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How much free time do you have?

erikrood.com

161–170 of 226 posts

Re: How much free time do you have?

#161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Enjoying 79 stress-free years sounds better than having things to brag about on your gravestone.

Stress is orthogonal here. Many humans[0] naturally want to create, build and improve things around them. A typical job is a nearly insurmountable obstacle to that, especially if fruits of the labour only ever manifest as paycheck - hence the desire to do that in whatever free time that's left. -- [0] - I'd argue, all.

> [0] - I'd argue, all.

Nope! I take no joy and have no interest in creating, building, and improving things. I like buying stuff, watching TV, scrolling through the Internet, and that’s more or less it.

Just passing time until I die.

Re: How much free time do you have?

#162

Some feedback about the formula from a parent: The formula needs to account for the reality that with young children your "parental duties" expands to occupy all free time when kids are awake. And also shifts other chores into any free time slots when kids are asleep. Kids are asleep. Time to clean the kitchen, do the dishes, switch the laundry, cut some veggies for tomorrow's dinner, and then find somewhere softer t…

I try to make it a point to do all the chores when the kids are awake. When they are asleep is time to relax; not do mundane tasks I don't feel it's my duty to entertain my kinds every waking hour, so if they have to settle with watching me fold the laundry or unload the dishwasher, so be it. This probably won't win me the father-of-the-year award, and it is parenting-style me and my girlfriend don't always agree abo…

It's really not about entertaining my kids constantly. It's that a baby and a toddler are a lot of work even if they do spend hours entertaining themselves.

Re: How much free time do you have?

#163
post #98
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in Tanzania and here any kid that is above the age of 2 has free rein to go wherever they want. Maybe it's not a better way (though I suspect it is), but it is certainly easier (assuming you don't have 8 children like most people here though).

In Zambia, and I suspect in Tanzania, too, four-year old siblings also already play a role in taking care of their smaller siblings.

Which they're wholly not capable of doing. They just do it because there's little alternative available yet.

Re: How much free time do you have?

#164

Some feedback about the formula from a parent: The formula needs to account for the reality that with young children your "parental duties" expands to occupy all free time when kids are awake. And also shifts other chores into any free time slots when kids are asleep. Kids are asleep. Time to clean the kitchen, do the dishes, switch the laundry, cut some veggies for tomorrow's dinner, and then find somewhere softer t…

Parenting, except in the case of unwanted pregnancies, is a hobby. Culturally it has a sort of special status but in the end it's another hobby that one decides to commit to. It's a choice made that this is going to be your mostly exlusive hobby for the next several years.

It's less a hobby and more of a deeply ingrained evolutionary trait. I don't think people who lack the trait can ever grok what it feels like. For me it's up there with eating and breathing.

Re: How much free time do you have?

#165

I spent several years working toward the goal of maximizing my Free Time, and hit a point a couple years ago where I'm effectively as Retired as I want to be, at any given moment. The SaaS businesses tick away in the background and seldom require my intervention apart from a quick customer service email sweep every couple days. I'd recommend this path over the VC + Co-Founders "Startup" life that gets promoted here s…

The hard part is actually finding a viable business, not technical chops.

Still trying to find a way to do it since I don't want to work for a salary all my life.

Re: How much free time do you have?

#166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. It's hard to resist. I have 12 kids. I sure want time for random stuff... and then I realize the Sun is rising and I haven't slept. That's with a 40-hour work week, a 3-minute commute, and none of that gym/fitness time.

You kind of chose that life with complete impudence, internet stranger. No one trips while walking and finds themselves with twelve kids. ...You're not the person that decided to have so many kids because of a fear that having only a few, and then all of them dying of some sort of one in a million chance catastrophe would leave you distraught, were you?

This comment bothers me on a few levels.

1. Is there some rule that people are only allowed to make decisions that make them personally and continually happy? There are any number of good and pure reasons to choose a difficult life and also remain human and be able to communicate the difficulties of that life.

2. Why the general disdain for people with more than the normal number of kids? This person that you have admitted do not know is very different from you, certainly, but does not deserve the negative undertones given here.

I say these things as a father of 4 adopted children that are both the biggest challenge and blessing in my and my wife’s life.

Re: How much free time do you have?

#167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The 40 hour work week is tyrannical. If you are stating this seriously, I often wonder why there isn’t a great movement toward a reduction in working days/hours in the modern workplace. It’s kind of mind boggling to me why we have to trade most of our waking hours for the majority of the prime of our life to make a living wage. Modern society should be solving for this.

It is solved. Everybody can choose a job where they works less hours or become a freelancer and work as many hours as they want. This doesn't work on a global scale, but as an individual, that choice is possible. The problem is that people want to buy more than they can afford from doing less work. There is no way to resolve this. As long as there are status goods like sneakers for $1000, people will have to work the…

I don't agree, humans worked for 80 hours a week and then together reduced to 40 hours a week. I don't see why they could not reduce it to 30 or 20 hours a week.

Everyone worked on a Saturday then suddenly most of the people stopped working on the Saturday, I don't see why it would be impossible for most of the people in the society to stop working on Friday too.

Re: How much free time do you have?

#169

If you have less than 24hrs a day for fully-expendable time, at your own leisure, you are doing something wrong. Let the mexicans work, man, you are doing something wrong. 24 hour club. All day every day!

Damn I only got 116. How do you avoid sleep completely?

Re: How much free time do you have?

#170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You kind of chose that life with complete impudence, internet stranger. No one trips while walking and finds themselves with twelve kids. ...You're not the person that decided to have so many kids because of a fear that having only a few, and then all of them dying of some sort of one in a million chance catastrophe would leave you distraught, were you?

This comment bothers me on a few levels. 1. Is there some rule that people are only allowed to make decisions that make them personally and continually happy? There are any number of good and pure reasons to choose a difficult life and also remain human and be able to communicate the difficulties of that life. 2. Why the general disdain for people with more than the normal number of kids? This person that you have ad…

I think he's being more critical about complaining about it than about the decision itself.
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