The undisciplined person lives an undisciplined life. Many people dream of financial freedom - of the ability to wake up whenever. Do whatever. Be whatever. Live however.
But this is not a license to live an undisciplined life. Being financially free is about freeing yourself from the rat race. It's not about lambos and ferraris. It's about being free to pursue work that is meaningful to you on a daily basis.
The good life can be defined in many different ways. Growing up, I always dreamed of a good life being more money than I knew what to do with and the ability to simply go out and buy whatever I want whenever I want. To do whatever I want whenever I want.
Now, there is still a part of me that enjoys that. Fast forward to today and I have things that I dreamed of as a kid. I have fancy cars, I have a fancy house, I live pretty much however I want to live, I go to fancy restaurants, etc.
The fancy life is not the good life. Most people - including myself - have mistaken being able to have and do these things as living a good life. That's simply not how life works.
Use Time or It Uses You
I'm listening to an audiobook right now and in it, they talk about being a disciplined human. You need to learn to use time or it will use you.
I'm someone who came into money just in the past few years. Before that, I was a far more disciplined person. Focused on my diet. Focused on not wasting money. Focused on saving money. Focused on investing into things that I believed in. Focused on the future.
All of that investing turned out to be a great thing. I turned out to make a bunch of money. Millions of dollars, in fact.
What I found on the other side was not freedom but instead a different kind of cage. I upgraded my lifestyle and life became... Really expensive.
I mean, really expensive.
Fast forward to today and now my life is wildly expensive and extravagant. This is not me bragging. In fact, this has been somewhat of a double-edged sword.
While I've been able to enjoy all these things that I used to dream of, I now lack discipline in many ways. I wake up whenever, do whatever and don't care when I arrive places.
There is an element to that that I enjoy and value. But there is also an element to it that I find deeply upsetting.
You see, I've traded freedom for discipline. I'm completely free but now I lack simple disciplines in life. Eating whatever I want has made me out of shape. Doing whatever I want has made me lazy.
I feel like the fat king in a novel. I've been overfed and now it feels like a war is coming and I'm unprepared to stand on the frontlines with my troops.
This is not the king I want to be. I want to be on the front lines. I want to be disciplined. I want to show up every day and do something that is meaningful to me and to the people around me. I still want that freedom but I also want to have the discipline to deploy when It's needed.