時間和財務自由了,但卻迷失了: 我花了10年才找到自己

Summary

The YouTuber shares insights on the misconceptions of financial and time freedom, emphasizing that true happiness lies beyond mere experiences. After quitting his job in 2014, he initially found himself working even harder, but later discovered the importance of 'reflective happiness' over 'experienced happiness.' Through various life chapters, including entrepreneurship, travel, content creation, and building a community, he explores the deeper meaning of life beyond material success, advocating for the pursuit of personal growth and meaningful connections.

Takeaways

• 🕒 The allure of time and financial freedom is often misunderstood as constant travel and leisure, but true freedom comes with its own set of challenges and the need for purposeful activities.
• 🧳 The speaker's life as a YouTuber involves extensive travel and community engagement, which, while enjoyable, does not equate to the ultimate happiness or fulfillment.
• 💡 Freedom itself is not happiness; it is merely a starting point that allows for the pursuit of happiness through deeper, more meaningful experiences.
• 🛑 The speaker emphasizes that the initial phase of financial freedom was marked by hard work and long hours, far from the glamorous lifestyle often portrayed.
• 🌐 The digital nomad lifestyle, though seemingly liberating, can be a double-edged sword, making it difficult to focus on either work or life effectively.
• 📈 After years of hard work, the speaker experienced a significant reduction in working hours and gained more control over their time and finances, leading to a period of self-discovery.
• 🍦 The script introduces 'Experienced Happiness' as temporary pleasures derived from immediate experiences, which are often short-lived and not deeply fulfilling.
• 📚 'Reflective Happiness' is contrasted with 'Experienced Happiness,' representing a deeper, more enduring form of satisfaction that comes from building meaningful relationships, mastering skills, and pursuing personal growth.
• 🔍 The pandemic served as an unexpected catalyst for introspection and reevaluation of the speaker's life, leading to a renewed focus on creating content and building a community.
• 🌟 The creation of the MoneyXYZ channel represents a shift towards sharing knowledge and experiences that genuinely resonate with the speaker, leading to a sense of 'Reflective Happiness'.
• 🌱 The speaker's journey from survival mode to a state of exploration and creation highlights the importance of gradually building the bandwidth to pursue a meaningful life, even before achieving complete financial and time freedom.

Q & A

What misconception about being a YouTuber does the speaker address in the script?

The speaker addresses the misconception that being a YouTuber equates to having complete freedom and happiness, clarifying that freedom itself is not happiness and that the reality of financial and time freedom is more complex than commonly imagined.

What is the difference between 'Experienced Happiness' and 'Reflective Happiness' according to the script?

Experienced Happiness refers to the immediate emotions or moods one feels, often related to current feelings and short-lived. Reflective Happiness, on the other hand, is a deeper sense of satisfaction that comes from building deep relationships, excelling in a skill, or finding purpose in greater goodness, and it often lasts longer and requires more deliberate and slower thinking.

How does the speaker describe the transition from a 9-to-5 job to entrepreneurship?

The speaker describes the transition as going from a structured 9-to-5 job to working more than 16 hours a day with only half a day off each week, indicating that the entrepreneurial journey initially involved much longer work hours and no real 'work-life balance'.

What does the speaker suggest about the relationship between income level and experienced happiness?

The speaker suggests that experienced happiness is not positively correlated with income level indefinitely. While it increases with income at lower levels, once a certain income level is reached, further increases in income do not continue to enhance the sense of experienced happiness.

How did the speaker's perspective on travel change over time?

The speaker initially saw travel as a way to find meaning in life and was proud of the freedom to travel. However, over time, the speaker realized that travel did not bring the expected meaning or lasting happiness, leading to a shift in perspective on the value of travel.

What role did the book 'The Geometry of Wealth' play in the speaker's understanding of happiness?

The book 'The Geometry of Wealth' helped the speaker understand the distinction between Experienced Happiness and Reflective Happiness, and it explained why the speaker's travels and consumption did not bring more happiness, leading to a deeper understanding of what constitutes true happiness.

How did the speaker's approach to content creation evolve after realizing the limitations of experienced happiness?

