Contentment: The Greenest Grass of the Them All

I’ll admit. I thought that quitting my job would lead to hours of newfound productivity. I will write for hours. Now I’ll double down on web design skills. I’ll climb more, and I’ll rest more. I’ll dust off my 15-year-old gear and start writing and recording music again. Once I don’t have a job I’ll truly find contentment.

The truth is, I’m largely the same guy I was in January, weeks before I walked away from my job.

Is that a bad thing?

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Relocation: A Guide to Moving and Housing Affordability

Relocation: A Guide to Moving and Housing Affordability

We’re out on the road in search of our next home, our sights set on home ownership once again. In this post we examine the complicated process of relocation and the sticky, tangled spiderweb of housing affordability. Is housing in America becoming less and less affordable?

In this post we discuss:

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In Contrast: The Reality of Life on the Road

In Contrast: The Reality of Life on the Road

What follows is an essay outlining the stark contrast of life on the road. It’s frankly easy to get really frustrated out here. Social media, blogs, and YouTube channels often paint a masterpiece of life on the road as an effortless, pillowy dream state and hall pass from reality. We’d certainly spent enough nights outside prior to this trip to know the ridiculousness of these claims. However, I like to be an honest guy on this website.

My mother nailed it when she said that the struggle for meeting basic needs and the lack of external social interactions can be a very real challenge. That said, might this be the very best place to be in the summer of 2020?

Let’s see why…

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Neil Phillips: Money as a Means to an Incredible Journey

Neil Phillips PROMO

This week I am very pleased to bring you an exciting interview with a climber and young professional that you don’t know: Neil Phillips.

As a matter of fact, I’m 100% positive that you don’t know Neil Phillips, because that’s not his real name. And I get that too, because I also don’t use my name. Money and jobs and the internet are like oil and vinegar. They don’t mix. As a matter of fact, we’ll discuss a bit about the taboo of money, and why Neil and I think it’s so damn hard to discuss personal finance.

Neil is a young professional, rock climber, and has many interesting stories and suggestions for anyone trying to get the upper hand with their money.

In this interview we discuss Neil’s desire for financial strength, his story of eliminating debt, pursuing financial independence, and preparing for a year-long road trip. And of course, we even have some good-ole-fashioned climbing talk.

Let’s go!

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Podcast Interview: Power Company Climbing Podcast

Clipping Chains Power Company Podcast

Hey guys,

I wanted to reach out with a mid-week post to announce the release of a podcast I recorded with my previous interviewee Kris Hampton of the Power Company Climbing Podcast.

Back in Lander, Wyoming, about a month ago, Kris graciously invited me over to his home to meet in person. We’ve interacted a number of times since I began this project two years ago, but we never crossed paths. And then we pulled out some microphones.

I really enjoyed this conversation about the taboo of money, the parallels to climbing, the dilemma of being “retired” at 35, and the pitfalls of pursuing passionate work without financial security.

Listen to my interview with the Power Company Climbing Podcast here.

Keeping Remote Work in a Post-Pandemic World

Remote Work

The global coronavirus pandemic flipped the world on its head: spreading tentacles of infection led to a stock market collapse and unprecedented unemployment for those not fortunate to have remote work. A thick, dry underbrush of discontent and polarization grew unchecked for months, sparked by a series of lightning strikes, resulting in a raging inferno. People amassed on the streets in search of change, driving each side someplace closer to their dreaded corners of hate.

With a new decade came so much promise, yet the rate of change experienced in the first seven months of 2020 feels like that new decade has already come to pass. So much to consider in seven months.

But with all this negativity can come so much promise. While there can be an element of guilt to consider silver linings, we must. We must always look for promise and hope in times of darkness, for every night eventually turns to day.

One such ray of sunshine is the movement towards a more permanent remote work culture. The fortunate white-collar world has been working business on top, party on the bottom (nice shirt for the screen, underwear in the seat) since March.

So…what’s it going to take to keep that cushy remote job in a post-pandemic world?

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Selling Our House: On the Road, Pandemic Edition

Selling our house during a pandemic, life on the road

It’s July. Once again, coronavirus infections are surging across the country. Mrs. CC and I, in a moment of hopeful optimism a few weeks ago, decided to list our house for sale. Where are we going? We don’t know, we’ll be homeless. Will we have income? Not sure. Considering we’re hitting the road in one week, there’s the shocking reality that we really don’t have a plan. And if we are anything, we are planners.

So…where do we go from here?

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