Intentionally or unintentionally, it’s easy to self-sabotage — working hard for an outcome one moment, then taking actions that are opposed to it during another. By recognizing (and stopping) this intrapersonal tug-of-war, you’ll reach your ideals faster and with less stress, allowing 100% of your energy to go toward the life you’re trying to build.

The default organizing principle of American culture is money — earning it, spending it, saving it, and avoiding its confiscation. As such, it’s easy to sacrifice your hours to financial activities, subordinating free time and personal development to the Sirens of career, promotions, consumerism, and status. By recognizing this pattern (and then purposefully subverting it), you’ll find a natural path to increased Agency.

Launching your first product marks the beginning of the solo entrepreneur’s journey (a preferred path to Agency and time freedom). You’ll learn to test market demand while enhancing your skills in product development, marketing, and sales — root-level abilities that will serve you well in every future endeavor.

If you want to achieve Agency and Impact, you’ll need to make hard choices — exchanging what is for what could be, trading the routine and comfort of your current path for the risk and uncertainty of a new one.

The same qualities that make you a valuable member of society could make you wealthy. Consider the list of 6 below — and then consider their opposites. What would it be like to reject these virtues (and how might it wreck your portfolio)?

When you stop worrying about the trappings of wealth, you’ll begin building actual wealth — all while setting yourself up for a happier, more fulfilling life. Along the way, you’ll avoid the common psychological traps of our achieve-and-spend culture, bringing calm, joy, and a sense of what’s truly important to your wallet.

When you close the gaps between what you do and what you believe matters most, you’ll naturally build a more authentic, energized, and joyous life — a shortcut to Agency if ever there was one.

By applying different quality standards to different roles, responsibilities, and projects in your life, you’ll make better time management decisions — helping you use your working hours to maximum effect.

When you understand what people regret most, you can conduct your days accordingly — making important decisions with an eye toward maximizing future life satisfaction.

As families spread out, colleagues leave for greener pastures, and friends find new lives, we lose the social connections that (literally) sustain us. Restoring those connections is possible — and it requires surprisingly little effort.

Your keystone behaviors are those that beget others, kicking off spirals either positive or negative. When you bring awareness to these behaviors, you can seek or avoid them as necessary — setting the trends that ultimately determine your future.

Having a set of Rules as to what you’ll eat AND what compromises you’ll make when absolutely necessary arms you for the inevitable — travel, busy schedules, holidays, and nights out — those times when perfect just isn’t possible.

Learning to do things that stretch your abilities (and your identity) increases self-confidence, self-reliance, and utility to others — making you a more powerful and resilient Agent within the world.

Having multiple sources of income creates Agency — making your near-term financial health less dependent on any single job or client while increasing your ability to save, to invest, and to reach the day when you’ve separated your time from your income entirely.

Doing something simply because you love it is one of the highest expressions of Agency. Free from judgment, measurement or expectation of reward, you’ll develop a deeper sense of yourself (and your capacity for freedom) every time you engage.

You’re not alone in your pursuit of increased Health, Wealth, and Time Freedom. Since February, we’ve had over 300 people join us — using the HWT Questionnaire to benchmark their starting point in the journey toward Agency.

We spend large swaths of our lives working, generating income to buy things we don’t need. By questioning this pattern, we take control — generating wealth instead of debt, Agency instead of dependence.

Done well and often, your ability to curb consumerist impulses will make your participation in the economy elective instead of compulsory (and you’ll find yourself financially free).

Major obstacles to achieving your desired goals cannot be overcome with minor lifestyle changes. Instead, you may need to consider radical new paths — how would you achieve your “why” if there were no constraints?

The formula of making as much as you’re able, spending much less than you make, and investing the difference only works if you know when to act (and when to do nothing at all). Below, three “action” errors to avoid when investing your savings.

There are four stages of income generation, each granting more Agency than the last. By understanding what the stages are, where you stand, and where you’d like to be, you can formulate a plan for progress.