When there are so many choices about where to live, it can be hard to decide. Here is a step by step process.
Here are some questions and a process to help figure out where to live.
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Look inside
- In this stage, don’t think about what already exists based on your current knowledge of the world., think about what you want. This can enable you to think on a bigger level, and think of options that you might not have already considered.
- What do you want? then decide based on that. This is often the hardest part in making a decision. When you know what you want, everything else is easy. Write out everything you want, spent some time on it. If it’s multiple things, then rank them with the most important at the top. Do a mind dump, and a mind map.
- Who do you want to become? What kind of person? Where you live shapes who you will become. This is super important to really think about who you want to become?
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Research
- Understand the different options – eg., understand more details about different countries and how that will impact your life. How much is housing, tax rates, what’s life like there? Often you need to go on a trip to understand what you like. But you can only really know by committing to there.
- Business environment
- Future prospects of that location
- Taxes
- Housing options & costs – is it a good investment – renting vs buying.
- Community culture – get a sample from people – are they who you want to become like? Cultured vs materialistic, etc., I actually think the community and people around is one of the most important things by far.
- Languages –
- Where does magic happen? Energy described. Relative advantage as a foreigner? X factor.
- Where do you already have a community.
- Any gaps, or things you need to learn more about
- Sometimes its not so much the country but the location within the city too, which is a further set of
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Decide
- Plug all this into chatgpt for additional insights and thoughts.
- Keep an eye out for realisations that you get in the process. Sometimes by doing a rigorous thought process, you will learn things that are more valuable than the decision itself. Such as the importance of community – and how to create your own community. Or what you value in yourself and what kind of person you really are, and how you are different to others.
- One of the big realisations I have is the value of commitment. When you make a solid decision, even if it’s not right, you can go deeper, and go all-in, rather than staying non-committal, not going out there, because you’ve not really decided, and then you have a surface level relationship with the city, and with life, rather than a deep one. If you are always trying to keep your options open, you will never really decide, and so you will not go as far as if you just decided and committed.
- It’s an art not a science – you can combine multiple approaches to work out what feels right.
- Rank them based on which you think will have the optimum outcome. The advantage of committing. Establishing roots for a better life. When you make a decision, you no longer have to think about it, everything gets better. If you don’t commit, then things become harder.
- Is it a one way door? Like Jeff Bezos, you can change later, but it has costs. Moving a family can be disruptive and expensive. If it’s just you, as a digital nomad, it’s easy. As you get older, it may get harder and more expensive.
- Identify fears and blocks – what is scaring you. What would you do if you couldn’t fail? And other questions. Whats the purpose of life? To become the best version of yourself / to live your best life / to enjoy life to the maximum.
- Repeat the process, do it until it feels right.
The same process is true for studying?
- Get clear on goals. Just decide if they are 80% accurate its better than having no target. Choose something, then refine later.
- Try many options – do exchange programs
Check out options you would like to try or visit later?
- US, East Europe, Georgia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, China.
- Have two bases. An option.
How to build a great community around you?
This is a great question in the 21st century, because the internet has meant that community has shifted and changed. We used to be focused on the local commnuity, now its moving more online to those with similar interests.
- Identify what kind of community you want
- Sometimes there are already communities in place, sometimes you need to create or attract it, sometimes there is a mixture of both.
- Write down the kind of community and activities you will do
- Attract it – by creating content online
- Create events that will attract that community
- Give. Give to people and the community that you want
- Do activities that you enjoy.
- Put in the effort.
What kind of community do I want?
- Inspiring, ambitious, interesting people. Entrepreneurs, artists. So I need to become that kind of person
- I need to be in or near one of the world’s great cities so I can think on a bigger level. I think living in the countryside is one option, but if it’s far away, the kind of people I will be around might be not international, the community aspect likely to be slow. I need a mix of being near an international city, and a countryside. As I have a family in the future being closer to the countryside with more space but good education may play more of a role.
- Having the right community is in some part about attracting it
- I also need space to develop this which is also why housing is important for space to be able to work.
Housing
- Housing has such a big impact on your life
- I want a large house so that people can stay, and I have space to work, and a nice inspiring living envornment.
Growth
- Business growth, professional growth, and personal growth.
Realisation
- Instead of trying to have everything. It may be better to divide my living decision into two phases
- Phase 1) Career & Growth – it might make more sense to focus more on a place, as a young family, it might
- Phase 2) Family
Write down all assumptions and test them.
