Don’t ask “What is the Meaning of my Life?” Instead …
… „slow down. Don’t dance so fast. Time is short. The music won’t last. Hear the music before the song is over.“ Recently I’ve listened to Tim Ferris’ famous The Four Hours Work Week. As I had expected from reading the title, the book was an inspirational introduction to the world of passive income and entrepreneurship. Towards the end of the book, however, I had to slow down the speed with which I was listening. I went from 2.5x speed all the way down to 1.5x speed. It was getting deep.
In the previous 14 chapters of the book, Tim was promoting the idea of getting financially Independent to have time to do whatever you like. And it does make a lot of sense. Try to detach your time from the money you make, try to get out of your 9–5 job, try to become mobile, try to own your time and invest it as you wish. This is all legit and there is a lot to learn from there. One question, however, that I was wondering about as I read along was: and then? Is the goal of all this just to travel, buy stuff and retire early? There are so many rich people who are unhappy, unfulfilled, and even depressed. And there are so many poor and simple people which seem to be happy. Is this really the pathway to happiness?
This is where Tim’s 15th chapter, “Filling the Void: Adding Life After Subtracting Work”, comes into play. He addresses exactly these questions.
But wait a second … Isn’t more time what we’re after? Isn’t that what this book is all about? No, not at all. Too much free time is no more than fertilizer for self-doubt and assorted mental tail-chasing. Subtracting the bad does not create the good. It leaves a vacuum. Decreasing income-driven work isn’t the end goal. Living more — and becoming more — is. — (Tim Ferris, The Four Hour Work Week)
I think that many people forget this. They never ask themselves WHY they try to get rich and have passive income. And those who finally make it, often fall into what Ferris calls “Postpartum Depression”. But this is all part of the process. Having a lot of time leads a person to self-doubt and self-flagellation.
1. Am I really doing this to be more free and lead a better life, or am I just lazy?
2. Did I quit the rat race because it’s bad, or just because I couldn’t hack it? Did I just cop out?
3. Is this as good as it gets? Perhaps I was better off when I was following orders and ignorant of the possibilities. It was easier at least.
4. Am I really successful or just kidding myself?
5. Have I lowered my standards to make myself a winner? Are my friends, who are now making twice as much as three years ago, really on the right track?
6. Why am I not happy? I can do anything and I’m still not happy. Do I even deserve it?
And then there comes the question of all questions: “what is the meaning of life?” — well, what is it? Here is where the mind-twist comes in. Ferris answer to this really resonated with me and I thought this is indeed worth sharing. After having slowed down the speed of my audible book, I’ve repeated to this section about 10 times because it was so insightful. Even Tim Ferris said that this is the most important take-away from his book. Here you go, you read this passage yourself:
Consider the question of questions: What is the meaning of life?
If pressed, I have but one response: It is the characteristic state or condition of a living organism. “But that’s just a definition,” the questioner will retort, “that’s not what I mean at all.” What do you mean, then?
Until the question is clear — each term in it defined — there is no point in answering it. The “meaning” of “life” question is unanswerable without further elaboration. Before spending time on a stress-inducing question, big or otherwise, ensure that the answer is “yes” to the following two questions:
1. Have I decided on a single meaning for each term in this question?
2. Can an answer to this question be acted upon to improve things?
“What is the meaning of life?” fails the first and thus the second. Questions about things beyond your sphere of influence like “What if the train is late tomorrow?” fail the second and should thus be ignored. These are not worthwhile questions. If you can’t define it or act upon it, forget it. If you take just this point from this book, it will put you in the top 1% of performers in the world and keep most philosophical distress out of your life.
Sharpening your logical and practical mental toolbox is not being an atheist or unspiritual. It’s not being crass and it’s not being superficial. It’s being smart and putting your effort where it can make the biggest difference for yourself and others. (Tim Ferris, The Four Hour Week)
This was a long passage, but it is definitely worth reading. So many people nowadays despair in face of this question. It is a question that people in the lead the richest and wealthiest people on this planet to frustration, sometimes even to depression. What Ferris offers hear is one of the deepest responses to this, that I’ve ever read. Essentially, what he says is that this is the wrong question. There is no way for us to find an ultimate answer for this.
Alright, we accept this. But what then? What do we want to do when we have a lot of time? Sure, enjoying oneself is important as well. Enjoying life and doing the things you always dreamt of. But this is not everything. Still, you will be left with a feeling of being unfulfilled. While enjoying yourself, Ferris argues, there are two fundamental elements that have proven to make you feel good about yourself: continual learning and service.
First, choose something that you are passionate about and learn it. A language, a culture, an instrument. If you do this in a group with other interested people, this will be even more fun. Continual learning will keep you passionate and motivated. He also suggests to choose something which challenges you mentally and something that challenges you physically. So in addition to acquiring a new language, start learning Martial Arts or Dancing or anything else along these lines.
The second fundamental element to feel good about yourself is service. For him, service is simply “doing something that improves life besides your own”. What he suggests is to become an active member and participant of this world. This includes trying to save, help and improve life on this planet through various means. Find the cause that interests you most, and go for it. Spend your time and energy for the sake of this cause. Combine your continuous learning with this cause so that you can give even more and have a more deep impact. But don’t rush it. And don’t overestimate the impact you can have. It is actually not about the impact. It is about your effort. If you put in the effort to do something good, even if the impact is very limited, then you’ve done your part, you are fine!
If you are still reading, then I want to thank you, I appreciate it! Here comes the most important take-away from all what I’ve written above:
The most decisive and most important mind-blowing takeaway from all this is that we don’t have to wait until we’ve freed ourselves from any 9–5 job in order to do these two things. We can have what the richest people on this planet don’t have, right now. We can make it a point that we want to learn something new and do something good every single week. Let’s make it a point!
This brings me to my last point. Being rich should not be the goal at all. Of the 2.1 million people who bought a copy of Tim Ferris’ The Four Hour Work Week, the vast majority is not going to become rich and financially independent for various reasons. Let’s face it. It’s not impossible, but it is not easy either! So let’s try it, that’s alright, but let’s live the best of our lives regardless of if we’re going to make it or not. Thereby, we can fully enjoy and feel good about ourselves in our current lives, at whatever stage we are, and still try to do all the passive-income stuff. Live in the moment, live in the present.
You’d better slow down.
Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won’t last.
When you run so fast to get somewhere You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day, It is like an unopened gift thrown away.
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower.
Hear the music Before the song is over.
(Quoted in Tim Ferris “The Four Hour Work Week”)
