Freedom From vs Freedom To – Episode 423

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[00:00] Hello, partners. In this episode, we’re going to be talking about a concept called freedom from versus freedom to, and you may have read about this or heard about this. We’re going to dive all in today. Kim, we would love for you to jump off the diving board with us and get this started. Well, I first heard this distinction from Dan Sullivan at strategic coach thinking maybe two or three years ago. And I love what it does for your thinking. And all of life starts in your thinking. It’s so, so important that we pay attention to our thinking. And to pick up on Dan again, he even has a comment like you need to think about your thinking. And sometimes we need to not think about our thinking, you know, sometimes we need

[00:51] to say, uh, I’m not going there. You know, thanks for sharing. Goodbye. So what freedom from says to me, so, so you said it well, we have freedom from and freedom to, and there are a lot of things that I’m seeking in the freedom to space to, to switch the gears. Freedom to, to me is what I’m going after. Yeah, there are some times in life when you’re not clear what you’re going after. And so then I think it’s helpful to think about what you don’t want. And that’s what the freedom from space is. So if there’s something that I’m frustrated about, like I was actually just on the phone with our team recently, and we were making a decision again about something that I thought we’d already made decisions about. And I said, Hey guys, let’s, let’s

[01:47] wrap this like we, we’ve already made these decisions. Let’s, we don’t need to recreate the wheel every time we offer this thing that we’re talking about doing. But let’s just let some of our decisions lie. And yes, there has to be freshness and newness, but that’s an example of freedom from I want freedom from having to make decisions again, that I feel like we’ve already made decisions about. And then to me, like said earlier, freedom to is about what I want. I want the freedom to be able to control my days, which is why I run my calendar on free focus and buffer days, which is Dan Sullivan’s entrepreneurial time system, I want freedom to be able to work with the kind of people that I really like, which is why even more now, I’m trying

[02:33] to make our podcast messaging, our new writing that we’re working on, we’ve got a few new writing projects that we’re working on, be super, super specific about what they’re talking about, as well as who they are for. Because I love the freedom to be able to work with those type of clientele that I really like that really resonate with me. And so that is an important identifier of what I’m seeking and what I want to be working on. And again, that takes time to get that clarity. Absolutely. And as you mentioned at the beginning of this conversation, is it’s a mindset thing. And, you know, it’s actually quite, I wouldn’t say difficult, but I can’t think of a better word to describe than saying

[03:28] it’s difficult to mentally go from freedom from versus freedom to there’s a leap between those two there. Yes, absolutely. And I think a lot of our society just stays at freedom from. We know we don’t like something. And so we try to get away from it. But frankly, the more that we think about it, the more that we’re in that space in our minds, which is then in our words, which is then in our bodies, which is then in our brains, which is what goes to sleep with us at night and wakes up with us in the morning. And so the more that you can shift your mind towards what it is that you’re wanting. And I think this is way more than the fake it till you make it term, which I cannot stand. That this is more about

[04:17] being focused on what you want, figuring out what you want, spending some time thinking about what you want, and then being focused on that. And that freedom to thought process is just like all things. It’s just a habit. And it’s a habit that we can trigger. In fact, back to one of your and my favorite guys, BJ fog and his tiny habits idea. Whenever you could have a habit of whenever I start to think about, well, I would like to be free from this. Awesome. Figure out what will happen when you are. When you’re free from whatever it is that you are thinking about, then figure out what will happen when you are free from that, which is the opposite, which is what you want freedom to, and then spend all your time focused on that.

