3 ms·

I'd be interested in hearing more about this. How did you start out? What was the hardest challenge?

forgotmypw17 6y ago
I started out by DECIDING that making QUALITY software, as well as spending TIME with PEOPLE who matter to me, is infinitely more important than "professional development". I was lucky to have already had a taste of both, and how much more FULFILLING they were. The hardest challenge was probably giving up my deeply held BELIEFS that "financial independence" was mandatory, and that depending on others (without paying them money) was somehow shameful, cowardly, or otherwise undesirable. In reality, it has formed the foundation of the best relationships I've got. Another huge obstacle I was able to overcome was LISTENING to and learning particular useful skills or knowledge from people whom I did not agree with or want to become like. It's easy to want to learn from and follow follow someone who seems hugely successful. I found it challenging to even notice or pay attention to, let alone try to learn from someone I did not admire or want to become like. Yet most of my USEFUL knowledge, laboriously skimmed and filtered, came from people on the FRINGE: lonely divorcees, poor elderly people, criminals, drug addicts, homeless, travelers, outdoorsies, etc. My journey would be much more difficult without them. On the other hand, most things I learned about Elon Musk and Berkshire, in part due to the broken telephone effect, have been useless. I've learned that the most valuable knowledge to be found is firsthand or secondhand, everything past that is of questionable truth. In case it's not clear, I'm not suggesting shooting up heroin or becoming a criminal. But I learned a lot about living minimally from them. Their lifestyle is of forced minimalism, and they're very good at it, or they don't survive. As you can see, much of it was in my head. The actual physical changes were a piece of cake in comparison, believe it or not.

I started out by DECIDING that making QUALITY software, as well as spending TIME with PEOPLE who matter to me, is infinitely more important than "professional development". I was lucky to have already had a taste of both, and how much more FULFILLING they were. The hardest challenge was probably giving up my deeply held BELIEFS that "financial independence" was mandatory, and that depending on others (without paying them money) was somehow shameful, cowardly, or otherwise undesirable. In reality, it has formed the foundation of the best relationships I've got. Another huge obstacle I was able to overcome was LISTENING to and learning particular useful skills or knowledge from people whom I did not agree with or want to become like. It's easy to want to learn from and follow follow someone who seems hugely successful. I found it challenging to even notice or pay attention to, let alone try to learn from someone I did not admire or want to become like. Yet most of my USEFUL knowledge, laboriously skimmed and filtered, came from people on the FRINGE: lonely divorcees, poor elderly people, criminals, drug addicts, homeless, travelers, outdoorsies, etc. My journey would be much more difficult without them. On the other hand, most things I learned about Elon Musk and Berkshire, in part due to the broken telephone effect, have been useless. I've learned that the most valuable knowledge to be found is firsthand or secondhand, everything past that is of questionable truth. In case it's not clear, I'm not suggesting shooting up heroin or becoming a criminal. But I learned a lot about living minimally from them. Their lifestyle is of forced minimalism, and they're very good at it, or they don't survive. As you can see, much of it was in my head. The actual physical changes were a piece of cake in comparison, believe it or not.