The Flow State: A Key to Balancing Financial and Personal Goals

I am living an ambitious life, striving for efficiency, discipline, and structure to achieve my biggest goal: financial freedom.

I aim to grow my business to support my entire family. This goal requires me to improve my work efficiency.

While pursuing this, I have also been consistently bulking up muscle at the gym for the past 2 years. This has been a meaningful personal goal for me since I have always been skinny, and I believe my future self will thank me for it.

The question troubling me is:

Can I achieve both goals simultaneously?

Balancing Business Growth and Gym Time

Recently, I've heard troubling advice that suggests I should focus solely on my business since the gym is too time-consuming. The advice suggests that I should focus on building muscle once I'm already financially free. I feel conflicted, considering that the entire gym process takes up almost 3 hours of my weekdays.

I've already postponed going to the gym for too long in the past. I'm 27, and I know it will become even more challenging to achieve this goal as I get older, especially with the added responsibilities of future children and increased financial pressure.

I don't think it's wise for me to postpone my muscle-building goal, but I certainly want financial freedom to be a higher priority.

The Science of the Flow State

I am exploring methods to use my time efficiently, making my focused work more impactful. This led me to Rian Doris, an entrepreneur and YouTuber who has researched the science of the flow state.

The flow state is a highly productive, efficient, and focused state of work. Rian suggests that workdays lasting 8+ hours are actually detrimental to achieving this state. Instead, he recommends working for 4 hours per day in order to access flow more often and become extremely efficient.

If I can structure my days to achieve 4 hours of efficient work, I can continue my gym routine without feeling guilty.

Challenging Perspectives on Work

The problem with working fewer hours is that it heavily contradicts the philosophy of others whom I admire. For instance, Patrick Bet David, another entrepreneur and YouTuber, says that working only 8 hours per day is part-time entrepreneurship. Although he is a genius, he is also crazy, as he is one of those guys who works 16-hour workdays. I can't even imagine what he would say about my plan to work only 4 hours. Nevertheless, I still value his perspective, and above all, I don't want to think of myself as unambitious.

I'm not advocating for resting and taking it easy. I have ambitious goals. Instead, I want to find the right method to work for 4 hours while being extremely efficient so that I can engage in personal growth activities, such as building muscle at the gym.

The Necessary Sacrifices

I don't want to fool myself. I know I can't have everything, sacrifice is still required. That's why for the past few years, I've cut back on other areas of my life.

I haven't been to a party in years, haven't drunk any alcohol for over 3 years, and I don't currently prioritize friendship. I know I'm making the necessary sacrifices at this stage of my life for the success I need. However, to avoid being miserable, I still see my family on Sundays and spend time with my girlfriend in the evenings.

Structuring Days for Efficiency

If I can structure my days to achieve 4 hours of efficient work, I can continue my gym routine guilt-free and spend quality time with my girlfriend and family.

I hope this 4-hour workday method will be the solution I need to achieve the efficiency required to reach my financial goals, while also giving me the time needed to meet my fitness goals. My ultimate goal is to become the best version of myself, and a 4-hour workday would allow me to achieve this.