14 ms·

Why am I here?

205 points by DavidChouinard 13y ago

benched 13y ago
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 basically has to be for a job.
- djfergus 13y ago
  Mr Sivers is very transparent about his financial situation: http://sivers.org/trust http://sivers.org/trust Summary: CD Baby was transferred to a trust then sold for $22m, the trust pays Mr Sivers 5% per year. In his own words he has "enough".
  - sivers 13y ago
    Part of the reason I haven't been writing much the last couple years is because I thought, "Ah, it's not fair for me to write about this stuff like moving countries on a whim." But everyone's got their own version of this. My example is just one example.
    - jakejake 13y ago
      I think you have valuable and interesting things to say. I was actually in a band when you first started CD Baby and we emailed a few times until we ultimately signed with a label. It's fantastic to see the success that came about doing something that was really a great service with favorable terms for musicians. Congrats and maybe I'll see you around!
    - aaaahhhhh 13y ago
      I moved to Cambodia on a whim 4 months ago and I have ~14,000$ in the bank. Given my current monthly expenses (100$ rent, 200$ food, 50$ miscellaneous), I'll have the next three years to work on projects and coding (more than enough time) without worrying about making money. Like others have said, money is not the limiting factor for most people in regards to moving half-way around the world. Being 12,000 miles away from my parents is very hard though; this move was something I absolutely needed to do, but I know if something were to happen to them I would completely regret my decision to come here.
      - dualogy 13y ago
        Heya are you in Phnom Penh or in the provinces? Am doing the same (many folks like us increasingly in Phnom Penh, all of us contributing somewhat to ever-rising prices though I'm sure ;) -- should hang for coffee!
  - utunga 13y ago
    This comment is not really fair [1] but when he writes "I get the safety of knowing I won't be the target of a frivolous lawsuit, since I have very little net worth" I had to wonder. I did the math to see that translates to an annuity of over a million a year. I don't know about you but I tend to think that if one lives simply with just 'a good apartment, a good laptop, and a few other basics' then (even after taxes) one's net worth would probably be increasing fairly rapidly over time. Even on only a million a year! Guess I'm feeling very Mrs Bennett right now, though fortunately I have no daughters to thrust in his direction ;_) More power to Mr Sivers who has made a great choice of new location in my humble, but biased, opinion. [1] This is not really worthy of our hero D Sivers because as he notes 5% a year was apparently the minimum allowed.
    - sivers 13y ago
      Agreed. It sounds ridiculous, but I was honestly upset about that 5% minimum payout. Instead I funnel it back into projects that are hopefully useful to others.
  - wrongc0ntinent 13y ago
    Usually I don't give a crap about scalability, but that trust post got me to. (Edit: sticking to facts ;)
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
brianwillis 13y ago
Apologies for our second-rate internet connections. Hopefully we'll see > 5 Mbps download speeds to residential buildings within my lifetime.
- sivers 13y ago
  I got 30 Mbps (actual, on speedtest.net right now) fibre to the home from Orcon. Thanks to subsidized fibre rollout. :-)
  - brianwillis 13y ago
    It should go without saying that I'm incredibly jealous fibre isn't available in my part of the country.
    - sivers 13y ago
      Yeah. I was really surprised. I was preparing for a less-online-life, then just as I we moved in, we got a notice that fibre was ready. Oh well. I'll give you my wifi password so you can sit on the porch & surf all you want.
      - mahyarm 13y ago
        I'm very surprised at that. I've heard the internet is basically horrible in New Zealand and they have horrible bandwidth limits there. Is this a very recent development?
        treitnauer 13y ago
        It's not that bad anymore. When I arrived 5 years ago the data caps were still terrible with around 10GB. They still exist but are 10x-20x higher now (and there are some unlimited plans) and 100mbit down is not uncommon. There's 4G with decent speed too... I get 27mbit down on my iPhone 5s in Wellington—that's on 3.5G. Some rural areas are not as lucky of course.
        13y ago
11001 13y ago
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, as it was brilliantly presented in the course, is not to learn from the past, but to get liberated from it. We study the past to learn about our present. How did we get here? Why are we here? Often, things we accept as "natural" or permanent, or "optimal" are just a result of decisions and events that occurred long ago in very different context. This post is an excellent reminder that sometimes we need to do the same on the personal level. We need to look back at our past in order to understand our present and decide about our future. [1]https://www.coursera.org/course/humankind https://www.coursera.org/course/humankind
- gdwatson 13y ago
  History is also great for providing intellectual perspective. A lot of people take as universal ideas that are actually peculiar to our own era; since no era gets everything right, the ideas and attitudes of the past can help you evaluate those you took for granted. Of course, studying the future would probably work just as well, if that were possible.
- pagliara 13y ago
  That's exactly why I love this TED talk about the history of the universe in 18 minutes: http://youtu.be/yqc9zX04DXs http://youtu.be/yqc9zX04DXs Understanding where we fit on the timeline of the universe is quite amazing.
- scrrr 13y ago
  I'm not sure it's really what Sivers means, but I agree with what you wrote. I even think that if (after learning how to read and write) children only studied history and maths, they'd be better educated (and even better people) than the average today. I encourage everyone to pick a slice of history this christmas and study it for a bit. It's entertaining, too.
bsirkia 13y ago
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.
- sivers 13y ago
  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.
