This week I wanted to write about an idea I’ve been noodling on for a few weeks: around Freedom and what that means and how to quantify it.
I’ve long known that “freedom” is one of my core values—maybe even the top one. I’m not entirely sure why. When I’ve done those exercises about identifying your core values, they say you eventually land on what you just care about, what matters to you at some fundamental level. Why does freedom matter to me? Dunno. But it does.
Here’s the thing though: it’s not that freedom in its entirety matters to me. I got married, which is an exercise in constraining your options. I had a kid, which is also an exercise in reducing your freedom.
So what do I actually mean when I say I value freedom?
I think freedom, for me, is a currency. You have a certain amount of it, and the question is: what are you spending it on?
I wrote a few weeks ago about a reminder I got from a Steven Bartlett talk about thinking of time as “chips” that we can spend – 24 chips in a day, 168 chips in a week. But it isn’t really 168, because we sleep for 56 of them, and we spend another 12 (ish) on food, toileting etc. Conveniently, if you take those away, you get a nice round number: 100.
So if we imagine we have these 100 units of time each week, the question of “freedom” becomes: to what extent am I deploying them on things I actually care about? Things I actually want to do? Experiences that I wouldn’t choose to fast-forward?
Maybe that’s the thing. The fast-forward test.
I think I came across this idea in Will MacAskill’s book What We Owe the Future (and wrote about it in this newsletter a few years ago, if you’re a very long-time reader with a very good memory).
The Fast-Forward Test is one of the methods that researchers use to measure quality of life. Basically, you ping people randomly throughout the day and ask: “Would you choose to fast-forward this current experience?” Then you see what percentage of their life they would choose to skip. If someone would choose to fast-forward a lot of their day, their score on this particular quality-of-life metric would be lower than someone who would choose to fast-forward a lot less of their day.
For me, true freedom, the sort I guess I’ve been working towards for years, is where I wouldn’t choose to fast-forward any of my moments. Whatever time I have on this earth, I’m savouring it and enjoying it, rather than wishing it would go faster.
Some of this is certainly about attitude. Whatever you’re doing, you can always sink into it more deeply, be more present. Even if you’re doing something tedious, like standing in an immigration queue for an hour, you could choose to approach it differently: “What would this look like if it were fun?”
But it’s not just about attitude. It’s also about designing your life in such a way that you remove the things you would choose to fast-forward.
Back when I worked as a doctor, I would’ve chosen to fast-forward most of my work days. Except the ones where I was teaching medical students – that was always really fun. And except my favourite two days of the entire career: the advanced life support training course, where I was learning how to do proper CPR with the shocks and defibrillators and how to lead a crash team. That was an incredible experience. So that told me I really enjoy learning and teaching. I also wouldn’t have chosen to fast-forward moments in the doctors’ mess (for some reason, this is what we call a common room) having lunch with colleagues. Those were great.
But even when doing things that are supposed to be “core” to being a doctor – seeing patients, assisting in surgeries – I almost always would’ve chosen to fast-forward to the end of the work day if I could.
To me, that was a sure sign that something was misaligned with that path.
So now, in my life as an entrepreneur, I’ve been thinking: what are the moments I would choose to fast-forward?
I realised, for example, that I would choose to fast-forward my Muay Thai lessons. For the first six months of this year, I had two or three sessions per week. I wanted to learn martial arts, to be able to throw a punch. But even though the sessions were useful, and at times enjoyable, I never looked forward to them. I was always glad when they were over.
It’s similar with the gym: three times a week, I do weight training with my personal trainer. And I’d almost always choose to fast-forward those sessions. In this case, I know that weight training is important for longevity, so I’m going to take the hit on that one and focus on trying my best to enjoy the experience.
But on the work front? Where previously I would’ve chosen to fast-forward most of the 40-60 hours of my week as a doctor, now I’m at a point where I actually wouldn’t choose to fast-forward any part of my work.
That feels like progress. That feels like freedom.
So here’s a fun exercise, if you’re up for it. Imagine your week as 100 units of time.
Ask yourself: what percentage of those units would I choose to fast-forward if I could?
And then, the more interesting question: what would it look like to reduce that number?
I’d love to hear what comes up for you. Hit reply and let me know.
Have a great week,
Ali xx
