Today is an awesome day for the blogosphere.  A new collaborative effort has been launched by the likes of Jun Loayza, Adam Baker, Cody McKibben, Carlos Miceli, Monica O’Brien, Andrew Norcross and Dariane Narbor.  These individuals have a message for the rest of us and they plan on conveying that message through the newly founded Untemplater.com.

Untemplater is going to mean something different to each of us.  The writers putting out content will be discussing topics in personal finance, mobile lifestyle, self improvement, and business.  There is going to be something for everyone at Untemplater.

The Writers

The people running Untemplater are not always going to be writing for the site.  In fact, they are deferring to individuals in their respective blogging niches to discuss the topics at hand.  I am unfamiliar with a lot of the writers outside of the personal finance niche, but I look forward to reading their content in the coming weeks an months.

As far as the people you have likely heard of from the personal finance community is J.  Money from Budgets are Sexy, Laura from Green Panda Treehouse, Wojciech from Fiscal Fizzle and Martin from Studenomics.  The best news yet is that I will be joining these four outstanding writers to give my perspective to the readers of the site.

What I Hope to Learn

I don’t exactly break the template when it comes to my own life.  Outside of the fact that I am a 20something that actually gives a shit about his finances, I am pretty much the model template.  College, grad school, job, job + part-time job, better job, etc.

That isn’t always going to be the case though.  One doesn’t break the template lifestyle overnight.  Surrounding myself with the individuals that have asked the following questions and then answered them in their own way are likely to inspire me to make wholesale changes to my life (taken from Untemplater.com):

10 Thoughts for Creating Your Own Untemplater Lifestyle This Year:

1. Most people are content to live a comfortable lifestyle, doing something they’re not all that passionate about in order to pay the bills and do what they like on the weekends.  But, ask yourself if that’s really what you want.  Or do you want more? The Untemplater lifestyle means prioritizing your passion over money, over status, even over creature comforts.
2. Realize that nobody else is going to come along and magically fix all your problems and pay all your bills for you.  That is a destructive Disney fantasy that isn’t real.  In the new economy, “job security” is an oxymoron.  You’ve got to establish a personal brand and maintain your reputation online even if you just want to remain employable.
3. Remember what Tim Ferriss says in The 4-Hour Workweek: we don’t really want to be millionaires.  Instead we want to experience things we think only millions can buy.  But money isn’t the only currency, and by bending the rules of your reality, it can frequently be easier, cheaper, or even free to accomplish the things you want.
4. Stop playing the game, stop trying to keep up with the Joneses.  Embrace minimalism, detach your value from the things you own, and ignore others’ expectations.  When you accumulate stuff just for the sake of having possessions, they begin to own you.  More likely than not, you can invest more time and money into the experiences you want to have—time with friends and family, philanthropy, travel—and live a much more fulfilled life.
5. Just because everyone seems to do things one way doesn’t mean you have to.  And just because a majority of people seem to use a certain set of tools to get the job done doesn’t necessarily mean they’re the right tools for you.  Seek unconventional solutions that willmake the life you want possible.
6. If you still want to discover what kind of work you’re truly passionate about and excites you when you get out of bed in the morning, take weekend retreat to somewhere nearby where you can get away from your normal routine, consider a media hiatus (don’t read the paper, watch the news on TV, or read your favorite blogs online for at least a few days) and do some self-talk and search in yourself for what you really care about.  How can you provide real value to the world in a way that will return to you and provide
7. With the increasing availability of free and cheap wifi internet access all around the globe, it’s becoming increasingly possible for anyone to work from home, the coffee shop, or anywhere.  Leverage the different purchasing power of currencies around the world, and you can vagabond your way around the globe while you do freelance work from your laptop!
8. Social media makes it much easier for anyone with enough motivation to share their ideas with a global audience and build a successful business online these days.
9. If you choose to build an Untemplater lifestyle free of dependence on any one location, if you live abroad or go on extended travel, just by immersing yourself in the unfamiliar, you’ll experience an increased rate of learning, creativity and resourcefulness that will serve to reinforce your abilities as a producer, rather than a passive consumer—sharing and adding something to the world, whether that’s in the form of a business or something else.
10. Even though everybody seems to do it, there is no law that says you have to play by the rules or follow the crowd.  Your time here on this earth is a finite resource, precious short—how will you choose to spend it?

It amazes me to think about these things, but now knowing people that have broken the mold and ended up being happier for it, I can’t help but be intrigued.

Today is the first day of a journey; a journey that doesn’t have a destination yet.  I hope you all unstrap those seatbelts and join me.

When you head over to Untemplater, please be sure to download their manifesto.  It will give you a good background for the site and the people that are working behind the scenes to bring you the content.