  - bsirkia 13y ago
    Ok cool. Yep, not something I would do :)
  - quaffapint 13y ago
    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.
    - sivers 13y ago
      I was a requirement of being with me. A 2nd-date question: "How would you feel about living in the rest of the world for the rest of your life?" Many girls I dated really just wanted to stay near family or friends. Then I found someone willing to keep going. :-)
brianbreslin 13y ago
I love the idea of getting out of your normal habitat to focus. I went down to central america a month ago to spend a few days, got so much more work done in 3 days than I do in 2 weeks at home. I didn't have constant distractions or people pulling for my attention all the time. Am planning to do something like this quarterly in 2014.
- excid3 13y ago
  Something to keep in mind is that you can likely do this at any time. Hopping a bus to another place you've never been and working from there for a couple days can likely have similar results.
  - brianbreslin 13y ago
    Yeah, but I like the idea of being out of immediate reach if possible. Not a bad idea, I've thought of renting a cabin or house somewhere a few hours away.
pikachu_is_cool 13y ago
....Yeah, I can't do that. I like long-term friendship.
- AngrySkillzz 13y ago
  Then you've found your reason to be "here."
  - sivers 13y ago
    Exactly! Great answer! The point is NOT to always move! Usually the "Why am I here?" question just reminds you why you are where you are. Being somewhere for great friendships is a great reason.
rsobers 13y ago
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.
- ThatOtherPerson 13y ago
  "Why am I here?" "Because my daughter loves it here." Seems to fit in with what he was saying to me.
  - gbog 13y ago
    Don't agree. Something like "because my kids can receive great education here" would be a great answer, but just "lovin' it" means nothing. And having good friends is not a good reason either, because real friends are those that stay close to you when you are far away. Moreover, I'd say adult people's life should not be constructed around their kids. It should be the opposite: kids follow their parents where they go until they can fly alone. I think it has been the case for most of humanity most of the time (the only exceptions could have been "baby kings" like Louis XIII, but they do not count). In the same vein, if you father or mother love hiking, find a way to hike with kids. If you love snorkeling just teach them to snorkel early. If you prefer reading books at home just stay at home. They will follow. Having happy parents is the best gift for kids. In our new society, having kids often means becoming their slave, and you are frowned upon if you dare keeping your hobbies once you have them. This is one of the most worrying mistakes I can imagine. I mean educational mistake. Kids do not need, or even like to be baby dictators.
    - rsobers 13y ago
      Eh, I think too many parents are selfish, especially in America (not saying Sivers is--clearly he's not). How often do you see parents dragging their screaming kids around, giving their 2-year old an iPad to shut them up at the coffee shop, buying a 50" flat screen TV while the college fund is at $0 and the bank accounts are overdrawn. In the spirit of Sivers' post, I think if parents stopped, maybe once a month, and asked themselves "What am I doing to set my children up to have happy lives?" we'd all be better off.
teleclimber 13y ago
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!
- brianshaler 13y ago
  When you go on vacation, you tend to pack everything you can into your short window of opportunity. If you don't need to rush, it doesn't seem too terribly difficult to find a TON of time to be productive. Some of my most productive weeks have involved 3-hour surf breaks in Mexico, rest stops during campervan road trips around NZ, cross-country (U.S.) train trips, and realizing there's not much to do but work all day if you're stranded on a tropical island and don't find tourist traps very appealing. If you're sufficiently engaged in your work, the periodic escapes provide an excellent opportunity to ponder and gather your thoughts. Just pace yourself. Work when you feel motivated and go out and do awesome stuff when you're not. YMMV and I may be a workaholic.
notastartup 13y ago
Such a simple question, yet grants you profound introspection.
dsowers 13y ago
You chose a really nice place to move to. I'm jealous. Be sure to visit Abel Tasman national park.
tahoecoder 13y ago
Go to French Pass on the northern tip of the south island. It's a beautiful and remote spot.
dylanz 13y ago
Derek, I did the same thing 6 years ago. I ended up north of you by just a tad bit, in Takaka. It was a long and winding 90 minute drive to get to Nelson, but it definitely felt like the "big city" compared to Golden Bay. When people ask me how my 3 years in New Zealand were, it's hard for me to answer. A part of me was working hard, so I spent most of my hours behind my desk, at home, looking at the paddocks across the street. You could have probably put a backdrop behind that window and it would have felt like a beach in Fiji, or downtown Munich, etc. When I wasn't behind my desk however, it was a big realization that I was far away from home. After traveling to Europe for conferences a lot, you begin to realize that you are IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE (or somewhere). It is very far from everything else. A 90 minute drive to Nelson, a flight to Auckland, a 14 hour flight to LAX, then a 12 hour flight to Heathrow. Yikes. When I'd get back to my little house in Takaka however... it felt like home. Small towns, beautiful scenery, great people. My only downfall was that I actually ended up yearning for a market like Whole Foods. I was used to having a HUGE selection of everything to fill my taste buds, and that's hard to come by unless you are in some of the larger cities there. Get ready for a lot of fish and chips, and beetroot on hamburgers. I bet you $100 you're going to miss your asian cuisine... badly. That said, here is a list of things that come to mind: - Go to the Mussel Inn near Onekaka in the evening. Enjoy their beer, food, and chat with the owner Andrew who has great stories (he's the tall guy that looks like Bob Dylan). - Meet up with Galen King in Nelson. He's a good friend, a smart technologist, and a great person. - Go to Collingwood and hit up the chocolatier there, Rosie Glows. - Walk around Te Waikoropupū springs and be amazed. I wouldn't trade the experience for anything (my second kid was even born there!). Enjoy New Zealand, and make sure to check out Australia while you're down there too. You're close as you're ever going to be =) Noho ora mai rā, nā!
