4 ms·

checks Maslow's hierarchy Then you'd be focusing on self-actualisation. Lucky you.

cloudhead 13y ago
This is pretty much the best if not only correct answer to the question.
geophile 13y ago
Yes, but. I am fortunate enough to be in this position. In my 50s, in good health, and I don't have to work if I don't want to. I've always dreamed of being in this situation and now I am. So what am I doing with my time? - Still enjoying not having to get up and go to work, and not having to work for idiot managers. Sometimes I waste whole days going nothing (thanks, 2048). I worked in startups for 25 years, and have been mulling over my "pattern": I meet a charismatic founder, get seduced, work my ass off. That's a lot less attractive now. The getting seduced part depended, in part, on the golden carrot. (But only in part.) - Exercising a lot more. - Working on my pet projects, with a degree of urgency that varies over time. I don't need these projects to pay the bills, or to be loved and used. I get my jollies out of writing the software. - Consulting, but being very selective about the projects I pick. They have to be interesting, and hopefully related to my pet projects. I've had some success here. - Learning to play piano. (Would have been so much easier if I didn't stop when I was a child.) - Enjoying more time with my wife. - Getting back to teaching (software, of course). Here's the "problem": At my age, (and due in large part to my temperament), I'm still not thinking very far outside the box. I can afford to do lots of new things, but I'm having some trouble figuring out which ones to actually do. Why? - Software: I've always written software. I always will. I need to make time for other things. - Inertia: I tend to do what I know, and expand out from there gradually. I seem to be incapable of ravenously seeking out novelty. - Need ideas: After many years of working very hard, putting job and family first, those are the things I tend to think about. - Need to say yes more: Except for the teenager living at home, I can go someplace warm and windy and windsurf for a week, anytime I want to. Not sure why I don't. I'm starting to say yes to more impulsive things, but it definitely goes against the grain. - Frittering time away on small projects: I took on too many, so for a while, I had no time for anything else. I'm in a lull now, so I'm again contemplating how I want to spend my time.
- vacri 13y ago
  I suggest that you go travelling. It's fun anyway, but you will also see new people and places that might give you the 'a-ha!' to give you a new target to work towards. Find a way to travel without your teenager, methinks, because then you'll be focusing more on seeing the things you want to see, rather than a more generic please-the-whole-family itinerary. I spent several months crossing the US and there were only two destinations locked in - the arrival airport and the departure airport. I'd have a general idea of what I was doing the next day, but it wasn't unusual to decide in the morning to go in a different direction. It was fantastic freedom of movement, and I saw things I'd've never seen otherwise. I could travel on my whims. Travelling with others has pros and cons - more people means more to keep happy, but also more shared experiences and memories. But however you do it, keep the ability to make spontaneous changes.
colemorrison 13y ago
You've answered the question! This seriously is it. That final tier is going to be different for everyone, but it will fall in to this category.

This is pretty much the best if not only correct answer to the question.

Yes, but. I am fortunate enough to be in this position. In my 50s, in good health, and I don't have to work if I don't want to. I've always dreamed of being in this situation and now I am. So what am I doing with my time? - Still enjoying not having to get up and go to work, and not having to work for idiot managers. Sometimes I waste whole days going nothing (thanks, 2048). I worked in startups for 25 years, and have been mulling over my "pattern": I meet a charismatic founder, get seduced, work my ass off. That's a lot less attractive now. The getting seduced part depended, in part, on the golden carrot. (But only in part.) - Exercising a lot more. - Working on my pet projects, with a degree of urgency that varies over time. I don't need these projects to pay the bills, or to be loved and used. I get my jollies out of writing the software. - Consulting, but being very selective about the projects I pick. They have to be interesting, and hopefully related to my pet projects. I've had some success here. - Learning to play piano. (Would have been so much easier if I didn't stop when I was a child.) - Enjoying more time with my wife. - Getting back to teaching (software, of course). Here's the "problem": At my age, (and due in large part to my temperament), I'm still not thinking very far outside the box. I can afford to do lots of new things, but I'm having some trouble figuring out which ones to actually do. Why? - Software: I've always written software. I always will. I need to make time for other things. - Inertia: I tend to do what I know, and expand out from there gradually. I seem to be incapable of ravenously seeking out novelty. - Need ideas: After many years of working very hard, putting job and family first, those are the things I tend to think about. - Need to say yes more: Except for the teenager living at home, I can go someplace warm and windy and windsurf for a week, anytime I want to. Not sure why I don't. I'm starting to say yes to more impulsive things, but it definitely goes against the grain. - Frittering time away on small projects: I took on too many, so for a while, I had no time for anything else. I'm in a lull now, so I'm again contemplating how I want to spend my time.

vacri 13y ago
I suggest that you go travelling. It's fun anyway, but you will also see new people and places that might give you the 'a-ha!' to give you a new target to work towards. Find a way to travel without your teenager, methinks, because then you'll be focusing more on seeing the things you want to see, rather than a more generic please-the-whole-family itinerary. I spent several months crossing the US and there were only two destinations locked in - the arrival airport and the departure airport. I'd have a general idea of what I was doing the next day, but it wasn't unusual to decide in the morning to go in a different direction. It was fantastic freedom of movement, and I saw things I'd've never seen otherwise. I could travel on my whims. Travelling with others has pros and cons - more people means more to keep happy, but also more shared experiences and memories. But however you do it, keep the ability to make spontaneous changes.

colemorrison 13y ago

You've answered the question! This seriously is it. That final tier is going to be different for everyone, but it will fall in to this category.