FREEBOUNDLIFE.COM · ORIGINAL INSTRUMENTS
Twenty-six scored instruments from the frameworks on this site. Each one is a tool, not an illustration: every blank is there to be filled in. Print the pack, or fill it in on screen.
How to read every instrument A gold diamond means the statement counts for you. An empty circle means it does not. Mark one or the other — never both.
Filled blocks are your score. Fill one block per item that counted.
Blank boxes are the point. An instrument you have not written in has told you nothing.
The premise band at the top states the claim the instrument tests. If you disagree with the premise, the score will not help you.
Tip: use your browser’s Print command and choose “Save as PDF”. The pack prints one instrument per page, on white.
AN INSTRUMENT FROM THE FREEDOM NUMBER FRAMEWORK The Wrong End Three numbers stand between you and financial freedom. They run from nearest to furthest. SECURITY monthly essentials FLEXIBILITY essentials + normal life FREEDOM work fully optional HAVE A FIGURE 2 ROUGH GUESS 1 NEVER COUNTED 0 THE USUAL SHAPE If your line rises to the right, your only firm figure is for the number furthest away. The nearest number is the one you could count tonight. SCORE / 6 LAST ACTUALLY COUNTED – MONTH AND YEAR FROM “FINANCIAL FREEDOM AFTER 40” FREEBOUNDLIFE.COM AN INSTRUMENT FROM THE EXPERTISE LEVERAGE STACK The Reach Trade The same expertise sells four ways. Every step down in price is a step up in reach, and a step further out of the room. PRICE REACH widest at the top widest at the bottom 1 · ADVISE sell your judgment directly your price 2 · TEACH reach many people with what you know your price 3 · PRODUCTIZE package expertise into something that sells itself your price 4 · SYSTEMATIZE a small business that runs without you in every seat your price FORMATS YOU RUN TODAY One is normal. Two is leverage. Four is a business. THE ONE YOU ADD NEXT WHAT STILL NEEDS YOU IN THE ROOM FROM "Digital Leverage After 40" FREEBOUNDLIFE.COM The Walk-Away Equation An instrument for calculating your freedom number. Freedom Number equals true annual spending minus reliable outside income, multiplied by your multiplier. True annual spending is what actually leaves your accounts, not your gross salary. Reliable outside income is income that would continue if you left your primary job tomorrow — a pension, rent, royalties, a spouse’s contribution — not a side project’s first month. The common shorthand multiplier is 25 times, the flip side of the 4 percent rule; after 40 many planners use something more conservative. Run the equation twice: once on your lean spending, which gives your walk-away number, the point at which leaving becomes financially survivable, and once on your comfortable spending, which is closer to your full freedom number. At 25 times, every dollar of reliable outside income removes 25 dollars from the target. Treat the result as a first draft, not a final answer, and stress-test it with a fee-only fiduciary planner. AN INSTRUMENT FROM THE WALK-AWAY EQUATION Your Freedom Number ( TRUE ANNUAL SPENDING − RELIABLE OUTSIDE INCOME ) × YOUR MULTIPLIER = YOUR FREEDOM NUMBER 1 2 3 True annual spending what actually leaves your accounts your gross salary, or what you think you spend Reliable outside income a pension, rent, royalties, a spouse’s contribution a side project’s first month Your multiplier 25× is the common shorthand — the flip side of the 4% rule. After 40, many planners use something more conservative. RUN IT TWICE. THE TWO ANSWERS ARE DIFFERENT QUESTIONS. LEAN COMFORTABLE True annual spending − Reliable outside income × Your multiplier = Your number the walk-away number the full freedom number At 25×, every $1 of reliable outside income removes $25 from the target. A first draft, not a final answer. Stress-test it with a