“The goal isn’t more money. The goal is living life on your terms.” – Chris Brogan
I look back at things that I’ve done in my life and realize how stupid it actually was.
You know what they say: when you get older, you get wiser.
That’s the truth.
Unfortunately, the way life goes, you have to make mistakes in order to grow as a human.
Now, this is tough for me to say because when you first start making money, you want to spend it.
Especially when you’ve never had it before.
You want to buy the car you’ve always dreamed of having.
Or the watch, the condo penthouse, and so on.
If you have great cash flow from a business with no end in sight, there are some anomalies.
But for the majority of people, that’s not reality.
So, spend the money on cars you get sick of driving or watches to impress the wrong girl.
Instead, Allocate that cash to traveling the world.
Traveling is one of the best forms of education that you can have.
You will experience things you will never forget. You will see cultures entirely different from what you’re used to.
Meeting a lot of people and seeing the world from a different lense.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t treat yourself when you’re deserving of it.
I used to buy 20 pairs of shoes in one sitting. Now they’re all sitting in my office, and I have no fucking clue what I even have.
Get some things, that’s fine. But if you’re not experiencing life, there’s no point in buying fancy shit.
Life is too short to lie on a couch and watch Netflix six days a week.
If you have free time, which you do.
Go to a new place, a new road, or a new restaurant.
Anything that exposes you to something new. Your favorite show can wait. We don’t know how much time we have left. The crazy energy we had when we were young isn’t forever.
You will be old someday.
Don’t regret it for not having traveled enough in life.
Let’s be honest.
The company you work for does not want you to go out. Because they would go out of business if everyone prioritized well-being over stagnancy.
You have to LIVE.
You’re not doing that by working 40 hours a week. You do it for 50 weeks a year for 40 years. That’s 80,000 hours you’ll have spent working by the time you retire.
Which is why your choice of career is one of the most important decisions you’ll ever make in life.
Yet many of us pick our career path in our twenties or late teens.
But we don’t have a clear idea of the work we’ll be good at, what we want to achieve, or even what our options are.
Then we trap ourselves.
Commitments and obligations often take over. Rent, a mortgage, and then children.
80,000 Hours exists to change that.
They aim to turn your 80,000 hours into something meaningful.
Don’t you want something you’ll look back on with pride.
But you’re probably not proud of what you’ve been doing your whole life. If you keep going down the current path.
Working on building someone else’s dream so you can hopefully retire when you’re old and saggy.
Take a real look in the mirror.
The real purpose of wealth is to buy yourself freedom.
Let’s say you do buy that supercar.
Cool.
I love supercars.
I’ve owned too many of them.
But imagine you spend hundreds of thousands of dollars that it costs to own one.
How about spending that money on exploring the world.
Working from where you want to work, and waking up happy every day.
The most important thing in the world that you can have isn’t money. It’s freedom and happiness.
On your deathbed, you are going to be proud of the memories that you made. Not the Lambo that you bought.
Someday, that car will lose its charm; you’ll stop driving it because it gets stagnant.
Your memories will stay intact until your last breath.
We need to redefine what wealth actually looks like.
Don’t buy stupid things if you’re commuting to an office. You sit there for ten hours.
That’s what we call slavery.
Now, you’re a rich slave.
Real freedom is when you’re lying on a beach or in the mountains. You feel the fresh air and make money without being there.
That is wealth.
You own your life, time, and attention.
Redefine what wealth looks like for yourself.
I’ll leave you with this.
Experience wins over anything else.
The more you get exposed to the world, the more you get to know how the world works.
You get wiser with time and experiences.
Stop being afraid of everything.
Take chances and live the fucking life that you deserve.
Last thing, stay healthy and hydrated this summer with skyMD that’s packed with vitamins and electrolytes here. Use Cody at checkout for a nice discount.
Your Montana Friend,
Cody
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Cody