The Hamptons

So I said in a previous post that I wanted to start making the blog about everyday life. How do you write about everyday life? Is that boring? I guess if you have something exciting going on then it's not boring, but I don't have a lot of fun and exciting things happening. Well, I guess it's fun and exciting to me-making laundry detergent, hanging with the chickens, but it's not traveling to wild and exotic locales. Or going on big adventures. I did go to the Hamptons last week. But true to form, I'm not an adventure traveler. I'm more of a 'let's relax and maybe visit some local attractions, but if I don't move far from the pool, I'm good with that too'. And that's exactly what we did. All the pictures above? They were taken the last day we were in the Hamptons and we ventured out for dinner in Sag Harbor. The sunset pics? Taken from the car on the ride home. The fun ice cream and multi-colored lights? From the local ice cream shop for our only adventure out of the pool. I had a blast. And of course I had to visit the only farm with chickens that was just a short drive away. I loved their sign "A small farm with a little bit of everything". Fun!But I literally spent 2.5 days in the pool. I came back with a nice base tan and have spent at least an hour a day in the pool since. I've been walking and swimming every day with the exception of maybe 1 or 2 days. I've enjoyed lots of yummy healthy food too.I've been thinking what makes someone successful. It's hard to not go to the Hamptons and not see signs of success. And there are many forms of being successful. Success doesn't always have to be measured by your finances, but for the sake of our purposes here, I'm talking about financially successful. So, let's ponder for a moment what makes someone successful. I've analyzed it a little and here's what I have come up with so far.

1. Successful people overcome their fears. Or they at least push through their fears. They don't let the fear of failure hold them back. They weigh the risks and then go for it.
2. They're not afraid to try and fail. Let's face it, not every venture is going to succeed. And when we fail we mostly learn lessons from it and then apply that to the next venture.
3. They put a lot of hard work into something. They don't just sit back and think about what it is they want to do. They do the research, make their calculated decision, and then work.
4. Sometimes they need to learn something new in order to be successful. I think of actors and actresses here as a good example. They sometimes have to do research in order to be successful in a role. Sometimes we need to do research or learn a new skill in order to be successful in our business or in life in general.
5. Successful people can be frugal. And I don't mean that as a bad thing. They are careful how they spend their money. It's not a free-for-all, I have money so I'm going to spend it.

I mention all this because these things are going to be important as I move forward with trying to build a homestead business. As we move forward I'm going to try to focus on what it means to be successful, business-wise, and go from there. I know some of you might tell me that it's more than financial to be successful, and I get that. I really do. But being successful otherwise isn't going to pay the bills. I'm really focusing on how do I make a living, and be successful, with a career, regardless of whether that career is on the homestead or off the homestead. And then maybe I'll set off on the next big adventure travel opportunity! Nah! Let's go find a pool and relax!