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Design a Life They Can't Control

Tom Scryleus

321,211 views

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Why does modern work feel pointless? This video explores wage slavery, burnout, lifestyle inflation, and how to escape the 9-5 trap by designing a life you actually control.
Discover why financial freedom is about options—not money—and how autopilot keeps people stuck in jobs they hate.
If you're exhausted by the modern work crisis, quiet quitting culture, or chasing approval, this is for you.
Build a life with more freedom, less dependence, and enough exits to breathe.

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 — Intro: The Obituary I Hope Nobody Writes
03:27 — Part 1: The Hidden Cost of Comfort and Wage Slavery
06:18 — Part 2: Why You Stop Noticing the 9-5 Cage
09:31 — Part 3: The Mortgage Trap and Losing Financial Freedom
11:46 — Part 4: How to Escape Autopilot and Reclaim Your Life
17:31 — Part 5: Building a Life Beyond the 9-5 Trap
22:57 — Conclusion: Why More Money Won't Set You Free
26:56 — Behind The Scenes Vlog: Vacation, Freedom & Life by Design

BUILDING FREEDOM OUTSIDE WORK
🌿 Free Guide → How I started building income outside the traditional 9–5 system: https://stan.store/tomscryleus/p/buil...

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🎥 YouTube Success Blueprint→ How I built a 100k+ YouTube channel while working a normal job: https://stan.store/tomscryleus/p/read...

🔗 More resources and projects → https://stan.store/tomscryleus

MY BOOKS
📘 The Brutal Truth About Work
The #1 Amazon Bestseller (US, Germany & France)
exploring modern work, wage slavery, and the hidden psychological cost of the 9–5 system.
https://amzn.to/4klHtuP

📕 The Dark History of Work
A deeper exploration into how humanity was transformed from free communities
into wage-dependent populations
and why modern work feels increasingly inescapable.
https://amzn.to/42mVrWB

CONNECT WITH ME:
📸 Instagram → Instagram: Tom.Scryleus
📱 X → https://x.com/TomScryleus
🌐 Website → https://www.TomScryleus.com

My Gear:
📋 The tools I use to make these videos: https://www.tomscryleus.com/resources...

Thank you for watching!

20 Comments

@TomScryleus Creator 3 months ago Pinned

Trying to keep this channel independent and sponsor-free.
Patreon helps a lot if you want to support the journey: https://www.patreon.com/tomscryleus

WATCH NEXT: Aristotle Would Hate Modern Work → https://youtu.be/BA0FWjtvx4w

@GerardoDelValle. 3 months ago

Walk, bike , eat real food, eat less , exercise outside, change your hobbies not your furniture, etc ..

@JM-yd9sm 3 months ago

If you’re doing something pleasurable and you’re not spending money, or very little, chances are you are getting closer to how you should be living.

@jdoedoenet 2 months ago

Totally solid advice. I've lived this. House paid off fully. Retired at 49. Raised two wondeful kids.
We paid down our mortgage while all our neighbors bought jet skis and $6 Starbucks coffees.
You CAN do it. It's all about choices and priorities.

FREEDOM is everything.

@nzmjm45 3 months ago

A supervisor said to me, we dont like people like you.
No mortgage, no kids so we cant control you.
I learnt real young that money = freedom.

@yokuzo11 3 months ago

5:14 "An employer doesn't have to threaten you, they just need to know you can't afford to miss 2 paychecks"
🔥🔥🔥🔥🎇🎇🎇🎇

@Di...747 3 months ago

I have lived this way for many years. I chose sustainability and peace. I have no internet besides my phone. I only have one subscription and that is to a music platform because it gives me joy. I have no television streaming services. I have antenna TV. My house is less than 1,100 sq ft. My bills are minimal. And I am very content with my choices.

@TomScryleus Creator 3 months ago

Stop drifting.
Start choosing.
Build a life that doesn't panic
when one thing goes wrong...

@chrissullivan3654 3 months ago

The things you own end up owning you.

@henrymorgan3982 3 months ago

"It's not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential."
-Bruce Lee

@sammacnicoll4943 2 months ago

It's not how much you have that sets you free...It's how much you do not desire that sets you free.

@thetreeoflife3452 3 months ago (edited)

From age 21 I did 13 years as a wage slave, working in an office.
After that I did 15 years self employed - it was hard work but fun. I loved not having a boss and made tons of money.
Then, after burn out, I went back into part time work for another 3 years.
At age 52 I was financially independent and retired.

Ive always considered my freedom as the most important thing - I'm glad I didnt do 40 years stuck in a miserable office, tapping on a keyboard, grovelling to a boss.
The hardest part was finding the courage to walk out of an established career and go self employed.

@TomScryleus Creator 3 months ago

You don't need to escape society.
You need to stop outsourcing your decisions to it.
That's where freedom begins.

@DaughterofYahuahonly 3 months ago

I am doing this. I've bought land outside of the west. I'm building a home, I have a well, I will not connect to utilities, I will have solar power, I will grow as much food as I can. I have enough savings to buy food and necessities. I will not need a job. That is financial freedom.

@LifeRenewed-247 3 months ago

Reduce living costs, detach from the things

@rickyfargason8859 2 months ago

Debt is slavery. Do whatever you can do to reduce or eliminate debt, so you are not beholden to any bank.

@CranePet 2 months ago

One thing you must do to not get trapped by the system. Treat debt like it is the plague. There is no freedom like financial freedom.

@wideawake5630 2 months ago

72 yr old hippie chick here. I've lived life on my own terms and will for decades to come!

@notsofatmike1 2 months ago

Don't get yourself into a lifestyle that makes you a prisoner to yourself. It is that simple.

@tracey1099 2 months ago (edited)

Slavery is still alive. It had a makeover and was renamed debt. Freedom came by letting go of consumerism for the sake of it and choosing to create a life that nurtures wellbeing on all levels of being - physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. I unplugged decades ago. I owe no money. I work for myself and live a simple, happy life that is rich in the things that truly matter to me - the people I love, nature, creativity, community, and kindness.