5 ms·

I wonder how much of it is caused by having the freedom to decide how to spend your own time. I had the opportunity to spend a couple of months off between job

by Aaargh20318 9y ago

I wonder how much of it is caused by having the freedom to decide how to spend your own time. I had the opportunity to spend a couple of months off between jobs a few years back and I’ve never been happier. It was gone within a day of starting my new job. I like what I do for a living, but not nearly as much as I like freedom. Spending most of your life in dayprison sucks the joy out of your life.

kristianc 9y ago
I had a similar sense when I was freelance consulting, but man having to chase people for payment every month sucks.
- chrisweekly 9y ago
  Finding better clients and projects beats hell out of returning to standard employee status. (IMHO, and IME.)
ericmcer 9y ago
I think 3 months is the expiration for unemployed meanderings to be fun. I quit my last job to pursue a side project full time and it went from every day being bliss to every day having a film of meaninglessness over it. Humans are social creatures, and it is strange how important just having other people who care about what you are doing is to making it seem important in your own mind. I am debating finding a co-founder just so they can look at it sometimes and be like 'yeah seems good' :/.
- Buttons840 9y ago
  You need :+1: as a service. You post something, anything, and get a :+1: to assure you your life has meaning. ;) More seriously, I once read a suggestion to have a performance partner who you chat with weekly, exchange goals, hold each other accountable, share ideas, etc. Someone who is not necessarily a close friend, but more of a business acquaintance. Anyone ever tried this?
  - Regardsyjc 9y ago
    I've led masterminds with fellow business owners where we virtually met every two weeks and discusssed whether we met our two week goals. It was great for me because I would freak out and go, oh shit, I can't go to this meeting with nothing to show and sometimes I would hustle in the last couple of days to get shit done. What I saw a lot of people including myself struggle with though is how to set reasonable goals and stay focused. I saw a lot of people switch from project to project when they had a setback or due to shiny object syndrome. So I think accountability is also great for helping you focus and recognize when you're not staying on task. Something that has helped me a lot is focusing on 3 projects at a time MAX in differing priorities and not starting anything new until I compete projects and make space. It's given me a mindset change of "will I be able to do this" to "I can't do anything until I get this done so let's get this shit out of the way."
- agumonkey 9y ago
  I have a similar but not exact conclusion. I'm jobless, long term. I have a diploma and enough brain capacity to get a good paying job. For reasons I stopped. I went to pursue lots of things, with some success (I managed to crack stuff that I couldn't for years outside of school, group and help). And at that point, I'd serve coffee with pleasure. It's not really that I need people to care about my things, more like I value a lot more sharing/helping people. And tech/science very rarely do so directly. Maybe it's an age thing. At one point you don't want to satisfy your ego, but take care of others (while earning a living). Also, I have enough parts and ideas to have 10 companies. But as you say, to be fulfilling it would require partners in venture.
- paulcole 9y ago
  > I think 3 months is the expiration for unemployed meanderings to be fun. I quit my job and lived frugally on savings for 2 years. Loved every minute of it and if not for needing money/healthcare, I’d never work again. Just watching tv, reading, exercising, sitting around.
- Aaargh20318 9y ago
  > I think 3 months is the expiration for unemployed meanderings to be fun. I’ve spent longer periods of time doing fuck all earlier in life (college) and it was awesome. I could just hang around the house for the rest of my life and not get bored one bit. > Humans are social creatures While that may be true for the majority of people, it doesn’t apply to me. Being around humans makes me miserable. I like the idea of socializing, I see people having fun at social activities and that makes me want to spend time around people. But every time I do it’s just soooo boring. All I can think of is how I’d rather be at home, alone.
