Escape Artist
  • Features
    • Interviews
    • News
    • Field Notes
    • Trending
  • Your Escape Plan
    • Finance
    • Real Estate
    • Second Citizenship
    • Events
    • Shop
  • Destinations
    • Europe
      • France
      • Germany
      • Italy
      • Portugal
      • Scandinavia
      • Spain
      • United Kingdom
      • Rest of Europe
    • Central America
      • Belize
      • Costa Rica
      • El Salvador
      • Guatemala
      • Honduras
      • Nicaragua
      • Panama
    • Others
      • Africa
      • Asia
      • Australia
      • North America
      • South America
      • Middle East
  • Travel Tips
    • Know Before You Go
    • Packing List
    • Food + Culture
    • Health + Wellness
  • Subscribe
Escape Artist
  • Features
    • Interviews
    • News
    • Field Notes
    • Trending
  • Your Escape Plan
    • Finance
    • Real Estate
    • Second Citizenship
    • Events
    • Shop
  • Destinations
    • Europe
      • France
      • Germany
      • Italy
      • Portugal
      • Scandinavia
      • Spain
      • United Kingdom
      • Rest of Europe
    • Central America
      • Belize
      • Costa Rica
      • El Salvador
      • Guatemala
      • Honduras
      • Nicaragua
      • Panama
    • Others
      • Africa
      • Asia
      • Australia
      • North America
      • South America
      • Middle East
  • Travel Tips
    • Know Before You Go
    • Packing List
    • Food + Culture
    • Health + Wellness
  • Subscribe
👤

THE NUMBER ONE SOURCE FOR EXPATS, DIGITAL NOMADS, AND DREAMERS.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
  • Your Escape Plan

Visualize Your Life Outside the Rat Race

  • BY Pete Sisco
  • June 1, 2021
Total
1
Shares
0
0
1

Visualize Your Life Outside the Rat Race

Here’s a trick to help visualize life outside the rat race.

One of the insidious things about living in the rut year after year is it can rob us of the ability to even imagine being in a world outside of our boring routine and soul-draining circumstances.

Inertia is a killer in this situation. One day you wake up and realize you’ve spent ten years doing almost nothing you really wanted to do. Or twenty years. Tick tock.

Before you can break loose from that, you need to have a plan and that plan needs a well-defined direction.

Here’s a podcast from The Expat Money Show where Mikkel and I talk about safely leaving the rat race by starting an online business!

 

Visualize and Plan Your Freedom

One of the most potent tactics you can use is to deliberately visualize exactly what your best life would involve. That vision gives you the breadcrumbs you need to lay out a practical path for you to start following.

  • Where would you live?
  • Who would you spend time with?
  • What would a typical week involve?
  • What would you do for laughs?
  • What would you do to give your life a sense of fulfillment?
  • How do you want to be remembered, and how can you make that happen?

 

Make Some Lists

You can make these lists right now with an app on your mobile phone.

Connie and I have a lot of lists. Cities we want to visit. Things we want to do with our grown kids. Specific photos we want to get. Hotels we want to stay in. Businesses we want to build. Books we want to write.

All satisfying, rewarding things that are a joy to think about.

 

The Lists Are Your Path to Freedom

One of the giant values of making these lists – and I mean actually writing them down and keeping them where we can find them and review them – is that when the slightest opportunity presents itself, these future objectives are at the front of our minds.

Take the time to make a big list that is broken down into smaller lists:

  • Places you want to see.
  • People you want to meet.
  • Experiences you want to have.
  • New skills you want to acquire.
  • Old things you want to do again.
  • Personal goals you want to achieve.
  • Professional goals you want to achieve.
  • On and on.

 

Add to these lists whenever you think of something that would enrich your life and bring you that rare, deep satisfaction we all need but often do not get.

In a way, those lists represent your freedom. They represent what you would do if you were not constrained by time, place, and money.

Of course, none of us ever completely escapes our restraints. We’re all still human and subject to the limits of our world.

But this exercise helps anyone realize what his life outside the rat race might begin to look like. It helps us visualize a scenario where we control our lives instead of so many other things and people controlling us.

Now You Notice the Opportunities Right in Front of You

Once you can clearly visualize what your better life looks like, it’s much easier to spot the opportunities that can take you in that direction instead of staying in the rut of the perpetual rat race.

In my experience, the most common obstacle people have between their current setting and their ideal of freedom — is money. And it’s not just the amount of money, it’s the source of the money.

When other people control the source of our money we can feel like puppets on a string. We dance to their tune, and if we don’t the money gets cut off. That’s the Achilles heel of most people’s plan to get out of the rat race.

This is why it is so exciting to be alive at a time when anyone has the potential to generate his or her own online source of portable income from anywhere in the world.

It’s always been possible for an elite or privileged few to live their dream life, or for the ones with a stomach for high risk. But now technologies we all use daily make it possible for anyone to gradually and safely leave the rat race.

 

The Takeaway

 To get your mind moving in the direction of living in freedom, you need to sharply visualize how you would live and what you would do if you had that freedom. Leaving the rat race is easier when you know exactly what direction you want to go. Once you know exactly what you want, the many opportunities for getting it suddenly appear frequently and obviously. (For example, seeing an article from a guy who wants to help you. ?)

