Most people don’t know the secret I’ll share with you here, so they “live lives of quiet desperation.” They suffer through life, drag themselves to work, counting the hours until the weekend and then showing up Monday morning with a hangover and a dark cloud over their heads because another work week has begun. 

If they’re lucky, they save up and once a year travel to some beautiful place and zone out for a couple of weeks before starting the routine all over again. 

Wouldn’t it be nice to live differently?

A few years ago, I had been teaching people all over the world how to live a passionate life for a long time. Now I was traveling through Tokyo, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Bangkok, and I loved my work. I had been practicing what I teach by consistently choosing in favor of my passions. 

But I was getting tired. 

What to do? My first solution was to start training some of my Passion Test facilitators to be Master Trainers so they could teach some of the courses I’d been teaching. That was a good solution, but it usually took 2-3 years for even the best ones to be fully qualified to teach our certification courses. 

Now, there’s an idea! 

The next question was the standard one I always ask before making any significant decision, “If I decide to teach courses in Koh Samui, will it bring me closer to living my passions fully or will it take me farther away?”

Now, there’s an idea! 

The next question was the standard one I always ask before making any significant decision, “If I decide to teach courses in Koh Samui, will it bring me closer to living my passions fully or will it take me farther away?”

LET'S SEE:

• Be healthy, happy, and full of energy - check
• Travel first-class around the world - check
• Work on a gorgeous tropical island eating fresh coconut and tropical fruit getting massages and going for walks on the beach - let’s see... that must be somewhere here on this passion list...  Aha, there it is! - check

My Thai student put me in touch with someone named Richard Haigh at Banyan Villas on Koh Samui saying, “Richard manages a group of villas right on the beach and he’s wonderful. His place will be perfect for a getaway–and the villas are very affordable.”

So, off to Koh Samui I went. 

I flew into the island’s small airport on Bangkok Airways’ comfortable jets. Got my luggage in record time and there was Richard waiting to meet me at the “Meeting Point.” Turns out, Richard is a late-fifties, retired British executive who’s lived with his Thai wife, Nam, on Koh Samui for many years. I love that British accent!

Richard drove me about 30 minutes to “Banyan Villas,” the complex in which he and his wife own some of the villas, and they manage the others for other owners. As the security gate was raised, Richard waved to the security guard and took me into paradise. 

Banyan Villas, aka Coconut Paradise, consists of nine traditional style, incredibly charming, and beautiful wooden villas on a stunning beach with three more modern, concrete, not as charming, but oh so comfortable villas in the back. The nine villas in front share a nice size, perfect-for-kids swimming pool, while each of the three villas in back has its own pool. 

Two of the wooden villas are occupied by their owners who live there permanently, leaving 10 villas for rentals. Each villa has 3-5 bedrooms, easily sleeping 8 – 10 people. 

As Richard walked me through the villas, I was stunned. Rich, dark wood was complemented by tasteful furnishings, orchids, and wonderful Thai art, including some of my favorite: The Buddha. My whole being was starting to relax and breathe a great sigh of relief.

I soon discovered why Richard and Nam have regular clients who book villas year after year. Not only are their villas right on the beach, with remarkable views of the surrounding islands; not only are their villas tastefully furnished and incredibly comfortable; but they bend over backward to see that their guests are well taken care of. 

That was four years ago, and now, every winter, I take a month or longer for R&R on this beautiful island. 

I know what you’re thinking, “Yes, but you’re Janet Attwood. I could never do something like that.”

That’s what’s known as a false belief. I’m no different than you. When I first met New York Times bestselling authors, Mark Victor Hansen and Robert Allen, I was working at a J-O-B (Just Over Broke). But I started choosing consistently in favor of my passions, and now, 19 years later, I live a life most people just dream about. 

YOU can live that life too. Why not start out by taking the first step and booking your dream vacation at one of Richard’s villas? For a couple of hundred dollars a night, your family and another family can enjoy an amazing vacation for around $10 per person per night. Do this, and everything else will become easier. 

You CAN live a life of passion while fulfilling your responsibilities at the same time. It requires being willing to say yes to you and what is important to you, even if that sometimes means saying no to others. It requires being able and willing to think beyond the limits of what you’ve been taught. 

And, at least for me, it required mentoring with people who were already living the kind of life I wanted to live. When I saw that they were choosing for their passions and still making money, when I saw how they made decisions differently from the way I had been making them, then that opened the door for me to begin living the kind of life they were living as well. 

So, if you’re really committed to living your dream life, you’re invited to Koh Samui to mentor with me and enjoy Banyan Villas, the walks on the beach, the fresh coconuts, the massages, and the breathtaking sunsets while you transform your life. I can’t wait for our time together!

With Love 

Janet