  - 0xBA5ED 9y ago
    I am pretty much like this. I still enjoy socializing with people, but I'm happy as hell when I have loads of free time to work on what I want, when I want, for as long as I want. I could live a thousand years without a schedule and never get bored.
- psyc 9y ago
  Everyone's different. I've had many 2+ year gaps during which I made what I wanted to make. I haven't gone to a regular job since 2015, and it's still bliss. I've accomplished far more of what I want to, and learned so much. I'll probably take a short contract soon, but only if I think it's going to be interesting and enjoyable. I wouldn't mind living like this until I retire, after which I hope to keep making things.
  - el_benhameen 9y ago
    May I ask about your living situation and how you maintain it without regular employment? That does sound blissful, and I'm curious how you fit the rest of your life around it.
    - psyc 9y ago
      Programmer's wages + maximum frugality. I've lived in a variety of mostly rural locations, always with roommates. I believe the main obstacles are psychological. For example I had to learn how to actually not spend, and how not to feel insecure about having a net worth of approximately zero.
- Regardsyjc 9y ago
  Even if it's not a co-founder, you need to surround yourself with like-minded people. I started my business at 23 and all my friends had corporate jobs. Social isolation sucks when you're no longer part of the tribe because you decided to go out and do your own thing. First thing I realized was that I really had no idea what I was doing- so I found mentors by going to conferences related to my work. It was amazing, meeting hundreds of people like me, passionate about building their busineses. I also found people who were going through the same thing in startup networks, mine was an incubator I graduated from. Find people who do what you do, who are better than you, inspire you, and who will lift you up! It is night and day when you have a support network as an entrepreneur.
rubicon33 9y ago
I couldn't agree more. For me, happiness begins when I can finally feel like I own my time.
chrisweekly 9y ago
Yes! This! I don't understand why so many talented people in software simply accept the yoke. So much more to say about this but saving it for a long-form post.
JBlue42 9y ago
It depends on if you gain that 'freedom' by choice or not. The latter, if especially unexpected, can be troublesome. Even more so if you have those that depend on you.
kilroy123 9y ago
I had the same exact thing happen to me, 100% yes. I had a severance package, savings, and unemployment. So I went 5 months without a job and it was amazing. Never in my adult life have I had so much energy than during that time. That really got me into FI/RE (financial independence / early retirement) and I've seen been working towards early retirement since.
mnm1 9y ago
I think this one factor alone probably accounts for most of the happiness described here. It sucks slaving away when you don't really have an option but to work. No matter the job, it's still a job. I'd be happy as hell too if I didn't have to work jobs I hate (pretty much all of them).
grecy 9y ago
Yep, I agree 100% A few years ago I quit my Software Engineering job to drive from Alaska to Argentina, absolutely loved every minute. After a few more years of work behind a desk to save money, I have again quit and I'm now driving around Africa. It's already been over 18 months, probably something like 12 to go. [1] It's so freeing and rewarding to do exactly what I want each and every day. Freedom is so much more important than money for me. I feel so passionately about doing this with my life and teaching others how I did it that I wrote an eBook on how I do it, called "Work Less to Live Your Dreams" [2] [1] http://instagram.com/theroadchoseme http://instagram.com/theroadchoseme [2] https://amzn.to/2IywUT0 https://amzn.to/2IywUT0

