Do we really want financial independence, or are we after something else?
There is a growing chatter around the topic of early retirement. Everyone wants to quit their 9-to-5 job and cease working. But say that you do have enough money to retire early, what will you do then?
The goal of financial independence is to not worry about money. To not have to work a job you don't want to work. But even if you have enough money to retire early, you'll still do something. What will that something be?
If we look at the goal beyond the goal, we'll reach a question that we can ask ourselves: What the freedom of having financial independence will enable for me? Probably pursuing a creative passion, or spending more time with my family, or contributing to a cause, or something else entirely?
When we dig deeper and try to figure out an answer to the above, we'll find that we worship early retirement because our current work doesn't provide a deep sense of fulfillment.
Financial independence offers the opportunity to explore sources of meaning and purpose, such as creative endeavors, community involvement, or personal growth. But should we wait to be worry-free in relation to money to do the thing we want to do?
Another way to approach this whole situation without having to endure years of doing something you don't want, in order to eventually reach a point where you can finally do something you do want, is finding ways to pursue now the aspiration of what will potentially happen once you are financially free.
In other words, probably you can find a variation of doing the things you'd do when you are financially free, even if you are not financially free right now.
None of this is to say that it's going to be easy. It's not. But it's easier! We have the tools at our disposal, and we can learn how to use them. It's the allocation of our time that's hard. Defining what really matters for us and sticking to it.
Worth reflecting on:
What's the goal of the goal?
The real goal is never to have tons of money (while there are indeed people who pursue money for its own sake). It's to do something with them.
The sooner this is understood, the sooner you'll stop misdirecting your energy.
This approach can be applied to other aspects of life by asking: What's the goal of the goal?
For example, on the surface, it might look like I run my website to make money. But the real goal is to write. To have a place where I catalog not only my experiences, but also an excuse to explore important - at least for me - questions. In this sense, money is just a tool that allows me to do more writing.
And if we geek out a bit more and ask: What's the goal of the goal? In my case: What's the goal of writing?
It boils down to spontaneity and self-expression.
We all have a need to express ourselves. To actively manifest our emotional and intellectual qualities. Some do this by painting, others by covering their bodies with tattoos, third by music, forth by carefully arranging their Instagram accounts, fifth by never shutting up about themselves when they are among others. I, and quite a lot of others, do it by writing.
(Thanks for Rahul who introduced me to the following article that inspired the above.)
Worth reading:
From my desk:
- My Statement of Purpose: "The initial concept of this site was simple: share my thoughts about books, life, and further explore the vast array of ideas living rent-free in my brain space. But then, perhaps swayed by my sense of doubt and whisper that I’m ultimately unremarkable, I convinced myself that nobody cared about me as a person. Thus, I focused on..."
From around the web:
- Garbage: "This obsession with the immediate “unburdening” of a thing you created is common in non-Japanese contexts, but I posit: The Japanese way is the correct way. Be an adult. Own your garbage."
Worth thinking about:
"If you're lonely when you're alone, you're in bad company."
― Jean-Paul Sartre
I also just published the following: I Suddenly Lost My Enthusiasm for Interneting.
An essay about my thoughts on the current state of the Internet. It's a bit pessimistic and maybe a bit too critical, but that's how I see the online world right now.
Thanks for reading and talk soon!
