Unconventional Life – Podcast, Blog, Live Events

Author: Jules Schroeder

Breaking out of the Box and Becoming Location Independent with ‘Nomads Giving Back’ Founder, Tarek Kholoussy

When the words ‘digital nomad’ are uttered, most people will bring to mind Insta-worthy images of the coveted laptop lifestyle, cocktails by the pool and traveling the globe while living it large. Given the supposed glamour and swoon-worthy depiction of being a digital nomad, it is no surprise that – according to this site – 50% of the workforce will be remote by 2020.

But for some, the ‘digital nomad’ life is about so much more than living one big endless holiday. It is about freedom, breaking the constraints of societal expectations, pursuing a life you are passionate about and taking an (often terrifying) leap which allows you to escape the confines of your office, your cushy 9-5 and your rinse and repeat lifestyle.

We caught up with Tarek Kholoussy to talk about breaking the mold and taking the leap from corporate into a digital nomad lifestyle as a social entrepreneur who wants to positively impact the Earth.

Tarek has an impressive history, graduating from Georgetown and receiving NBA Honours from NYU. His journey to becoming a social entrepreneur and digital nomad began while he was working in strategic leadership in the corporate landscape in New York City. He tells us how, despite having a stable corporate career and educational accolades, “I was finding myself less excited and less motivated in what I was doing”. I am sure many of our readers can relate to this sentiment.

Nomads Giving Back came as an answer to his inner-search for a more meaningful and fulfilling life, a need to do something real to help and make a lasting impact on the Earth and a string of events and synchronicities that led him on this path.

In 2012 – while still working in corporate – he had four moments over a few months that challenged him and acted like a wake-up call, setting him up on an entirely new trajectory in his life. Tarek shares how witnessing the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy – where he lived – along with his closely-aged cousin’s untimely passing significantly opened his eyes to the “real problems” and struggles people face, along with being presented with the reminder of his mortality.

Faced with these events, Tarek began to ask himself – “What am I going to do with the time that I have on this Earth?”.

Tarek shares how a chance meeting with a random stranger opened his eyes to the possibility of “living the life he always dreamed of living” and that it fuelled a desire for him to boldly pursue his dreams. After the string of synchronicities and events which acted as a not-so-subtle nudge for him, he shares “I bought I one-way-ticket, and I never looked back”.

The result of his leap of faith and radical lifestyle change became the founding of Nomads Giving Back, which has now grown to 47 events over 8 different countries in its first year of conception and which “gives digital nomads and ex-pats a chance to ‘give back’ to the communities they call home away from home”.

Tarek discusses how challenging it was for him to break out of the mold and the comfortable lifestyle he was in initially because “we’re all conditioned… every day we’re living a habitualised life and surrounding ourselves with the same people/family/company… it becomes this perpetuating cycle of living a predictable life because you’re just playing a role.”

We asked Tarek if he had any advice for readers who want to break out of the lifestyle, role or career their in and overcome the challenge he just described. He tells us that in order to experience different, you need to act differently, that “outside of that regular area, that routine, is where you gain perspective.”

He gives readers some activities that he pursued in the early stages of taking the leap to becoming a digital nomad, that may assist you on your journey.

Consume content that is inspirational

Tarek was consumed by TED talks in those early days of his journey and describes all of the types of self development and inspirational content he would seek out. Why is this so helpful to Tarek, and why will it help you on your journey?

Our emotions are hugely influential when it comes to our follow through and feeling inspired can have a massive impact on whether or not you are able to stick to your guns. Learning from professionals, from people who have already traveled down the path you have, or consuming content that is informative, motivational and inspirational will help you to stay on task and continually striving when you’re faced with adversity along the way.

Seek out the right crowd, surround yourself with ‘expanders’

Tarek tells us that during the most formative time of his self-exploration journey, “I decided to be careful about who I let into my space and try to minimize that time with them.” Rather than spending time with those who re-enforced the old ‘role’ he would play, he would seek out people who inspired him and encouraged him to grow and expand.

