Jul 18, 2017
How do you live your best life? According to Samantha Alvarez, it begins with having a crystal clear vision and a sense of adventure for learning new things and experiencing different cultures.
Formerly a nurse practitioner, Samantha is now following her passion as a world traveler, digital nomad, online teacher, university faculty, sales consultant, polyglot, musician and mindful human being who is helping people learn languages and become their best self.
She speaks eight languages - English, Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Portuguese, German, Italian, and French – five of which she taught herself within the last 3 years while visiting 26 countries and living in 11 - on 5 continents.
In our interview, Samantha shares traveling adventure stories, how she manages her business from anywhere, and her process for learning anything – whether it be a new language, skill, vocation or culture.
An avid relationship builder, she also describes the benefits of meeting new people from different cultures and how she has been able to go from being a nurse practitioner to an online teacher, sales consultant, and many other roles along the way.
Playful, intelligent, and entrepreneurial, Samantha shows us how easy and fun it is to be a lifestyle entrepreneur and enjoy a contented and satisfied life.
Key Takeaways
1) Living better starts with a crystal clear vision of what you want.
2) Two key things required in learning anything new – it has to be relevant and emotional.
3) Give yourself a 2-3 week time frame for preparation and familiarization, and then just go for it.
4) In learning something new, do enough today that you’re going to be excited to do it again tomorrow.
5) Life and learning hack – don’t do anything until you absolutely have to. Only then will you be ultra-focused and effective.
Favorite Quote
“Just go for it, it’ll be fun!”
Samantha Alvarez Bio
Samantha Alvarez grew up in the upper Midwestern state of Wisconsin, USA. She held 44 jobs by the time she was 23 years old, running the gamut from newspaper delivery to translation to insurance to IT professional. She managed to work as a Registered nurse for six years in a row at a dozen or so different positions, but still didn’t know what she wanted to be when she grew up.
After dropping out of school several times, including once to attend medical school, she went on to become a Family Nurse Practitioner and practiced for 5 years in Tucson, Arizona.
After burning out on healthcare, she took some time off to travel and learn languages, sating two of her greatest desires on this earth at the same time. She has since visited 26 countries, and lived in 9 of them on 3 continents. She has learned several new languages to conversational fluency, and how to say “hello” and “thank you” in a dozen or so more. She has experienced a tremendous amount of both fun and challenge.
She has supported herself through several dozen wildly different online jobs these past few years, from teaching online to clinic stints, writing, bookkeeping, coaching, sales, and a university faculty appointment.
She is also an avid singer, and will take even the smallest provocation to break out into song, much to the annoyance and/or delight of those around her.
In her own words, “I do know what I want to be when I grow up: I want to be whoever I am when I arrive there, and enjoy the journey.”
Episode Show Notes: https://leadersoftransformation.com/podcast/business/135-samantha-alvarez-learning-live-best-life
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