sense for life and business.

Did that instead.

Ignored status quo and went after everything that resonated with my soul...

• failed to make it to the NFL (1998)
• build real estate freedom plan (2002)
• fail to make it to the NFL... again (2004)
• start acting in TV shows and movies (2004)
• success in building a 25-year consulting career
• built a portfolio of restaurants and clubs in DC
• built a career as a federal agent in Turkey + Africa
• built a lifestyle immersing in 100 countries 300x
• failed miserably at trying to open coffee shops in DC
• fail, almost quit real estate, in the 2008 financial crisis
• fail, foreclosures, short sales, tenants lost jobs. This hurt
• success in helping the community as a police officer for 15 years
• start no to promotions in favor of entrepreneurship (2013)
• financial/time freedom via real estate, not promotions (2014)
• find the right people, now family, to start Quattro Capital (2019)
• success, didn't quit, own 26 apartment complexes in 2 years
• Mediterranean real estate/lifestyle (2020). Ready to fail again
• start Trylifeon.com to help people (re)design their lifestyle (2021)
• start the Try Life On podcast to introduce people doing the same

My journey is my journey. Yours can be simpler or more complex. What I want to get across to you is if you accept a default path, you will get default results and lifestyle.

I’m glad I did it my way. My life book is full of experiences.

If someone says you must be “X”, that’s the default language.

If someone says success looks like “Y”, that’s the default language.

You must have 2 kids, a white picket fence, and a dog. Again, default language.

You get my point.

Recognize when you hear it. Also, recognize when you speak it to yourself.

Surround yourself with people who understand anyone can turn extraordinary into ordinary, at any time.

I reject status quo language. Made up my own version of what life should be.

You should too.

2. Find the 'Who' vs. Studying the 'What' forever

Part of living a designed life is leaning into everything you want to do.

Once you make an initial study into an area, leave analysis paralysis behind and find the ‘Who’.

Find the person who’s done it before, lives in that place, has that specific knowledge… pays them, adds value to them, gets guidance from them, flies to see them, invests in that relationship (note: I didn’t say take advantage of them). Here are some coaching student examples (names changed), and one from me.

Charlie is a computer developer but also wanted to be a voice-over artist. So, we found a ‘Who’. Marcel is a coach whose voice is featured in numerous TV commercials and internet spots. He has deep connections in the industry. Charlie now studies with him and leverages his network to get opportunities in the industry.

Wanita is a User Experience expert. She’s redesigning her lifestyle including becoming a writer. Initial research led her to a writing program at Emory University. In my personal network, I had connections to executive producers of 50+ TV shows and movies so I set up a meeting with them so she could pick their brains and get her new passion going.

Joshua is in Process Improvement. We developed a plan for his financial freedom, including buying small rental homes. He lives in cost-prohibitive Utah, so we found a real estate agent in Maryland who helps investors buy homes for $100K or less in her area, and she manages them! Boom… he’s getting ready to buy his first place (of 5).

Maurice (me) - I become an executive producer of 2 TV shows in the last 18 months. I met an extraordinary person through LinkedIn, a highly skilled producer (and phenomenal human) who’s created award-winning movies. We became friends. I flew to Miami for lunch to meet her. Our value systems were the same. That led to ideas around lifestyle design-related projects. She invested her time and resources in me and vice versa. I’m grateful. I’m now experiencing a real-world MBA in media. This happened organically. I don’t know where it’s going but I’m Trying Life On with it.

Here’s the key… when you find a ‘Who’, never wait. Get on the plane, invest in the relationship immediately, and make it happen. (Note: Zoom and phones call are a start, in-person shows real interest).

3. The Purpose of Salary is to Create an Income

If I’m a college professor advising graduates going into the world, my advice as I hand them their diplomas would be as follows:

When you get your degree, use it to get a salary.
Then use salary to build streams of income.
Build enough income to cover your basic needs. Now you're free.

______

If people understood that distinction coming out of college, many would be free of 9-5 in 10 years or less, versus a focus on earning titles. That’s how I became financially free in 2014. I was always building while I was working. I leveraged 9-5 more than it leveraged me.

Salary is your fixed income from your employer in exchange for services.

While streams of income are perpetual income from a variety of sources (investments, rentals, royalties, businesses, etc.).

It’s the latter that allows you to Try Life On at any time, the former can be taken away from you at any time.

It truly does take self-education but please teach yourself how to use salary to create PERMANENT income streams You control. They don’t shut off involuntarily.

That’s three examples of Try Life On principles you can use to design your lifestyle. Practice them to improve your day-to-day life.

If I can help you, reach out to me at [email protected].

Hope this helps you today. In the coming weeks, I’ll be explaining more.

Maurice