About

Over the past year since I set this site up I’ve gotten a lot of feedback from people about it. Many people say something along the lines of, “Oh look at the sweet stuff you’re doing with your life!” Others see the word ‘cool’ in the name and say, “Why do invest so much time and energy into getting people to like you?”

I’m not doing this so people would like me. “Cool” is in the eye of the beholder. A while back I was down on my luck, I had immersed myself in a career field where everyday I was swimming against the current. It wasn’t a good fit for me and struggling constantly had worn me down to one of the lowest points in my life. It got to the point where I began wondering where I got the strength to get up morning after morning. My life needed to change.

I left the field I was in. It sucked for a little bit, but I know my limits and knew that this was driving me to the edge. I wasn’t enjoying life anymore. I knew I made the right choice when I left – I didn’t have the slightest idea how to pay my bills, explain my situation to my girlfriend, family, or friends, or what I would do next. All I knew was that the sun was shining, and that I had a chance right then and there to change my life for the better. I was defeated but not destroyed. I still had the opportunity to truly seize the moment and like the proverbial phoenix, rise from the ashes of my own personal hell.

I began looking at people who had changed their lives in massive ways. Friends mentioned Neil Strauss, author of The Game, who went from loser to playboy and Tim Ferriss whose experiments in crafting the perfect life for himself have inspired millions to change how they eat, how they exercise, and how they work. I found others on my own – books and blogs with inspirational stories about people who changed their lives. Soon enough I had my head back in the game. Drawing from The Day Zero Project, I began creating a massive list of goals I wanted to achieve over the next three years.

I realized two things while creating this list: I wanted my life to be awesome, and I needed to keep track of what I was doing. I decided to create a blog because I wanted to be held accountable by everyone I knew for changing my life. These days nothing makes me more energized than when someone says, “Hey, I checked out your blog and saw you’re trying to benchpress more/learn to ride a horse/learn Chinese. Here’s a method I used! You should try it!”

This blog has also given me the opportunity to help other people in their own lives, from writing about their own experiences with The Day Zero Project to encouraging others to follow their footsteps in working all around the world. This blog has touched on many topics, from learning to mix drinks, to different types of birth control methods, to the awkwardly cute post detailing me proposing to my girlfriend (the same who stuck by me when things were at their worst).

In working on becoming the best version of me possible. Not best as defined by someone else. I’m creating a life unique to me, full of experiences most people stuck in their daily grind are willing to let fly right by them. I’m not trying to be cool to impress other people. I’m changing the way I live to become everything I want to be. It’s not a matter of being the most popular kid in school, it’s about being the kid in school who is more excited about the adventure after class  he’s embarking on than worried about how his hair looks during lunch.

I’m currently living in Jinan, China, fulfilling a number of my goals before I get married later this year.

If you’re working on improving your life or have advice for others on improving theirs, please send me an email at CoolByIntent@gmail.com, I’d love to share your story!

You can follow my own adventures and get a number of tips and tricks for enhancing your own life on Facebook!

The truly daring can even follow Cool By Intent on Twitter!