For four months now, I have been writing the Freedom Letter and you are one of 140 people who read it on a regular basis.
I thank you from the bottom of my heart!
Each and every person that opens, reads and answers these letters makes writing them worth the effort.
A few weeks ago my dad – himself a reader of the Freedom Letter – asked why I was writing it.
The older I get, the more I have on my mind. On the one hand, there are the small and large external obligations – passwords, appointments, tasks – on the other hand, the many things that I am interested in and that I pursue.
Reducing the first part is part of my journey to freedom. Curiosity and learning, however, are a part of my life that I wouldn’t want to miss. Quite the contrary: I want to give it even more space!
My information sources are becoming more and more diverse. I gather knowledge from books, social media, seminars, blogs, YouTube and more.
With the Freedom Letter, I want to achieve three things:
1. Sort my own thoughts
Your head is like a big, messy drawer. Speaking your thoughts is like dumping its contents on the ground. Buying an organizing system and putting everything back in an orderly fashion, that’s writing.
Write down what’s on your mind to organize your thoughts!
By writing, I am defragmenting my brain, so to speak.
Once my thoughts are in order, it’s time for action. In times of information overload, it’s easy to want to take in more and more. Just one more book, just one more seminar, just one more YouTube video, then I can get started.
This leads to a vicious circle of learning for entertainment.
Ask yourself these questions by James Clear: “Do I need to spend more time searching for better information or do I need to spend more time acting on the information I already have? Is the bottleneck strategy or execution?”
2. Share my knowledge
We humans are social beings. If I learn something and see value in it, then isn’t it the greatest deed to pass on that knowledge?
As a teenager, I was in an online group of astrophotographers. In response to one of my many questions, I received a multi-page essay that probably took the author several hours to complete. I asked him how I could pay him back. His answer: Don’t pay me back, pay it forward.
This became my guiding principle. People helped me, so I help other people.
All these ideas that I take in, digest and put into my own words, I want to share with the world. I want to help you and want you to benefit from my knowledge.
If I can change the life of just one person for the better, then this work was worth my time!
3. Create trust
You have the chance to get to know me through this newsletter: an extremely versatile person who passes on knowledge as a speaker on stage, who enables groups to grow together as a trainer in his seminars and who personally supports and accompanies you on your own journey to freedom as a coach.
Perhaps I am offering something that appeals to you – my coaching, a seminar, an online course, a book. How do you know you can trust me? That I know what I’m talking about (especially when I talk about so many different things)? With the Freedom Letter, you learn something about me every week and can make an informed decision as to whether I am the one you want to work with.
And to be honest, I wish for something else: interaction.
I don’t want to write the next faceless sales newsletter that you’re only subscribing to in order to bag a freebie.
I wish for a feedback culture like in my first job as an airline pilot. Let’s talk openly, address mistakes and give praise where it’s appropriate. If you liked something, tell me! If something bothers you, tell me!
I don’t want you to ever silently leave because I tried too hard to sell something or because I’m boring you. Similarly, I want to remain excited about writing weekly because you’ve told me how much my words help you.
I want to exchange ideas with you. And that’s why I want you to answer these questions:
What are you itching to read about? What do you want and need?
Write to me and I’ll be very happy to respond by writing about the topics that interest you.
#befree
Yours, Ulrich
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