fee-only fiduciary planner. AN INSTRUMENT FROM THE THREE-LAYER SELF The Sign Out Front You are not demolishing the building. You are swapping the sign, while the structure stays. LAYER 1 THE TITLE The label on the card. The most visible layer, and the most fragile. Titles are rentals, not possessions. REMOVED BY THE CHANGE LAYER 2 THE CRAFT How you read a room, structure a messy problem, calm a frightened client, spot the number that does not add up. STAYS LAYER 3 THE PURPOSE Why the work mattered to you in the first place. The job was only the container you happened to pour it into. STAYS TWENTY-FIVE YEARS Layer 1 changes. Layers 2 and 3 are the parts that took twenty-five years to build. FROM “AM I TOO OLD TO CHANGE CAREERS?” FREEBOUNDLIFE.COM AN INSTRUMENT FROM THE CARRY-FORWARD AUDIT The Second Pass Tier tells you what survives the move. It does not tell you what to build on. Run every surviving skill through two questions: does it transfer, and does using it give me energy or take it? TRANSFERS? NO YES ENERGY GIVES DRAINS CARRY FORWARD Build the next chapter on these. Usually four to seven items. REBUILD Something you love, welded to the old context. Find a new container. RENT OUT Charge well for it. Do not make it the center of the new work. LEAVE BEHIND The golden handcuffs, in skill form. Letting go of it is not a loss. TAG EACH ENTRY T1 CONTEXT · T2 DOMAIN · T3 CRAFT · T4 SIGNATURE Tier 1 stops at the property line. Tier 3 and Tier 4 are the ones people never write down. FROM “THE TRANSFERABLE SKILLS AUDIT” FREEBOUNDLIFE.COM The Debrief An instrument from The Accountability Line. Score each of your last three engagements from 0 to 4, giving one mark for every consulting answer. Mark one: who named the problem — a mark if you did, no mark if it arrived already worded. Mark two: what was actually being bought — a mark for a recommendation, no mark for a build, a deck, a migration or hours. Mark three: who carried the risk — a mark if a wrong call would have been yours, no mark if you built what was specified. Mark four: what survived after you left — a mark for a changed decision, no mark for a finished artifact. Do not average the three numbers. Read the spread. Three scores of one, zero and one means you are a freelancer and your rate is capacity-bound. Three scores of four, three and four means you have been consulting without charging for it. Scores of four, one and three mean drift: you have not decided, and the market has been deciding for you. The scatter is the finding. AN INSTRUMENT FROM THE ACCOUNTABILITY LINE The Debrief ONE MARK FOR EVERY CONSULTING ANSWER MARK NO MARK 1 2 3 4 Who named the problem? What was actually being bought? Who carried the risk? What survived after you left? you did a recommendation a wrong call would have been yours a changed decision it arrived already worded a build, a deck, a migration, hours you built what was specified a finished artifact The scatter is the finding. Three numbers between 0 and 4. Do not average them — read the spread. 0 1 2 3 4 CONSISTENT LOW 1 · 0 · 1 You are a freelancer. Your rate is capacity-bound. CONSISTENT HIGH 4 · 3 · 4 You have been consulting without charging for it. SCATTERED 4 · 1 · 3 The drift. You have not decided, so the market has. AVERAGE 2.7 — IGNORE IT A consistent one is a business. A consistent four is an underpriced business. YOUR LAST THREE AN INSTRUMENT FROM THE BORROWED GOAL The Four Lenders Every goal came from somewhere. Four lenders account for almost all of it. Write each goal you are currently pursuing into the bin it came from. THREE SIGNS A GOAL WAS BORROWED RATHER THAN CHOSEN Hitting it produced relief, not appetite. You remember starting, but not deciding. It loses its force when nobody can see it. INSTITUTION ladders and targets INHERITANCE absorbed too early COHORT the people