Hallucination, Philosophy and Financial Freedom
Just in case you were wondering, I’ve taken Friday Footnotes emails down to fortnightly to ensure that I maintain the quality of content and suggestions, so don’t worry if you thought you had missed out on a few!
TRIBEathlon Podcast
Episode 53: Eilish McColgan is a Scottish middle-distance athlete who has represented Team GB in the last 3 Olympic games - initially in the 3000 metres steeplechase, then the 5000 metres and in Tokyo in both 5,000 and 10,000 meters. She is now targeting a 4th Olympics in Paris, but this time in the marathon.
Eilish comes from amazing running pedigree (she is the daughter of Olympic silver medal runner Liz McColgan and Northern Irish record holder Peter McColgan), so I wanted to find out how she continues to progress through different running disciplines, the pressures of growing up in an accomplished running family and how Tokyo compared to London and Rio given all of the COVID restrictions.
What I’ve Been Reading
Getting rich is not just about luck; happiness is not just a trait we are born with. At times, these aspirations may seem out of reach, but building wealth and being happy are skills we can learn.
Ravikant is an entrepreneur, philosopher, and investor who has captivated the world with his principles for building wealth and creating long-term happiness. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness by Eric Jorgenson is a collection of Naval’s wisdom and experience from the last 10 years, shared as a curation of his most insightful interviews and poignant reflections. This isn’t a how-to book, or a gimmicky step-by-step guide but rather, through Naval’s own words, you will learn how to walk your own unique path toward a happier, wealthier life. There are so many wise words here, I will certainly be rereading this.
TED Talk I’ve Found Interesting
In his talk What hallucination reveals about our minds, Neurologist and author, Oliver Sacks, brings our attention to Charles Bonnet Syndrome - when visually impaired people experience lucid hallucinations. He describes the experiences of his patients in heart-warming detail and walks us through the biology of this under-reported phenomenon.
Quote of the Week
Given the book recommendation, it made sense to distil some of Naval’s wisest words for you here:
“A fit body, a calm mind, a house full of love. These things cannot be bought — they must be earned.”
“Desire is a contract that you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want.”
“Forty hour workweeks are a relic of the Industrial Age. Knowledge workers function like athletes — train and sprint, then rest and reassess.”
“The genuine love for reading itself, when cultivated, is a superpower.”
“Confucius had a great saying that every man has two lives, and the second starts when he realizes he has just one.”
Finance Theme of the Week
One final quote, which comes from The Almanack of Naval Ravikant is “When you’re young, you have time. You have health, but you have no money. When you’re middle-aged, you have money and you have health, but you have no time. When you’re old, you have money and you have time, but you have no health. So the trifecta is trying to get all three at once. By the time people realize they have enough money, they’ve lost their time and their health”.
Whilst I have talked around this subject many times, including in my first book The Dream Retirement, when it was put in this way, it really made me think some more. Ultimately, we are all trying to get to financial freedom as quickly as possible, and at time where we still have our health to enjoy the life we desire. There is no need to work beyond this, unless of course you want to. Choosing to continue is a wonderful thing in itself, as long as you do so because you enjoy it.
So aim to become financially free while you still have your health, and of course the best way to tell whether you are on track for this is through lifetime cashflow forecasting.