An excellent way to grow and develop is to surround yourself with people who motivate and inspire you in some way – people who are further along the journey than you or who are already doing what you aspire to do. This is expansive energy to be around and will help you to learn and grow purely by diffusion.

Mind your own business

Tarek shares that it wasn’t until the wheels were well and truly in motion, he was already a significant way along the path and had already resigned from his corporate job that he decided to tell anybody of his plans. He knew that his family and friends would discourage him out of fear and when he did eventually tell them, “that’s when the push-back came…but by that point, it was too late.”

The reality is, sometimes the people closest to us are not supportive of our goals, our visions, our career changes or our lifestyles… and that is totally ok. They don’t have to understand or even like it in order for us to succeed.

If you know that your close family/friends/partner will react negatively and that it will affect your ability to go through with taking the plunge, avoid telling them for as long as possible. Keep it on a ‘need to know’ basis until you’re set-up, stable and you’re over the biggest hurdles. Know that their lack of support or understanding isn’t because they don’t love or care about you – in fact, it’s usually because they love and care about you. Set some clear boundaries and keep your business to yourself until you’re at a point where you feel comfortable with facing a potential backlash. While they might not understand or support you initially, they almost always will come around when they see what you have achieved and how it has impacted your life and happiness. They are only afraid of the unconventional lifestyle you are seeking because it’s not familiar to them.

We asked Tarek what living the unconventional life means to him – “[It] means taking a step outside of yourself [and] your comfort zone to really trying to understand as much as you can of who you are… liberating yourself from the shackles of whatever life you feel trapped in… finding and seeking out experiences and people who inspire the real you.”

Giveaway!

Tarek is offering a one-on-one 30-minute consultation to one of our readers to chat about anything you’re passionate about, learn more about the journey of becoming a digital nomad or for support on their own personal growth path. You can find out more about Tarek and the wonderful work that Nomads Giving Back does at: www.nomadsgivingback.com

January 27, 2020
EP: 204 What to do When you’re Suffering ‘Next Step’ Paralysis, with Career Strategist Tracy Timm

We caught up with Tracy Timm, career strategist, human capital advisor and founder of the Nth Degree Academy which helps individuals achieve at the highest performance levels possible. A Yale graduate with a degree in Behavioural Psychology, having traveled around the world and also having time working on Wall Street under her belt, Tracy’s now unconventional life stemmed from a seemingly “conventional” foundation.

Tracy talks about the early struggle to release other people’s expectations of what her life should look like and working through her own limiting beliefs of what is possible for her, that “in the absence of having your own certain and clear vision it’s easy to get swept up in whatever’s going on around you.”

Tracy tells us about the experience of trying to determine what she should do with her life when she had no idea which direction she wanted to take, winding up in Wall Street because it seemed like the right thing to do. She talks about the large degree of questioning herself and asking “is it okay if I don’t want this conveyer-belt life?”.

How it ultimately took her some time to even realize she was unhappy where she was and lacking the freedom she craved in her lifestyle.

Tracey reminisces on how she was raised as a “black-belt box checker kid” and this drive for perfectionism and impressing others had to be overcome for her to break out of the box personally and professionally and pursue a life less traveled.

Tracy offers advice for listeners who feel stuck, paralyzed or don’t have a clear ‘next step’ so they don’t experience what she did and feel pressure to follow someone else’s expectations.

Insight comes from action not thought

“Insight comes from action not thought… you’re not going to force clarity on yourself” Tracy believes. The best way to move forward is to take any action which will cause an internal reaction or a way to come across new information. Even if you’re taking the “wrong” action, it will help you to narrow down what you do want. The Universe reacts when you act… so by taking a simple step you will be shown which direction you need to go in.