kristianc 9y ago

I had a similar sense when I was freelance consulting, but man having to chase people for payment every month sucks.

chrisweekly 9y ago
Finding better clients and projects beats hell out of returning to standard employee status. (IMHO, and IME.)

ericmcer 9y ago

I think 3 months is the expiration for unemployed meanderings to be fun. I quit my last job to pursue a side project full time and it went from every day being bliss to every day having a film of meaninglessness over it. Humans are social creatures, and it is strange how important just having other people who care about what you are doing is to making it seem important in your own mind. I am debating finding a co-founder just so they can look at it sometimes and be like 'yeah seems good' :/.

Buttons840 9y ago
You need :+1: as a service. You post something, anything, and get a :+1: to assure you your life has meaning. ;) More seriously, I once read a suggestion to have a performance partner who you chat with weekly, exchange goals, hold each other accountable, share ideas, etc. Someone who is not necessarily a close friend, but more of a business acquaintance. Anyone ever tried this?
- Regardsyjc 9y ago
  I've led masterminds with fellow business owners where we virtually met every two weeks and discusssed whether we met our two week goals. It was great for me because I would freak out and go, oh shit, I can't go to this meeting with nothing to show and sometimes I would hustle in the last couple of days to get shit done. What I saw a lot of people including myself struggle with though is how to set reasonable goals and stay focused. I saw a lot of people switch from project to project when they had a setback or due to shiny object syndrome. So I think accountability is also great for helping you focus and recognize when you're not staying on task. Something that has helped me a lot is focusing on 3 projects at a time MAX in differing priorities and not starting anything new until I compete projects and make space. It's given me a mindset change of "will I be able to do this" to "I can't do anything until I get this done so let's get this shit out of the way."
agumonkey 9y ago
I have a similar but not exact conclusion. I'm jobless, long term. I have a diploma and enough brain capacity to get a good paying job. For reasons I stopped. I went to pursue lots of things, with some success (I managed to crack stuff that I couldn't for years outside of school, group and help). And at that point, I'd serve coffee with pleasure. It's not really that I need people to care about my things, more like I value a lot more sharing/helping people. And tech/science very rarely do so directly. Maybe it's an age thing. At one point you don't want to satisfy your ego, but take care of others (while earning a living). Also, I have enough parts and ideas to have 10 companies. But as you say, to be fulfilling it would require partners in venture.
paulcole 9y ago
> I think 3 months is the expiration for unemployed meanderings to be fun. I quit my job and lived frugally on savings for 2 years. Loved every minute of it and if not for needing money/healthcare, I’d never work again. Just watching tv, reading, exercising, sitting around.
Aaargh20318 9y ago
> I think 3 months is the expiration for unemployed meanderings to be fun. I’ve spent longer periods of time doing fuck all earlier in life (college) and it was awesome. I could just hang around the house for the rest of my life and not get bored one bit. > Humans are social creatures While that may be true for the majority of people, it doesn’t apply to me. Being around humans makes me miserable. I like the idea of socializing, I see people having fun at social activities and that makes me want to spend time around people. But every time I do it’s just soooo boring. All I can think of is how I’d rather be at home, alone.
- 0xBA5ED 9y ago
  I am pretty much like this. I still enjoy socializing with people, but I'm happy as hell when I have loads of free time to work on what I want, when I want, for as long as I want. I could live a thousand years without a schedule and never get bored.
psyc 9y ago
Everyone's different. I've had many 2+ year gaps during which I made what I wanted to make. I haven't gone to a regular job since 2015, and it's still bliss. I've accomplished far more of what I want to, and learned so much. I'll probably take a short contract soon, but only if I think it's going to be interesting and enjoyable. I wouldn't mind living like this until I retire, after which I hope to keep making things.
- el_benhameen 9y ago
  May I ask about your living situation and how you maintain it without regular employment? That does sound blissful, and I'm curious how you fit the rest of your life around it.
  - psyc 9y ago
    Programmer's wages + maximum frugality. I've lived in a variety of mostly rural locations, always with roommates. I believe the main obstacles are psychological. For example I had to learn how to actually not spend, and how not to feel insecure about having a net worth of approximately zero.
Regardsyjc 9y ago
Even if it's not a co-founder, you need to surround yourself with like-minded people. I started my business at 23 and all my friends had corporate jobs. Social isolation sucks when you're no longer part of the tribe because you decided to go out and do your own thing. First thing I realized was that I really had no idea what I was doing- so I found mentors by going to conferences related to my work. It was amazing, meeting hundreds of people like me, passionate about building their busineses. I also found people who were going through the same thing in startup networks, mine was an incubator I graduated from. Find people who do what you do, who are better than you, inspire you, and who will lift you up! It is night and day when you have a support network as an entrepreneur.

rubicon33 9y ago

I couldn't agree more. For me, happiness begins when I can finally feel like I own my time.

chrisweekly 9y ago

Yes! This! I don't understand why so many talented people in software simply accept the yoke. So much more to say about this but saving it for a long-form post.

JBlue42 9y ago

It depends on if you gain that 'freedom' by choice or not. The latter, if especially unexpected, can be troublesome. Even more so if you have those that depend on you.

kilroy123 9y ago

I had the same exact thing happen to me, 100% yes. I had a severance package, savings, and unemployment. So I went 5 months without a job and it was amazing. Never in my adult life have I had so much energy than during that time. That really got me into FI/RE (financial independence / early retirement) and I've seen been working towards early retirement since.

mnm1 9y ago

I think this one factor alone probably accounts for most of the happiness described here. It sucks slaving away when you don't really have an option but to work. No matter the job, it's still a job. I'd be happy as hell too if I didn't have to work jobs I hate (pretty much all of them).

grecy 9y ago

Yep, I agree 100% A few years ago I quit my Software Engineering job to drive from Alaska to Argentina, absolutely loved every minute. After a few more years of work behind a desk to save money, I have again quit and I'm now driving around Africa. It's already been over 18 months, probably something like 12 to go. [1] It's so freeing and rewarding to do exactly what I want each and every day. Freedom is so much more important than money for me. I feel so passionately about doing this with my life and teaching others how I did it that I wrote an eBook on how I do it, called "Work Less to Live Your Dreams" [2] [1] http://instagram.com/theroadchoseme http://instagram.com/theroadchoseme [2] https://amzn.to/2IywUT0 https://amzn.to/2IywUT0