Most lives are lived by default

When you say that happiness does not seem to be correlated to wealth do you mean that having a larger salary does not seem to be correlated to wealth or that having a more savings/less debt (to some extent this is two scales, to some extent it is one scale) does not seem to be correlated to wealth.

I find it hard to think of someone whose annual income is in the 200k+ range but who is in massive debt as rich or wealthy. Similarly, someone whose annual income is below 50k but who has no debt, owns their own home free and clear and has massive savings could easily be thought of as wealthy. Of course, "massive" when talking about money is relative to income and debt/savings are likely to be orthogonal to happiness to a large extent. With regards to money and happiness, I think the Micawber principle states it best: "Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery."

To be perfectly honest I don't know.. I had latin as well, but I gleefully forgot most of it :)

It's amazing how defensive some of these posts are because the poster has chosen to live a life by default.

I once thought I wanted to climb the corporate ladder, to buy stuff, toys. More, more, more...

I made my way into software management back in 2008. I was absolutely miserable. The routine, wake up to an alarm, get ready, run to work, work on someone else's ideas, have to listen to someone tell me what to do. When I got home, I had no energy to work on my own stuff. Work, had stolen all my will power and mental energy. I consoled myself, by losing myself in movies and games, drinking.

Then in 2009, I was so miserable I deliberately worked to get terminated with severance. I was successful. The evening I was fired I was so happy. I was set for 1 year. I moved from L.A. to San Francisco.

Got an apartment, and started learning all of adobe's tools (my friend got me a free copy of their top suite, he worked there). I experimented with many different compression algorithm techniques, I worked on neural networks. Then after 9 months, and the money running out I took a trip to Budapest Hungary for 1 month to learn how to make bespoke shoes. I had never in my life been so happy. I discovered that I hate working for other people, hate it, absolutely hate it, I'd rather live on the street.

I got back and found a startup where I could make great money, knowing I would quit at the end of one year. And like clockwork, after the initial enjoyment of doing something new, getting to write firmware which was something new, it was time to get out. This time, knowing I was quitting made all the difference, I didn't get burned out. I wasn't angry. A couple months later an opportunity arose to do some consulting, 2 months in and I was set. I doubled my income and got to walk away. 6 months later and the original manager quit, they needed someone to come in and rescue them, I showed up. Charged twice what I've ever made. The money was awesome, I paid off a second mortgage ($60k). I saved $100k after tax. After 8 months, couldn't take it anymore.

But this time I had a plan, it was time to start my own company, where I am the boss, where I can eventually get to the point where I hire other people to do all the work and I draw income from a business that doesn't consume my life.

I'm 2 months in on my first company product, it's hard work, but it doesn't feel like work. I am my own boss, I decide what is important, I don't interrupt myself with stupid inefficient task switching, there are no office politics, I don't have to listen to the 'normies' and their pathetic existence as they skate through life anesthetized.

I love the uncertainty, I thrive on it. To have a predictable mundane life is walking death. To actually have complete control over my own success and failure is invigorating. I have 22 months left of runway, and if it fails? So what, I can always pick up a temporary consulting gig. The experience I am learning now is making me far more valuable than being an employee ever will.

Some key things I learned, which made this possible:

1) eliminate anyone and everyone negative in my life: friends, family... anyone.

2) stop hanging around people who espouse and vigorously defend the "normal" lifestyle

3) surround myself with positive and also like minded individuals

4) take pleasure in simple things, cooking a good meal, reading an interesting book, going for a bike ride, accomplishing a small milestone.

5) Eliminate debt, do I really need that fancy car? (unless I can pay cash)

6) I got rid of my tv, don't miss it for a second, it just wastes my time

7) Got my living expenses down really low, yet I'm living the richest life I've ever had.

8) Free time to cook, allowed me to discover that I have a severe gluten intolerance. Doctor's never figured it out, just told me I was "depressed", that I needed to eat more fiber (which is gluten). Since I had eaten gluten almost every single meal my entire life there was no gap to discover how much better I felt. This would never, ever have happened if I had kept a regular M-F job. I never had time to cook semolina pizza dough, muffins, cakes and eat so much that the 1-1 correlation between what I was eating and how I felt clicked.

9) Don't fear change, embrace it

10) It's easy to make new friends

11) I'm actually an extrovert, it's the people I was surrounded with my whole life that made me seem like an introvert, I just didn't want to interact with them.

12) Stop caring what other people think, what makes them happy might make me miserable (one man's heaven is another man's hell)

13) Be happy so many people choose to take the easy way out, on cruise control. It makes it so much easier to be successful myself with so little competition.

14) Be a source for anyone who is also trying to figure out who they are and what they really want to do.

15) Stop trying to give people advice when it is unwanted.

16) Life is about the journey, not the destination. SOMEDAY STARTS NOW!

* anyone offended please feel free to skip my message, it's not for everyone. My way is not for everyone, it is not a 'universal right way'. But it is most definitely the right way for me, and for any lost souls out there (which I once was). I hope that this post may make them think, think about how to change their life for the better too.

Top stories on HN kill servers. http://www.raptitude.com/ is inaccessible. I think its HN's moral duty to implement some-kind of caching mechanism for top rated stories.

I'm similarly old fashioned, only now I'm moving house again, and regretting the half a tonne of books I'll have to lug around.