- jwilliams 13y ago
  As a kiwi I am offended about your cuisine comment.... I am also nodding in absolute agreement. In NZ you need to play to the strengths. You'll get some of the best seafood and wine in the world. Freshly caught fish, simply cooked, with a bottle of South Island white wine. Glorious. Also, the nature helps. A cup of tea and some smoked mussels. Usually mundane -- but, after you've just hiked up a mountain and you're sitting on a ridge. Delicious.
throwaway3301 13y ago
What if you don't know the answer to this question ("Why am I here?")? What if your answer is that you don't understand why you're still here? When your passion for everything and anything in life has waned to nothingness. When you feel like your body is in a constant state of physical and mental fatigue, bordering on a grinding, gnawing pain? When you feel like a passenger in your own life, stuck in the rat race, stuck in the routine of monotony? When every day boils down to sleep, eat, work, and everything in between ends up as a fuzzy blur? What then? How can I shake this feeling? How can I restore the drive and motivation in myself that I never remember having in the first place? Is it even possible? To follow Mr. Sivers's analogy: What if all my reasons have expired? Is that somewhere else... nowhere else? Should I be dead instead? That doesn't seem like a very practical path to follow, but yet living feels so draining that I don't know how much longer I can carry the weight of a life lived for nothing. It really is all for naught. At this point I feel like I am living this life because it is the life society wants for me: go to school, get a degree, get a job, get married, have kids, grow old, die. That sounds horrible to me and yet I feel so stuck in this formula. I feel so abnormal because I can't feel satisfied or fulfilled with this "normal" version of life. And I can't tell anyone these things because they will reject me, saying I should just enjoy this or that, or telling me that I should be grateful for what I have. Their words (and this article) don't change anything. I know that the change must first come from within, but I don't know where to start.
- voltagex_ 13y ago
  Change your routine. Run, exercise, listen to new music. If nothing else helps, what you're describing sounds like (IMO) some kind of depression. In that case, get professional help - seriously.
- derivagral 13y ago
  I was/am in a mood something like this after reading Godel, Escher, Bach. I can't say I've found a simple way back, but if you're into detailed psych Eric Fromm's books in English were fascinating to read and helped a bit. (Escape from Freedom, Man for Himself, Sane Society) If you aren't so much into that (or even if you are) professional help is not a bad thing.
strlen 13y ago
I always felt that Singapore just doesn't seem like the right place for someone like Derek Sivers. It's a beautiful and wonderfully located place, but the stated or unstated reasons many US expats give for moving there are narrowly selfish -- in the sense of irrational selfishness vs enlightened self-interest -- low taxes, clean streets. Yet Singapore's culture is strongly communitarian: there may be low income taxes, but there are tons of other rules and regulations. The reason for the low taxes, an efficient, universal, and well functioning healthcare system, and so on isn't liberal individual empowerment (which is often the reason given for both individualistic economic policies like low tax rates and for safety-net policies like universal healthcare in the West), it's greater communal good (which -- unlike in ther West -- is also defined in a way that's much more nuanced than "greatest good for the greatest number"). That reality may not hit people immediately, but it will eventually: e.g., if you plan to have kids, be ready for corporal punishment in most schools and even some junior colleges, and (far more burdensome and soul crushing for an individualistic soul) military conscription. Derek talked about this in earlier essays and acknowledge that he was resetting his operating system towards a more communitarian, giving the example of nominally "converting" to Islam to marry a woman. Yet to me that reason still seemed narrowly selfish, a much more principled and selfless act would be to refuse to compromise one's greater cultural and religious heritage and forgo one of life's greatest long-term pleasures (love) -- something I would not endorse, as it would result in great misery for both himself and now wife. Personally, I am lucky, as I found United State's "left coast" and "far west" cultures to be my home: I see my own culture was being a happy medium between these two, but I have a fluent understanding and appreciation of both of these cultures. They mesh far better than the cultures I've been brought up in (secular Jewish and Russian) and I'm very lucky that I have the ability to pick and choose -- I would simply not survive (in the physical sense) had I attempted to live a life true to my personal views in the land I was born in. I sincerely hope that Derek finds in New Zealand a culture he can belong to.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- zhemao 13y ago
  > If you plan to have kids, be ready for corporal punishment in most schools and even some junior colleges, and (far more burdensome and soul crushing for an individualistic soul) military conscription For US expats raising their kids in Singapore, there is the option of sending them to the American international school (http://www.sais.edu.sg/ http://www.sais.edu.sg/) instead of the public Singaporean school system. As for military conscription, that only applies to citizens, so if your children take US citizenship instead of Singaporean citizenship (US practices Jus Sanguinis, so I think this is possible), they wouldn't have to worry about military service (I'm not Singaporean or an immigration lawyer, so don't take my word on that). In short, expats can totally avoid having that reality hit them. Expats tend to live in a totally different world than the natives of the countries in which they settle.
