I hope you Achieve FI but .. be careful of this - Pitfalls of FI

Seeing every one of you achieve financial freedom would be my dream.

But there's something you should know about it before you get there.

If you think you will be happy just laying on a beach every day or playing golf every day, I'm sorry to break it to you, you probably won't be.

The analogy that sums it up best is this, the player who wins the Superbowl, wins the game, celebrates for 24 hours - then he wakes up, looks around, and asks - now what?

And the most ironic thing about the entire process is:

Here's the funniest part about achieving financial freedom. The same people who have the drive to achieve early retirement / financial freedom Will never be able to enjoy 'retirement / financial freedom' in the way that most people think of it.

It's really interesting to me.

The skill that got them there, of working hard and rarely being satisfied, is the same skill that will not let them do anything after they are free.

And I you are the person reading this blog - you are probably on a path to financial freedom. So I am making this blog to prep anyone for it and to make sure you are not depressed after you hit it. And again - I know this sounds insane - but its a real thing and more common amongst people who have retired early than you think

This blog will be broken down into 5 parts - let’s get to it!

Part 1
What to do Immediately After you Achieve Financial Freedom

Take a long vacation after you 'achieve it'.

During this time try to do as little as possible other than think, reflect, journal, and enjoy. This may seem obvious but it's a step people often forget about or just fly by. If you just hit a big goal of achieving financial freedom, there's a chance you worked really hard to achieve it - and in a lot of cases, worked so hard that you are probably burnt out.

I was definitely burned out and in talking to other friends who sold their businesses or achieved financial freedom with a big push at the end they were burned out too.

The fastest way to decompress and recharge is to unplug and force yourself out of work. This can mean going to another country, another city, or just cutting out technology from your life to play a few rounds of golf for a few weeks.

Or it can be just binging Netflix, eating ice cream, and being a bum on a Tuesday. It doesn't matter - you are allowed to do this and earned the right to do this.

So step 1 is really about doing as little as possible.

Part 2
Make a Plan for the Void

After doing nothing or being lazy for a few weeks or months, really however much time you need - there will probably be a point when you start getting bored with that - hopefully.

I’ll preface part 2 by saying - I would get ahead of this if possible. I’d still take the time off but in the months leading up to quitting your job or expecting to be financially free, I would start working on this.

You will probably start having some ideas of what you want to do next.

Or at least high-level thoughts.

If you don't, it’s not a big deal but I would recommend starting with some reading, talking to friends/entrepreneurs, and thinking back to what type of projects get you excited in the first place.

From there, start making a plan, and more importantly, think about what you want your ideal lifestyle to be. Hours worked type of work to do, where you will live, who you will spend time with.

It doesn't need to be detailed - I actually get a little worried when I hear people trying to get so specific about their goals before they have taken the time to think, plan or talk to people. Sometimes forcing a goal or vision is actually counterproductive because you set the vision in the wrong direction or too high or low.

And for people who really struggle with this, I actually recommend starting with a list of things you know you don't like doing or what a bad day would look like. A lot of times this can help give some structure to what you do like doing.

It could change, but for me - I realized my goal wasn't to have a big team with a lot of units. I realized my goals were more around starting businesses that were highly profitable with a small proficient team and playing golf in the afternoons. This could change but this is what my vision ended up being

And I also realized that I was more interested in marketing and creating content than I thought. So those are where I started setting goals and thinking about how they can be turned into a businesses

Part 3
Consider Picking up a New Skill

These can be business-related or personal skills. It doesn't matter. But we need the challenge to work on and conquer. This may be the hardest one to figure out because while most people who achieve financial freedom are ambitious, there is still a very different feeling of having absolutely no structure in your day. And continuing to push yourself or develop structure when every single day feels the same.

But I heard a good tip for this once and it's very simple. Just focus on one new personal skill and one new business skill that you want to learn each quarter.

You can have 1 more or 1 less but by doing this you keep your mind active and give yourself a new goal or carrot.

For me in my first quarter after coming back from a few months off - the skills I wanted to work on were content creation specifically youtube and Tiktok and then passing my real estate license.