Do an honest and objective life-audit

If you’re struggling to take any step because you’re paralyzed by fear of moving in the wrong direction, then it’s time to get some clarity, according to Tracy. Break down your life into these categories: social, financial, spiritual, physical, emotional and professional. Uncover what is working in your life – maybe it’s a practice you do frequently or one area of your life where you’re thriving. “If you get really clear on what you have foundationally that’s positive, it should relieve some of the anxiety…when our anxiety is relieved then our brain can be more creative” Tracy tells us.

Get super clear on YOUR core values

“What’s so core to you that you can see yourself making a yes or no decision around it?” These are the deep life-defining values that are make or break for you. Tracy uses her core value of ‘freedom’ not being met as an example of why she left Wall Street. These are supposed to be values that you can see yourself making commitments around – that “give you this really beautiful frame for the bare minimum for what you need to be happy and fulfilled in an environment”.

Tracy believes that if you get clear on what these values are, you will be able to see what in your current life doesn’t stack up and will be guided to the vision for the life you want to create, enabling you to take action towards it.

She strongly advises that readers don’t get caught up in fear-based decision making and to constantly be re-evaluating and asking yourself if this is what rings true for you and your values and for the vision you have for your life.

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Tracy is giving away two tickets to an exclusive Nth Degree Academy live event, in Dallas, Texas on January 23rd 2020. Part mastermind, part meet and mingle, this event will help give you clarity on your core values and enable you to pursue a life you love! To be entered to win the giveaway, click here. A winner will be selected next week.

Connect further with Tracy here.

January 20, 2020
Ep:203 The 5 levers to Economic Freedom and Lasting Wealth, With Garrett Gunderson

Many walk the entrepreneurial path with dreams to accommodate their unconventional lifestyle, creating financial freedom, living their passion and accumulating great wealth and financial abundance. There are now 582 million people in the world who follow the entrepreneurial path for a variety of reasons. However, with 22.5% of small businesses failing within their first year, not all entrepreneurs will reach the level of success they desire, nor will they attain economic freedom that drove them to start their own business.

So what is the key factor that determines whether an entrepreneur reaches the level of success and wealth that they desire?

What is the secret to ensuring financial and economic freedom as an aspiring entrepreneur?

Unconventional Life caught up with Garrett Gunderson, to talk about wealth, money mindset and the role that ancestry and programming have in our experience of wealth and finances. Garrett is an entrepreneur, financial advocate, founder of Wealth Factory and New York Bestselling author of Killing Sacred Cows and What Would The Rockafellas Do.

He is passionate about helping individuals dissolve inherited patterns, break free from ancestral programming and develop a wealth mindset that they can leave as a legacy for future generations.

Garrett’s keen interest in wealth and finances came from a necessity to change his long-held inherited belief systems around money and wealth. Coming from a little town in Italy where they didn’t have much, there was a deep mentality of scarcity in his family.

A belief that you had to scrimp and save and sacrifice.

A belief that “you can be separated [from your loved ones] if you don’t hold onto everything you have”.

While his great grandfather wasn’t armed with the same knowledge around beliefs and programming and therefore wasn’t to blame for his scarcity mentality, Garrett was determined to change this programming for not only himself but became inspired by “the legacy you can live and leave” for future generations of his family.

He stresses that the journey to change these beliefs was not just about ‘money’ or being ‘rich’. That wealth to him was “living a life of purpose and love”, and that it’s the pursuit of these things that you should focus on primarily with money as a bi-product.

Money has an emotional charge for so many people and that is largely why it is so difficult to change beliefs around money. While it’s easy to lay down a formula and tell people ‘here’s how you make money’, if you don’t have the rooted layers addressed – the programmed belief systems, the mindset aspect – then all of that becomes useless.

“Money is just a magnifying glass and it’s either going to be something that harms or helps depending on who [you] are” Garrett believes.

We asked Garrett how you can break and dissolve inherited patterns and belief systems around finances, money and wealth.

The most important thing, according to Garrett, is to understand what true wealth is – it is how we live, not just the money we have in the bank. He quotes Benjamin Franklin, saying “wealth isn’t the man that has it, but the man that lives it”.