akg_67 13y ago
Very timely article. I am being laid off tomorrow (fri). I sent out this article to my team as sharing my last piece of nugget before I head out the door! I think the question not only applies to a country or city but also the place you work, place you live, or any activity you do.
alexdong 13y ago
Derek, we met a while ago when you came down to Dunedin. I'm glad you finally made the move down here. What I found very interesting is that your decisions are driven not by where to move TO, but what you're moving away FROM. Your trip to Oregon, then to Singapore and now NZ seems to follow the similar route. From a vastly different culture and super-densely-populated .sg to the extreme remote and lonesome place like .nz. I feel that's probably not the best way to go for it. Instead of trial-and-error, how about a search algorithm? Instead of "Why am I here", why not ask "Where do I WANT to be?". Here was the list of criteria me and my wife came up when we were drifting around for a year to look for a city to settle down. Crucial: 1) Small country with around 5M population. Coming from China, I feel lots of the problems of modern society & politics is there because of the large degree of separation. 2) Walkabout city. We love walking. I want to make sure the walk from home to office takes no more than 30 minutes. 3) Close to nature. Tramping is our main hobby. We want to start walking in the wild with less than 1 hour drive. (Reality is the closest one is 5 minutes walk from home but that's a bonus.) 4) With a high quality university. This gives us the continuous flow of different ideas even the city is small. 5) Price is moderate. We want to have the leisure time to spend with our families and work on our hobbies. Affordable housing and reasonable prices give us the lifestyle we want without having to work our butts off. Ok to give up: 1) Museums, galleries and fine restaurants. Even when we were living in Seattle or Boston, we spend more time on solitude activities like walking and reading. So cultural stuffs are great but we won't die if we don't have them. 2) Varieties of products/shops. We don't buy a lot of stuff and when we do, we buy ones that last very very long but not particularly in-the-fashion. So don't have much choices is not a big problem for us. 3) Weather. I love San Diego's weather. Never too cold. Never too hot. But if it's a city that rains a lot and doesn't have a proper hot summary, we're fine with that. We visited and stayed in more than 40 cities during that year. Some we stayed 2 months, others a few days. When we started the trip, we have never heard of Dunedin. But those criteria helped us to quickly sift through the options and lead us to this unusual decision. Three years later, we still feel grateful that we made that choice. Life is good here. A warm welcome from Dunedin, New Zealand.
decentrality 13y ago
Sound thinking, re-asking a question whose answer changes over life. Without complete attachment to your chief focus there is no reason to keep up a previous life.
CurtMonash 13y ago
Who are you? What do you want? /babylon5
allochthon 13y ago
I like the overall message, but I can't help but think about that thing about the work visas.
lutorm 13y ago
Having just moved from LA to the Big Island of Hawaii, these questions resonate with me, too. We moved because of my wife, but I can't say that I was opposed. Away from the crowded, paved LA basin to a small town, affordable housing, friendly people. The internet, though...
TheSOB888 13y ago
I suspect this won't be popular, but: Lucky you, Derek. You have the resources, and more important, the experience to be able to do that sort of thing. Why am I in the US? Because I was born here. (But people are friendlier in other countries, and life is less stressful.) But I don't have the resources to just fly away. (...Oh. Right.)
MyNameIsMK 13y ago
I once emailed Derek. He went out of his way to answer my questions. I can vouch for his character. Legit dude. Much respect.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
adamzerner 13y ago
That was brilliant. Said something important. Got the message across clearly. Did it quickly. It may have seemed pretty trivial, but I think it was brilliant.
russellhealy 13y ago
A very warm welcome!
linux_devil 13y ago
Am I the only one who thinks Matrix can be a reality and answer to all similar questions
pjdorrell 13y ago
Well-known internet entrepreneur and blogger moves to Nelson. Illustrates article with photo from Fiordland. https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=+nelson+south+island&daddr=mitre+peak+fiordland+south+island&hl=en&ll=-42.90816,170.617676&spn=7.523587,16.193848&sll=-44.680141,168.010239&sspn=0.22825,0.506058&geocode=%3BFQvzVv0dEDABCikvJaHAFODVqTGpmM8oiQqi5A&mra=ls&t=m&z=7 https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=+nelson+south+island&dadd...
tmault 13y ago
What’s really cool about this idea is that it passes boundary tests - asking questions like "What if all of humanity acted like this?” If the whole planet was a little more conscious - and able - to sort themselves into a fitting situation, the ‘system’ as a whole would churn out awesome results.
ddd1600 13y ago
Another sucker visits Singapore. 'Sucks doesn't it? (SHOULD HAVE GONE TO HONG KONG)
lmm 13y ago
I look at it from the other side - why move? If you've loved everywhere you've lived and you expect to love anywhere else, isn't the converse that you'll love here just as much as wherever you might move to? Where does this need to travel somewhere every couple of years come from? I've tried it, and realised I'm better off where I am.
rajbala 13y ago
Singapore: a democratically elected government with autocratic rule.
loomio 13y ago
So glad to hear you're feeling at peace in NZ, Derek. I know many people who are quietly excited you've chosen this far flung island to call home and know that you are a fantastic addition to the community no matter what you chose to do. I know you've been inwardly focused lately, but whenever you're ready, there's a great community waiting to welcome you with open arms at Enspiral (including Loomio of course).

