Pursuing Passions

Recently, I listened to a Joe Rogan podcast about the idea of being unhappy in your life. Joe Rogan and his guest began to talk about the ideas of hating your job, being stuck in a cubicle all day, and avoiding this by going after the things you are truly passionate about.

At this point a little bell went off in my head and I of course immediately related this to the whole financial independence philosophy. The reason these two relate is that pursuing FI is generally done for that exact reason. You are trying to eliminate mandatory work from your life, along with other things that make you unhappy, to pursue things in life that will make you happy. Now I know I throw this word happy out a lot on this blog but happiness should truly be the focal point of life. I decided to look up the definition of happiness and found that it can mean a few things.

Happiness can mean:

1. A feeling or showing of pleasure or contentment

2. Having a sense of confidence or satisfaction. 

3. Being satisfied with the quality or standard of something. 

So when we think about these three things we can relate them to our lives and say, I want to be satisfied and seek pleasure in my life because I know that time is my greatest asset and I want to take advantage of it. 

How can we seek out happiness?

I think one of the best ways to achieve this is by pursuing your passions. Each and every one of us has something that we are passionate about. It can range from many different things such as woodworking, cooking, art, building things, coaching, teaching a subject, fitness, being outdoors, playing sports, writing, and the list goes on. The great part is that today this can be so easy. It can be done through starting a website, a YouTube channel, a blog, a podcast, or actually going out and interacting with people and sharing your passion. The opportunities are there, you just have to do it.

My passion for many years now has been the idea of becoming financially independent and spreading that idea with others. It is a topic that when brought up I would get a little excited about inside and I couldn’t wait to share everything about it with people. After years and years of reading many books, blogs, and listening to podcasts about this stuff I had always looked for ways that I could share this idea with people, because I truly think it can make people happier and make this world a better place. I looked for outlets on how to teach kids personal finance, I tried to find adults who needed help getting out of debt, and I even thought about writing a blog about it. But I quickly talked myself out of this idea because who was I to write a blog about this stuff. There are already so many experts out there writing about FI and doing podcasts on it, and I’m already way behind the curve and no where near as smart as them.

One day while talking to the cowriter of this blog Gabe about his personal finance situation he brought up the idea that I should really write about FI and early retirement. That there is such a big audience out there and that if you create a good product people will read it. Gabe inspired me with his viewpoints and I thought, “Well if I never try then maybe some day I’ll probably regret it.”

So here we are about two months later and I am here writing a blog article for you to read. We are also starting up a podcast and have already recorded three episodes. Also since starting this blog I found the organization Junior Achievement, and I am currently in the process of signing up to become a volunteer with them, teaching middle school to high school age students all about financial literacy.

While we are no where near “successful” yet and we still struggle with motivation at times due to having a smaller audience and little interaction with the people that read this blog, we understand that everyone has to start somewhere. Even Joe Rogan mentioned that when he started he had only a couple hundred listeners for his podcast for a long period of time that has now grown to millions. Everyone has to start somewhere and it is generally at the bottom and only hard work and providing a good product will bring growth.

Now no matter what your passion is, you should be seeking it out. Even if this passion has nothing to do with earning you money or allowing you to quit your job, the benefits from just going out there and doing it are unprecedented. When you are truly passionate about something the opportunities it may bring are endless. 

I’ll leave you with this final reminder. When you decide to pursue financial independence and make the decision that you will change a few small things in your life to save more money, you are not only setting yourself up to be wealthy in the future. While having that money is great, the biggest benefit is the time, freedom, and options you will open up to yourself to pursue the things in life that your are truly passionate about. So don’t waste any more time. Go pursue your passion.

-Matt-