The speaker decided to start a new YouTube channel focused on investment and finance, sharing knowledge and personal growth, which led to the creation of the MoneyXYZ channel and the experience of Reflective Happiness through creation and sharing valuable content.

What changes did the pandemic bring to the speaker's life and work?

The pandemic led to a significant decline in the speaker's business income and a loss of physical freedom, but it also provided an opportunity to focus on stock investments and to start content creation again, leading to the establishment of the MoneyXYZ channel.

What is the significance of the community 'One New Bite' in the speaker's journey?

The community 'One New Bite' represents a new phase in the speaker's journey, where they found happiness and meaning through creating, learning, sharing, and connecting with like-minded individuals, and it has become a source of Reflective Happiness.

How does the speaker define 'true time freedom' in the context of the script?

The speaker defines 'true time freedom' as the ability to protect one's own time and choose to spend it on the most important things, rather than squandering it, indicating a shift from aimless freedom to purposeful and intentional use of time.

What advice does the speaker give to those who are still in 'survival mode' regarding the pursuit of life's meaning?

The speaker advises that one does not have to wait for absolute financial and time freedom to pursue the meaning of life. Instead, as income increases, one should consciously create time and space for self-reflection and exploration, even if it's through small steps or 'cheap tickets' to start the journey.

Outlines

00:00

🌏 The Illusion of Freedom Through Travel

The speaker begins by addressing the misconception that being a YouTuber equates to having ultimate freedom and happiness. Despite the enviable lifestyle with travel and community engagement, the reality is that true freedom is more complex. The speaker admits to initially squandering their newfound freedom through extensive travel, seeking meaning but finding it unfulfilling. They introduce the concept of 'Experienced Happiness' from 'The Geometry of Wealth', explaining how it relates to immediate, fleeting pleasures that don't necessarily contribute to long-term happiness or meaning. The paragraph concludes with a realization that there's more to life than the superficial joys of travel and consumption.

05:02

💡 The Pursuit of Reflective Happiness

This paragraph delves into the distinction between 'Experienced Happiness' and 'Reflective Happiness'. The speaker describes how financial growth initially increases feelings of happiness by alleviating immediate concerns and providing a sense of control. However, this type of happiness plateaus as income increases, suggesting a limit to the joy that material wealth can bring. The speaker then shifts focus to 'Reflective Happiness', which involves deeper life satisfaction through meaningful relationships, skill mastery, and purposeful pursuits. They share their personal journey of exploration, including failed attempts at various hobbies and the gradual discovery of a passion for photography and content creation, which ultimately led to a more profound sense of fulfillment.

10:02

🚨 The Pandemic's Unintended Consequences

The pandemic's onset brought about a loss of physical and financial freedom for the speaker, but it also provided an opportunity for introspection and redirection. With travel no longer an option, the speaker turned inward, focusing on personal growth and investment strategies. The downturn in business income was offset by the growth of stock investments, leading to a renewed sense of financial security. This period also marked a return to content creation, with the launch of a YouTube channel dedicated to finance and investment, 'MoneyXYZ'. The speaker found joy in sharing knowledge and contributing value to others, experiencing 'Reflective Happiness' through creation and community building.

15:03

🌱 Embracing a Newfound Sense of Freedom

The final paragraph reflects on the speaker's current state of life, focusing on the creation and sharing of knowledge, community building, and personal growth. They discuss the establishment of a community, 'One New Bite', which has become a source of joy and fulfillment. The speaker also talks about a shift in their approach to travel, seeking more meaningful and intentional experiences. They emphasize the importance of not waiting for complete financial and time freedom to pursue life's meaning, but instead, to actively create opportunities for exploration and growth as one's circumstances allow. The speaker concludes by encouraging others to join them on this journey of discovery and fulfillment.

Keywords

💡Financial Freedom

Financial freedom refers to the state where one has enough wealth to cover living expenses without having to work actively for basic necessities. In the video, the speaker initially associates it with the ability to travel and live life on one's own terms but later realizes it's not the ultimate source of happiness. It's a ticket to happiness, but not happiness itself.

💡Time Freedom

Time freedom is the autonomy to allocate one's time as desired without being constrained by work schedules. The speaker discusses how having control over their time didn't initially bring the expected happiness, leading to a reevaluation of how to use this freedom meaningfully.

