If you’re an entrepreneur like me, one of the biggest reasons you bust your butt in the business world is so that you can live the life you want to live.
A life of design and intention.
A life where you only do what you want to do and you leave everything else behind.
A life where you look forward to every day and not just the weekends.
We all want this life, and we work so hard to earn enough money so we can create freedom for ourselves for “better days” in the future.
This is where the idea of retirement kicks in.
Most people think of retirement in the framework that you work relentlessly in your twenties, thirties, forties, and fifties; and then finally at age 65 you can retire and enjoy life!
You need to drop this way of thinking.
You can’t forget about ALL the years you are going to spend on the way to 65.
Just ask yourself…
Are you going to live a life you hate today so that you can live the life you love “one day”?
I hope not.
Because the reality of the situation is that you have no idea if that day will ever come.
I have had several people in my life die suddenly in their thirties and forties. Later didn’t come for them.
Waiting until you’re 60 or 65 to enjoy life is way too risky in my opinion, it’s also too expensive.
I co-founded this company and called it “Create Freedom” — NOT “Create Freedom sometime later when I’m too tired to do anything anyways”
My goal is for you to live the life that you love today and also end up more prosperous tomorrow too.
How To Retire Today
A mindset shift that I want you to employ from this day moving forward is that you’re going to promise yourself that you will retire IN your business and not retire AFTER your business.
Listen, if you don’t enjoy life in the present you will regret it. You can never get back the memories you never created.
You can spend time with your friends and family now, guilt-free, and still create an incredible business for yourself.
One thing I like to recommend my 1-on-1 business clients do is to put 5% of their monthly income into a “Present Retirement” account.
You see, as an entrepreneur myself, I used to always feel guilty if I spent money on something that wasn’t a direct investment in either my health or my business.
I thought everything should go towards forward progression and anytime I wanted to indulge in something I had this overarching feeling of:
Man, that could have bought me a whole course or could have paid for a copywriter to redo that one sales page that needs work!
So, I started employing the idea of the “Present Retirement” account to where 5% of my monthly income was automatically transferred to this account and this was money that I had personal permission to spend guilt-free because it is built into my entire financial system.
Before I felt guilty because I wasn’t managing my finances close enough to know how much I could spend carelessly and how much I needed to keep for more important reasons.
But now that it’s based off a percentage I know I will still always have the remaining 95% to do whatever I want with from a professional perspective (I divide the remaining 95% up as well into 3 different categories/accounts, but we’ll save that for another day).
But now, I can retire IN my business because I am giving myself full permission to spend guilt-free on whatever I want.
This “Present Retirement” account is specifically in place so you can retire today and create all the memories you want to create that you’ll never get back if you don’t.
Buy vacations, buy toys, buy whatever is going to help you live the life you want to live today.
You deserve it.
Here Are A Few Examples
An entrepreneur I’m close with in Dallas, Texas makes sure he goes on a trip once per quarter with either his friends or family to reset his brain and create new memories.
For me, I like to do one “active” vacation and one “relaxing” vacation per year. I’ve been to Rome, Paris, Athens, Santorini, London, LA, Chicago, and many more places all over the globe doing activities but I have also been to Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Florida, Mexico, and Jamaica with the intention of doing nothing at all.
One active vacation — One relaxing vacation — And a library of memories I have accumulated very early in life.
Not to mention I have done seminars in over a dozen continental United States, Australia, and Germany and got to do plenty of sightseeing in all of those areas.
Many entrepreneurs avoid this type of behavior because it seems expensive on the surface, not necessarily because of the money they spend on the trip, but because of the money they’re not making while away.
But more than just robbing yourself of a life well-lived, you’re also sabotaging your productivity.
A great getaway has always left me feeling rejuvenated and ready to work harder and faster than ever before.
Just like how you can work better after having a restful night’s sleep, you can work so much better after having a relaxing vacation.
Another thing that I’ve found is that you look at your business differently when you have a trip coming up.
Your energy and excitement for the trip can be used to be as productive as possible before you go.
I’m not saying you have to travel, I’m just using it as an example because that’s what I personally love to do.
What you spend your “Present Retirement” funds on is completely up to you.
Final Thoughts
I want you to retirement IN your business rather than AFTER your business.
If you do this you will improve your life quality and improve the success of your business because you will be able to attack it with more enthusiasm than you are currently.
If you liked this article and are ready to take your online health and fitness business to the next level then you have to check out the Create Freedom Academy today.
Dan Garner
