George Kao challenges the common pursuit of "financial freedom" and passive income, arguing that yearning for escape often masks not having found deeply meaningful work and people to serve. He describes that once you discover work you love and clients you want to help, the desire to escape fades and the focus becomes improving your craft. He emphasizes doing this without burning out and describes his own practices (frequent breaks, naps, short computer stretches, dog walks, every-other-Friday off, no evenings/weekends work). He also critiques the idea of businesses on ‘‘autopilot’’, suggesting stagnation results if one is only vacationing rather than adding value.
Questions this video answers
November 29, 2017.
Four naps a day.
Two or three dog walks a day.
Every other Friday off.
About 30 to 60 minutes per stretch.
Chapters
I used to dream of financial freedom, having passive income, being able to make money while I sleep, and being able to go to vacations all around the world and be able to buy anything I want because I had so much money just rolling in passively. And then I realized that the reason why I was yearning for financial freedom was because I hadn't yet discovered work that I truly, deeply, love, loved. And there's my dog, Buddy, running around. And I hadn't discovered a group of people that I really wanted to help. Now they are my clients, and I'm so grateful to be able to serve them. But now that I have discovered work that I truly love and people that I really love to help, it's like I want to do it all the time. I no longer feel like I need to escape to have financial freedom. What I do, what I yearn for now, is to keep getting better and better at my craft. That is what makes me so happy and fulfilled. And that's what I yearn. That's what I hope that you can experience as well. And now it's not that I want you to become a workaholic or that I am one. I take plenty of breaks throughout the day. I talk about this in my videos on joyful productivity. I take four naps a day. I take two or three dog walks a day, and I take every other Friday off. Of course, the weekends are off. My evenings are of course, off. I don't do any work on the weekends or evenings, and I take several other kind of blocks a year off. So I take plenty of breaks. But my breaks are for the purpose of resting, renewing, and then coming back to work with fresh ideas, more energy. Fresh energy and being able to serve my clients even more effectively and my audience, like you, even more effectively. And so I feel like this dream of financial freedom and passive income is being sold to us when we haven't yet discovered work we love. And you'll discover work you really, really love when you are offering a service or product that is so meaningful for others that they are so happy to pay you for it. And so you are earning an income doing what you love, and then, very importantly, doing it in a way that doesn't burn you out. So that's another really important key. This is why I talk so much about joyful productivity. Because a lot of people, they just overwork. They burn themselves out. They spend too much time at the computer. On any given stretch, any particular stretch of time I'm at the computer is only maybe 30 to 60 minutes max. And I'm always up getting some tea, taking a break, taking a nap, whatever it may be. So I'm only at the computer with very limited stretches. So I haven't felt burned out in many years, in fact. So that's what I hope for you. And I feel like if we can all get to that state, instead of all yearning for financial freedom and taking vacations and freedom from work, rather what if we could be earning a living doing the work that is so meaningfully useful to other people, that expresses our strengths so that we love to do it and really lifting up the world as a result? Because anybody else who's out there having financial freedom and passive income, right, they essentially have a business that's on autopilot. And a business that's on autopilot essentially mean a business that is stagnant. It's not innovating and becoming even better. Does that make sense? Because that person is not adding value. That person is vacationing. And again, I'm like I said, I take vacations too, but that's not what I yearn to do all the time, is just be on vacations all the time. Do you see what I mean? So you are either adding value, innovating, using your strengths to make your work even more effective, or you are vacationing and not doing that right? And so if we can, my hope, my mission, my I guess manifestos, is if we can all do the work that we love and find our purpose in doing in uplifting the world rather than satisfying our own temporary pleasures of experiences, right? Then the world would be uplifted much more quickly than people just wanting financial freedom and passive income. Does that make sense? So anyway, I think I've said enough in this video. Let me know what you think. I wish for you a life of true fulfillment, deep sense of gratitude and contribution, and being able to see the difference you are making in others lives.
