By Daniel Ewers
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September 23, 2023
How is your retirement plan going? That was an interesting question to ask my 30-year-old self. And it's something we don't often think about or take it for granted in our 20’s and early thirties. At age 29, the progressive life I had built started to shake at the foundations. The pace of a young CFO with the world ahead of me started to crumble like a house of cards. Little did I know, a 4 year burnout about to take hold of me. The toughest experience of my life. I often refer to this as my spiritual dislocation . I had a huge panic attack in 2019. It made me turn inwards. Deep thought. I went into a tranced state as though I was scanning my bones for the answers, for the solutions. What did I want? How could I design it? Late 2020 I began to get my edge back, I could feel the energy surge coming back online. The ideas were flowing. The creativity was flying. Until. The following day in early 2021 another panic attack hit me as the metaphoric kick to the head saying, "Hey buddy, you’re not quite through this". I doubled down. Tripled down. Quadrupled down on my health, energy, and wellbeing . Without realising it at the time, I had started my retirement plan - my longevity plan. I entered Slow High Performance. I entered grounded High Performance. I entered congruence with my best self, my values, my spirit. I entered retirement... Again, maybe a weird word for a 30-year-old. But Naval Ravikant's definition of retirement rings true (and I hope it does for you too). "Retirement is when you stop sacrificing today for an imaginary tomorrow. When today is complete, in and of itself, you’re retired. You retire by saving up enough money, becoming a monk, or by finding work that feels like play to you." 1) You retire by saving up enough money: My young family and I leaned into this. In 2020 we saved 7k in the year. in 2021 we saved an additional 7k. Our annual spending reduced by 14k!!! You may think the $$$ savings is fantastic, but I made the life savings in essence of healthy living . During 2021 I lost 10kg. Eating health, making healthy choices, AND saving money… Most of us believe that 'healthy' and 'saving money' cannot go together so synergistically. The goal was: health, energy, and mind clarity away from burnout. The outcome: a more efficient physiology and a crisp psychology. 2) You retire by becoming a monk. These savings were a godsend. Especially as I quit my job late 2022. I dived into personal development and walks in nature. These were the only things for me. And what passed me by time and time again was wholesome living, with amplifying my emotional state, doubling down on nutrition and habits, and understanding the depth and breadth of stress. Monk mode activated. For 5 months I followed my nose, I followed my instincts - I found a rabbit hole. 2 months later I find myself by sheer chance, dumb-luck, or spiritual guidance on webinar that changed my life. 3) You retire by finding work that feels like play to you. This is what changed my life. A zoom call in April 2022 1,000 participants. International audience. A hesitant me finds myself with a ‘raised hand’ in the Q&A. I was incredibly nervous as I listen on to the other participants and their questions with a hero of mine. “Daniel Ewers” his voice echo’s [echo’s because I couldn’t get my zoom off mute!] I had never been exposed to coaching in my life. AND. It was in that moment I experienced coaching… So here I am, sitting in my little home office, in a small city, on a small island, in a small country, at the bottom of the world… New Zealand... Being coached by the #1 High Performance coach in the world, Brendon Burchard. In May 2022, I became a Certified High Performance Coach - trained by the #1 High Performance Coach in the world. I have found my gift. I have found my purpose. I have found my play. Today, We are still amplifying our energy and saving money. I activate, often, into deep monk mode. AND you will still find me in play, in presence, in PURPOSE. After 300 delivered coaching sessions I’m excited to deliver at least another 10,000 in my lifetime. So what about you? Are you saving? How are you regenerating vitality? What about deep work? How are you eliminating distraction and expanding your service? If you had to rate yourself out of ten, how much fun are you having in life right now? (1 being low, 10 being ecstatic fun) Where can you introduce MORE fun into your life? ----------------------------------------------- If you are up for an overhaul, an enhancement, an elevation. Take flight with me into Certified High Performance Coaching over on: adventuretoexcellence.com DARE TO BE OUTSTANDING. Your Coach, Daniel