Freedom in life

We are all searching for Freedom in life. I believe we can agree on that point. But what is Freedom? What does it mean? …and how do we perceive it? Some people just don’t want to be “free” because they would rather not take any decisions but prefer to belong to a community where the responsibility is more of a collective nature.

In whatever way we try to define what Freedom really is, the most general and out-of-discussion answer would be something like

Freedom = Do What You Want To Do

Professional people studying the behavior behind “Freedom” talk about “Free Will.”

Freedom is a word that no one, officially at least, is willing to erase from their list of desires in life. This is not the place to discuss political issues, but it is interesting just to take note that leaders from countries considered pure dictatorships on one side and well-known democratic leaders on the other extreme, they both are talking about freedom as a non-negotiable parameter in their societies. From a human perspective, it could be a strong acclamation.

Do Not Touch My Freedom!

Maybe somebody will now argue that there are different kinds of freedoms: political, financial, religious, and so on. Is it like that?

If we look into a theoretical scenario in which I am the only person on Earth, in theory, I could do whatever I want. No one should be there to try and stop me if I did something wrong. No one should tell me when I do something good or bad, and no one should be upset if my way of acting interfered with her/his personal interests.

Thus, we conclude that freedom in life interacts when a group of people tries to live together in a community. In our search for personal freedom, we need to consider and respect other people living in the same community who probably have other interests than our own.

Going back to the real world, where we are not alone but where almost 7 billion people have to live together, “My Freedom” can be obtained by using cruelty and other methods to take away other people’s freedom. An example of this is slavery which still exists in certain parts of the world. I can also obtain “My Freedom” with complete respect for other people’s fight for their freedom.

The good thing about using this second method is that I will not be the one blocking other people´s development, and I will not be creating enemies in my surroundings. This path toward real freedom in life requires, in the first place,

Moral and ethics

However, my goal of reaching personal freedom will also need ingredients such as planning, persistence, hard work, creativity, a high level of affording frustrations, and a lot of “trial-and-error”-mentality. In other words,

Freedom corresponds to true entrepreneurship.

Why be an Entrepreneur?

A lot of people ask why they should become entrepreneurs if it takes so much effort and time to achieve their goals. The answer is quite simple and easy:

Not all people want to be entrepreneurs.

A lot of people refuse to accept what it takes to reach freedom through true entrepreneurship.

Famous entrepreneurs like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, and Ingvar Kamprad, to mention just a few of the most successful, come from different segments of the business world but have something in common.

They had a vision they converted into a plan. They worked extremely hard, had a lot of ideas, and surrounded themselves with creative people. If you have read any of their biographies, you know well how many mistakes they made on their “journey” and the ability they had to cope with frustrations, never give up, and be persistent in achieving their goals.

Most people who admire these entrepreneurs believe that money is the main driver for achieving what they do. But how can we then explain that Ingvar Kamprad, among the 5 richest in the world, drives around in an old Volvo at least 20 years old and always flies economy class when his fortune probably would be enough to buy the entire airline he is flying with?

Why did Steve Jobs not charge any salary from Apple when he was hired the second time to become CEO of his “own” company”? The answer is simple and easy this time as well: Money is not their motive!

Money is not the main motive

Analyzing successful entrepreneurs and how they achieved what they did in life, in most cases, all starts with an idea of something. The idea suddenly becomes a passion representing the whole engine for the hard work to come, with frustrations, failures, and in the end, success. All this is nothing else but the free and enthusiastic will to do what I want. In other words, the search for Freedom.

When talking to people who have had success with what they have been doing in their lives, they never talk about how much money they have earned. Instead, they can spend hours talking about their passion and how they achieved what they did. It is common that they talk about their multiple failures on their road to success. They do it with pride because they know that without all these failures, it would have been almost impossible to make any progress toward the final result.

From entrepreneurs and soccer heroes

Famous soccer players of our day, like Ronaldo, Messi, or Beckham, who today have enough money to live the rest of their lives without any worries about money, did they decide to become millionaires by playing soccer when they were kids? I don´t think so.

First of all, during their lower teenage years, when they were still developing their skills, no one could predict or guarantee that their skills would bring them to a position where their pockets would be overloaded with money. Second, if money should have been the trigger, I don´t think their motivation should have been sufficient to do all the necessary training and sacrifices to one day be a player belonging to the world elite.

The same goes for Bill Gates and his fellows. I don´t think his goal was to develop Microsoft Windows to become rich. Instead, he had a tremendous passion for software and was one of the few who saw its tremendous need and potential. Beckham and his friends had a passion for being good players, then one of the best, to finally occupy the top places in the world elite.

Passion and freedom mark the path.

On my 15^th of April blog post this year, we were analyzing the same topics, and we came to the conclusion that,

Freedom and Passion are linked closely together

Now we shall make an even stronger statement and establish that,

Freedom always starts with Passion

Freedom can often be difficult to achieve, and the stronger our passion at the starting point, the more likely we are to achieve our goal of freedom. The road is long and complicated, which is why you need to plan your journey properly.

“Money won’t create success, the freedom to make it will.”

Nelson Mandela

Along the road, we will face obstacles, challenges, and rewards. Obstacles can include failures, laws and regulations, sabotage, running out of funds for operations, etc. Challenges can include, for example, reviewing and changing a working plan, affording frustration, hard work (many hours per day), and competition.

Progress will be a natural result when working properly and constantly with obstacles and challenges. Sometimes progress is slow and sometimes fast, but we shall always proceed forward. During the process, the rewards will start to pop up.

Maybe we invented a product or a service that results in a patented brand. Perhaps we get public recognition for something highly valued by society. We can go on for a long time, but the bottom line is that recognition and rewards, by default, produce income, money, or whatever we would like to call it.

Being rich happens to people who achieve their Freedom by actively working on something they are deeply passionate about.