Being wealthy is having depth and harmony in 5 key categories (finances, soul purpose, mentality/mindset, physical and social). The best thing you can do in order to secure a sense of internal wealth is to find balance and define clear goals in what ‘wealthy’ looks like for you in each of these areas.

From there, your mindset will be ‘wealthy’ and you will be able to attract success and money you desire.

Garrett also believes it’s about asking the right questions like ‘how do I become a better investor?’ and ‘where can I scale my business?’ instead of asking ‘where do I invest my money?’ which is the mistake most people make.

Investing, according to Garrett, isn’t necessary to become economically independent. But, if you are interested in becoming financially independent, here are the things that will allow you to achieve this freedom in 3-7 years.

Five levers to Economic Freedom and Lasting Wealth

1. Having a “Peace of Mind” Fund + Plugging the 4 I’s To Efficiency

Making sure you are being financially efficient in the following areas which Garrett calls the 4 I’s: taxes, interest, investments, insurance. Using the money you’ve saved in these areas and by automatically saving a percentage of money off the top of what you earn, amass a “Peace of Mind” fund. This should cover 6 months of personal expenses that you set aside.

2. Engineer Wealth

Find out what your monthly “number” that you want to bring in is and reverse engineer from there – what would you have to do to create that income?

3. Accelerate investment income

Turn on the cash flow of existing investments. Rather than focusing on what the ‘next thing to invest’ in should be, focus on capitalizing on and growing the investments you already have such as your own business, real estate you own, etc.

4. Scaling business revenue

Scale the business you already own properly. Prioritize the things that you want to do and that are worth your time. Give yourself an ‘hourly rate’ and only do tasks that are worth that rate. Outsource anything that costs more time or effort than your hourly rate is worth.

5. Make it count

Build a life you don’t want to retire from. Enjoy life along the way so you are the best creator you can be.

January 13, 2020
EP:202 The Balancing Act Between Pursuing Success and Feeding The Ego with Celebrity Photographer, Nick Onken

If instant gratification is food for the ego, then the world we presently live in is a feeding ground. Many of us attribute our sense of self or our worth to our career accolades, vicinity to prestige, status symbols, ‘likes’ or things which bring us external validation.

But desiring success, a high-profile career or friends in high places does not need to be shunned because it is ‘egotistical’. Nor does having any of these things explicitly equate to the impossibility of spiritual enlightenment. As creators, we are worthy of abundance and have a right to create whatever we desire.

The question is about being self-aware enough to separate and detach what feeds the ego versus what feeds the soul. And to determine if what you are pursuing is for the right reasons.

We caught up with Nick Onken – creative entrepreneur, photographer, hat maker and podcast host of Nion Radio – who joined us from New York City, to discuss maintaining this balance of soul passion and ego in order to lead a life that is both conscious and ‘successful’ by normal standards.

Influenced by Tim Ferris’ “Four Hour Work Week” at the age of 22, Nick’s career started out with the simple idea of intentionally designing his life and creating a life that he wanted.

He shares some advice to anybody wanting to pursue a successful creative career. “If you want to make a living as an artist, you have to have a passion for the craft.”

He also mentions the importance of surrounding yourself with people who are already living “the life” or have the level of success you wish to create, or “learning by osmosis” and just by being in their presence.

These are the things that Nick attributes his success to on a practical level, but on a personal level, the importance of being self-aware and detaching from what the ego needs is paramount to him. “The biggest thing [for me] is doing emotional intelligence and deeper spiritual work and learning how to detach from the ego”

As a photographer, Nick has brushed shoulders with high profile celebrities and personalities such as Orlando Bloom, Usher, Justin Beiber, and Jessica Alba. He has done work with huge companies such as Coca Cola and Adidas and has had his work published in Marie Claire and Cosmopolitan magazines.

The level of external gratification involved in his career could easily allow him to find validation in who or what he was shooting, or to determine his self-worth based on his career accolades. However, Nick remains particularly conscious of “learning how to detach from that and find fulfillment from an introspective space.”

