Two words make this difficult. Health Insurance.
Not with the ACA... now if you retire and only have income you draw from your investments, you pay a low income based rate even though you may have significant assets.
Join the Engineering Leisure Class
11–20 of 197 posts
Re: Join the Engineering Leisure Class
#12> We’re used to thinking of leisure in the narrow sense of “use of free time for enjoyment,” but leisure can be more meaningful if we focus instead on its broader definition as “opportunity afforded by free time to do something.” Stop coupling "enjoyment" with "non-productive".
How did the author couple enjoyment with nonproductive? It seems like the opposite considering he's advocating working on an idea for no pay, which is something you'd only do because you enjoy it and can easily be seen as being productive.
> How did the author couple enjoyment with nonproductive?
By considering "use of free time for enjoyment" too narrow. Supposedly because he thinks that "meaningful" is distinct from "enjoyable".
Re: Join the Engineering Leisure Class
#13I did this. I advise against this. I had money saved up, and for visa reasons had to spend a year outside the USA. Seemed like a perfect time to indulge in some risky ideas, especially those which were a little idealistic. It ended up being incredibly depressing and I got very little done. It's hard enough to build a product when you're in a startup or a smart team. In my opinion it's nearly impossible if you're goin…
Yeah, the lack of feedback (and not being embedded in a motivated team) is a very big downside. In my case, I responded by distancing myself a little bit from focusing so much on success at the one "big" thing I was working on, and focusing more on enjoying curiosity, exploration, etc. The app I've created probably falls in the "tool" category more than "product", and I spend (waste?) a fair amount of time psychologically prepping myself for marking it as a failure. On balance, I still feel like it's been a good move for my life, but of course the experiment is ongoing...
Re: Join the Engineering Leisure Class
#14Two words make this difficult. Health Insurance.
I was thinking: "rent"
Re: Join the Engineering Leisure Class
#15Two words make this difficult. Health Insurance.
Not in most European countries where this is handled at the national level, instead of by each company.
I.e. switching jobs (or having none) doesn't affect whether a hospital will treat you or not.
Re: Join the Engineering Leisure Class
#16This is actually exactly what I want to do, although I just started working so for obvious reasons it isn't a reality yet. How long does it take to save up enough money that you wouldn't need to work though?
Also, it seems like eventually you'd run out of money unless you can just retire early, in which case, you have the issue of explaining why you've been out of work for so long and proving you still are up to the task.
The last issue I have is that things I want to enjoy in my leisure time are costly. For example, I'd love to finish my degree and study music, but these things cost money. I want to continue studying piano, but pianos cost money, getting a house costs money, and lessons cost money. I'm sure I would still program and do projects, but it's not the only thing I happen to enjoy. Maybe not everyone has expensive hobbies like I do but I bet a lot of people, for whatever reason, want kids. Those things are expensive!
Also, I take issue with the author assuming that we spend money on luxuries just because we make more. At least for myself, this is not true at all. I've had jobs that were very stressful, and getting things I liked was my means of destressing and justifying staying at my job instead of just becoming a teacher or something (Not that teachers don't have stressful jobs, I just wonder if I'd enjoy it more). I think I'd have trouble keeping some jobs if I couldn't enjoy spending some of what I made.
Re: Join the Engineering Leisure Class
#17Two words make this difficult. Health Insurance.
Only in the places where healthcare isn't free and provided for every citizen
Re: Join the Engineering Leisure Class
#18Two words make this difficult. Health Insurance.
Not with the ACA... now if you retire and only have income you draw from your investments, you pay a low income based rate even though you may have significant assets.
Yeah, I think ACA is a huge supporter of this kind of move... although I planned to get an exchange plan, I ended up marrying a member of the US Navy, so I get covered by Tricare. I know, not everyone has that luck (or lots of other luck I enjoyed)...
Re: Join the Engineering Leisure Class
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
How did the author couple enjoyment with nonproductive? It seems like the opposite considering he's advocating working on an idea for no pay, which is something you'd only do because you enjoy it and can easily be seen as being productive.
> How did the author couple enjoyment with nonproductive? By considering "use of free time for enjoyment" too narrow. Supposedly because he thinks that "meaningful" is distinct from "enjoyable".
I understand what you were trying to say, but I don't remember reading anything that indicated this was his opinion.
Re: Join the Engineering Leisure Class
#20I did this. I advise against this. I had money saved up, and for visa reasons had to spend a year outside the USA. Seemed like a perfect time to indulge in some risky ideas, especially those which were a little idealistic. It ended up being incredibly depressing and I got very little done. It's hard enough to build a product when you're in a startup or a smart team. In my opinion it's nearly impossible if you're goin…
Yeah, the lack of feedback (and not being embedded in a motivated team) is a very big downside. In my case, I responded by distancing myself a little bit from focusing so much on success at the one "big" thing I was working on, and focusing more on enjoying curiosity, exploration, etc. The app I've created probably falls in the "tool" category more than "product", and I spend (waste?) a fair amount of time psychologi…
Oh yeah, let me say, my year+ of trying this wasn't a waste either.
I updated my skills, learned new tech, and tried stuff I never would have got to try in a normal work situation. I got to dick around with pretty UI on Monday and backend performance on Tuesday.
So a sabbatical of sorts wasn't a terrible idea -- I'd just do it differently. Ensuring a good iterative environment (social context, regular advisor meetings, customer contact) would be my #1 priority.