💡Experienced Happiness

Experienced happiness is a term from 'The Geometry of Wealth' that describes the immediate pleasure derived from activities such as eating or traveling. The speaker uses this concept to explain why the initial joy from travel and consumption didn't lead to lasting fulfillment.

💡Reflective Happiness

Reflective happiness is a deeper, longer-lasting sense of satisfaction that comes from building deep relationships, excelling in skills, or finding purpose in life. It's contrasted with experienced happiness in the script and is what the speaker eventually seeks and finds through content creation and community building.

💡Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is the process of starting and running a business. The speaker's journey into entrepreneurship in 2014 marked the beginning of their quest for freedom, involving long work hours and eventually leading to a reassessment of work-life balance.

💡Consumerism

Consumerism is the idea of acquiring goods and services in ever-increasing amounts as a measure of economic growth and personal success. The speaker mentions consumerism as part of their initial pursuit of happiness through travel and material experiences, which later they realize does not equate to true happiness.

💡System 1 and System 2 Thinking

These concepts from 'Thinking Fast and Slow' describe two modes of thought. System 1 is fast, instinctive, and subconscious, while System 2 is slow, deliberative, and logical. The speaker relates experienced happiness to System 1 thinking and reflective happiness to System 2 thinking.

💡Content Creation

Content creation is the process of making and sharing original content, often for an online audience. The speaker finds meaning and reflective happiness through creating a YouTube channel focused on investment and finance, which aligns with their personal growth journey.

💡Community

A community is a group of people sharing common interests or values. The speaker builds a community, 'One New Bite', which becomes a source of connection, shared learning, and a deeper sense of purpose beyond financial success.

💡Survival Mode

Survival mode refers to a state of living where one's primary focus is on meeting basic needs and overcoming immediate challenges. The speaker reflects on their past in survival mode, suggesting that it limits the ability to pursue deeper meanings in life.

💡Personal Growth

Personal growth is the process of improving and developing as a person, often through learning and self-reflection. The speaker's journey involves significant personal growth, particularly through learning about finance and investing, which leads to a more meaningful approach to life.

Highlights

The YouTuber's life offers full control over time and a degree of financial freedom, but it's not the true reality of financial and time freedom.

The so-called 'travel whenever you want' loses meaning when experienced, as freedom itself is not happiness, but a ticket to it.

The YouTuber emphasizes the importance of understanding the struggles, explorations, and reflections behind financial and time freedom.

In 2014, the YouTuber quit their job to start entrepreneurship, gaining control over time but not achieving true financial freedom.

Entrepreneurship involves working more than 16 hours a day, with no 'work-life balance', contrasting the 9-9-6 work schedule.

The YouTuber's work is not location-limited, but work follows them everywhere, making the digital nomad life less appealing.

After a year of hard work, the YouTuber found a great partner and an efficient team, reducing their working hours significantly.

The YouTuber faced the question of how to use newfound time and financial freedom, realizing they didn't know how to handle it.

Traveling as a financial freedom script didn't bring the expected meaning to life, leading to a search for deeper happiness.

The book 'The Geometry of Wealth' helped the YouTuber understand the difference between Experienced Happiness and Reflective Happiness.

Experienced Happiness is short-lived and related to current feelings, often tied to reducing unhappiness rather than increasing happiness.

Reflective Happiness requires more effort and time, involving deeper satisfaction like building relationships or finding purpose.

The YouTuber's attempts at photography and English teaching led to self-discovery and the realization of what they truly enjoy.

The pandemic forced a change in lifestyle, leading to a reevaluation of priorities and the decision to start a YouTube channel on finance.

The YouTube channel MoneyXYZ was created to share finance investment knowledge, leading to personal growth and reflective happiness.

The YouTuber emphasizes the importance of using time freedom wisely, choosing to spend it on the most important things.

Travel has evolved from a means of finding happiness to a form of reflective happiness, with intentional and immersive experiences.

Building a community, 'One New Bite', brought the YouTuber a sense of responsibility and deeper connections with like-minded people.

The YouTuber's journey shows that wealth and time are tickets to happiness, but the true meaning of life must be actively pursued.

