Episode 24: Why Do We Want Financial Freedom and What is Our Mission?

Episode 24

[INTRODUCTION]

00:00

Ann Tsung: Everybody wants financial independence, wants to have time. What is that going to give you? What is that going to buy you? If you are hustling, why have you been hustling? I think it really helps to know where you came from and where are you going to go one you’ve achieved that.

00:26

ANNOUNCER: If you’re struggling with your vitality, energy, mood, focus, or sleep, this podcast is for you. Your host, Dr. Ann Tsung, ER doctor, and aerospace flight surgeon, will help you reach for the stars and remove the barriers or blockades that have been holding you back from living your best life. If you’ve been challenged by your health, relationships, or productivity, then it’s time for a breakthrough. So, here’s your host, Dr. Ann Tsung.

[START]

01:00

Ann Tsung: Hello, welcome to It’s not Rocket Science Show. I am your host, Dr. Ann Tsung. Today I’d like to talk about the why, the purpose of why you want to achieve financial freedom. We talk about it all the time because we want to have freedom, have a lot of money, we don’t want to have to work. We don’t have to trade time for money. But really, what has been that drive since you were little? How have you grown up and what really has propelled you to really want to achieve that? There’s got to be some reason, since you’re a little and I’m going to take a deep dive of my reasons why. And we’ll discuss also, what is your actual mission once you have achieved financial freedom because yes, you can achieve financial freedom. And you can spend time with people you can retire, you can go sit on the beach, drink pina coladas, but you’re probably going to be bored. Most people I’ve talked to became bored after a few months. And you really have to have a second purpose after that. And what is your mission? What is your purpose after that? 

02:01

So, I think if you go back to prior episodes, I’ve talked about the five freedoms, you want to have time freedom so you can go anywhere you would like, spend as much time on work or as little time on work and it’s basically flexible on your schedule. You want to have location freedom, you can be anywhere you want in the world and still be able to contribute to the world and do your work. And number three, you want to have vitality freedom. So, what that means is that you want to have fantastic health, not only good health, but you want to excel, you want to wake up with energy, you can just radiate the energy out to the people around you, and it lasts all day. You can reach peak performance throughout the day without the help of caffeine, coffee or anything like that. And you want to have emotional freedom. So emotional freedom is essentially, you are so resilient, or even what they call anti-fragile, you come out above any sort of challenges, any hardship, any harsh words, any criticism, or any setbacks in your life. And you can take that in as a lesson; you don’t go down the downward spiral into depression, and you come out with an optimistic point of view from it. So essentially, zen like a monk.

03:23

And then of course, financial freedom is another one that’s very, very common. And financial freedom is essentially, your passive income where you don’t have to put in the time to work. It is coming into the point where it can replace your current salary, your current standard of living, and even more, you can contribute however much you want to. There’s financial independence and the financial freedom you can contribute what you want to do what you want to, and really, for me, is the ultimate goal. So, when I was looking back at the reason why I push so hard to make money, make money, make money. I think it has to do with the fact that I was an immigrant from Taiwan. 

04:08

I moved from Taiwan with my mom, she was divorced. They were divorced when I was little. So, it’s just my mom and I, when I was nine years old in Houston. And initially, she became a server at a Chinese restaurant. And we were really poor. We, essentially, used a big cardboard box and flipped it upside down. And that was my dining table for close to a year, maybe six months to a year. And we also couldn’t afford anything larger than a one-bedroom. So, I was sharing a bed with my mom in the same bedroom until I was in high school. And I remember also how tired my mom was when she worked in the restaurant. She worked at IHOP. She worked at Chinese restaurants. She would take the late shifts all the way till 2 or 3 am to make extra money. And she worked seven days a week for a period of time. Seven days a week. Can you imagine that? And I remember one day I was at home late at night because she worked the night shift till like 2, 3 am, and she came home so scared and just so fearful, and she was yelling uncontrollably. 

05:20

And it turned out that she was just robbed in the parking lot. And all her tips that night were gone. And through the struggle, because she was actually fighting with the robber, because it was her hard-earned tips throughout the night. And so, she struggled with him and wouldn’t let her purse go. And so she suffered sprains on her wrist, on her arm, and she was dragged on the ground. It was very sad. Really imprinted on me at such a young age, I believe I was probably 10 years old, that if you don’t have money, or if you have to work so hard for money that is pain and suffering, and it was probably a loss of $50, $60. But to her, it was everything. That night it meant so much to her because it could have paid the electricity bills or the water bills. So ever since then, I didn’t want my mom to suffer anymore. I thought that if I just made $100,000 a year, oh my god, I will be like a queen, we will be rich, and we will be good. Oh my gosh.

