“Stop making goals. Instead put your dreams on the horizon and chase them every day. You’ll find a new meaning of success.”
Ryan Minarik used to have a corporate job full of meetings, schedules, and deadlines. As a sophomore at Arizona State University, he founded an audio brand called, BOOM by Polk. Being the lead on the brand he created, the young entrepreneur spent most of his time working furiously around the clock. To offset all the time he had lost grinding away at his company, Ryan began accumulating lots of things to help him better enjoy the little free time that he did have—but none of that seemed to make him happy…until something did.
A 1981 VW Vanagon, which he purchased with his year-end bonus from BOOM, helped Ryan to realize something simple: all he really wanted in life was to be in his van, bare essentials, chasing waves on the California coastline, surfing to his heart’s content.
The realization sparked Ryan to start a blog (www.reformlife.com) highlighting himself and others who were on a path to living more with less while chasing their passions. His desire to surf and live simple ultimately caused Ryan to reform his own life. Taking a leap of faith, he abandoned most of his possessions and quit his corporate job. No more meetings, schedules, and deadlines—unless they were on his own time.
“Most of the world is way too comfortable….chasing known paths towards “security” and dreaming up inflated concepts of what’s needed to be comfortable. Today, people are less focused on their values (health, relationships, passions) and more on their desires. So our world is full of complications that don’t matter,” says Ryan.
Since quitting his job, Ryan has launched a new brand, Reform, which encourages people to get outside of their comfort zones and be comfortable outside. His love of surfing helped reconnect him with nature and renew an inner passion for the outdoors, which is why his new company seeks to create outdoor lifestyle products meant to inspire and implement solutions to our current environmental crisis—as co-owners of the planet.
“Surfing means so much to me. It’s a way to connect with myself and to eliminate all the noise that chatters the mind. Being forced to focus on each moment as it unfolds in front of you is one of the greatest gifts because it’s so easy to not live in the moment these days.”
Now that he has taken back control of his time, Ryan Minarik stays connected by spending more of his life doing what he loves—traveling and exploring the California landscape and beyond.
“Wealth is not defined in dollars and cents, but in your time and how you chose to spend it…. every day,” says Ryan.
“It’s one thing to do an outdoor activity, but for the most part, they all are stagnant, where the forces of nature do not move. But in surfing, you are dancing with the heartbeat of the earth, and you can feel that.”
To learn more about Ryan Minarek, Reform and it’s products follow: @reform_life
Or visit: WWW.REFORMLIFE.COM
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Reform Life | Ryan Minarik