Even in survival mode, it's important to create time and space for self-exploration and to pursue the meaning of life.

Transcripts

(Subtitles Translated by AI) Many of my friends envy my life as a YouTuber

where I have full control of my time

and a certain degree of financial freedom.

For example, I just finished a month-long trip

where I visited Kyoto and Osaka

and met several channel community members in Japan.

I then returned home to see my family

and held a community meetup in Beijing with nearly 40 people.

In early May, I went to Taiwan

and held a meetup in Taipei with 50 people.

I do not deny that this sounds enjoyable,

and it is how many people understand and imagine financial and time freedom.

However, the truth is that this is not the reality of financial and time freedom.

When you truly experience this kind of life,

you will find that the so-called "travel whenever you want" has little meaning.

Freedom itself is not happiness;

at most, it is just a ticket to happiness.

But once you get on the train,

the road ahead is still full of obstacles,

and there is a long journey to be taken.

I know that many people, upon hearing this, may think

that I am speaking without experiencing any real hardships

and saying that money is not important,

that people should pursue the kind of financial freedom that gives meaning.

But making pretentious videos about being unhappy while having a lavish lifestyle is not what I want to do.

Instead, what I want to do is share the four chapters of my life

to tell you about the struggles, explorations, and reflections

that I have experienced,

as well as the subtle truths about time and financial freedom

that I have come to understand.

Chapter 1: Attaining Freedom

In 2014, I quit my last full-time job

and began my entrepreneurship journey.

Although I gained control of my time,

it was not true time freedom,

let alone financial freedom.

I went from a 9-to-5 job to working from 5 am to 11 pm every day,

working more than 16 hours a day,

with only half a day off each week.

Compared to this, the 9-9-6 work schedule seems much happier.

No one who starts a startup talks about "work-life balance".

没有创业者会去谈论什么工作和生活的平衡

The only thing in your life is to make money

Although my job is not limited by locations

But no matter where I go

Work will follow

This is more painful than going to a job

That's why I haven't longed for the so-called digital nomad life so far

Because it’s difficult to give you a chance to focus

You can neither focus on making money

Nor can you focus on living

也不能focus去生活

After more than a year of hard work

I have a great partner

An efficient team

I can leverage other people's time

My working hours suddenly dropped to

Spend one day a week to make important decisions

At this time, I finally obtained for the first time in my life

Time and financial freedom

Then a question is placed in front of me

How should I use this freedom

I don't know if others are like this

But I don't have the ability to handle this freedom

So I started to squander it

First, I started the fixed script of financial freedomers: travel

As if one can find meaning in life through travel

好像旅行能给人生找到意似的

I ran all over Canada

And then travel abroad

Visit my families in China for one to two months every year

At that time, I was very proud of this freedom

Look, this is a photo we took when we went to Newfoundland

We are on a boat

Most of them are elderly people

Only the two of us young people

I said to my wife

我就对我太太说

You see, I don't want to be like them

Stay in the little box of the office for a lifetime

Wait until your hair turns gray before exploring the world

I am glad we can do it now

This sounds like I figured everything out

Already successful and meaningful, right?

But it doesn't

Later I found that travel is just like that

I didn't find my own meaning from travel

I have always wondered why I feel this way

Am I being shallow?

But a few months ago, I read a book

called "The Geometry of Wealth"

It explains this feeling very well

Turns out, the essence of most of my travels is a kind of

Experienced Happiness

This book divides happiness into a spectrum

There are two poles

Experienced Happiness

and Reflective Happiness

The so-called Experienced Happiness

refers to your current emotions or mood

For example, one of my great pleasures when traveling is eating

whether it's various Taiwanese snacks

or Japanese ramen

or the various foods I can't name on the streets of Mexico

They all fall into the category of Experienced Happiness

The author says that this kind of experienced happiness

often has to do with our brain's System 1 thinking

This System 1 thinking

comes from that famous book

"Thinking Fast and Slow"

It divides our brain into two parts

System 1 and System 2 thinking

System 1 refers to the fast part

often subconscious

instinctive reactions that don't require deep thought

For example, when you're hungry, you want to eat

when you're thirsty, you want to drink water

When you see danger, you want to run away

These experienced happiness have two characteristics

First, they are very brief

not very long-lasting

often related to current feelings

To obtain this kind of happiness

you need to constantly repeat it

Here, I'll add one more thing

Many people say that buying things cannot bring you happiness

Experiences can

But you need to be careful with this statement.

