Ask HN: Thoughts on being “boring”

Usually not just a single thing, but if you go to some main ones its easy to get caught up in a string of things with other people that think its normal to keep going.

Art Basel in Miami last December was 1 week long, and surrounded by multiple other festivals. The energy stays there for some time, and next thing you know its New Years which has its own surge again.

Cannes Film Festivals is two weeks and goes right into the Monaco Grand Prix, and the opening parties in the party areas (St Tropez, Ibiza).

SXSW is the same way.

Oh, the seasonal Fashion Week's are actually the best example. NYFW goes into London Fashion Week, into Paris, into Milan. Then a month has definitely gone by. This happens in both February and in September.

There are a bunch of bullshit tech conferences if thats more your speed, just excuses to go to some cities with other people that want to party, or are kind of looking for deal flow, or are in sales at a big company. A lot of VC people wind up at those for their endless excuses to get on a stage and talk amongst themselves in a "fire side chat". You can invite them out more easily when you don't seem like someone that needs them.

For me, I would build something. A certain thing. And I realized that it's easier to get a job and get paid doing that instead of building/buying a team. I can be a billionaire later, but I won't necessarily be able to do what I really want to do.

Another angle is that I won't have the energy to be a developer when I'm old, but I can always do (senior) management 20 years from now. The entrepreneur route locked me out of development; I was making some sketchy decisions like coding stuff instead of buying.

If you just want free time and family, go for it. Family can also be a limited period - many people don't want kids past a certain age and only want to see their kids grow up. You're not going to play blocks with your son when he's 25. After that, you can go and chase material stuff. Many new careers start at 50. A lot involve family. An option is semi-retiring at 25 and then really get into hustling and stuff at 50, once you have the resources, skills, and connections.

Financial freedom is often completely separate from your life goals, and not a subgoal. In fact, many people switch their goals and become boring because they focused too much on financial freedom. The trader who makes $100k per month hits financial freedom... do you think he'd do his childhood dream job as a janitor at Disney World? Most likely he'd aim for making $120k next month.

Take it from the guy who went on the risky route a few times - not worth it. I’m down a lot of money and divorced because of all that risk taking. (Risk taking is very taxing on marriages)

Boring is a lot more rewarding than people will have you believe. Don’t let others choose your path when they have no tangible investment in it.

If by this you mean make babies, maybe later.