beside you THE MARKET whatever was hiring MINE generated, not accepted GOALS IN THE GOLD BIN Almost nobody scores clean. A mixed portfolio is normal, and probably healthy. THE ONE YOU WOULD KEEP IF NOBODY COULD EVER SEE IT FROM "Why High Achievers Lose Purpose After Success" FREEBOUNDLIFE.COM The Empty Room Test An instrument from The Three Detachments. Imagine thirty days out of the room: no email, no phone, nobody told in advance. Three doors, one point each, and a point only for an honest yes. Decision: could a competent stranger make your five most common judgment calls correctly, using only what is written down right now? Delivery: if somebody paid on a Tuesday while you were unreachable, would they receive what they paid for? Demand: would they have bought it if your name were not attached? Score zero and you own a job — it may pay superbly, and it ends the day you stop. Score one and you own a practice — it survives a holiday and not a diagnosis. Score two and you own a business — it runs, but it cannot transfer, because the demand is still personally yours. Score three and you own an asset — it runs, and it can be handed to someone else, sold, or left behind. AN INSTRUMENT FROM THE THREE DETACHMENTS The Empty Room Test Thirty days out of the room. No email, no phone, nobody told in advance. THREE DOORS · ONE POINT EACH · A POINT ONLY FOR AN HONEST YES HONEST YES DECISION Could a competent stranger make your five most common judgment calls correctly, using only what is written down right now? DELIVERY If somebody paid on a Tuesday while you were unreachable, would they receive what they paid for? DEMAND Would they have bought it if your name were not attached? NOW SCORE IT. THE SCALE IS UNFORGIVING. 0 — YOU OWN A JOB It may pay superbly. It ends the day you stop. 1 — YOU OWN A PRACTICE It survives a holiday and not a diagnosis. 2 — YOU OWN A BUSINESS It runs, but it cannot transfer — the demand is still personally yours. 3 — YOU OWN AN ASSET It runs, and it can be handed to someone else, sold, or left behind. YOUR SCORE AN INSTRUMENT FROM THE IDEAL TUESDAY The Tuesday Overlay Cast the ordinary Tuesday you want, hour by hour, in the present tense. Then lay last Tuesday beside it and mark only where they differ. HOUR CAST — THE TUESDAY YOU WANT GAP LAST TUESDAY — WHAT HAPPENED 6 AM 9 AM 12 PM 3 PM 6 PM 9 PM = they differ (a gap) = they match GAPS MARKED Two kinds: what is missing, and what is present that you did not choose. THE ONE GAP YOU CLOSE THIS WEEK — SMALLEST HONEST VERSION FROM "The Ideal Tuesday" FREEBOUNDLIFE.COM AN INSTRUMENT FROM THE JUDGMENT GATE Three Gates A tool passes all three, or it waits. The confidence of the output is not evidence of its correctness. TOOL TASK IT WOULD DO GATE 1 Can I judge the output? Leverage. Use it. IF NOT Exposure, not capability. Learn the domain, or keep an expert in the loop. GATE 2 Labor, or the call? Labor. Hand it over. IF NOT You are outsourcing the thing you are actually paid for. GATE 3 Is a real job pulling me? A real job is pulling. IF NOT Hype is pushing. The answer is not yet, and not yet costs you nothing. Three boxes marked means adopt. Anything else means wait. FROM “AI TOOLS FOR EXPERIENCED PROFESSIONALS” FREEBOUNDLIFE.COM AN INSTRUMENT FROM THE OWNER’S SEAT The Chair Count Every recurring job in the business is a chair. A one-person business is one person who emptied eleven of them and kept the twelfth. EVERY RECURRING SEAT YOU LISTED total GATE 1 — DELETE does this need to happen at all? out GATE 2 — AUTOMATE can a tool do it with your check? out GATE 3 — DOCUMENT can someone run it without deciding? out WHAT SURVIVES ALL THREE = THE OWNER’S SEAT judgment, taste, and the decisions nobody else can make seats left SEATS EMPTIED Eleven is the target. One is the job. FROM "One-Person Business After 40" FREEBOUNDLIFE.COM