Hi, I’m Xavier Asante, Your Thinking Friend.

First, let me explain something to you in my clearest voice: I developed this website because this is how I wanted/want to spend some of my time.   My mission is to only do what I WANT to do.  While I do expect to earn some income from this website, I will provide enough information (not teasers & infomercials), where you don’t need to spend a dime to get real value.  My primary goal is to share the mentality that I have cultivated, along with the tips, hacks, side hustles and passive income streams that have allowed me to start living my life as a “Parade of Preferences.”

I was living the textbook life as a Baptist with a wife, two kids, a dog, a nice home and yearly family vacations including multiple trips to Disney World. I served in the Army, received an undergraduate and multiple graduate degrees, coached youth sports and worked my way into middle management at three of the largest corporations in the world; Ralston Purina, AT&T and IBM.  It was at IBM were I was exposed to the “textbook life disclaimer,” when I was called into the Vice President’s office and told that I had nine months to release 78 of the 91 employees in my organization and replace them with resources from India.

Through all the tears, blaming, anger and fear I witnessed from employees during those departures, I realized that we work our entire lives believing bullshit.  We believe in companies, bosses, politicians, doctors, talking heads, clergy, lawyers, etc.  We believe in anything except ourselves.  We believe in anything that gives us an opportunity to stop thinking.  And then when the textbook life comes crashing down, we become cynical and defeated. Like Mike Tyson once said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”

While inflicting this job-required misery on others at the height of the market meltdown in 2008, I became aware of the “WORLD’S GREATEST LIE,” as highlighted in the Alchemist as follows: “At a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what’s happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate.”

Of course, I expected IBM to tell me to turn off the lights and close the door once I released all of these people.  They didn’t.  However, what they did do was spark a change in my mentality.  They started me on a journey to challenge the meaning of a textbook life vs living life as a PARADE OF PREFERENCES.  They started me on a journey to discover “My Personal Legend.” And while I didn’t have it all figured out, I learned enough to walk away from IBM and stop trading time for money in less than 2 years after the culling.

So this is who I am now.  I’m an idiot to idiots.  I’m a Conspiracy Theorist to nonthinkers. I’m a loophole finder to rule setters. I’m a conservative to liberals and I’m a liberal to conservatives.

I’m Xavier Asante, please allow me to be Your Thinking Friend.[/expander_maker]