Step 4: Review

Escape the Rat Race Blog
June 3, 2024

Initial Review

We completed the review your progress step after the sailing course and the Southampton Boat Show. Realising that our path had been shown to us, we ordered the study plans for the Spray 38 design from Bruce Roberts UK. Two weeks later, they arrived.

The first thing I did was take them to Bristol Boat Builders to get a rough quote on the cost of building it.

£180,000 was the answer, not much less than most of the yachts we had seen at the Southampton Boat Show.

I spent the next month pouring over the plans, costing all the components that I thought we needed.

Hours of work later, getting quotes from suppliers for steel, wood, paint, engine, and gearbox, to mention a few, the Hours on the phone paid off, and finally, I came up with a figure.

A rough estimate of £45,000 to build her complete. Wow. This was a cost we could afford. Ann was delighted.

The Plan was finalised, we bought the full plans for a Spray 38 from Bruce Roberts UK. The total cost of the plans was £620.00.

Ann and I decided that we needed to save around £10,000 to get the project underway.

This money was for the steel for the hull, £7000 for the steel and £3000 for consumables such as welding wire, gas and other stuff.

We decided not to eat out anymore, go on holidays, go to the pub, or, in fact, spend any money other than what we needed to survive and go to work.

Everything was put on hold. One year later, we had saved over £9000. We rewarded ourselves by going on a week-long holiday to Spain.

Your Review

Look at your list. Hopefully, there are more completed ticks than still-to-do items. Try not to be too harsh on yourself. This is, after all, a process, and you do not know how long it will take to complete.

Ask yourself, have any new forks in the road appeared? Do these forks make sense in relation to your Step 1 Clarity statements?

It’s important not to look at this from a negative or fearful viewpoint. This leads to decisions based on wishful thinking, just like hoping to win the lottery. Please do not get hooked up in this.

Instead, look at it from a ‘feeling’ viewpoint. Does this feel right? It should make you feel like shouting, ‘Yes, that’s the path I will take. This will work.

Our boat-building route felt right, even though I had no idea how to start. Ann and I just went with the flow. We reviewed our current situation, and everything pointed towards building a yacht ourselves.

We made additions to our to-do list and took action. In your reviews, you will, like us, find lots of forks in the road and hurdles to climb.

Please do not view them as failures or even insurmountable obstacles. Most of them are just Life checking if you are serious about making your dream a reality.

A bit like the scene in ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’. Final answer? Yes. Sure? Yes. Want to ask a friend? No, this is my final answer.

If you are ever unsure, go back to Step 1: Clarity and relook at your statements there. Everything there should be in harmony with your Plan, with your Actions and Reviews.

If not, look at Clarity again. Is this goal aligned to my dream? Or do I need to adjust it.

One more thing: If you are going through this process with a partner, a wife, a husband, or your children, then make one hundred percent sure that you are all behind the goal, that the dream is everyone’s dream, not just one person’s. In my experience, this rarely works if it is not.

Please take the review step seriously. Look at everything, use your feelings, your gut feeling, and your intuition to determine where you are at and if what is happening is aligned with your dream.

If you require more help on any of the steps in the process, then use the link below to register for our Full Guide.

You will get access to our Private Facebook Group, where Ann or I will endeavour to answer any questions and if we can help with finding or choosing the correct path.

It’s free to join, and you will receive all the goodies mentioned in the list below.