06:30

And so that’s what I strove for. I was like, you know, from applying to medical school, I felt like I couldn’t let my mom down, I have to reach financial independence, I have to be able to support the family, I want to be able to pay off her house. So, it would be like a shame to me and the family if I did not get into medical school, because to me, not only was it a profession that could help people, but it was also something that could decrease the pain and suffering of the family. And so now, the why’s have evolved throughout the years. And that has been my strongest why really, since I was little, all the way through. And now that I’ve reached that level, I’ve reached the stability in finance, I’ve reached that level. And now it’s, now really, it’s the five freedoms. Now, you want to have emotional freedom, vitality, freedom, you want to have financial freedom, time, and location freedom. And so those are my why’s so far, that’s why I want to keep going. 

07:38

And I share that story with you. Because when you look back far enough, everybody wants financial independence, wants to have time, and what is that going to give you? What is that going to buy you? If you’re hustling, why have you been hustling? And I think it really helps to know where it came from. And where are you going to go once you’ve achieved that. Because for me, right now, not only do I want to achieve financial freedom, I want to achieve it with peak performance. I want to achieve it, with inner peace so that I’m not just go, go, go and like forgetting my family and friends and my relationships. I want to achieve a sense of inner peace fulfillment. I want to help people create more time to do what they want, to create the vitality, create the relationships so that they can do everything they want to do. 

08:33

And when money’s no object, when time is no object for me then, I really, really had to think deep about this. My coach, Vikram Raya, asked me this question, multiple levels deep. Really, when you reach that point, when money and time is no object. What are you going to do? What are you really going to do? You know, what do you want to change in the world? Have you ever thought about something that is so unimaginable that seemed out of reach? Then maybe it is time for you to begin thinking about maybe it’s not so unimaginable or out of reach. And so, we asked that question. For me, I thought about it for a while. And the first answer that came up was, actually, I want to change school policy, school lunches policy and breakfast. Because I had no idea how to do that, initially, but I just thought that if we can start from the early ages, and change a school lunch’s food to something that’s low in sugar, that is whole food, plant-based, preferably Mediterranean real food, essentially, instead of fruit cups and juice, you give real fruits instead of already well over cooked vegetables that’s like devoid of any nutrients, you actually have fresh salads and vegetables and nuts and healthy fats that, can you imagine, the microbiome and the inflammation of the younger generation, I mean, there will be no issues, put them on the anti-inflammatory diet in the very early ages, and their microbiome will be set, will be healthy, it will be anti-inflammatory. The obesity, a chronic disease epidemic in the U.S., I think is something we can address bottom up. And I don’t know how to begin to change policy. 

10:33

And after that question, it really got me started to think, if anybody knows how to begin. I mean, I think Dr. Mark Hyman has talked quite a bit about this as well, I’m gonna work really hard. That is my mission, I’m going to work really hard to achieve that live-level stability. And in the future, when I have the money, when I have a lot of time, that’s when I want to begin changing, like educate right now this is what I’m doing. I’m going to be educating the masses hopefully on you know, nutrition, and diet, anti-inflammation, whole foods, and the future, my hope is to change the U.S. school food policies so that the kids can have what they need. And if anybody knows how to change policy, or begin to change policy, maybe with the local schools, feel free to reach out to me at sungannmd@gmail.com, sungannmd@gmail.com, and we’d love to collaborate. 

11:29

So, I guess you know, my call to action for you is, number one, what is your why? Or what has been your drive in striving for financial freedom or financial independence, for hustling? Why are you hustling so hard? Why are you doing so many projects and so many different types of work? Why are you investing in real estate or the startup or this company? And number two, once you have achieved that financial independence or financial freedom? Ask yourself this question. Or, you know, actually, don’t wait until you do that. Ask yourself that question now, because it takes that obstacle away from your mind. So, you can get down to your true mission. If money and time were no object. What would you like to change in the world? What would you like to do? 

12:20

And I really want to thank you for your time. I’m very grateful for you to share this experience with me. Please leave me a message on itsnotrocketscienceshow.com the show notes will be there. Contact me. I would love to hear from you. Or go to Facebook, go to my Instagram at Ann Tsung, MD. Thank you so much. And remember, everything we need is within us now. 

[OUTRO]

12:45

ANNOUNCER: That’s it for today’s episode. Head on over to iTunes and subscribe to the show. One lucky listener every single week that posts a review on iTunes will win a chance in the grand prize drawing to win a private VIP Day for a health and life makeover with Dr. Ann Tsung, herself. Then, be sure to head on over to itsnotrocketscienceshow.com and pick up your free gift from Dr. Tsung. Then, join us on the next episode.

[END]