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Why am I here?

sivers.org

21–30 of 108 posts

Re: Why am I here?

#21
I enjoyed the post, but I find it to be such a vast departure from the way I think and feel, mostly because I have a family.

Sure, I would love to sit on a balcony in New Zealand, coding and listening to the birds, but I couldn't possibly rip my daughter away from her friends and the school she loves.

Again, I appreciate the spirit of the post, but reality for most of us precludes this level of whimsy, and I don't necessarily think that's bad.

Re: Why am I here?

#22
post #12
post #11

Are you there with friends at all? I'm just curious because for me I always want to be near friends and family, but know that for some people they would rather do something new and exciting.

Married with a baby. But other than that, I don't know anyone here. That was part of the appeal. I prefer solitude right now.

Wow, and your wife was cool with that :)?

Couldn't even imagine being able to move around with my family like that. I've lived in the same area basically my whole life and it's quite boring. A change would be nice. Always wanted to try out Montana.

Re: Why am I here?

#23
I am always fond of Derek Sivers' insights, but I would personally have a hard time getting much done on the South Island. So much natural beauty to explore. I'd be on a perpetual kayaking/tramping/skiing trip!

Re: Why am I here?

#24
post #9

I have just finished an excellent online course called "The Brief History of Humankind"[1]. It was really an eye opener for me. I always loved history, but all the arguments people made about why we need to study it never really resonated with me. The stuff about "not repeating the same mistakes", "not re-inventing the wheel", "learning from the past" just never made much sense to me. The real reason to study history…

That's exactly why I love this TED talk about the history of the universe in 18 minutes:

http://youtu.be/yqc9zX04DXs

Understanding where we fit on the timeline of the universe is quite amazing.

Re: Why am I here?

#27
post #21

I enjoyed the post, but I find it to be such a vast departure from the way I think and feel, mostly because I have a family. Sure, I would love to sit on a balcony in New Zealand, coding and listening to the birds, but I couldn't possibly rip my daughter away from her friends and the school she loves. Again, I appreciate the spirit of the post, but reality for most of us precludes this level of whimsy, and I don't ne…

"Why am I here?"

"Because my daughter loves it here."

Seems to fit in with what he was saying to me.

Re: Why am I here?

#29
post #21

I enjoyed the post, but I find it to be such a vast departure from the way I think and feel, mostly because I have a family. Sure, I would love to sit on a balcony in New Zealand, coding and listening to the birds, but I couldn't possibly rip my daughter away from her friends and the school she loves. Again, I appreciate the spirit of the post, but reality for most of us precludes this level of whimsy, and I don't ne…

I was thinking the same thing except more generally just being reasonably close to my family. It's kinda crazy when I was younger I would have thought nothing about just packing up and going anywhere. But you get older, you really start to feel like your family are the most important thing on this earth.

I probably would only move at this point if I felt like it was essential in order to seize a really important opportunity. I'm not really tied to my current location for any sentimental reason, but it would just be inconvenient to be too far from family.

Re: Why am I here?

#30
post #5
post #2

I don't ask this too hard, because not only do I know ahead of time that I probably won't like the answer too much, I don't have much reason to suppose I'll get it 'right' next time, either. Without any one all-consuming passion in life, the best I can do is change stuff and see what happens. Also, it's unclear what Mr. Sivers' financial independence status is, but I think that for most of us, wherever we go basicall…

Mr Sivers is very transparent about his financial situation: http://sivers.org/trust Summary: CD Baby was transferred to a trust then sold for $22m, the trust pays Mr Sivers 5% per year. In his own words he has "enough".

Usually I don't give a crap about scalability, but that trust post got me to. (Edit: sticking to facts ;)
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