205 points by DavidChouinard 13y ago

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 basically has to be for a job.

djfergus 13y ago
Mr Sivers is very transparent about his financial situation: http://sivers.org/trust http://sivers.org/trust Summary: CD Baby was transferred to a trust then sold for $22m, the trust pays Mr Sivers 5% per year. In his own words he has "enough".
- sivers 13y ago
  Part of the reason I haven't been writing much the last couple years is because I thought, "Ah, it's not fair for me to write about this stuff like moving countries on a whim." But everyone's got their own version of this. My example is just one example.
  - jakejake 13y ago
    I think you have valuable and interesting things to say. I was actually in a band when you first started CD Baby and we emailed a few times until we ultimately signed with a label. It's fantastic to see the success that came about doing something that was really a great service with favorable terms for musicians. Congrats and maybe I'll see you around!
  - aaaahhhhh 13y ago
    I moved to Cambodia on a whim 4 months ago and I have ~14,000$ in the bank. Given my current monthly expenses (100$ rent, 200$ food, 50$ miscellaneous), I'll have the next three years to work on projects and coding (more than enough time) without worrying about making money. Like others have said, money is not the limiting factor for most people in regards to moving half-way around the world. Being 12,000 miles away from my parents is very hard though; this move was something I absolutely needed to do, but I know if something were to happen to them I would completely regret my decision to come here.
    - dualogy 13y ago
      Heya are you in Phnom Penh or in the provinces? Am doing the same (many folks like us increasingly in Phnom Penh, all of us contributing somewhat to ever-rising prices though I'm sure ;) -- should hang for coffee!
- utunga 13y ago
  This comment is not really fair [1] but when he writes "I get the safety of knowing I won't be the target of a frivolous lawsuit, since I have very little net worth" I had to wonder. I did the math to see that translates to an annuity of over a million a year. I don't know about you but I tend to think that if one lives simply with just 'a good apartment, a good laptop, and a few other basics' then (even after taxes) one's net worth would probably be increasing fairly rapidly over time. Even on only a million a year! Guess I'm feeling very Mrs Bennett right now, though fortunately I have no daughters to thrust in his direction ;_) More power to Mr Sivers who has made a great choice of new location in my humble, but biased, opinion. [1] This is not really worthy of our hero D Sivers because as he notes 5% a year was apparently the minimum allowed.
  - sivers 13y ago
    Agreed. It sounds ridiculous, but I was honestly upset about that 5% minimum payout. Instead I funnel it back into projects that are hopefully useful to others.
- wrongc0ntinent 13y ago
  Usually I don't give a crap about scalability, but that trust post got me to. (Edit: sticking to facts ;)
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]

brianwillis 13y ago

Apologies for our second-rate internet connections. Hopefully we'll see > 5 Mbps download speeds to residential buildings within my lifetime.

sivers 13y ago
I got 30 Mbps (actual, on speedtest.net right now) fibre to the home from Orcon. Thanks to subsidized fibre rollout. :-)
- brianwillis 13y ago
  It should go without saying that I'm incredibly jealous fibre isn't available in my part of the country.
  - sivers 13y ago
    Yeah. I was really surprised. I was preparing for a less-online-life, then just as I we moved in, we got a notice that fibre was ready. Oh well. I'll give you my wifi password so you can sit on the porch & surf all you want.
    - mahyarm 13y ago
      I'm very surprised at that. I've heard the internet is basically horrible in New Zealand and they have horrible bandwidth limits there. Is this a very recent development?
      - treitnauer 13y ago
        It's not that bad anymore. When I arrived 5 years ago the data caps were still terrible with around 10GB. They still exist but are 10x-20x higher now (and there are some unlimited plans) and 100mbit down is not uncommon. There's 4G with decent speed too... I get 27mbit down on my iPhone 5s in Wellington—that's on 3.5G. Some rural areas are not as lucky of course.
      - 13y ago

11001 13y ago

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, as it was brilliantly presented in the course, is not to learn from the past, but to get liberated from it. We study the past to learn about our present. How did we get here? Why are we here? Often, things we accept as "natural" or permanent, or "optimal" are just a result of decisions and events that occurred long ago in very different context. This post is an excellent reminder that sometimes we need to do the same on the personal level. We need to look back at our past in order to understand our present and decide about our future. [1]https://www.coursera.org/course/humankind https://www.coursera.org/course/humankind

gdwatson 13y ago
History is also great for providing intellectual perspective. A lot of people take as universal ideas that are actually peculiar to our own era; since no era gets everything right, the ideas and attitudes of the past can help you evaluate those you took for granted. Of course, studying the future would probably work just as well, if that were possible.
pagliara 13y ago
That's exactly why I love this TED talk about the history of the universe in 18 minutes: http://youtu.be/yqc9zX04DXs http://youtu.be/yqc9zX04DXs Understanding where we fit on the timeline of the universe is quite amazing.
scrrr 13y ago
I'm not sure it's really what Sivers means, but I agree with what you wrote. I even think that if (after learning how to read and write) children only studied history and maths, they'd be better educated (and even better people) than the average today. I encourage everyone to pick a slice of history this christmas and study it for a bit. It's entertaining, too.

bsirkia 13y ago

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.