AN INSTRUMENT FROM THE DEFAULT SWEEP The Expiry Ledger A default is an arrangement that feels like a fact rather than a choice. Date it, name who set it, and it becomes a choice again. THE ARRANGEMENT, SAID AS A FACT YEAR SET FOR WHOM STILL TRUE? EXPIRED = whoever set it still exists = they do not — the default has expired EXPIRED DEFAULTS FOUND REPLACE ONE — REVERSIBLY, WITH A HARD END DATE the default end date FROM "Midlife Reset" FREEBOUNDLIFE.COM AN INSTRUMENT FROM THE SCAFFOLD TEST The Load-Bearing Column Scaffold comes down. Structure does not. Most people never sort them. Survive the exit. Hold with no audience. Rebuild by choice. Whatever passes all three is your load-bearing self. Q1 Q2 Q3 ALL 3 WRITE ONE PART OF YOURSELF PER ROW Q1 Did it survive the exit? Q2 Can I feel it with no audience? Q3 Would I rebuild it by choice? Three marks means structural. It is usually smaller than the old identity and infinitely sturdier. FROM “IDENTITY CRISIS AFTER SUCCESS” FREEBOUNDLIFE.COM AN INSTRUMENT FROM THE EXPERTISE FLYWHEEL The Stuck Turn Five turns. Each feeds the next. Nobody is stuck on all five. Your bottleneck is the first turn you cannot mark gold. 1 2 3 4 5 WHICH TURN STOPPED? MARK THE FIRST ONE THAT IS TRUE OF YOU 1 · CAPTURE plenty you could say, but nothing written down 2 · EXPRESS captured things that still sit in a folder 3 · SIGNAL you publish regularly and nothing comes back yet 4 · LEVERAGE a reputation, but you still trade only hours 5 · COMPOUNDING a product that sells, but nothing feeds the next YOUR BOTTLENECK turn name TURNS RUNNING The bottleneck is rarely the turn you enjoy. It is the one just past where you are comfortable. FROM "The Expertise Flywheel" FREEBOUNDLIFE.COM AN INSTRUMENT FROM THE OVERLAP METHOD The Order Check Five moves, in order. Evidence promotes you, not impatience. You are on the last move with an unbroken run of gold behind it. MARK EACH MOVE WHOSE EVIDENCE YOU CAN SHOW 1 ANCHOR First career made deliberately boring. Income is steady. 2 PROBE A paid experiment. Not a hobby — someone paid you. 3 OVERLAP Both run at once. The second has repeat clients. 4 TILT Weight shifted on evidence, not on exhaustion. 5 CUT The second career covers the floor you actually need. If the gold is not continuous you did not skip ahead — you skipped a move. Go back to the first empty circle. YOUR REAL POSITION move name MOVES EVIDENCED FROM "Second Career After 40" FREEBOUNDLIFE.COM AN INSTRUMENT FROM THE FINISH-LINE FLIP The Two Dates A retirement date says: on this day, I stop. A freedom date says: by this day, work becomes a choice rather than a requirement. FREEDOM DATE RETIREMENT DATE TODAY date date THE YEARS YOU WERE GOING TO SPEND WAITING years 1 · NAME THE ESCAPE List what you are trying to leave. Most of it is not the work. 2 · AUDIT THE DESTINATION Picture the finish line itself. Would you keep it in month three? 3 · REBUILD THE PRESENT Move one item off the escape list into this quarter. ESCAPE-LIST ITEMS THAT ARE THE JOB ITSELF The rest is the container around it. FROM "Retirement Is Not the Goal" FREEBOUNDLIFE.COM AN INSTRUMENT FROM THE ENOUGH LINE Three Tests for a Number A number with no destination is not a target. It is an appetite. APPETITE ENOUGH LINE TEST 1 THE MARGINAL-LIFE TEST Your last three completed upgrades. What did each change about a Tuesday in February? UNITS BOUGHT UNITS BOUGHT UNITS BOUGHT Hours are units. Sleep is a unit. A Wednesday with nothing in it is a unit. Nicer is not a unit. TEST 2 THE SCOREBOARD TEST If your number moves when somebody else’s number moves, it is not your number. TARGET LAST CHANGED WHAT HAPPENED THE FORTNIGHT BEFORE ABOUT MY LIFE ABOUT SOMEBODY ELSE’S TEST 3 THE FOR-WHAT TEST I want this much money so that I can Banned words: freedom · security · comfortable · options. Say it out loud, in