The ethos he has for himself and the advice he would offer to anybody else in a similar industry is to focus on going back to the actual passion of the creation instead of the validation you can get from it. “To be able to separate from the ego and what the ego needs to be fed.”

Nick tells us about the Dark Night of the Soul he recently experienced, the impact that it had on his personal life and career and how it led to this importance in self-awareness and detaching from the ego for him.

At the time, he didn’t even know what a Dark Night of the Soul was and was introduced to it through a friend that suggested he join a Breathwork class. He tells us how the emotions and feelings that unraveled for him during this experience made him go through an existential crisis of sorts, questioning everything and finding it difficult to communicate or socialize. Throughout this period, Nick tells us he had a hard time being inspired or wanting to create as he was feeling largely apathetic. He mentions how Eckardt Tolle’s “A New Earth” was largely influential to him during this period and how it helped him through, along with researching what the Dark Night of The Soul was and being able to “put a label on it and to understand what I was going through a little bit more.”

Nick was able to move through this experience and come out the end by taking care of himself and doing as many energetic practices and healings as he possibly could. The experience has propelled him into greater alignment and helped him to be more self-aware.

Check out our suggestions for daily practices on how to become more self-aware and how to navigate through an awakening process.

Engage with a regular healing practice

There are so many different types of practices you can engage with, it’s just a matter of experimenting until you find one that resonates. Some things you might want to try are; breathwork (check out Nick’s “Breathwork for Creatives” here) yoga, shamanic healing, Reiki, EFT, and hypnosis.

Meditation or mindfulness practice

There are so many different forms of meditation that it’s relatively easy to find one that suits you. You can have incredible benefits from as little as 5 minutes a day. If in doubt, youtube can be a great resource for guided meditations or attend a meditation class near you.

Spend time in nature

Going on nature walks, being by the ocean or spending some time in whatever type of natural environment you resonate with does wonders to calm the nervous system, connect you to your inner wisdom and soothe the Ego.

Read

Immerse yourself in content that is uplifting or that helps you to understand the process you’re going through. Nick suggests reading Eckhardt Tolle’s “A New Earth”.

Surround yourself with the right people

Reach out to friends who have gone through what you’ve gone through before or join communities where there’s an open dialogue about personal growth or spirituality. Having a supportive community or people around you certainly helps you to get through.

Whatever you do, know that – like Nick – you are going to make it through the darkness eventually and that what you may be going through is pinnacle to your personal growth, the expansion of your consciousness and for your own transformation. Know that your personal and your professional success are inextricably linked and any self-reflective, spiritual or self-development work you do will have flow-on effects in your career, as Nick has shared.

Connect with Nick:

Follow on IG, Check out Nick’s blog, Subscribe to the Nion Radio Podcast, or get an epic custom hat made!

January 6, 2020
EP:201 Navigating the Spiritual Awakening Process with Matt Kahn

To talk openly about a global spiritual awakening a few decades ago would be considered to be extremely taboo. Modalities and ‘woo woo’ practices such as meditation, energy healing, astrology, breathwork, shamanism, and divination were practiced in the outskirts by the minority, and concepts such as wellness, holistic medicine, consciousness, and awakening were ideas exclusively belonging to those on LSD trips at Woodstock.

The times have changed and all of these terms and practices have been normalized and more readily accepted in the collective consciousness in recent years as we experience a global spiritual awakening, unlike anything the world has ever seen.

It has been predicted that 2020 is going to bring upon a shift unlike any other, that more and more people will experience the spiritual awakening process that many of our readers (who were in the earlier waves of awakening) are familiar with and have been already navigating for considerable amounts of time.

We are all collectively awakening at a different level, and it is our responsibility to learn how to navigate our awakenings with love and acceptance, rather than fear and suffering.

It is now more than ever that spiritual teachers, healers, and advocates – that those who have already awakened to some degree – are needed to guide this new wave of people who are soon to be experiencing the very same, and often incredibly tumultuous process.

