141–150 of 167 posts
If I were in the US and could make $500k for being a typical employee then I may have been more motivated. It's not that I don't have my own business plans, but I'm generally taking it easy outside of a corporate career.
Experiences I guess? I wouldn't really say I am specifically chasing anything. If I had to pick something, then I guess I'd say I'm chasing what makes me overall the most happy.
A semi-controversial take for OP and other commenters like OP: Try religion out. These kids of questions and angsts are very normal and very old. Religion has been there to help with this for a very very long time. If not a daily/weekly practice, then the religious texts that you prefer may help. For jews/christians, the Book of Job is a good starting place : https://www.bible.com/bible/1171/JOB.1.MEV (MEV lacks the…
We are trying to create value for key stakeholders. When does it end? It's always ending. And yet it is also always beginning anew each fortnight.
I don't write code only because I want to achieve some distant future goal. I write code because that's part of who I am in the moment. I enjoy typing, I enjoy problem-solving, I enjoy building things, etc. Like a spider weaving a web, it has become part of my nature.
The beauty of humans is that we are general purpose machines, which can do a wide variety of things, because of how our bodies are, especially our hands.
The future of course is also important. Greater financial independence, learning new skills, improving one's character, meeting interesting personalities. All these of course are things we can hope for and strive for, but should also try to have reasonable expectations about, and avoid excessive entitlement.
Abandoned places, I guess we know the score, on and on
Does anybody know what we are looking for?
First of all, these are valid feelings so don't just discard them. They are normal. They reflect your values. You want your life to have meaning, you want to have an impact on the world, you want to be happy. These are good things. They get you out of bed each day and motivate you. Now, just learn to tone your emotional response to these thoughts from 100% to like 20%. Remember that your desire to grind is rooted in…
My answer was found by having kids. For me, one of the absolute best things about having kids was that it eliminated all doubt: I now had a 100% crystal clear main quest that trivially answers, "what should I be doing right now?" if I'm ever not sure. Everything else in life, especially my career, is just a side quest now. Why am I working? Before kids I foolishly thought it had something to do with being part of a t…
What happens once your children grow up and leave? You are back in the original situation, except worse - the relationship with your spouse has now likely deteriorated, and you have now likely neglected your hobbies and interests (and often even your health) to the point you don't even know how to live by yourself anymore. Most parents do not seem to deal with that well, trying to hold on, pushing for grandchildren etc.
It does not seem like a solution at all, just a more extreme version of 'we keep grinding, hoping we'll achieve X and then we'll be content forever, only to find merely emptiness on the other side' where you voluntarily choose to intensify your grind dramatically and leave yourself no alternatives.
In fact, just substituting 'by having kids' with another such activity that dramatically intensifies your grind and leaves you no alternatives seems to work just as well. "My answer was found by [going on a trek through the Sinai desert/giving everything to charity and going to live on a homestead away from civilization/circumnavigating the world on a small boat]. For me, one of the absolute best things about it was that it eliminated all doubt: I now had a 100% crystal clear main quest that trivially answers, 'what should I be doing right now?' if I'm ever not sure. Everything else in life is just a side quest"
You're supposed to enjoy the journey, not hyper focus on the destination. If the journey is not fun, the destination is not worth it, especially since you may never even get there in the first place.