sivers 13y ago
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.
- bsirkia 13y ago
  Ok cool. Yep, not something I would do :)
- quaffapint 13y ago
  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.
  - sivers 13y ago
    I was a requirement of being with me. A 2nd-date question: "How would you feel about living in the rest of the world for the rest of your life?" Many girls I dated really just wanted to stay near family or friends. Then I found someone willing to keep going. :-)

brianbreslin 13y ago

I love the idea of getting out of your normal habitat to focus. I went down to central america a month ago to spend a few days, got so much more work done in 3 days than I do in 2 weeks at home. I didn't have constant distractions or people pulling for my attention all the time. Am planning to do something like this quarterly in 2014.

excid3 13y ago
Something to keep in mind is that you can likely do this at any time. Hopping a bus to another place you've never been and working from there for a couple days can likely have similar results.
- brianbreslin 13y ago
  Yeah, but I like the idea of being out of immediate reach if possible. Not a bad idea, I've thought of renting a cabin or house somewhere a few hours away.

pikachu_is_cool 13y ago

....Yeah, I can't do that. I like long-term friendship.

AngrySkillzz 13y ago
Then you've found your reason to be "here."
- sivers 13y ago
  Exactly! Great answer! The point is NOT to always move! Usually the "Why am I here?" question just reminds you why you are where you are. Being somewhere for great friendships is a great reason.

rsobers 13y ago

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.

ThatOtherPerson 13y ago
"Why am I here?" "Because my daughter loves it here." Seems to fit in with what he was saying to me.
- gbog 13y ago
  Don't agree. Something like "because my kids can receive great education here" would be a great answer, but just "lovin' it" means nothing. And having good friends is not a good reason either, because real friends are those that stay close to you when you are far away. Moreover, I'd say adult people's life should not be constructed around their kids. It should be the opposite: kids follow their parents where they go until they can fly alone. I think it has been the case for most of humanity most of the time (the only exceptions could have been "baby kings" like Louis XIII, but they do not count). In the same vein, if you father or mother love hiking, find a way to hike with kids. If you love snorkeling just teach them to snorkel early. If you prefer reading books at home just stay at home. They will follow. Having happy parents is the best gift for kids. In our new society, having kids often means becoming their slave, and you are frowned upon if you dare keeping your hobbies once you have them. This is one of the most worrying mistakes I can imagine. I mean educational mistake. Kids do not need, or even like to be baby dictators.
  - rsobers 13y ago
    Eh, I think too many parents are selfish, especially in America (not saying Sivers is--clearly he's not). How often do you see parents dragging their screaming kids around, giving their 2-year old an iPad to shut them up at the coffee shop, buying a 50" flat screen TV while the college fund is at $0 and the bank accounts are overdrawn. In the spirit of Sivers' post, I think if parents stopped, maybe once a month, and asked themselves "What am I doing to set my children up to have happy lives?" we'd all be better off.

teleclimber 13y ago

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!

brianshaler 13y ago
When you go on vacation, you tend to pack everything you can into your short window of opportunity. If you don't need to rush, it doesn't seem too terribly difficult to find a TON of time to be productive. Some of my most productive weeks have involved 3-hour surf breaks in Mexico, rest stops during campervan road trips around NZ, cross-country (U.S.) train trips, and realizing there's not much to do but work all day if you're stranded on a tropical island and don't find tourist traps very appealing. If you're sufficiently engaged in your work, the periodic escapes provide an excellent opportunity to ponder and gather your thoughts. Just pace yourself. Work when you feel motivated and go out and do awesome stuff when you're not. YMMV and I may be a workaholic.

notastartup 13y ago

Such a simple question, yet grants you profound introspection.

dsowers 13y ago

You chose a really nice place to move to. I'm jealous. Be sure to visit Abel Tasman national park.

tahoecoder 13y ago

Go to French Pass on the northern tip of the south island. It's a beautiful and remote spot.

dylanz 13y ago

Derek, I did the same thing 6 years ago. I ended up north of you by just a tad bit, in Takaka. It was a long and winding 90 minute drive to get to Nelson, but it definitely felt like the "big city" compared to Golden Bay. When people ask me how my 3 years in New Zealand were, it's hard for me to answer. A part of me was working hard, so I spent most of my hours behind my desk, at home, looking at the paddocks across the street. You could have probably put a backdrop behind that window and it would have felt like a beach in Fiji, or downtown Munich, etc. When I wasn't behind my desk however, it was a big realization that I was far away from home. After traveling to Europe for conferences a lot, you begin to realize that you are IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE (or somewhere). It is very far from everything else. A 90 minute drive to Nelson, a flight to Auckland, a 14 hour flight to LAX, then a 12 hour flight to Heathrow. Yikes. When I'd get back to my little house in Takaka however... it felt like home. Small towns, beautiful scenery, great people. My only downfall was that I actually ended up yearning for a market like Whole Foods. I was used to having a HUGE selection of everything to fill my taste buds, and that's hard to come by unless you are in some of the larger cities there. Get ready for a lot of fish and chips, and beetroot on hamburgers. I bet you $100 you're going to miss your asian cuisine... badly. That said, here is a list of things that come to mind: - Go to the Mussel Inn near Onekaka in the evening. Enjoy their beer, food, and chat with the owner Andrew who has great stories (he's the tall guy that looks like Bob Dylan). - Meet up with Galen King in Nelson. He's a good friend, a smart technologist, and a great person. - Go to Collingwood and hit up the chocolatier there, Rosie Glows. - Walk around Te Waikoropupū springs and be amazed. I wouldn't trade the experience for anything (my second kid was even born there!). Enjoy New Zealand, and make sure to check out Australia while you're down there too. You're close as you're ever going to be =) Noho ora mai rā, nā!