The personal skill I was working on at the end of the time off was golf and playing competitively again. I'm also getting back into working out and this has been a good combo goal. I may also take Spanish but that just depends on how long I stay in Colombia.

The point is doing hard things successfully is the fastest way to regain confidence and fulfillment. Without those 2 things, there is just a lot of empty space and as the saying goes idle hands are the devil's workshop.

Part 4
Giving Back

It’s trite but I do think it’s 100% worth doing. It can be Giving back through charity, or giving back through content and consulting/mentoring.

Some of you might be the true die-hard lover of money and don't believe in charity and some may be more into it at a young age.

It doesn't matter, do it. And do it to whatever level you can be consistent with. I recommend trying to give back with time if possible as money can be cheap when you have a lot of it. But I recommend dabbling with a few different causes or types of giving back to see which actually makes you feel good - not just something you heard on a podcast once and hope that it makes you feel good or you think it should make you feel good. In order for this one to work, it should actually feel good.

For me, I was doing months of new investor calls and then running a FB group of content and giveaways. And creating content is a way I like to give back

I also donate to a few charities - pretty much anytime I see a giveaway on FB I donate - I don't need much convincing - it just makes me feel good. And something I started doing was keeping a monthly gifting budget. It can be books, tools, giveaways - whatever. People like gifts and I like the feeling of gifting or paying for people's stuff sometimes.

Try it!

Part 5
Surround Yourself With An Amazing Team

You know what I realized keeps a lot of people in jobs they hate? The same thing that keeps pro athletes in a sport they know they should have retired from 5 years ago - the camaraderie. The team, the locker room, the water cooler.

That's why offices truly exist in the first place, to hang out and have social interaction. Covid showed us that - we can be just as productive from home or alone maybe even more productive - the only difference? It can get boring and lonely.

But please if you take one thing from this blog - staying in a job to have a few laughs during a lunch break is no reason to stay in a job.

And if you choose to surround yourself with friends, employees, or partners in your new life - you can fill the social void that many jobs provide.

This was probably the hardest one for me to deal with. I think a lot of people struggled with it when covid hit but for me, it was covid hitting and then going off on my own. And about 6 months into it I realized that I was lacking the social connection that I was getting from my job.

So what I recommend is getting ahead of it. Before you leave your job or achieve financial freedom either join or start a meet-up or hang out or even a Zoom call where you can have friends in your industry or new life.

I have done a few different versions of these usually starting them myself - because I personally don't think there's enough of them out right now - a topic for another video and a business opportunity - but anyway - you can start a meetup.

And it is as simple as asking 3 people in your industry if they want to be in a text chat and get lunch or catch up once a month. it can be more or less obvious but by doing this you ensure that you can have some adult friends outside of a job which as weird as it is to say its not that easy to find.

Conclusion - And How It Went For Me

It's for sure a weird topic - and if you made it this far then you are probably pretty set on becoming financially free which is cool but it's something I think you need to plan for well before it happens.

The last thing you want to have to happen is to achieve your goal and feel depressed because you don't feel meaning or purpose anymore

For me - since I had other friends who became financially free and then became depressed - I was planning for this for a while.

And the tool I was using mainly to help with the planning was the book - 4-hour work week. If you haven't read it - I cannot recommend it enough

Tim Ferris escaped the corporate world and had all of his time back and lots of money in his bank account at a very young age. Then asked himself the question now what. I probably read a 4-hour work week 5-6 times in the last 3 months before leaving my job.

But even in doing that and thinking about it constantly, I still struggled with it - and definitely hit points where I was questioning everything and having weird days.

That's actually why I made this exact list - selfishly to help myself

But once I realized it was more normal than I thought and talked to some other friends ahead of me, and started taking the steps I just went through, I started feeling better

The last thing I will leave you with is that - the older I get in life the more I realized that problems never go away. Life is one big problem or challenge that we get to work on every day - and our attitude in solving that problem or challenge is what will ultimately dictate our happiness

If you are close to achieving financial freedom.

Good luck and if you are already there Congratulations!