[05:08] Because if you spend your time focused on the thing that you want freedom from, all you’re gonna do is get more of it. The the BJ fog that actually plays in really well, because in order to form a habit, it’s, you know, not as if we can sit there and say, and I’m going to use smoking, I’m going to stop smoking. Well, there is a habit routine to that something happens before something happens during something happens after. And what you have to do is you have to replace that habit. And what you’re doing is you’re helping listeners understand, you know, this is where they are and where they want to be. And you’re helping them replace that. And so the piece that I’ve focused on is I’ve done some work is the freedom from versus two, and

[05:55] then I almost see a moat or a giant wall because you have to put some defenses up that you have to say, Okay, I have done enough to protect the freedom from something freedom, I don’t have to go to a job or I don’t have to whatever it may be, you put up the defenses. So have you seen it that way as well, Kim? Yes, this is why I have so much fun talking about death day. Like, if you want to be free from concerns about death day, then do what you need to do to be free from those concerns, which include things like buying life insurance, getting your final remains handled, like do you want to be cremated? Or do you want to have a service getting the service paid for if you want to go that route or the cremation thing signed up for using the

[06:48] protect my plans website to make sure all your digital assets get transferred, having a will and trust. Okay, done, like get those three, four things done. And then you are free from worrying about what happens when you die. Oh, that’s so good. I actually I wrote down a list of a few other things. And I love death day. That’s so good. I know it sounds morbid, but it’s good. Which is an emergency or opportunity fund. You have that in place. Would you agree that once you’ve done that you now have a freedom from whatever fill in the blank, and you have the freedom to go and do that? Yes. And this is why we talk about as an opportunity fund. And in addition to just the emergency fund, which I think

[07:37] is left out of so many financial commentaries. And there is so much good that can be had when that is in place. And it’s not that hard to start. And yet if you’re not starting it, then you’re going to be worried about it all the time. So, you know, some people have the emergency fund handled easily. But are they building an opportunity fund? Are they building space of liquidity, enabled to be able to take advantage of opportunities? I think most people would answer no to that, unless they’re clients of ours, and they already own life insurance. I would agree. I don’t think they do. I wrote down another one that’s kind of strange, which is banking protection. So I’ll unpack that. What just happened in the

[08:25] news recently was the Wells Fargo retracted personal lines of credit, right? So if you had a personal line of credit, you looked into your account, and it’s like, No, it’s gone. Sorry, pay us. And that’s, I would say stressful for a lot of people. And if you have a proper financial advisor that has helped you organize things properly, and you have an emergency opportunity fund, and you’re using your whole life insurance, you have your whole you have your line of credit. Correct. And it is not controlled by a bank, even if it’s at a bank. Isn’t that great? And so that there is another moat. That’s your wall, your defense. So you have the freedom to whereas before, oh, you don’t have that. Sorry, to me is

[09:23] just fascinating to see how it took us all by surprise. One day, we had these lines of credit sitting there, and poof, they’re gone. Yes, this is why controlling the banking function is so valuable. And I don’t think it’s ever been said that way. So great point to bring up. Thank you. So for you, as a listener, I think it’s good at at times, not all the time, because, you know, it can be overwhelming, but it’s good to take an inventory, and to see, what do I have the freedom to do? And where are some potential vulnerabilities that may be taking away my freedoms? You know, a line of credit at a bank, you know, if you’re not at Wells Fargo, and you’re somewhere else, I would assume that it’s just a matter of time. And if you

[10:21] don’t have an emergency opportunity fund, and you’re lucky, and nothing bad has happened, I’d say it’s just a matter of time. If you don’t have your death day preferred, again, just a matter of time. I love that you brought in that third one, you know, we say that it’s morbid, and yet morbidity, and also, I guess, mortality. Now, I don’t know which one’s which I get confused. But also money are subjects that are just not talked about in our society. And I think that everything that we can do to overcome that is valid. And so tackle the subject, have the discussion, make it fun. Yes, it’s embarrassing sometimes, sometimes that’s what it takes to give us a little kick in the high knee that we need to

[11:12] get going on things. Because there’s so many families out there that have particular opinions about these things, but they haven’t shared them with their family members. And that’s sad to me. It’s part of why we wrote the perpetual wealth book is to give families a space and a structure to talk about money and death day should be included in that as well. Literally, I mean, as soon as a person is 18, they want to have those items in place. It’s the one area that I’m actually okay using the plan word. Because when when those plans are done, then they can go be free and live their life and not not be worried about what’s going to happen if and just think of the brain space that frees up. Exactly. You do it once, you never have to think about it