 

Ready to Escape?

Are you ready to live life on your own terms – create your own portable online income? Reach out to us at Safely Leave The Rat Race. We are committed to helping you get from whatever point you are right now – to the point of earning regular, predictable online income.

 

Here are some articles I’ve written about leaving the rat race behind, please enjoy reading them:

Expats Are The Smartest Voters

What Defines Your Freedom

The Freedom You Didn’t Expect

 

Total
1
Shares
Share 0
Tweet 0
Pin it 1
Related Topics
  • expats
  • Leave the rat race
  • safety and security
  • visa
  • weather and climate
Previous Article
  • Packing List

The Bermuda Expat’s Survival Guide

  • BY EA Editorial Staff
  • May 2, 2021
View Post
Next Article
  • Finance

A Sneak Peek into the Way the World is Moving

  • BY Charlotte Tweed
  • January 3, 2022
View Post
You May Also Like
Top 10 Cities in Ecuador to Visit and Live In
View Post
  • Know Before You Go
Top 10 Cities in Ecuador to Visit and Live In
  • BY EA Editorial Staff
  • October 17, 2025
Starting a Business Abroad - A world of new markets and global possibilities
View Post
  • Business
The Beauty of Starting a Business Abroad
  • BY Aneesa Marufu
  • October 17, 2025
Costa Rica Cost of Living Guide: Prices, Budgets, and Tips
View Post
  • Costa Rica
Costa Rica Cost of Living Guide: Prices, Budgets, and Tips
  • BY Carla Rodrigues
  • October 15, 2025
How to Legally Pay Less Tax Abroad
View Post
  • Plan B
How to Legally Pay Less Tax Abroad
  • BY EA Editorial Staff
  • October 15, 2025
7 Best Cities to Live in Mexico for Safety, Cost, and Lifestyle
View Post
  • Mexico
7 Best Cities to Live in Mexico for Safety, Cost, and Lifestyle
  • BY EA Editorial Staff
  • October 14, 2025
Cost of Living in Spain: What to Expect in 2026
View Post
  • Spain
Cost of Living in Spain: What to Expect in 2026
  • BY EA Editorial Staff
  • October 13, 2025
Buying a Property abroad
View Post
  • Your Escape Plan
Why More Investors Are Buying Homes Offshore
  • BY EA Editorial Staff
  • October 8, 2025
Hungarian Citizenship by Descent Journey from Amercia
View Post
  • Second Citizenship
Our Journey from America to Hungarian Citizenship by Descent
  • BY Ethan Cohen & Learn Hungarian Anywhere
  • October 1, 2025
Trending Posts
  • Buying a Property abroad 1
    • Your Escape Plan
    Why More Investors Are Buying Homes Offshore
    • October 8, 2025
  • Expat Child Syndrome 2
    • Wellness
    The Untold Story of Expat Kids
    • October 6, 2025
  • Life between borders 3
    • Field Notes
    Living Between Continents, Cultures, and Contradictions
    • October 13, 2025
  • How to Legally Pay Less Tax Abroad 4
    • Plan B
    How to Legally Pay Less Tax Abroad
    • October 15, 2025
  • Living in Paris: Digital Nomad Guide 5
    • Digital Nomadism
    A Digital Nomad’s Guide to Living Like a Local in Paris
    • October 10, 2025
Subscribe
Know Before You Go
  • Top 10 Cities in Ecuador to Visit and Live In 1
    • Know Before You Go
    Top 10 Cities in Ecuador to Visit and Live In
    • October 17, 2025
  • Costa Rica Cost of Living Guide: Prices, Budgets, and Tips 2
    • Costa Rica
    Costa Rica Cost of Living Guide: Prices, Budgets, and Tips
    • October 15, 2025
  • 7 Best Cities to Live in Mexico for Safety, Cost, and Lifestyle 3
    • Mexico
    7 Best Cities to Live in Mexico for Safety, Cost, and Lifestyle
    • October 14, 2025
  • Cost of Living in Spain: What to Expect in 2026 4
    • Spain
    Cost of Living in Spain: What to Expect in 2026
    • October 13, 2025
  • Living in Paris: Digital Nomad Guide 5
    • Digital Nomadism
    A Digital Nomad’s Guide to Living Like a Local in Paris
    • October 10, 2025
Learn More
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
Why Subscribe

The newly imagined Escape Artist brings you fresh content with a global focus, and sharp, up-to-the-minute coverage of the joys, challenges, and opportunities of life abroad.

For a limited time, we’re offering a special discount on all subscription deals, so be sure to lock-in these incredible savings and start receiving top-notch travel and expat content today!

Sign up for the EA Newsletter

Get important news delivered directly to your inbox and stay connected!

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Escape Artist
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies Policy
  • Disclaimer

Input your search keywords and press Enter.

Newsletter Subscription
Our Spring Sale Has Started

You can see how this popup was set up in our step-by-step guide: https://wppopupmaker.com/guides/auto-opening-announcement-popups/