My plan for escaping the clutches of the rat-race is really only part (albeit, a large part) of an overall self-improvement program that I’ve set up for myself.

My goals are as follows:

Get out of debt.
Lead a healthier lifestyle.
Lose the hyper-consumption attitude.
Practice the less-is-more philosophy.
Become financially self-sufficient.
Quit my job.
Give back to the community.

If you were to ask me what it is that I want out of life, I couldn’t tell you at the present time. I do know, however, that I was not meant to live this way. My gut feeling is very strong in that regard.

The above list is roughly the order I intend to roll out this plan. I’m not sure of every little detail at the moment, therefore I cannot tell you exactly what I will do step-by-step. I wish I could be more tangible here, but this will be a “work in progress” and I’m sure that the plan will be tweaked several times. It will become clearer as time passes. I will be posting a daily account of anything relevant.

I have written a separate page outlining my thoughts and plans concerning debt. This is my number one priority and it is something that must be dealt with very soon.

I have also included a separate page in which I discuss following a healthier lifestyle. This centers on diet and exercise mainly.

Starting immediately, I will try to get by with less. I intend to sell most of the high-priced “junk” which I have accumulated over the years.

I intend to scale back my living expenses in a major way. This will enable me to bank much of what I make from my job. The money will be invested in relatively safe vehicles; T-bills and that sort of thing.

I intend to explore alternate sources of income. Realistically, I could not expect to live off of my savings and a few small investments, indefinitely. Starting a business of my own is one possibility which I have considered.

When I am satisfied that I have a sufficient amount of money saved, I will quit my job.

I will spend much of my post wage-slave hours volunteering my time and simply enjoying life.

Why do I need to do things in a certain order?

Well, let me use the following analogy:

When I was a teenager, I worked one summer for a tree arborist. The first job that our crew was assigned to was the removal of a very old, diseased oak tree on a busy street in the down-town area. There was very little room to work. We barely had room to park the trucks. The tree was massive.

I could not see any way we could bring this oak down; at least not without causing major damage to the surrounding houses.

I was not directly involved with the tree cutting. My job was to carry the branches over to the chipper. I did have a great vantage point from where to see the more experienced workers in action. I was amazed at how the problem was approached.

You see, the tree was not cut down per say, in fact, it was “disassembled” very slowly starting with the smallest branches and working towards the larger. This pain-staking process continued for most of the day. Finally, there was nothing left but the main trunk. This was then cut down in small sections, starting at the top. It took a while, but the job was completed without any problems whatsoever.

Quitting my job before having things in place would be like simply chopping down the big oak. There would be a lot of damage and would involve much more hardship than necessary.

Eliminating my debt, liquidating my assets, decreasing my expenses, and building up my bank account are things that I need to have in place before I finally tell the corporate world to stick it.

Yes, most days I feel like quitting my miserable job, but I’m also not reckless. I don’t want to end up homeless and broke.

What’s my long-term plan? I mean, not many people retire at 44. Well, as I mentioned earlier, I don’t really know myself. I do know, however, that I can’t spend one more hour than is necessary doing what I am doing now. I still have 20 years left until I can officially retire. This corporation is not getting it. I refuse to let that happen.

Will I work for another company? Highly unlikely. Once I exit the rat race, I believe there will be no going back.

Am I having a mid-life crisis? Probably. But that can be a good thing.

Am I being immature and irresponsible? Maybe, but I tend to look at it as self-actualization. We are so conditioned by what society deems to be appropriate, that I believe we lose site of what makes us happy.

I look at it this way: nothing will change in the next 20 years unless I decide to make a change. In 20 years I’ll still be working as a wage-slave. I’ll still be owned by the corporation and the bank. I’ll be living the same over-indulgent lifestyle and likely in much poorer health; that’s if I live that long. At 64 my options will be very limited or non-existent. This way, I have the rest of my life to make choices and enjoy my freedom. Yeah, it’s risky and I could lose everything, but that’s a gamble I’m willing to take. I love the idea of not knowing what is around the next corner.

By the way, if you are genuinely happy in what you do and don’t mind the 9-5 lifestyle, then by all means, enjoy. It really comes down to a personal choice and I can only speak for myself in this regard.

What exactly do I mean by “trapped?” Well, for me, being trapped means that I no longer have many choices in how I live my life. I am caught up in a so-called “successful” lifestyle which consists of hyper-consumption, keep up with the Joneses, and chase that new promotion existence.

Much of the pressure to maintain this level of “success” comes from family, friends, neighbors, and society in general. It was established long ago that the measure of a person is in what they do for a living. After all, what is the first question many of us ask about someone we don’t know? Exactly! “What do you do?” As in, what do you do to make a living? This is so entrenched into our society that many of us probably don’t even realize we do it.

People are rated on the spot by what they do. For many it gets to be a competition, especially amongst our siblings. I can tell you that anytime my family gets together, most of the talk is about how successful each person has become.

One disturbing trend which seems to be more evident these days is the “keep up with the Joneses” syndrome. More and more, we tend to rate people by what they have. We have become consumed by the consumer lifestyle.

