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The Hierarchy of Freedom

By Clate Mask on September 24, 2009

FreedomWhat do entrepreneurs really want?  What makes us tick?  Why do we do what we do?

I used to think the answer was money.  Then I came to the conclusion it’s not money — but time — that entrepreneurs truly desire.  After all, what good is all the money in the world if you’re working like a madman, never having the time to enjoy the fruits of your labor?

I realized there’s more to it than money and time.

I became convinced that money and time are nice, but the real trick is to find the meaning in our work.  Because when we find meaning, we get great satisfaction, we have the energy to do it all and we are able to really enjoy our money and time.

It turns out, these three rewards of successful entrepreneurship — money, time and meaning — can really be summarized as freedom.  Yes, I believe freedom is the pursuit that really makes entrepreneurs tick.

I’ve concluded that these three aspects of freedom (money, time and meaning) follow a hierarchical order:  first comes money, then comes time, and meaning.  Like Maslow’s hierarchy suggests, we entrepreneurs need to move up the freedom hierarchy to achieve entrepreneurial success.

Let’s leave out the first stage of freedom, money.  There’s plenty of stuff out there to help you Double Your Sales. ;)   I want to focus on the time and meaning.  I’ve got tons of thoughts on the subject, which I’ll add in the comments, and talk more about in future posts.  But I’d like to hear your thoughts about the freedom hierarchy. 

Where are you on the pyramid?  And what do you do to achieve time and meaning?

–Clate

[Photo by zoutedrop on Flickr]

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  • Good stuff, Nick. I echo your thoughts and those of Perry, especially the notion that our achieved levels of money, time and meaning quickly become the new norm. I actually think that's where the real trick lies: to be GRATEFUL for the money, time and meaning... because when we're grateful we reinvest our money and time into greater levels of meaning.

    It's easy to say, "Be Grateful" but it can be so hard to do for the hard-driving entrepreneur inside.
  • Nick Neilson
    I asked Perry Marshall about a similar theme - what difference his success had had on his personal life and relationship with his family. His answer was very intriguing to me.

    He didn't tell me about a single thing he'd purchased or a vacation he'd taken. He told me that money and time create two effects - they multiply whatever you are, and they hasten whatever you're becoming. Obviously, whether those effects have positive or negative consequences depends on the individual - who they are and who they're becoming.

    He told me that not worrying about consumer debt or monthly bills was very nice and he should probably be more appreciative of it, but after time, it becomes the new norm, and you again start to look for larger mountains to climb and battles to conquer.

    Finally, he said that the biggest negative about his success was that he woke up every day realizing that the vast majority of everyone on the planet is living in poverty and there's nothing his success is going to do to make a difference on any mass scale.

    He said that the biggest positive was that it had given him "time" and "meaning" to become more of who he is - and Laura (his wife) more of who she is. He has time and resources to explore the "rabbit holes" that intrigue him all the way to the end. And he can prepare a pattern and expectation for children to follow to do the same.

    No grand thesis or great fireworks inducing conclusions here, but real meaty heavy stuff.
    I told him that thinking of entrepreneurial success as a multiplier and hastener of what's already inside me, rather than a change inducing miracle cure for all that's negative inside me was a new paradigm - one that required, and is still requiring me to re-think a lot of things.

    Nice post Clate - Talk to you later.

    Nick
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