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Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

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Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#271
post #3

I want to leave mommy's house and start living as a "digital nomad", moving from country to country every few months as I want. I want to know the world a little better. The most obvious roadblock is making money along the way. My plan is to do it by launching a small web product, blogging about the travel, working as a local on countries where I'm allowed to, and doing some freelance programming work. I have at leas…

awesome. i did this for 2y (www.digitalnomad.com) and am building a webapp to enable me to do this again. the easiest way to do it is to find a nice freelance gig that pays the bills.

building a webapp will probably take you longer - getting the word out can be tough, and growth can be slow. but ultimately it's more scalable - you'll be earning money (in theory) while you're out exploring your new surroundings.

some quick tips from my experience: * rent an apt with good broadband. it's worth it to be able to plug in from your home to work instead of tracking down a close, open cafe with reliable broadband. hostels are noisy.

* buy icebreaker clothing - expensive but totally worth it. they don't smell. i've had the same 5 t-shirts for the past 2.5 years. merino wool is the best fabric known to the digital nomad.

* pay off your debt before you leave. it gives you flexibility and cuts down on stress.

* don't take more than a carry-on. you can always buy stuff at your destination.

* make time to see the region of the world you're staying in. i found it hard to balance this with enjoying the city where i'm living.

* enjoy the solitude and be selfish with your time. you'll probably have no obligations to anyone when you move somewhere. relish this - ultimate control over your time is a true luxury. use it wisely (see next bullet)

* before moving somewhere, figure out what you want to do there (learn the language? meet locals? go heads-down on a webapp? see the country? etc). then focus on the things you want to do knowing you're not trying to do it all. you can always come back.

* don't forget to improvise, deviate from your schedule / goals, jump on opportunities that come up, and go with the flow.

so excited for you - you're going to have a phenomenal time! drop me a line if you have any questions - blog at reemer dot com.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#272

Some really inspiring stuff in here. My short-term track/running/fitness goals: Break 4 minutes for 1500m, 2:00 for 800m. Currently at 4:06 and 2:00.1 (the latter is so heartbreaking!). Squat 250lbs (currently at 185, weighing 138). Educational goals: 4 publications in the next two years, complete PhD (CS). Get a solid grasp on differential calculus. Truly understand relativity and quantum mechanics. Any advice from…

Squatting 250 at 138 while running that fast is a huge feat! good luck.

look into crossfit[crossfit.com] workouts if you haven't already.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Banging pots and pans together will usually scare bears away. If not, just remember you don't have to outrun the bear - you just have to outrun your slowest friend.

I bought an air horn. If I don't need it for bears, it should be a funny alarm clock for my buddies. ;)

Air horn? get with the times buddy, you need a vuvuzela.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#274
Learn to sail and buy a boat. Ultimately I want to do solo expeditions. Inspiration -> http://www.bigoceans.com/

My biggest roadblock is that I'm broke. I haven't really started on this goal in earnest yet. My intention is to finish my PhD by the end of the year and then freelance for a while to earn enough money for lessons and boat.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#275
post #262

To write a novel. Bottleneck: Lack of discipline, perhaps also lack of life experience to make it truly meaningful and classic and maybe also lack of other softer skills such as how to convey in writing different accents or manners of speaking of different people.

As a roadblock helper: Have you heard of Nanowrimo? http://www.nanowrimo.org/ People get together and write an entire novel over November (50,000 words). I have actually done it twice. You're probably thinking of saying something like "how can you ever write a good novel in just a month?" The point of Nanowrimo, though, is to get you to ignore your internal critic. The reason that everyone wants to write a novel, but…

Thank you. I suppose it might be of help to many people, but, I would not fancy the pressure.

I am not being stopped by an internal critic. I have written a bit and I quite like what I have write, I was very much pleasantly surprised in fact. I do think though that if it will give me full satisfaction I should perhaps learn of ways of speaking by different people and also I plan to take some acting classes which might be of help.

But yeh I do think I will need some time, I think it will be a life project and probably never be published. I don't want to be a writer. I enjoy writing though, a lot, especially when you at some point you are not really the writer but witnessing and thinking wow where on earth did that come from, its coool!

How did your novels go though?

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will send you mail once I reach home. Directly Stanford PhD would be difficult maybe you can get an MS from a second tier college and then go for a PhD. Anyway it would be interesting to talk

Thank You. All help/advice appreciated. It is the middle of the night here (India). So I'll probably reply when I wake up.

I am Indian (student) as well! I did my undergrad in chemical engineering and had 8 K.T.s yet I could mange to get wait listed at MIT Media Lab (my group didn't take anyone that year due to lack of funds). Currently I am at Cornell.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#277
Move to San Francisco with my girlfriend, legally (we're Canadian). I can start a company w/ US friends that will sponsor me for a visa / work permit.

Her situation is the biggest roadblock - she didn't graduate from college (a big strike in the DHS's eyes) and has been self-employed as an esthetician for most of her career.

While she'd be open to working for someone else in the US, getting a visa for her will be tough without the college degree. And her preference is not to work for someone else so she can continue to run her practice while starting a skincare product line biz.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#278
post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a father of 4, the only downtime I have today is being taken up by writing this comment. Gotta run! P.S. never let them outnumber you

As a sibling of 5: muwhahahahaaaa!

As the oldest of 5, allow me to echo this sentiment ;)

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#279
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I visited Vietnam three times over a 3 year period. Is it your first time? Since my last visit, laws have changed that require you to wear a helmet while on a moped. One of the things I enjoyed the most was the freedom in riding a moped around a huge crowded city for hours, not knowing where I was going, or where I'd end up. It's somewhat ruined now with the helmet law. Nearly 100 degree weather wearing a helmet isn'…

I had a close friend die from a crash on a moped due to him not wearing a helmet. I suggest you suck it up and wear one regardless of the heat if you either: use your head for a living, or just value your life.

I lived in Taiwan for a year, I think I witnessed three or four moped accidents. Helmets are good.

Also, this reminds me of a quip one of the SportsCenter anchors made back in the day: 'The NHL has made helmets optional. Injuries are also optional.'

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#280

I suppose the most interesting goal, to me, is getting my teeth fixed. I didn't take care of them all through my twenties and it's had serious repercussions on my social and professional life as well as taking a drastic toll on my confidence. Roadblocks and/or bottlenecks are easy: finances. Dental work isn't cheap, especially when you're looking at as much work as I need done. The "fear" of the dentist was also an i…

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