这里我多说一句

很多人说买东西不能给你带来幸福

体验可以

但是你要小心这种说法

Because if this experience brings you "experiened happiness"

Then it is no different from consumerism in buying things

The second characteristic of experienced happiness is

It is not positively correlated with our income level

When the income is low, with the increase of income

The experienced happiness you gain is constantly increasing

For example, traveling, consuming luxury goods, eating delicacies, etc.

But when your income reaches a certain level

Do these things again

The sense of happiness cannot continue to increase

In fact, many people have heard of this theory

That is, when your income reaches tens of thousands of US dollars

The sense of happiness will not increase with the increase of income

But what many people don't know is that the happiness mentioned here

Refers to experienced happiness related to system one thinking

Why is this so

The author said that this kind of experienced happiness

Many times it has nothing to do with happiness itself

It is more about reducing our sense of unhappiness

Hunger is a kind of unhappiness

Eating will reduce this unhappiness

Endless work is a kind of unhappiness

Traveling can reduce this unhappiness

Long-haul flights are very tiring and unfortunate

Sitting in business class can reduce this unhappiness

When traveling, being crowded in a crowded place is very unfortunate

Find a place to have an ice cream

It will dispel this unhappiness

These various "feelings of unhappiness"

Often accompanied by our lack of control over life and time

For example, if your income is very low

The pet at home suddenly gets sick

The car broke down again when you went out in the morning

You will not only be late for work

You also don't know how to afford the bills for pet treatment and car repair

At this time, you will feel very unhappy

Lack of control

The increase in income allows us to have resources to eliminate these feelings of unhappiness

Let us gain a sense of control and independence

Obtain experienced happiness

Because the problems mentioned just now

To a certain extent, they can all be solved with money

Can money buy happiness?

The previous example gave the answer

Money can buy experienced happiness

But there is a big BUT here

This kind of happiness is obtained by reducing unhappiness and the feeling of lack of control

When those unhappinesses are solved

You will not feel extra happiness

That's why after reaching a certain level of income

This experienced happiness will no longer increase linearly

A sense of control and freedom can help you resist unhappiness

But they cannot guarantee happiness

That's why I say freedom does not equal happiness

In 2016, I was fortunate enough to reach this state

But many of what I pursue is actually consumerism

It is the continuous accumulation of experienced happiness

This cannot bring more happiness

I did not find the so-called meaning from traveling either

So money and time are resources

And happiness needs to be sponsored by these resources

When your time and financial resources

Are sufficient to fund those experienced happinesses to reduce unhappiness

What kind of happiness should you fund next?

