Freedom is not money, freedom is doing the things that make you happy. The purpose of money, the only reason money matters, is to sustain the life you want.

If you want to be free, then you have to know what you want. But asking the questions that will lead you to figuring out what it is you want is a very hard job.

Like Ryan did, most people will go after the money believing that once they have that, they can make a grab for freedom. The troublesome thing that happens when you do that though is that the money itself becomes the purpose, and your life has none.

Ryan has boiled financial freedom into 5 steps to follow so tune in to learn the way — but do be careful, these steps need to happen in this exact order for the system not to break.

Key Takeaways

1. 1. Decide [4:17]: you are absolutely required to decide, what you want your life to be like and be clear about it, don't make it someone else's life or belongings — don't covet. Decide what you want and pull it into the present.
2. 2. Cut out [6:26]: you don't get without giving up, the universe requires you to make a trade to create the room for something new. Nowadays we have an overabundance of everything, but your primal brain doesn't like to cut things out, it only processes the immediate loss, not future gain. To counter that, you have to be very intentional about what you want (step 1) and start cutting out things that don't align (step 2) to give yourself space for step 3 because you don't get to expand until you have made the room for it.
3. 3. Expand (you have just created the space!) [11:07]: what are you expanding into? New businesses, new relationships — we are the 5 people we spend the most time with — learning, reading, listening. But this expansion, in order to continue, will require you to keep giving up things, it's a positive feedback loop. What from the past will you decide to bring into the future.
4. 4. Invest [13:13]: skip the short game and plan for long term results. Follow Ryan's Tribe 5 areas of long term investment Time, Relationships, Income, Expansion.
5. 5. Give [15:52]: it sounds silly but it's true. You are never ever free if you are in a take, scam, hack or extort mentality. You need to find what you have to give be it money, time, knowledge, anything really, and invest it!
6. People always want the hack but the only thing that creates financial freedom is you deciding that you want a different life, cutting out the things that are not in accordance with that life, expanding into new possibilities, investing for the long term and constantly giving.
7. You want to build the life you want? To get happy? To be free of the game? That's how.
8. Mentioned in this episode
9. Intentional community
10. Dan Sullivan
11. Robert Kiyosaki
12. Tribe 5