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If you try to drill down to real specifics with these people, then eventually you have to give up because there aren't any. They're fixated on not having anythi

If you try to drill down to real specifics with these people, then eventually you have to give up because there aren't any. They're fixated on not having anything that looks or feels like a job. They can't be convinced that less drastic measures are necessary. They won't engage with their problems logically. Hmm. I'm not going to say you're overgeneralizing, because you probably do have observational data behind your summation above. But even if it applies to the majority of "escapists" -- there's a significant percentage out there who not only do have plan; they make up for a good chunk of the truly brilliant and creative people who do anything truly interesting, at all. The closest I can get to these people's underlying thought mechanics is that they just don't want to subordinate any time at all to anyone else. They want complete 100% control over all of their time. Which would be really nice, but c'mon now. OK, now we're getting somewhere. But is it really that outlandish? There's this category of people known as "small business owners", you know - who basically fit that description. In fact, if you look around, there's quite a lot of them out there. In addition to, you know, genuinely creative people -- successful film makers, musicians and the like. Are you saying they all should've just thrown in the towel, gotten a teaching job or something because... there's just no "there" in these pursuits they were almost blindingly attracted to? C'mon now.

EvanAnderson 9y ago
"Entrepreneurs are the crazy people who work 100 hours a week so they don’t have to work 40 hours for someone else" (https://twitter.com/richardbranson/status/488646661326245888 https://twitter.com/richardbranson/status/488646661326245888)
- coldtea 9y ago
  If you think Richard Branson ever worked even 40 hours a week in his life the way an employee does, you'd be surprised. He had a hippy indy prog record company that got lucky with an unexpected hit record. The rest is investing, self-marketing, and networking, hard work (a la Jobs or Carmcak or Gates etc.) was seldom required.
  - kafkaesq 9y ago
    Not sure your point is coming across. Okay, he's no Jobs or Gates, that's for sure. But something tells me probably does something besides sit around and sip Daiquiris (or read HN) all day. "Networking", if you want to call it that. Or "investing" in ways that don't actually lose money takes actual work, you know. That is: "work", nonetheless.
    - coldtea 9y ago
      >That is: "work", nonetheless. If we contrast it with sitting at home or at some beach drinking Daiquiris (which is still a huge part of his time), then yes. If we contrast it with what is actually work, stressful hard work, then no.
      - kafkaesq 9y ago
        If we contrast it with .. stressful hard work, Then we'd be shifting the goalposts. The point is that, while it's not like he toils away in a coal mine -- and we know he ain't no brain surgeon -- whatever it is that Branson actually does, by any common sense definition it qualifies as "work".

EvanAnderson 9y ago

"Entrepreneurs are the crazy people who work 100 hours a week so they don’t have to work 40 hours for someone else" (https://twitter.com/richardbranson/status/488646661326245888 https://twitter.com/richardbranson/status/488646661326245888)

coldtea 9y ago
If you think Richard Branson ever worked even 40 hours a week in his life the way an employee does, you'd be surprised. He had a hippy indy prog record company that got lucky with an unexpected hit record. The rest is investing, self-marketing, and networking, hard work (a la Jobs or Carmcak or Gates etc.) was seldom required.
- kafkaesq 9y ago
  Not sure your point is coming across. Okay, he's no Jobs or Gates, that's for sure. But something tells me probably does something besides sit around and sip Daiquiris (or read HN) all day. "Networking", if you want to call it that. Or "investing" in ways that don't actually lose money takes actual work, you know. That is: "work", nonetheless.
  - coldtea 9y ago
    >That is: "work", nonetheless. If we contrast it with sitting at home or at some beach drinking Daiquiris (which is still a huge part of his time), then yes. If we contrast it with what is actually work, stressful hard work, then no.
    - kafkaesq 9y ago
      If we contrast it with .. stressful hard work, Then we'd be shifting the goalposts. The point is that, while it's not like he toils away in a coal mine -- and we know he ain't no brain surgeon -- whatever it is that Branson actually does, by any common sense definition it qualifies as "work".