Angie Stegall

Executive Wayfinder

by

Freedom FROM vs.Freedom FOR

Freedom FORWhen I launched out on my own in 2003, a mentor helped me get VERY clear on the reasons I had for starting my own business.

They were and continue to this day to be:

  1. Freedom

  2. Flexibility

  3. Variety

I have lived for those three pillars in my life and business ever since.

If I get out of alignment, I begin to feel a constriction in any one or more of those three areas. At that point, I know it’s time to make a change (big or small).

These days, the ideas of freedom, flexibility and variety are on my mind a lot.

So while listening to an episode of The Unmistakable Creative Podcast in the car recently, host Srini Rao’s guest Ryan Moran was talking about freedom.

Ryan’s ideas electrified me.

Specifically, Ryan was saying that many people want to be free from something.

People say, “I want to be free” from:

  • Financial woes
  • Working for “the man”
  • Having a boss
  • Family issues
  • My clients or customers
  • My employees
  • Poor health
  • Bills
  • Credit card debt
  • _____________(fill in the blank)

I agreed with him – indeed, many people want to be free from those things.

What he said next stopped me in my tracks.

Freedom is like an empty concept. It’s like an empty room. You can clear out what you don’t like, but then you’re just sitting in an empty room. Freedom – that empty container – is now only potential. But it really doesn’t matter until you DO something with that potential. Until you fill it with what you DO like.”

Ah. Epiphany!

See, the elimination of pain or the elimination of struggle isn’t really freedom – it’s a vacuum.

It’s what you add in (purposefully, thoughtfully, deliberately) that creates your desired outcome and FEELS like freedom.

Instead of dreaming about what you want to be free FROM (which is easy), what would happen if instead you figured out what you wanted to be free FOR (which might be much harder and much scarier)?

What if instead of dreaming about what you’d eliminate, you dream of what you’d love to add, incorporate, or become?

And then, what if you took action to achieve that?

If you get to create your life…and I sincerely believe you do…what do you want?

  1. How do you define freedom?
  2. What does it mean to you?
  3. How will you clear out what doesn’t make you feel free?
  4. What do you want freedom FOR (in other words, what do you want to grow into)?
  5. What action(s) will you take to grow into that?

As Ryan says:

Release the chains that hold you back and also sprint towards what you want to move into. Freedom and growth are linked.”

Make some room,​

Angie Mattson Stegall

P.S. Ready to start some of the “clearing out” process?

Beginning on January 1, 2016, I’ll be sharing 31 Days of Ikki Ni (Japanese for “In One Fell Swoop”).

This 31 day series (which is FREE) includes quick, impactful exercises to show you how easy it can be to make some room in your life – personally and professionally – so you can create the space to allow (or invite) something incredible, new, and electrifying to come in.

Click this link to join me.