Rogenmoser Dave - Beyond the Grind: How to Do Work That Matters, Travel the World For Free, and Escape the Daily Grind Before Its Too Late...

BEYOND THE GRIND

How To Do Work That Matters, Travel The World For Free, And Escape The Daily Grind Before Its Too Late

Table of Contents

Dedicated to our parents, who gave us dreams to pursue and helped make us the men who could achieve them.

And to our amazing Kickstarter team, who funded this project a long time ago. You guys really rock.

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We all grow up wanting to do great things, yet life doesnt always seem to deliver on that promise, does it? Most experts agree that your twenties provide the greatest opportunity to change the trajectory of your future - for better or for worse. We all enter this decade dreaming of a life of purpose and freedom with endless opportunities at your fingertips. Yet, the majority of us exit this decade grumbling about being squeezed into the mold society has forced on us. We find ourselves reminiscing on the "best years of our lives" and clinging to the idea of retirement - when we hope to start living fully again.

The world has this sneaky way of selling us all on the daily grind. This book is about helping you escape it. We are going to show you exactly what steps to take to live life Beyond the Grind, and start living a life of freedom, purpose, and passion. This book is for people who don't think climbing the ladder of corporate America is purpose enough. It's for people who are entering the workforce and know they want "more" from their life, even if they aren't sure how to get there or what that exactly means. This book is for people who don't want to be average, but aspire to do great things. It's not for dreamers, it's for doers. And it's written by guys who are doing it now.

As men in the latter-half of our twenties, we offer a unique perspective. We've lived in multiple states and countries and have backpacked through different parts of the world. We've worked dozens of jobs and even founded multiple early-stage companies. We are absolutely passionate about inspiring people to define what they want out of life and grow into the best version of themselves. Unfortunately, there is a growing disconnect between what people want from their lives and what they ultimately get. That's why this book had to be written.

Students, businessmen, and all sorts of others who want this life of freedom have already experienced success by implementing the tips and lessons found in this book. Nathan, a student and entrepreneur from Kansas State, says "This book is practical and to the point - it inspired me to start my own business while in college!" We hope this book jumpstarts more Nathans into all sorts of careers and paths.

If you read and apply this book to your life, we promise that you'll know exactly how to take a trip anywhere in the world in the next 45 days using free airline and hotel reward points. We promise you'll start doing work that matters deeply to you. We promise that you will recalibrate the current trajectory of your life and will walk away motivated to do great things. And finally, we promise this isn't one more fluffy, self-help book to put up on the shelf and collect dust. It's a meaty read designed to create change.

Don't be the person who misses out on opportunities in life and settles for normal. Don't be the person who knows deep down that they were created for something more. Be the kind of person other people marvel at. The kind of person other people see and say, "I want my life to look more like theirs." Be the kind of person who takes action and does so immediately.

The powerful ideas and tips you're about to read have created great amounts of change in our own lives and have been proven to create positive, long-lasting results. The next step to living the life you've always dreamed of is in this book. Each chapter will give you new insight as you strive to break out of the daily grind. Take control of your life right now, don't settle for average, and enjoy the new life you're creating.

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As I drove to the airport to pick up a friend, the gnawing had finally gotten to me. I was a wreck. I picked up the phone and called Chris.

Hello?

Chris, Im freaking out right now. I cant do this anymore. Its just too hard.

Whoa, whats going on, Dave?

Its too hard, man. I just want to get a normal job with a steady paycheck, and not be an entrepreneur anymore - I dont know if Im cut out for it.

Welcome to our lives.

Chris and I are entrepreneurs trying to live out our ideals and aspirations. But that's the easy part, right? We are passionately pursuing a life Beyond the Grind, and in some respects, were doing a really great job of it. But in a lot of ways, were just at the beginning of the journey and making lots of mistakes. In writing this book, we made a commitment to be real and honest - even if that made us nervous. We realize we don't have all the answers, but we do have some.

We hear about way too many people who are somewhere along a path they hate. We look around at many of our friends from college, dreading the next 40 years of their life until they can retire and do what they want. Theyve all been told, Thats just the way life is.

Well, weve been sold a lie. Weve been told the above is called life. College kids are told, "Oh, live it up. Those are the best four years of your life!" But heres our question: Do they have to be? Do I have to have the best four years of my life only 1/4 of the way in? Does everything have to be downhill from there? Is there a way to have each year of life be better and more fulfilling than the one before? We think there is. But theres something we have to do in order to see it.

We have to redefine the grind.

Up until about the late 1800s, the grind-it-out life just described was probably about all you could expect. If you lived in the mid-1300s, your life would have looked something like this: If you were fortunate enough, you received a little schooling and then had an apprenticeship in your teens. You then spent the next twenty years in the same town, around the same people, making the same wagon wheels over and over and over until you died of the Black Plague before your first grey hair (The Black Plague killed over twenty percent of the world population and dropped average life expectancy to 45. Whoa). Not a very appealing life compared to whats possible today.

If you were to pick up a book called Beyond The Grind back then (There wasnt one; we checked) and it told you all the ways you could achieve freedom and meaning in your life, it might give all sorts of tips on how to get about two measly vacation days a year. Because if you took more, well, your family would probably starve.

This is definitely not the case in 2015. You can literally design your life to be what you want. You dont have to work a job you dont like - thats old-fashioned. You dont have to live in a place you hate - thats gone. You dont have to live a life without a mission and without passion - you can find and create that in your life. You have a choice in every one of those matters. You can decide what you want.

Chris and I wanted to live and work around some of our best friends from college and focus deeply on building those friendships. So we do. We wanted to live in a cool place with lots of connections to great people. So we moved to the DC area. (Annapolis, actually. Come and visit us!). We wanted to have freedom with our finances and time so we left our jobs and started our own software-based businesses. These are some of the things we want out of life, but do you know what it is that you want? Weve taken these first steps, and wed like to invite you to come with us.

Benefits of Living Beyond The Grind:

A while back, my roommate Phil and I were dreaming about going on an international trip. After a twenty minute discussion, we landed on a location. The next day we bought our last-minute plane tickets to Peru, and 8 days later we took off on a three week, INCREDIBLE trip to see Machu Picchu, go dune-bugging, take wine vineyard tours, and make rich memories with a bunch of interesting people we met along the way.