Brian Herriot writes and speaks about the power of time freedom. As a financial coach and founder of Choosy Consultant, he helps mid-career professionals escape the corporate grind. His frameworks for personal growth and financial success all start with taking back control of our one truly limited resource: time.

In this episode, I talk with Brian about finding freedom and balance in your career. Brian shares insights from his journey as a consultant and founder of Choosy Consultant, where he helps mid-career professionals design lives that prioritize time over money. Emphasizing the importance of self-reflection, Brian advocates for “lifestyle freedom”—the ability to define and pursue personal success without succumbing to conventional career pressures. We discuss strategies for avoiding burnout, reimagining financial goals, and aligning one’s career with core values. Brian also touches on “the smile curve” of happiness and how he restructured his life to enjoy summers at a lakeside cabin, inspiring others to envision work as a means to support meaningful living.

In this episode:
(00:00) - Intro
(01:02) - Meet Brian Harriot
(03:37) - The path to entrepreneurship
(06:36) - The importance of time and lifestyle freedom
(07:35) - Career arc and founding Choosy Consultant
(10:57) - Balancing financial and professional freedom
(17:49) - The Smile Curve: Understanding life’s happiness arc
(21:50) - Navigating midlife transitions
(24:55) - Creative financial solutions
(25:45) - Breaking conventional thinking
(28:04) - Understanding the corporate grind
(30:05) - Balancing entrepreneurship and personal life
(41:02) - Investment strategies
(43:17) - Personal reflections

Get full show notes and links at https://mindful.money.

ABOUT MINDFUL MONEY:
Do you struggle with money? You’re not alone.

Money is a means, not an end. It’s a necessity of life for sure, but more money does not always guarantee a “good life”. Money enables many aspects of modern life, but as a dominant consideration, it becomes destructive.

The paradox is that more time and energy spent on personal finance does NOT create better outcomes. Unlike many other parts of life, we can’t create better outcomes by being smarter, spending more time, or putting in more effort.

Join Mindful Money author and experienced 40-year investor Jonathan DeYoe as he shares stories from artists, authors, entrepreneurs, and other advisors about how they mindfully minimize their need to think about money and get more out of life.

If you aren’t happy with your finances, feel like money takes more time than it should, or want to place your financial decisions into the broader context of your life, this show is for you.

Each episode will draw the line between the “enough” activities that the academics tell us are additive to family outcomes, and those “little bit more” efforts that take time and sap energy but do NOT improve outcomes.

CONNECT WITH BRIAN:
Website: https://www.choosyconsultant.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianherriot

MINDFUL MONEY RESOURCES:
Website: https://mindful.money
Jonathan DeYoe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathandeyoe
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Mindful Money on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MindfulMoney

🎙️Podcast Production by Turncast: https://turncast.com.