Introduction
Many of my friends envy my life as a YouTuber, believing it offers complete control over time and a certain level of financial freedom. I recently completed a month-long trip, visiting Kyoto and Osaka in Japan, meeting with members of my YouTube community, returning to China to see my family, hosting a community meetup in Beijing with nearly 40 people, and then traveling to Taiwan for a 50-person meetup in Taipei. While this may sound great, it's not the whole truth about financial and time freedom.
My Journey to Time and Financial Freedom
In 2014, I quit my last full-time job and started my own business. Although I had control over my time, it wasn't true freedom. I worked 16 hours a day, seven days a week, with only half a day off. After more than a year of hard work, I found a partner and built an efficient team. This allowed me to leverage their time, and my work hours dropped to just one day a week for important decisions. For the first time in my life, I achieved both time and financial freedom.
The Misconception of Freedom
However, I soon realized that freedom isn't the same as happiness. Just because I could travel whenever I wanted didn't mean I was truly happy. Traveling, which is often seen as a symbol of freedom, didn't bring me the meaning I was looking for. It was more of an "experienced happiness," which is short-lived and doesn't necessarily lead to long-term fulfillment.
Understanding Happiness
A book called "The Geometry of Wealth" helped me understand this better. It divides happiness into two types: experienced happiness and reflective happiness. Experienced happiness is related to our current emotions and is often short-lived. It's the kind of happiness we get from eating delicious food, going on a trip, or buying something nice. Reflective happiness, on the other hand, is a deeper sense of fulfillment that comes from things like building relationships, pursuing our passions, and finding meaning in our lives.
The Limitations of Experienced Happiness
Experienced happiness has two main limitations. First, it's short-lived and doesn't last long. Second, it doesn't increase linearly with our income. Once we reach a certain level of income, additional spending on experiences doesn't necessarily make us happier. This is because experienced happiness is often about reducing our sense of unhappiness rather than creating true happiness.
My Search for Meaning
After realizing that travel and consumerism weren't bringing me the happiness I wanted, I started trying different things. I tried photography, teaching English, and even started a podcast. While I enjoyed some of these activities, I eventually realized that they weren't my true passion. During this time, my life was chaotic and unproductive, but looking back, I see that these experiences were important for my personal growth.
The Impact of the Pandemic
In 2020, the pandemic hit, and my life changed completely. I was stuck at home, and my business was severely affected. However, this also gave me an opportunity to reflect on my life and figure out what I really wanted to do. Fortunately, my stock investments started to pay off, and I was able to focus on my new YouTube channel, MoneyXYZ.
Finding My Passion
Through my work on the MoneyXYZ channel, I finally found a sense of purpose and fulfillment. I realized that I love creating content, sharing my knowledge, and helping others. This gave me a taste of reflective happiness, which is much more rewarding than the fleeting experiences of the past. I also started to build a community around my channel, which has been an amazing experience.
The True Meaning of Freedom
Now that I have achieved a certain level of financial and time freedom, I understand that it's not about doing whatever I want whenever I want. It's about using my time and resources wisely to pursue the things that are truly important to me. I have learned to value my time and to be more intentional about how I spend it. I also realize that freedom comes with responsibility, and I need to make sure that I am using my freedom in a way that benefits others as well as myself.
Conclusion
In conclusion, wealth and time freedom are not the end goals of life. They are just the means to an end. The true goal is to find happiness and meaning in our lives, and this requires us to be intentional about how we live. We need to focus on building relationships, pursuing our passions, and making a positive impact on the world. Only then can we truly say that we are free and happy.
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