I used to think the answer to all of my problems was just make more money, now I am beginning to discover that maybe the real answer is learn to live with less and make better use of what I do have.

This is a somewhat shocking thought to me as I used to pride myself on my philosophy around never trying to pay less for anything.

Why invest any energy in negotiating or coupon cutting when I can just earn more money?

And while I do still see trying to save money through negotiation and coupon cutting as a tremendous waste of energy, I also see that making the highest and best use of our resources is probably the most important piece of the money equation and I haven’t done the best job with that in the past.

It’s time to remember that I created the Money Map not so I could create a plan to make as much as possible (although it can be used for that), but to remind me of how little I actually need.

I thought that my time at the farm (back in 2011/2012) was temporary just so I could have a year of determining who I am if money doesn’t matter and so I could file bankruptcy and start over after taking on way too much debt to be able to create and maintain business models that were robbing me of my life.

Maybe, though, it’s really where I belong.

On a farm, growing food, writing my books and articles, connecting with people online via podcast and video, helping as many people as I can create the lives they truly want without so much financial pressure.

Financial pressure has been a powerful motivator in my life, but maybe I am ready to be done with that paradigm and instead live a lot more simply, permanently.

I spent the entire day today reviewing financials in the companies and looking at how much revenue we need to earn so everyone can get paid what they need for their lives and then strategizing how we can do that while providing the most value to our members as possible.

This is a primary role of the CEO/business founder. And, I am really good at it, it’s true. But is it truly my zone of genius?
Maybe so.

But so long as my expenses are high and I am operating from a space of financial pressure, I’m not sure I can really know what’s true.

I’m compromising. I believe that’s true for everyone to some degree.

I’ve found that those with the most are often the one’s who are compromising the most.

So it’s time to reconsider what life looks like once again, integrating the principles of permaculture to make a lot more life using a lot less non-renewable resources (like your time!) and a lot more of what’s renewable and constantly regenerates itself (like your energy when you are truly intrinsically motivated and only doing what you would do for free anyway).

It’s funny. I had no plans to share all this tonight, (though I did want to at some point share my biggest takeaways from our time at Punta Mona) – but then the universe conspired to make it so.

Both my computers crashed at the same time (my main and my backup) and as I was crying and beginning to freak out because this is particularly bad timing for me to not be on my computer, I was also getting the clear message “stop, take a bit of time and learn from what’s being gifted to you here.”

So I did and read some articles posted on a friend’s wall about the return to Eden and what I can see is true financial liberation and how permaculture is the answer.

That prompted me to share this with you now and to remind myself of what I learned in Punta Mona and why I went there in the first place – it’s time to simplify and return to the flow of life beyond money as the motivator.

If I am providing value and know how to ask for what I need, all my needs are always met.

It’s time for a return to only doing what I would do for free because my heart commands it, not because my family, or my landlord, or even my own egoic wants demand it.