by Life isn’t meant to be a series of Monday mornings strung together while waiting for retirement. I discovered this truth in 2011 when my own perfect storm of realizations hit me. On paper, I had it all—the stable career, the house, the 401(k). But underneath that picture-perfect facade, I was drowning in mortgage payments and barely contributing to retirement.
Breaking Free from the Matrix
Why was I following a script I never wrote? The American Dream felt more like sleepwalking through someone else’s vision. Society had mapped out my entire existence: when to get married, buy a house, have kids, and eventually retire. I was living in a matrix of predetermined expectations, and it was time to take the red pill.
A neighbor’s house fire became my wake-up call, forcing me to question everything. Instead of running from the chaos, I embraced it. I dove deep into my finances, faced the ugly truth, and decided to engineer my way out. There was no manual for this transformation, but every step toward financial independence brought me closer to authentic happiness.
The Art of Questioning Everything
Let me share a story that changed how I view inherited wisdom. A mother was making soup one day when her curious child asked, “Mom, why do you cut the bone in half?” The mother replied, “Because that’s how grandma always did it.”
Later, when the grandmother visited, the child asked, “Grandma, why did you always cut the bone in half when making soup?” The grandmother chuckled and explained, “Oh, sweetie, I only did that because my pot was too small to fit the whole bone!”
This isn’t just about soup—it’s about the countless ways we blindly follow traditions and expectations without questioning their relevance to our lives. Think about it:
The 40-Hour Work Week Myth
The standard 40-hour workweek was established in the 1930s, when factory workers were putting in 16-hour days. Nearly a century later, despite massive technological advances, we’re still clinging to this industrial-age relic. Why?
Business Insider’s David Cain offers a provocative answer: “All of America’s well-publicized problems, including obesity, depression, pollution, and corruption, are what it costs to create a trillion-dollar economy. For the economy to be ‘healthy,’ America has to remain unhealthy.”
Let that sink in. The system needs you tired, stressed, and seeking comfort in consumption. It needs you believing that working until 65 is the only way to live.
Stripping Away the Labels
Labels are mental prisons. Democrat, Republican, Christian, Atheist, Vegan, Carnivore—these identities can blind us to different perspectives.
Warren Buffett’s “Ovarian Lottery” thought experiment brilliantly illustrates this. Imagine designing a world 24 hours before your birth, not knowing your race, gender, nationality, or economic status. What rules would you create? This mental exercise reveals how arbitrary and limiting our inherited beliefs can be.
Engineering Your Exodus: The Three-Phase Approach
Phase 1: Elimination
Start by ruthlessly cutting out what doesn’t serve your happiness. Research shows we control 40% of our happiness through our actions. Here’s what I eliminated:
- Toxic relationships that drained my energy
- Subscriptions and services I barely used
- The belief that I needed to impress others with possessions
- The habit of stress shopping
Phase 2: Optimization
With the dead weight gone, optimize what works:
- Automated my finances
- Maximized retirement contributions
- Built multiple income streams
- Invested in relationships that brought joy and growth
Phase 3: Simplification
Complexity is the enemy of execution. I simplified:
Reduced decision fatigue through routine
Consolidated accounts
Created clear financial goals
Established simple, repeatable systems
Living by Design, Not Default
Today, Tatiana and I are proving that early retirement isn’t just for tech millionaires. We’re three years away from financial independence, and we got here by breaking rules, not laws. We questioned everything, found unconventional solutions, and designed a life that makes us truly happy.
Want to start your own badass transformation? Here’s your blueprint:
- Question everything, especially the “that’s just how it’s done” stuff
- Strip away limiting labels and predetermined scripts
- Redefine your relationship with money as life energy
- Eliminate negativity, optimize what works, and simplify the rest
- Choose your top five priorities and let them guide every decision
- Seek unconventional solutions to conventional problems
Your Turn to Break Free
The beauty of America is that you can always start over. Whether you’re drowning in debt or just feeling stuck in life’s hamster wheel, you have the power to change your story. The first step is asking “why?”