It’s now common for most families in my neighborhood to have at least two cars. Many have boats, big-screen TV’s, 3000 square foot homes (all with central air), and the list goes on… Why do people need this? Do we really need houses that large? Do we need 60″ TV’s? Do we really need all those extra toys?

We had a record breaking amount of smog warnings this summer. Most of this is generated from coal-burning electrical plants and automobile exhaust. Can’t we understand that as the population increases, we should be conserving more, not spending our resources like a drunken sailor? Larger homes require more energy to heat and cool. More cars per household will be more cars on the road carrying only a single person and adding to our problems.

We don’t seem to care though. We will continue to burn through this planet’s reserves at record levels all in the name of improving our lifestyle. What other species takes so much more than it needs, all in the name of comfort?

What price do we pay for all the frills? Well, for me, each dollar I spend for things I don’t really need, is a dollar away from my ultimate goal, which is having choices and enjoying freedom.

I have come to realize that for each non-essential item I purchase, I must remain within the system that much longer. It equals more hours at work, more interest paid to the bank, more taxes paid to the government – and a deeper hole. It represents less money for investing and achieving a foot-hold to dig myself out.

I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but could you imagine a better way to keep the masses in check? This ensures that each and every one of us will get up in the morning, go to work, pay bills and taxes, and contribute towards the economy, even if we hate what we do. That’s the end of my extremism, I promise.

The Joneses live just down the street from us. It’s not hard to pick out their house. It’s larger than all of the other homes. There are two high-end, late-model cars in the driveway; not to mention the motor home and boat parked along the side. I really must admit that their home has great curb appeal. It’s been the envy of the neighborhood for years. It’s a perfect example of what a typical, middle-class family should strive towards.

Over the years they showed the whole block just how much better life could be with a few “do-dads” thrown in. They were very gracious hosts and invited many of us over to their home for an occasional dinner party or barbeque. I always left feeling somewhat inadequate and secretly wished that we had the same luxuries. Everyone on the block envied them for what they had.

Life sure was different before the Joneses moved in. For example: we were all a one car family back then. We only had the basics and never really wanted much more than that. We had no credit card debt and even managed to save a few dollars each month. However, we did not have the luxuries we have today.

Shortly after the Joneses came to town, our neighborhood started to change. It started when Frank next door bought a wide-screen TV. It was a real beauty. In fact, I believe it might have been better than the unit Mr. Jones had in his rec-room. Fred and Nancy across the street suddenly turned around and bought a massive boat. It was very large, however, and eventually Fred had to dock it down at the marina.

Yes, the competition started a few years ago and the neighborhood has never been the same. We also got caught up in the frenzy. It seemed that everything was a competition. Everything from the clothes our kids wore, to the latest toys for the parents, to our vacation destinations; it was all just one big competition. Personally, I never really got any pleasure from having something better than everyone else. The only thing I could think about was our declining savings account and increasing debt load.

The strange thing about all of this is that the Joneses always seemed to eventually have the latest and greatest. It was at that time that I realized that I could not compete against them. They did, after all, earn more than we did.

I really wanted things to go back to the way they were; simple living. Buying the basics and being satisfied with that. In my opinion, life was a little more enjoyable back then. We spent time as a family and found ways to enjoy time together without spending a fortune.

Obviously, this story is fictional. However, as exaggerated as it may be, it is very close to the kind of lifestyle I have been living for the last little while. Life just seems to be one big competition.

Our weekends are usually spent attending or hosting some sort of get-together; expensive food, alcohol, and listening to the latest superficial drivel. “We just bought that new (insert meaningless, mindless, token object here).” Or “have you ever been to (insert latest trendy, overpriced and overrated destination here)?” It’s always the same. In fact, it’s getting very hard to have any sort of intellectual conversation with anyone. Intelligent conversation is out and meaningless, superficial bragging is in. How the times have changed.

The whole lifestyle is wearing just a bit thin. Most of my friends and neighbors are overweight. This includes me (I’m about 80lbs overweight). I gained most of that in the last few years. Living the “good” life is hazardous to your health. Additionally, I think I may have a drinking problem, and much of this I attribute to the “socializing” type of lifestyle we lead.

Add to that, the fact that I exercise very little (I have a 4 hour commute where I am forced to sit on my ass in grid-lock traffic) and it’s no wonder I have started having health problems (high cholesterol, high blood pressure and stomach ulcers). This is really no excuse. I could really find time to exercise if I wanted to.

Is this all there is to life? Trading my most precious time to some faceless corporation so that I have money to go ahead and kill myself on the weekend. Something has to change, and soon. I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.

I have, therefore, devised a plan to change my life. It’s very radical and I’m sure things will never be the same again. It will require that I give up most of what I have today and most of what I consider normal and comforting. But it must be done.

So the Joneses can stick their high-consumption life-style. They can stick their phony parties, back-stabbing and overindulgent ways; and they can stick their high-debt, one-upmanship, materialistic crap. I’ve had enough.