The Freedom number
Don't be afraid to act. Well, I am afraid. But is life really that great when we let fear dominate it?
Turning the page of the book let’s me to read a quote “Don’t be afraid to act. Be afraid of living a life that seems more like a résumé than an adventure.” And damn is he right.
My whole life, when I look back was determined by two phases - the ones where I was actively engaged, asked questions, experimented and took action and the one where I was overthinking each of my actions, waited, being afraid and not doing anything valuable.
For sure, it still takes much more than to take action, as you also have to channel it right. But when I am super honest with myself, than I realized that much action i took was from a place of fear - Is building and re-building your own website really necessary when you have not even talked to one person about what you wanna do?
Or is checking out 10 tech tools really that efficient when instead you can simply take one and take it from there?
What could you have done in the same time by speaking to people and figuring out what they need and want and how you can actually solve a problem they have?
Often our action hide what we should be doing
They hide it because we are super busy and seems like we are making orogress. But if any action does not produce tangible results, then for sure we are not making progress. Then it looks good from the outside, we can tell nice stories, but we do not oroduce any tangible results - neither for our own lifestyle nor for our clients.
We are simply living and working next to the real world, not in it.
Don’t make that mistake!
Instead,
Live in the real world!
And then figure out how you can make it in the real world!
What is a problem that is worth solving?
But let’s not drift off, but go back to the book 😂 We have a challenge to solve soon again!
The Freedom Number
What is the freedom number?
It is the monthly revenue number you set for yourself as a goal to have freedom.
But what does freedom mean?
It is your living expenses. The amount of money you need to cover your living expenses. A place to sleep, to eat, to drink and to save for later. And maybe some extra cash for travelling.
That is your freedom number.
What is yours?
Mine is $6000. For now. That feels like really high, but hey, I just moved to New York, probably the most expensive place on earth 😂 - bad choice for a business start - but a city I feel at home in and one that is made for my entrepreneurial dreams.
For that reason I need:
$2500 for rent (may bring this down a bit later)
$1500 for food & drinking
$300 for insurance
$300 for public transport
$1000 for savings
$400 for any emergencies, other stuff to buy, travelling
For any of them, I may be able to reduce the cost if living a bit, but it feels, like this is a good starting point.
And importantly, this is after taxes. This is my after taxes amount of money I want to have incoming each month to feel free.
What will be your amount? What is your freedom number?
Remember that this can be considerably higher or lower and may change over time! I earned well above €100k being an employer. And it is the question you should ask yourself and I ask myself too - is being self employed bringing in and giving me the lifestyle I like compared to being employed?
You don’t know, you will have to figure that out for yourself. But for starting, better pick a number you feel comfortable with and that is realistic and not one of your dreams. You can always change that number later and you can lways increase your incoming side over time - which is a much wiser choice to pick 😊
Why is setting a freedom number so effective?
It’s a trick how Noah puts it. It is about motivation and one single goal. Your mind can now focus on solving a challenge and minds love challenges.
You bring your mind into that challenge mode, problem-solving mode and that is highly effective.
What if you go into ‘what are my passions’ mode? Then the brain is busy trying to solve it. It will think, and think and think that through. But because that is nothing tangible, it won’t be successful. Because, what you think to be true, may not be true the other day. And it may change all day long as it is not rooted in reality, in actual experience.
The only thing that we can know for sure is what we experience.
And when we put our brain in experience mode towards a tangible goal that we cannot achieve through thinking, we have no other choice as to move towards that goal with all we have - we have to take action. And the more we take that action NOW, the faster there is a chance that we achieve that.
It is time to take action. NOW.
Tangible action.
To achieve tangible results!
What is an action you can take NOW to come closer to that number?
What is an action that you can take NOW that allows you to get to that number faster, better, more effectively?
Let me know, write it down, commit to it!
And get started working on it!