Freedom Test, Dealing With Wealth, Preparing For A Crisis, Walk To Work
The Contrarian Letter #25
Hello Folks!
I hope all of you are staying safe. The second wave of covid-19 in India has been tragic. I hope each of you and your family members are safe.
đ The Freedom Test
Itâll be almost six months since I quit my job. The job was something I did not enjoy. It was toxic and made me question my activities each day. The last six months have had their own share of ups and downs but I did enjoy each day. No regrets whatsoever. It is not that I wanted to quit and sit at home. I would not want that kind of life. I am not an advocate of retiring early. In the last six months, I have started two businesses, continued with my running coaching, read a few books, and learnt to play the âSpring by Vivaldiâ on the piano.
Only by dropping things you do not enjoy can you make space to do things you love. One way to test if you really like what youâre doing is to try the âWhat Day Is It Test?â. Here is what it looks like. (Source: Twitter)
đ° What Do You Do With Wealth?
âWhat if I do not live a very long lifeâ? is one question everyone asks when you ask them to save more money or to focus on wealth creation. A very valid question for which there is no right answer. One way to answer this would be to assess whether you make a positive contribution on the planet. Staying frugal, having a higher purpose for your money and creating wealth are ways through which you set examples for others. Your family, your friends and your followers learn from your actions. Would you want the people who surround you everyday to be the victims of instant gratification like you? Or would you want to set better example for them.
As you grow your capital you will reach a pivot point when you feel you finally have a choice to do what you want in life. Some of you will choose to keep your day jobs because you love them. But some of you will choose to finally break free from a job and routine that have been holding you back. Either way, you will know what it truly means to have free capital. - I hope this inspires you
Wealth enables you to help others. By living within or below your means, you will create a sizeable corpus that you could be used to donate generously. Why do we earn money is a very interesting question to answer. I made an attempt to answer it last year. You can read on the blog.
â The Crisis No One Was Prepared For
The second wave of the pandemic hit India with a surprise. Our guards were down. No one was prepared for it. Along with the problems of lack of oxygen, hospital beds or adequate availability of medicines, it also bought along financial issues. Earlier this week, I wrote a post sharing my thoughts on emergency funds and the preparation you must do for your family. Read here.
đ Why Arenât We Happy?
Most of us know what will make us happy and yet we tend to not do those things. Fear, status games, greed are some of the factor that keep us away from living a happier life. Wasnât technology supposed to make our lives easier and make us happier? Doesnât look like thatâs happening. More and more of us are falling prey to depression. The world is increasingly being designed to suck life out of us. There seems to be a negative correlation between smartness and happiness.
Raj Raghunathan has given an excellent talk on living a life of fulfillment and happiness.
đ¸ Interesting Findings On The Web
If your workplace was 90 kms away, would you consider walking to work? Well some one did that. Twice.
Depths of wikipedia is an interesting instagram account that shares interesting and weird wikipedia entries. One account you should follow.
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Take care. Stay safe.
Thanks for this issue.
I am freelance myself and freedom advocate but it seems to me that the "which day is it" test is overrated and a mark that the person who reply idk is not sociable enough. And indicate in some cases that's a person who don't care much.
irl scenarios you -even if you're totally a real free person- know exactly which day is it if your best friend birthday is tomorrow or your son first day in school or your brother (while he's in prison) visit days or your cousin funeral. It's a rare days in a whole years. Still you will know exactly which day is it if you want to be a reliable friend/Contact.
We are obligated to know the days if we are a sociable critters enough.
So in general the slaves (payroll fellows) do better in term of been good enough friends and contacts.
Meanwhile a lot of so called free people have a very poor social skills.
That's not defence of the day job but just a comment. đđˇ