[12:02] again. That’s wonderful. Love it. Anything else that you written down on the freedom from or to space? You know, I actually have a couple of notes because this is something I’ve been, you know, personally thinking and working on for quite a while. And, you know, it’s it works like this. And this is the way I approach it. It takes a psychological shift for for us to move from two to because, you know, in our careers early on, we all have different numbers, or we all have different goals and aspirations. And we’re trying to get somewhere. So we say, Oh, I want to be financially free or free from a job or whatever that may be. And once you’ve done that, and that’s been the focus for so long, then you

[12:56] have to put up the defenses. And you have to do the death day, you have to do the other pieces, so that you can then, you know, it’s almost walking as fast or running as fast to this wall. That wall is your defenses that you climb up, you climb down. And now you’re in a whole new world, which is freedom to do whatever that may be. And that can be something different. Now, one thing that we’ve have not talked about, and we’ll never do is say it’s freedom to retire. No, we’re not going to get the freedom to pull ourselves out of service. What else would you see, as you’ve helped people navigate chem, as you’ve helped families, you know, build wealth, protect it, what happens to them mentally, now

[13:46] that they have the protection? What do they have freedom to do? Well, what I love about just having finances in order, and it doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s enough to not do anything. But finances in order includes work that you love so that you are of service. It really opens your mind to what is next. And one of my all time favorite questions is, and then what? And so whether people are thinking, I want to shift from this job to that job, or I want to shift from this job to serving my community better, or I want to shift from this job to serving the world better. That question is awesome. And then what? Because it enables us to complete the wall climb. I feel like a lot of times we’re at the top of the wall, but

[14:39] we’re not willing to jump down now, because we don’t have the and then what figured out. And so just asking and answering that question for yourself and getting your other family members involved and answering it enables us to be of service in a broader way. And I know for myself, part of the reason that Todd and I created the prosperity economics movement is because we wanted to be of service in a broader way. And that doesn’t include retirement in any form or fashion. In fact, I sometimes feel like I have to work harder, not more time is spent on the movement, because I love my clients, and I love the prospects that we bring in the door and helping more people understand the principles of prosperity, etc. But the work, because the

[15:28] movement is new, and I had to learn new skills. And we had to take on new challenges, the work is harder there. And that’s good for me as a human being. And so the and then what part is a period of hard work? Awesome. And then what? And with hard work, we can see results, we can make improvements, we fail. And we take a couple steps backwards, and then we go forward again, our world goes forward absolutely every single day. And so as human beings, we want to be finding that way forward every single day. And if we’re activating in our brains, this idea of lifelong service, and in my opinion, that will prevent millions of wasted lives, then we are just looking for the and then what all the time. And that’s a

[16:21] great mental space to be in. Absolutely. You just impact so many valuable pieces for our listeners. I think you just opened up a new paradigm. People can think about their futures. This was a fun episode. I’m I got a lot out of it. And you put a smile on my face because I’m sitting there thinking, okay, there’s there’s a few things that, you know, the death day, making sure that that’s buttoned up for everyone in our family, making sure all that’s done. Okay, I got it. You just helped add some more freedom to me. So Kim, I want to thank you for taking the time to to share your thoughts on this episode today. Absolutely. Well, thanks for bringing the freedom from to decision to it. It was a joy

[17:10] to talk about. Absolutely. Thank you, listeners. And if you’re not already following the podcast, you can do that on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, iHeart, radio, Google, really any more podcasts are played. We’re there. We have listeners from all over the world. And we ask you to join and continue to listen in every single week as we bring you a new episode. Thank you for listening to the Prosperity Podcast. To take control of your money and have it work for you. Visit us at partnersforprosperity.com. If you liked this episode, make sure you subscribe and leave a review.