I’ll bet if you’re reading this you have your number in the back of your head.

Some might not have done any calculations and so their number is just a round $1 million because that feels like enough.

Other fellow geeks out there probably have a spreadsheet which has pinpointed your exact, down to the dollar, goal for what financial freedom means to you.

For many it’s a net worth number, others it’s a passive income number, and still others believe financial freedom will occur when a certain amount of debt is finally paid off, but however you define it there is a number rolling around in the back of your head.

Regardless of what that number is, typically it’s also tied to the idea that when we get there, something else will come as a result of hitting our number, a by product like finally being able to travel, getting healthy, quitting your job, etc, but always tied to an increased level of happiness.

I’d also bet that your number has changed over the years – always getting higher, never lower.

It’s also always in the future.

But if it’s always in the future and it’s also tied to a state of happiness that you won’t have until you get there, what does that mean for how we are living right now?

By definition, if that happiness state is tied to our future number, then doesn’t that mean we aren’t living in that state right now.

A lot of time is slipping by waiting to finally get there.

How about a different approach.

Could your number be totally adjusted, maybe even to your current financial situation, by changing perceptions about what you think will bring you happiness.

For instance, what if nothing tied to your number had to do with anything material, but rather totally intangible things that we all know are the true source of happiness, like time with family, being healthy and fit, learning something new, improving the lives of others (the list is endless).

Imagine if you created a list of all the things that bring you happiness that cost very little or nothing at all and you started pursuing those things right now.

If you no longer needed the excess material things on your list and your financial freedom number was built around having purely enough to sustain your basic needs, think how much that would change your number and how much closer you would be to achieving it.

Then you could do all the things on your list right now – the things that you identified as truly creating happiness.

I hate to burst any bubbles, but whatever you think is going to happen that will bring you sudden happiness when you hit your number probably isn’t going to bring you the euphoria you dream about.

You will still be the same person, number or no number.

Which, if that’s the case, then it only makes sense to start working on yourself, focusing on your list of the cost free intangible that bring you true happiness right now.

Who knows, this practice might even get you to your number even faster.

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