Freed from the golden handcuffs, I traveled to Europe for the first time in my life.
Last Wednesday, I arrived in Geneva, Switzerland.
Somewhat unusual this time of year, but this ex-corporate professional from the United States, was able to get great rates traveling in early September.
Most of my peers are working way too hard and wondering what happened to their 401K's.
For me, it all had to do with time.
Time leveraging, and time freedom.
The trip was one I had dreamed of for many years.
As a child I had read the book Heidi, twenty times or more.
I had watched the Sound of Music almost that many.
My interest really began to grow once I was an adult.
The richness of the land, held many of the similarities to my native Colorado.
This was only the beginning.
But recently my growing interest began to mature.
It had to do with my own personal drive for excellence and the recognition of very fine things.
As with all fine things, great quality materials and some measure of time or timing are significant to the process.
I had realized about ten years ago that the Swiss really had the concept of quality, excellence in workmanship and drive to be the best figured out.
Maybe not in everything, but in chocolate, watches, skin care, and banking they are top in the world.
I wanted to see this type of excellence up close and personal.
Most people know the Swiss for their fine watches.
Swiss watch making has been passed down for over a hundred years.
Once you step out of the train station, you are in the incredible land of the timepiece.
Watches can be found in every shape, every size, every color, and every price.
There is no mistake you will find exactly what you are looking for.
Except for the international hamburger and coffee stops, the watch shops line both sides of the streets almost all the way to the water.
Interestingly enough, if you look around, there are very few people on the main streets actually wearing watches.
But there is not a child or adult, who is not peering in at the hundreds found in each shop, fascinated for hours by their movements and meanings.
Since most of the people on the streets are tourists, there is no sense of urgency.
We took a rather relaxed stroll to a bench to watch the children play in the water fountain.
The gait and canter of lovers holding hands matches their movements as they draw each other's attention to the next most magnificent time piece.
To break free for a vacation now and then is one thing, to break free to develop yourself and your online business is another completely.
It is in the timing.
I couldn't tell you how many on that street had only broken free for a vacation and how many had broken completely free of the golden handcuffs, but I would imagine the ones actually making the purchases felt free to do so.
Owning and managing an online business allows us to travel the world over, if that is what we choose.
How about a bite of the finest Swiss chocolate? The craftsmanship of Swiss chocolate is remarkable.
The making of the chocolate has followed the same process for more than a century.
The best and correct amounts of quality ingredients create phenomenal chocolates.
The chocolate is molded into about every imaginable configuration on this planet, but it is the varieties of taste and the texture that call you back from more.
The Master Chocolatier may not be remembered for what is seen.
Yet, he will always be known for what one cannot see.
Once the chocolate melts like butter on a hot biscuit, over your tongue, the metamorphosis is complete.
The outside original shape no longer matters.
I was discovering that personal development and character are sculpted in a similar way too.
Skin care and banking are notable in Switzerland too.
Those with great wealth have known for a very long time that putting their money in Swiss banks is about the safest found.
The security of financial gain is what allows the very rich to sleep at night.
I know I have thought about where my wealth will be kept.
The golden handcuffs hold you tightly to what you have known.
Their security and dependability may not feel as comfortable as they once did, but they still hold you back from breaking free to develop or expansively mold your own online business.
The wealth they symbolize appears to be enough, until you understand that the grand vacation will be a once in a lifetime, life changing experience.
There is a personal development system and the proven wealth generation system that keeps vacations like this on my agenda.
You may not want to go to Switzerland, but there are many methods to get where you want to go and to do what you really want to do, would it be worth it? Would your perspective and your quality of life change? Just for fun, check the time on an incredibly beautiful timepiece, roll the chocolate over your tongue; choose a Swiss bank for your wealth.
Healthy Habit: Most know and understand the value of Vitamin C internally for boosting our immune system and keeping us healthy.
Are you aware of the incredible benefits Vitamin C has externally for the skin? The Swiss do! Quote from the Tote: "Persistence is the twin sister of excellence.
One is a matter of quality and the other, a matter of time.
" -- Unknown Copywrite 2K10 Gift of Time, Inc.