The author of this book says

We should fund reflective happiness

Reflective happiness

So-called reflective happiness is

A deeper sense of satisfaction

It can be building deep relationships with others

Excelling in a beloved skill

Striving for the freedom of autonomous choice

Or finding purpose and meaning in greater goodness

To achieve the satisfaction that these experiences can bring

It requires System 2 thinking

And is related to the prefrontal cortex that our brain has evolved

So they involve more deliberate and slower thinking

Experiential happiness and reflective happiness

The biggest difference lies in the dimension of time

Experiential happiness happens in the present

Its impact lasts for a shorter duration

And the topics involved are usually narrower in scope

But reflective happiness brings deep satisfaction

Which may last for a longer time

Because it is often based on broader participation

Reflective happiness is harder to obtain at the same time

It often requires you to put in more time and effort

Even experiences challenges and setbacks

In the end, experienced happiness is passive

whereas reflective happiness relies on taking initiative

So when I found that travel and consumption

couldn't bring me more happiness and meaning

I started trying various things and endeavors

I started doing photography

Taking photos of weddings and events for people

Taking pictures of families and pets

Going to model agencies to shoot fashion

I even made a photography YouTube channel

I also filmed a rap music video for someone

Now looking back, it's a bit embarrassing

But gradually I found that I liked photography

But I didn't enjoy taking pictures for others

While trying photography

I also started an English teaching channel

I even did a podcast about learning English for half a year

There was a time when I updated it every day

But I found that although I used to be a teacher

I didn't like teaching English

So I gave up on both of them

I often tell my wife

From 2016 to 2019, these three years

Seemed to be wasted by us

Although we were free, we were confused

I found that when people say they hope to have the opportunity one day

to do what they love

it is often self-deception

because most of the time we only know what we don't like

but we don't know what we really like

something we want to devote ourselves to wholeheartedly

That's how I was at the time

So in my confusion, my schedule became very indulgent and irregular

I would sleep whenever I wanted and wake up whenever I wanted

Often opening my eyes already at noon

And then staying up late without doing much

There was no self-discipline or efficiency at all

But now looking back

但是现在往回看

All these confusion and attempts have not been wasted.

Because these three years are equivalent to our Gap Years.

These three years are about self-exploration.

Although I haven't found the meaning of the next stage of life yet.

I haven't fully experienced that reflective happiness.

But those attempts I made

have prepared me for the changes in the next stage.

I have accumulated a wealth of knowledge and experience in media production.

Including the operation of cameras, lighting, sound, equipment, and editing software.

As well as YouTube topic selection and operation, and so on.

These three years have also made it clear to me what I don't want.

And I have been reading and studying all the time.

Studying personal finance, real estate, and stock investment.

These books have completely changed me.

From someone pursuing consumerism with sudden wealth,

to a pragmatic investor pursuing FIRE.

Then in 2020, the pandemic came.

Our lives suddenly changed.

Chapter 3: Losing Freedom

The pandemic trapped everyone at home.

My business also suffered a significant decline in income due to the pandemic.

Not only did I suddenly lose physical freedom,

I also lost some degree of financial freedom.

But this also brought me an unexpected benefit.

That is, I finally don't have to waste time traveling anymore.

I can stay at home and think about what to do next.

Fortunately,

the stock investments I made before the pandemic

began to grow rapidly.

This completely freed me from relying on active income.

At least for a long period of time,

I don't need to worry about money.

So I decided to start again.

Although my previous attempt at content creation was not successful,

it taught me one thing.

No matter how much I go around in circles,

I always want to speak, express, create, and share.

So I decided to start doing YouTube again.

This time, I plan to create an investment and finance channel.

I want to share what I learned in the years before the pandemic.

我想把疫情前几年学的

Finance investment knowledge sharing

And it cannot be denied

The surge in stocks during the epidemic

Also gave me the opportunity I need

So this channel MoneyXYZ was created

Through continuous efforts, this channel is on track

And I finally experienced that reflective happiness

Not only because this channel became successful

But because I learned and achieved personal growth through creation

Sharing what I truly believe in

And bringing value to others

Just like I said earlier

This reflective happiness doesn't come easily

Creation is difficult

And will face many setbacks and failures

But with every completed video

I feel infinite satisfaction

I can proudly call myself a writer

And a content creator

This is my new identity and meaning

At the same time, I started to reorganize my life

No longer squandering this time freedom like before

I started to try getting up early and creating a routine for life

That's why this channel appeared

That video about getting up at 5 in the morning

Interestingly, it is the most viewed video on my money channel

It also confirmed one plan I've always had

That is, this channel should not only be about money

It should be about a broader topic of money and personal growth

That's the XYZ in MoneyXYZ

Chapter 4 Regaining Freedom

After the epidemic, I regained the financial time and freedom I had before

But at this point, I am no longer

Clueless about how to use this freedom

I chose "unfreedom"

I just finished a month-long trip

And I found that compared to the freedom I had during the journey

I look forward to it ending earlier

To return to the routine I have established.

