Trading Time or Buying Freedom

Your day job is not synonymous with your life purpose. Sounds controversial, right? Sometimes your job can be your purpose, but for most people, I would argue it’s not.

Let’s face it: most of us heard that “such-and-such a company is hiring” or that “this job is a high-paying job,” and we worked on our grades to apply for it. Perhaps you did an aptitude test, good for you. Not me, and many of our friends have never had this luxury. In fact, most of my friends don’t even know how to spell aptitude, let alone the meaning.

We decide on careers long before we understand life

I’m not being philosophical here (it doesn’t hurt to be philosophical anyway). Life itself is philosophical. So are questions about meaning and purpose. Why, then, do we think one needs to decide their entire career path early on?

You see, we think high school career fairs are final. Actually, we ask preschool children, “What do you want to do when you grow up?” and they say whatever job they hear or see on TV. We then hold them to pursue this dream job until they are 65. Sounds unfair to be expected to know your career path at five years.

Expecting certainty from children is… puzzling 🤔

How do we expect a toddler to be tuned in to purpose and meaning so complex when you and I struggle to decide what meal to order in a restaurant, or whether to have coffee or tea? Perhaps this is easy for most people: coffee ☕, I guess. 😂 Many people enjoy caffeine. Hot is the problem, energy drinks are the preferred option these days.

Meaning and purpose are complex enough. Add money to it, and it feels like separating spaghetti from Bolognese mince. It can be done, but it’s nearly impossible.

Your purpose is bigger than your job title

For me, the better way is to think of purpose, meaning, and life intentionally, beyond “I am a teacher; my purpose is to teach children.” Yes, that might be your work purpose, what you get paid for, but other areas exist as well, beyond the blackboard and chalk. Not today’s teachers, it’s now whiteboards.

Imagine saying, “My purpose is to clean toilets. I am a cleaner,” or “I am a retail merchandiser. That’s my purpose, yes, packing baked beans and bread on the shelf.” Money is an incentive. Someone pays us to clean toilets or to pack groceries. But if you had a choice, most of us would do something else with our lives. Don’t take it personally. You can choose to do the same job your whole life or buy the luxury of pursuing other choices. It’s hard to pursue freedom if you have the limiting belief that your working life is all there is to life.

Don’t mistake the railway line for the train 🚂

The railway line was made for the train, not the train for the railway line. Confuse these two, and you might find yourself obsessed with money, not life itself.

Purpose and meaning in life require creativity, work, and time, the very time that our working life consumes most of. By the time you’re 65, most of that time is long gone, along with the energy, drive, or imagination to dream. No wonder people have identity crises when they retire; they made their day jobs everything.

Your salary can buy you freedom, not just survival

The salary you receive every month? A portion of that can be used to pursue your sense of meaning in life, beyond packing groceries in a retail store or filling out paperwork in an office.

Freedom is the goal, freedom to pursue meaning and purpose beyond just salary and survival. That’s the freedom that allows the train to travel on a personally built railway line, while other vehicles fight for space on common roads.

Choose financial freedom over mere existence

It is a choice we have to make consciously: financial independence, or the normal expenses of just existing.

Dream beyond your working day job for meaning and purpose. Buy investments that allow you time freedom to break free from the “normal.” Many have followed the normal working script, and for many of them, it’s not working.

It’s okay if you’re happy with what you are doing forever; for most of my friends, it’s not the case. They have told me that, and I have told them to re-prioritise time freedom by saving and investing money in order to buy choices, options, and meaning beyond working for dollars or whatever currency you value.