jwilliams 13y ago
As a kiwi I am offended about your cuisine comment.... I am also nodding in absolute agreement. In NZ you need to play to the strengths. You'll get some of the best seafood and wine in the world. Freshly caught fish, simply cooked, with a bottle of South Island white wine. Glorious. Also, the nature helps. A cup of tea and some smoked mussels. Usually mundane -- but, after you've just hiked up a mountain and you're sitting on a ridge. Delicious.

throwaway3301 13y ago

What if you don't know the answer to this question ("Why am I here?")? What if your answer is that you don't understand why you're still here? When your passion for everything and anything in life has waned to nothingness. When you feel like your body is in a constant state of physical and mental fatigue, bordering on a grinding, gnawing pain? When you feel like a passenger in your own life, stuck in the rat race, stuck in the routine of monotony? When every day boils down to sleep, eat, work, and everything in between ends up as a fuzzy blur? What then? How can I shake this feeling? How can I restore the drive and motivation in myself that I never remember having in the first place? Is it even possible? To follow Mr. Sivers's analogy: What if all my reasons have expired? Is that somewhere else... nowhere else? Should I be dead instead? That doesn't seem like a very practical path to follow, but yet living feels so draining that I don't know how much longer I can carry the weight of a life lived for nothing. It really is all for naught. At this point I feel like I am living this life because it is the life society wants for me: go to school, get a degree, get a job, get married, have kids, grow old, die. That sounds horrible to me and yet I feel so stuck in this formula. I feel so abnormal because I can't feel satisfied or fulfilled with this "normal" version of life. And I can't tell anyone these things because they will reject me, saying I should just enjoy this or that, or telling me that I should be grateful for what I have. Their words (and this article) don't change anything. I know that the change must first come from within, but I don't know where to start.

voltagex_ 13y ago
Change your routine. Run, exercise, listen to new music. If nothing else helps, what you're describing sounds like (IMO) some kind of depression. In that case, get professional help - seriously.
derivagral 13y ago
I was/am in a mood something like this after reading Godel, Escher, Bach. I can't say I've found a simple way back, but if you're into detailed psych Eric Fromm's books in English were fascinating to read and helped a bit. (Escape from Freedom, Man for Himself, Sane Society) If you aren't so much into that (or even if you are) professional help is not a bad thing.

strlen 13y ago

I always felt that Singapore just doesn't seem like the right place for someone like Derek Sivers. It's a beautiful and wonderfully located place, but the stated or unstated reasons many US expats give for moving there are narrowly selfish -- in the sense of irrational selfishness vs enlightened self-interest -- low taxes, clean streets. Yet Singapore's culture is strongly communitarian: there may be low income taxes, but there are tons of other rules and regulations. The reason for the low taxes, an efficient, universal, and well functioning healthcare system, and so on isn't liberal individual empowerment (which is often the reason given for both individualistic economic policies like low tax rates and for safety-net policies like universal healthcare in the West), it's greater communal good (which -- unlike in ther West -- is also defined in a way that's much more nuanced than "greatest good for the greatest number"). That reality may not hit people immediately, but it will eventually: e.g., if you plan to have kids, be ready for corporal punishment in most schools and even some junior colleges, and (far more burdensome and soul crushing for an individualistic soul) military conscription. Derek talked about this in earlier essays and acknowledge that he was resetting his operating system towards a more communitarian, giving the example of nominally "converting" to Islam to marry a woman. Yet to me that reason still seemed narrowly selfish, a much more principled and selfless act would be to refuse to compromise one's greater cultural and religious heritage and forgo one of life's greatest long-term pleasures (love) -- something I would not endorse, as it would result in great misery for both himself and now wife. Personally, I am lucky, as I found United State's "left coast" and "far west" cultures to be my home: I see my own culture was being a happy medium between these two, but I have a fluent understanding and appreciation of both of these cultures. They mesh far better than the cultures I've been brought up in (secular Jewish and Russian) and I'm very lucky that I have the ability to pick and choose -- I would simply not survive (in the physical sense) had I attempted to live a life true to my personal views in the land I was born in. I sincerely hope that Derek finds in New Zealand a culture he can belong to.