one breath. FROM “HOW MUCH MONEY IS ENOUGH?” FREEBOUNDLIFE.COM AN INSTRUMENT FROM THE OWNERSHIP GAP The Off-Switch Audit An asset is not a thing you know. It is a thing that keeps producing while you are not present. EXHIBIT A REVOCATION If access were switched off tonight, what stops existing by morning? EXHIBIT B SIGNATURE Whose name is on it? Who can point to it in front of a stranger? EXHIBIT C RETRIEVAL Could somebody else find it without you in the room? SOMEONE ELSE’S SWITCH Stops existing by morning. COUNT YOURS ON MONDAY Survives the badge going back. COUNT THE GAP IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTS. Most people are surprised by the length of the left column, and then, within a minute, defensive about it. FROM “GOLDEN HANDCUFFS AFTER 40” FREEBOUNDLIFE.COM AN INSTRUMENT FROM THE RETURN TRIP The Year You Were Stuck Almost everyone rewinds too far. Day one produces the flat generic advice. 1 5 10 15 20 25 30 TOO FAR COMPETENT ENOUGH TO BE TRUSTED, NOT ENOUGH TO BE SURE MY YEAR Between year three and year eight, for most careers. 1 The situation, in one concrete sentence with an object in it. 2 What did I actively, confidently believe that turned out to be false? 3 One person, roughly ten years behind me, by name. The lie you were operating on is more useful than the gap in your knowledge. FROM “HOW TO TEACH WHAT YOU KNOW AFTER 40” FREEBOUNDLIFE.COM AN INSTRUMENT FROM THE FREEDOM ASSET LADDER The Stop Test The rung you are on is not what you do. It is what happens to your money the week you stop. RUNG WEEK 1 2 3 4 MINE THIS WEEK RUNG 1 WAGE The income stops, and someone notices you are gone. RUNG 2 RATE The income stops, and nobody notices. RUNG 3 PRODUCT The income continues, but it decays. RUNG 4 SYSTEM The income continues and does not decay. RUNG 5 OWNERSHIP Stop for a year: it continues, and you could sell the thing. SELLABLE You do not choose a rung. You build one out of the materials produced by the rung underneath it. FROM “HOW TO STOP TRADING TIME FOR MONEY AFTER 40” FREEBOUNDLIFE.COM AN INSTRUMENT FROM THE THIRD PRICE The Same Three Days One body of work. Three prices. Each answers a different question. Only the first is capped by the calendar. 1 · HOUR PRICE What does a day of you cost? $1,800 your number 2 · JOB PRICE What does the finished outcome cost? $4,200 your number 3 · RISK PRICE What does being wrong cost? $18,000 your number The same man, the same three days, the same twenty-three years of judgment. WHICH PRICE ARE YOU CHARGING TODAY? hour job risk THE EXPOSURE YOU STAND BETWEEN THEM AND YOUR THIRD PRICE — A FRACTION OF THAT FROM "What to Charge for Your Expertise" FREEBOUNDLIFE.COM The Two-Column Week A scoring instrument from The Decision Budget. Gross time of 15 to 30 hours a week, minus the judgment your job has already spent, leaves roughly 6 net build hours. Sort that work into two columns: Decide, which sets a shape and cannot be recovered later, and Carry, which survives almost any state you are in. Then score how many of your build hours went to the Decide column, on a scale of 0 to 6. A score of 0 to 3 means the build is stalled and adding hours will not move it. A score of 4 to 6 means six hours a week will take you somewhere. AN INSTRUMENT FROM THE DECISION BUDGET The Two-Column Week GROSS TIME 15–30 h a week, outside everything fixed − COMMITTED JUDGMENT the invisible draw what the job already spent = NET BUILD HOURS ≈ 6 h the hours you can decide in DECIDE CARRY Sets a shape. Cannot be recovered later. Survives almost any state you are in. What the thing is Who it is for, and who it is emphatically not for The price The name The first version of any sentence other people will read The scope you are cutting The client you are turning down Formatting Uploading Editing toward a standard you already set Chasing an invoice Building the landing page whose copy is already written Rendering the slides Of your net build hours last week, how many went to the Decide column? 