Imagine selling your startup to eBay for a cool $800 million.
It’s the ultimate act of financial freedom.
And Bryan Johnson did just that. He sold his payments company Braintree in 2013.
He was 36 years old at the time. A true time billionaire.
But let’s take a look at his daily routine.
After all, he has 30 doctors and regenerative health experts overseeing every detail of his regimen.
He takes 104 pills a day.
He’s injected plasma from his own son’s blood.
He has a strict vegan diet amounting to 1,977 calories a day.
He wears specialized blue light glasses for 2 hours before bed.
(And during sleep, he’s hooked up to a device to measure a key metric: number of er*ctions.)
He might be rich. Filthy rich.
But he’s definitely not free.
Reversing your biological age
Johnson is part of a group of Tech Bros that I refer to as “longevity nut jobs.”
Now I can relate.
I’ve been afraid of my own death for a long time. (And it shaped many of my own absurd behaviors which I also discuss in vivid detail below.)
There’s a method to Johnson’s madness (and erection-monitoring technology).
He wants to reverse his biological age.
While his “calendar age” is 45, his body tells a different story:
- His heart is 37 years old
- His skin is 28 years old
- His “fitness” is that of a 19-year-old
While us normies are aging at the cool clip of 1 year per year. Johnson comes in at a cool 0.76.
Yup, so when we’re 100. He’ll be 76.
But puns aside, that’s a heavy way to live your life. Especially when you have the money to do literally anything you want in the world. (Ahem, White Party?)
Would you rather be rich? Or free?
Many RadReaders hold the belief that if they only had more free time, then they’d be happy.
That freedom comes in many shapes and sizes. It could include:
The freedom to have dinner at home every night.
The freedom to say no to asshole freelancing clients.
The freedom to go on a lunch date with your spouse on a Tuesday.
And yup, freedom is delicious.
But is freedom the silver bullet that can solve all of our problems?
On a recent episode of the Rad Friends Podcast, I made the pithy remark that:
Freedom can only solve freedom problems.
What are some problems that freedom can’t solve?
Low self-worth.
Resentment in your relationship.
A lack of purpose.
Envy, greed and jealousy.
The desire to be high-status.
And, the big kahuna:
The fact that one day, we’re ALL going to die.
Yes, even if we slow our pace of aging by 24%.
Now I can’t tell what’s going on in BJ’s mind – but I suspect that there’s a little bit of angst about the big day.
(In his own words, “I’m trying to prove that decay [is] not inevitable.”)
Now I know what you’re thinking.
If I had more freedom, I’d use that time to:
- Bolster my self-worth
- Fix my marriage
- Find my purpose
- Tame my inner critic
I challenge you. You have the time to do that now. Your actions simply demonstrate that you just haven’t made it a priority.
(After all, I know you watched every episode of Succession.)
So let me ask you:
What’s a problem you have, that freedom can’t solve?
You may enjoy this episode of the Rad Friends Podcast
Here’s how we can help you
- The Life Operating System: Your home base for personal productivity. It combines tasks, notes, project management and a CRM in one place.
- Supercharge your Productivity: Learn how our $10K Work method can help you improve your mind, career and relationships.
- Apply for our Group Coaching: Are you an executive or founder undergoing a career change? We’ll give you frameworks and accountability for this transition.
- Train Your Team on $10K Work: Is your team busy, but without much to show for it? Teach your colleagues how to prioritize and identify leverage in your organization.
- Download the Rad Friends podcast: Every week we ponder one of life’s thorniest questions.
- The RadReads Newsletter: Sign up for 5 actionable insights each Saturday for a life well-lived.