What does it mean to be free?

I vividly remember working in a job that I absolutely did not want to be in. The hours were long, the pressure was extreme and by the time my working week came to an end, I felt exhausted with no energy to do anything else.

But the worst part was that I felt trapped. Work felt meaningless and with little time to do anything else, life felt meaningless.

All I wanted was to be free. Life would be amazing if I worked for myself…wouldn’t it?

Except it didn’t.?

Once I left my job and started my own business, I thought I was free because life was on my own terms. Doing exactly what I wanted. I made that choice.

I was working even more hours with far greater pressure and no safety net at all.

And that craving for freedom was still there.

My business was eating up so much of my time that I didn’t have the opportunity to make time for the things that mattered in my life.

With little time for family or friends and bound by making enough money to keep the business afloat, I started to question what it actually meant to be free.

Rich Litvin talks about distinguishing between ‘Freedom From’ and ‘Freedom To’

Most people want ‘Freedom From’ - ?“My life will be better once I quit my job or once I save up enough money or get a promotion”

Beyond that comes?‘Freedom To’ – This is the freedom to explore new hobbies, express your creative side or travel to new places.

I was reminded of this when a client recently approached me feeling like he had enough of a high-profile, high-pressure sales role.

He felt burned out and was considering pausing from work completely and taking a whole year off.

Rather than immediately entertaining the idea of a career change, I wanted to slow down and truly understand what was going on in his world.

So I asked him one simple question

“What would you with all the freedom that you will gain from quitting your job”

His list included spending more time with family, going to the gym every day and going to watch his favourite football team play live at least once a month.

This led to my next question:

“What would life look like if you retained your job but also had time to be with family, go to the gym and watch your local football team?”

With that question in mind, he discovered that the cause of his stress was not the job itself, but his time management and prioritisation ability – something that is way easier to resolve without taking a year off work!

He thought he wanted freedom from his job but what he really craved was the freedom to spend time doing things that really mattered to him.

The reality is that more often than not it's not the job that’s the problem – it’s the lack of time to do anything but your job.

When stressed, under pressure or unhappy with our lives our immediate instinct is a desire to quit or make a drastic life change (Freedom From)

But in reality, what often shows up is a desire to spend more time doing things that fulfil us (Freedom To)

And the irony is that to create the freedom to do what you want actually requires structure and discipline. It means planning your time more effectively, saying no when required and most importantly knowing when to stop.

Structure creates space. Space creates time. And time creates freedom.

How much freedom do you have in your life at the moment?

How can you create the freedom to do more of what you want to do in your life?