回到我建立好的routine里面

The true freedom of time is to know how to protect your own time

To choose to spend it on the most important things to you

Instead of squandering it

Since we mentioned travel

My travels are different from before

I will be more moderate

More importantly, I am starting to introduce "difficulty" into my travels

I don't even make travel plans

I don't go to tourist attractions to take photos

Completely in adventure mode

For example, when I went to Mexico, I chose to stay in a local homestay

I went to small bars where only the locals go and chatted with them

This time in Taipei, I had the opportunity to visit the home of a local audience member

And experience the daily life of people in Taipei

Last year, my trip to Europe was even less conventional

I followed my curiosity

Explored the history that interested me

And made a few small documentaries

This kind of travel is completely different from before

They are intentional travel

It is a form of reflective happiness

That brings me more lasting happiness and memories

Then, in my content creation career

I decided to take another step and build my own community from scratch

Starting a community that I had no experience in

It consumes a lot of time and energy

Although I lost "freedom of time"

I gained a responsibility for over a thousand people

But I am happy doing it

After more than half a year of learning

Trying, setbacks, and efforts

I can proudly call my community "One New Bite"

an alive

with its own unique culture

Not just a membership website

This community has brought me so many surprises and unexpected things

It has opened up a whole new world for me

Here, I have met a group of like-minded friends

We read books together

Plan for early mornings

Do online meetups

Record podcasts

The main purpose of my one and a half month trip to Asia this time

Is to meet them

It's interesting that even though we haven't met in the real world,

when we finally do meet,

it feels like we're old friends who haven't seen each other in years.

We can't talk enough.

For example, in Kyoto,

we had lunch and talked until we were asked to leave the restaurant.

Then we went to another place and talked until evening.

The activities in Beijing and Taipei

originally were designed to last four hours starting from noon.

That's already quite long.

But without exception,

every single event had a lot of people

who didn't want to leave until 8 o'clock at night.

At the event in Taipei,

I even received a surprise,

they recorded a special video for me.

It almost made me cry.

And another friend made a lovely pick-up sign

with his daughter for us.

I even brought it back to Canada.

So this is my current state,

the meaning right now,

and what I will be doing in the near future.

Creating, learning, sharing, helping,

connecting like-minded people through communities,

making change happen,

making new stories happen.

Of course, if you want to be part of it,

you are welcome to join us.

So after saying all that,

what is the truth about wealth and time freedom?

The truth is,

wealth and time are tickets to happiness.

This book says that before people pursue financial freedom,

they should first think about the meaning of their life.

I agree with this idea,

but it's difficult to do,

at least not for me.

When you're in survival mode,

you often don't have the privilege to choose

what is meaningful to you.

You may not even know what you like,

because all your energy and time

are spent on survival,

like a computer running at full capacity.

You don't have the extra bandwidth to contemplate the meaning of life.

In this stage,

在这个阶段

Every experienced happiness you obtain

is truly valuable

even if it only reduces your unhappiness

This reminds me of a comment

under a previous video about financial freedom

He said, "Typical 'first-world' problem"

I was puzzled by this comment

So I put it in the community

to hear everyone's thoughts

Then a member's reply gave me a revelation

He said many things are

"you have to have things first in order to lose it".

That's how it is

For many people

before we discuss reflective happiness,

we first need experienced happiness

But what we need to be cautious about

is that experienced happiness is a natural result

and not the ultimate goal we pursue

because it can reduce unhappiness

but cannot bring more lasting happiness

Unfortunately,

too many people have lost themselves in survival mode

thinking that these experienced happiness is all happiness

In survival mode, what we should pursue

is more safety margin and bandwidth

rather than just stopping at experienced happiness

Before 2016,

I was always living for others in survival mode

When I finally had enough safety margin and bandwidth

to live for myself

I found it difficult to find my own purpose

It took me three years

So if you are in a state of confusion right now

please don't worry

because it will pass

If you are still in survival mode

what I want to say is

you don't have to wait for absolute financial and time freedom

to pursue the meaning of your life

As your income increases

you should consciously

create time and space for yourself

to start thinking and exploring

to pursue the meaning of your life

For example, the early rising plan that many people in our community participate in

Many people give themselves a break

a gap year, to explore the new possibilities of life

Are all striving to increase the bandwidth of life

So if wealth and time

are the tickets to happiness and meaning

You don't have to wait for financial and time freedom

to buy this expensive ticket

You can buy this ticket now

when you can take a breather

even if it's cheap

It can only take you so far

Because getting on the bus is just the beginning

There is still a long way to go ahead

It's best to start this journey early