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zhemao 13y ago
> If you plan to have kids, be ready for corporal punishment in most schools and even some junior colleges, and (far more burdensome and soul crushing for an individualistic soul) military conscription For US expats raising their kids in Singapore, there is the option of sending them to the American international school (http://www.sais.edu.sg/ http://www.sais.edu.sg/) instead of the public Singaporean school system. As for military conscription, that only applies to citizens, so if your children take US citizenship instead of Singaporean citizenship (US practices Jus Sanguinis, so I think this is possible), they wouldn't have to worry about military service (I'm not Singaporean or an immigration lawyer, so don't take my word on that). In short, expats can totally avoid having that reality hit them. Expats tend to live in a totally different world than the natives of the countries in which they settle.

akg_67 13y ago

Very timely article. I am being laid off tomorrow (fri). I sent out this article to my team as sharing my last piece of nugget before I head out the door! I think the question not only applies to a country or city but also the place you work, place you live, or any activity you do.

alexdong 13y ago

Derek, we met a while ago when you came down to Dunedin. I'm glad you finally made the move down here. What I found very interesting is that your decisions are driven not by where to move TO, but what you're moving away FROM. Your trip to Oregon, then to Singapore and now NZ seems to follow the similar route. From a vastly different culture and super-densely-populated .sg to the extreme remote and lonesome place like .nz. I feel that's probably not the best way to go for it. Instead of trial-and-error, how about a search algorithm? Instead of "Why am I here", why not ask "Where do I WANT to be?". Here was the list of criteria me and my wife came up when we were drifting around for a year to look for a city to settle down. Crucial: 1) Small country with around 5M population. Coming from China, I feel lots of the problems of modern society & politics is there because of the large degree of separation. 2) Walkabout city. We love walking. I want to make sure the walk from home to office takes no more than 30 minutes. 3) Close to nature. Tramping is our main hobby. We want to start walking in the wild with less than 1 hour drive. (Reality is the closest one is 5 minutes walk from home but that's a bonus.) 4) With a high quality university. This gives us the continuous flow of different ideas even the city is small. 5) Price is moderate. We want to have the leisure time to spend with our families and work on our hobbies. Affordable housing and reasonable prices give us the lifestyle we want without having to work our butts off. Ok to give up: 1) Museums, galleries and fine restaurants. Even when we were living in Seattle or Boston, we spend more time on solitude activities like walking and reading. So cultural stuffs are great but we won't die if we don't have them. 2) Varieties of products/shops. We don't buy a lot of stuff and when we do, we buy ones that last very very long but not particularly in-the-fashion. So don't have much choices is not a big problem for us. 3) Weather. I love San Diego's weather. Never too cold. Never too hot. But if it's a city that rains a lot and doesn't have a proper hot summary, we're fine with that. We visited and stayed in more than 40 cities during that year. Some we stayed 2 months, others a few days. When we started the trip, we have never heard of Dunedin. But those criteria helped us to quickly sift through the options and lead us to this unusual decision. Three years later, we still feel grateful that we made that choice. Life is good here. A warm welcome from Dunedin, New Zealand.

decentrality 13y ago

Sound thinking, re-asking a question whose answer changes over life. Without complete attachment to your chief focus there is no reason to keep up a previous life.

CurtMonash 13y ago

Who are you? What do you want? /babylon5

allochthon 13y ago

I like the overall message, but I can't help but think about that thing about the work visas.

lutorm 13y ago

Having just moved from LA to the Big Island of Hawaii, these questions resonate with me, too. We moved because of my wife, but I can't say that I was opposed. Away from the crowded, paved LA basin to a small town, affordable housing, friendly people. The internet, though...

TheSOB888 13y ago

I suspect this won't be popular, but: Lucky you, Derek. You have the resources, and more important, the experience to be able to do that sort of thing. Why am I in the US? Because I was born here. (But people are friendlier in other countries, and life is less stressful.) But I don't have the resources to just fly away. (...Oh. Right.)

MyNameIsMK 13y ago

I once emailed Derek. He went out of his way to answer my questions. I can vouch for his character. Legit dude. Much respect.

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adamzerner 13y ago

That was brilliant. Said something important. Got the message across clearly. Did it quickly. It may have seemed pretty trivial, but I think it was brilliant.

russellhealy 13y ago

A very warm welcome!

linux_devil 13y ago

Am I the only one who thinks Matrix can be a reality and answer to all similar questions

pjdorrell 13y ago

Well-known internet entrepreneur and blogger moves to Nelson. Illustrates article with photo from Fiordland. https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=+nelson+south+island&daddr=mitre+peak+fiordland+south+island&hl=en&ll=-42.90816,170.617676&spn=7.523587,16.193848&sll=-44.680141,168.010239&sspn=0.22825,0.506058&geocode=%3BFQvzVv0dEDABCikvJaHAFODVqTGpmM8oiQqi5A&mra=ls&t=m&z=7 https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=+nelson+south+island&dadd...

tmault 13y ago

What’s really cool about this idea is that it passes boundary tests - asking questions like "What if all of humanity acted like this?” If the whole planet was a little more conscious - and able - to sort themselves into a fitting situation, the ‘system’ as a whole would churn out awesome results.

ddd1600 13y ago

Another sucker visits Singapore. 'Sucks doesn't it? (SHOULD HAVE GONE TO HONG KONG)

lmm 13y ago

I look at it from the other side - why move? If you've loved everywhere you've lived and you expect to love anywhere else, isn't the converse that you'll love here just as much as wherever you might move to? Where does this need to travel somewhere every couple of years come from? I've tried it, and realised I'm better off where I am.

rajbala 13y ago

Singapore: a democratically elected government with autocratic rule.

loomio 13y ago

So glad to hear you're feeling at peace in NZ, Derek. I know many people who are quietly excited you've chosen this far flung island to call home and know that you are a fantastic addition to the community no matter what you chose to do. I know you've been inwardly focused lately, but whenever you're ready, there's a great community waiting to welcome you with open arms at Enspiral (including Loomio of course).