We sat down to interview Matt Kahn, spiritual teacher, healer, and author of “Whatever Arises, Love That” and “Everything is Here to Help You”, in Colorado, about his life purpose and how to peacefully navigate the turbulent spiritual awakening process.

Matt started his path at the age of 8 when he had his first out of body experience – since then he talks about how his entire life was guided by an intuitive knowing. That “the mysterious intelligence of our inner knowing has been more reliable than anything else in my life.”

It is through this distinct feeling and impulse that he has been guided ever since.

Matt’s life purpose is dedicated to awaken, activate and heal those going through the global spiritual awakening process that can be notoriously jarring, confusing and isolating.

To bring understanding and compassion so that those suffering can find solace and assistance.

The awakening process is both necessary and pinnacle to reaching a higher level of consciousness, but it does not come without its physical and mental challenges.

According to Matt, the awakening process is bringing the maturity of our soul into our body, “just as a child has to go through growing pains to become an adolescent and an adult, the spiritual journey/the ego goes through an unraveling process”.

So it is bound to bring a degree of discomfort.

How to deal with the discomfort of a spiritual awakening

Although it’s tempting to try to fight or run away from these symptoms (such as chronic fatigue or other physical discomforts) or to fixate on the future when you’re “better” and out of the awakening process, Matt does not believe that this is not the answer.

He believes that rather than escapism, the focus should be on “how can I love myself exactly as I am right now?” and on cultivating greater acceptance of the present moment.

Instead of waiting for circumstances to improve or other external factors, putting the focus on loving and accepting oneself exactly as you are – “every step forward we take in our spiritual evolution is a chance to become more loving and kind to ourselves than we were ever before”.

Kahn goes on to elaborate that beyond that, “our happiness is not based on what happens to us, but it is totally determined by how much we are loving ourselves every step of the way”.

Practical ways to embody this knowledge

Matt discusses how most people don’t experience God as a tangible force and wants to offer a tangible practice of love and light. He shares how focusing on the breath is a functional and practical application of the awakening of consciousness. As dedicated and faithful as we are with our breath, we start to experience how dedicated and faithful the universe is at conspiring to bring us what we desire.

Can you just spend a moment with your breath? How much of your day do you spend consciously breathing?

It’s impossible to judge and focus on breathing at the same time. It’s impossible to worry and focus on breathing. Instead of trying to ‘fix’ the fear or judgment, choose to be with your breath and then the patterns of fear and judgment disappear.

Set the intention that “I’m deliberately taking the opportunity to breathe for all the people in the world who do not consciously breathe” and allow yourself to simply be with and experience the divine connection.

Doing your own part to begin to help or heal the planet

Matt talks about doing whatever you can to help those in your own personal network – even if it’s as simple as picking up the phone and calling everyone in your address book just to tell them you love them. Or helping somebody less fortunate than you, living in poverty. Matt believes that if we just use what we have access to, we’re going to find a lot of things energetically turning around.

Most importantly, walking the true spiritual path is not about being concerned about other people’s opinions or perceptions. It’s not about the ‘show’ or spiritual bypassing.

“If you’re truly on your spiritual path, you’re not aware of who isn’t. You’re doing it on behalf of all.” he believes. It’s about having an innate knowing deep within that when you heal yourself, you heal the world, that “it only takes one being to fully awaken in consciousness to transform an entire planet.”

And this is the reason why this massive global shift is occurring, as more and more people choose the path of consciousness, healing and personal growth.

If you are interested in the work Matt does, about your own spiritual awakening or just want to learn more, make sure you check out his latest book “Universe Always Has a Plan: The 10 Golden Rules to Letting Go” where he shows you how to unlock emotional freedom and guides you along your spiritual path. It will be available to purchase from March 24th, 2020 via Amazon.

See Matt live on his 2020 Awaken Tour across the USA or join Matt for his live tour events from the best seat in the house…yours! Via Livestream.

December 30, 2019