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 – 3 The build is stalled. Adding hours will not move it. 4 – 6 Six hours a week will take you somewhere. YOUR SCORE AN INSTRUMENT FROM THE SECOND MARKET THE LISTING Five fields. Score one point for each a stranger could fill in today, without asking you. THEY CAN THEY CANNOT WHAT IT SAYS TODAY 1 The problem In the words of the person who has it. 2 The buyer One person who can approve money for it. 3 The moment When it gets urgent enough to spend on. 4 The proof One artifact seen without meeting you. 5 The route One step from a stranger to you. YOUR SCORE out of 5 THE FIELD YOU WILL FILL FIRST FROM “THE MARKET FOR EXPERIENCE AFTER 40” FREEBOUNDLIFE.COM The Opening Balance Four holdings – Patterns, Standards, Access and Nerve – each placed on one shared four-position axis. 0 means never exercised outside the job; 1 means once, arranged by someone else; 2 means on your own authority, once; 3 means on your own authority, again. Positions 2 and 3 sit under a bracket marked CONFIRMED and are drawn as gold diamonds, because only those two count. Each row carries a blank field for the instance and its month and year. The opening balance is the number of confirmed holdings, from zero to four, read as a count rather than a grade. AN INSTRUMENT FROM THE CAPITAL ACCOUNT The Opening Balance Mark where each holding sits today. Every mark needs one instance you could describe in a sentence. 0 — Never outside the job1 — Once, and someone else arranged it2 — On your own authority, once3 — On your own authority, againCONFIRMED 0 1 2 3 PATTERNS You have seen this shape end before. INSTANCE + MONTH / YEAR STANDARDS You know what good looks like. INSTANCE + MONTH / YEAR ACCESS Named people who answer within a day. INSTANCE + MONTH / YEAR NERVE You decided without complete information. INSTANCE + MONTH / YEAR OPENING BALANCE of 4 confirmed Read it as a count, not a grade. FROM “EXPERIENCE CAPITAL: WHAT YOU ACTUALLY OWN AFTER 40” FREEBOUNDLIFE.COM AN INSTRUMENT FROM THE NEAREST YES The Call Sheet A call you will never hear. Five things have to be true on it. A. We have a bottleneck on line two and nobody agrees why. B. How long has it been running? A. Three weeks. Ops says headcount, finance says systems. B. There is someone who used to sort out exactly this. 1 B. I watched him call one the year the supplier failed. 2 A. Is he even taking work? B. I think so. He said something about it. 3 B. He decides whether it is a systems problem or a 4 headcount problem. A. Send me his details. B. Give me a second. 5 1 The problem is named in their words not in your old job title 2 They saw it, not heard it present for a decision 3 They know you are available the most common zero 4 They can say it in one sentence short enough to repeat 5 They know how to reach you not a search Score three people out of five, then read the blanks, not the totals. The condition missing across all three names is the finding. SCORE / 5 THREE PEOPLE WHO COULD MAKE THIS CALL FROM “HOW TO GET YOUR FIRST CLIENT AFTER 40” FREEBOUNDLIFE.COM AN INSTRUMENT FROM THE NAMED DOWNSIDE The Cold Read Same evening. You each write the five down separately, without conferring. Then lay the two side by side and count what matches. WHAT I MEANT WHAT THEY HEARD THE NUMBER THE DATE THE STOP CONDITION WHAT DOES NOT CHANGE WHO DECIDES fill the diamond when the two entries say the same thing SCORE — DIAMONDS FILLED 0 to 5 WHICH ONE MISSED FROM “WHEN YOUR SPOUSE SAYS NO TO YOUR CAREER CHANGE” FREEBOUNDLIFE.COM The map that sits underneath all of them is the Midlife Reinvention Blueprint — the four pillars, a personal audit, and the first ninety days.