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29 is a good age to be thinking about this. I have an alternate philosophy that doesn't make you quit your job to find yourself. See if it resonates with you.

29 is a good age to be thinking about this. I have an alternate philosophy that doesn't make you quit your job to find yourself. See if it resonates with you. You can't be too emotionally attached to your job. Jobs have value but they come and go. You change jobs throughout life. Some jobs that used to pay really well are now becoming extinct etc. Eventually you retire. My dad has been retired for ~15 years. My mum has been retired for ~10 years. (He lectured in music and she taught primary school.) Even if your job is awesome, you can't do it forever. Circumstance forces you out. Life moves on. I've been kinda retired for 1 year. Most people have different jobs throughout their working life. I've been through a few as have my parents. The grass always looks greener from the other side. You chase each dream and when/if you get it, you realize you probably had some unrealistic expectations of how great it should have been. Even the jobs that seemed super important at the time turn out to be not that mind blowingly significant over time. In whatever work you do, you have to detach yourself a bit from the triumphs and tragedies. If it all goes bad, you don't take it personally. If things go really well, you don't get a swelled head about it. That's the nature of true professionalism. Maybe if you cure cancer or something, you can take the time to do a quiet double fist pump. But then you move on! :) Essentially, you should perform your work like a machine. Or like breathing. There's no emotions necessary, good or bad. You act how you believe another professional should act without bringing your personality into it. In engineering jobs, people want you to be the engineer. They don't need the other parts of you. Outside of work you can be yourself. In Australia, we tend to say, "Work to live" rather than "Live to work". It means do your work then enjoy living.

ZenoArrow 11y ago
"Essentially, you should perform your work like a machine." I agree with a lot of what you say, but I can't agree with that. Yes, if dull work was a necessary part of life then there's some sense in just getting through it, but I don't agree that it is. Take away people's need to work and you can free them up to do what they want to do instead. Your advice is pragmatic, and there is wisdom in what you say about taking the rough with the smooth, but there is a better way of living than being slave to a wage, even if it's only part of the time. Why sell ourselves short when we don't have to?
- gluggymug 11y ago
  Perhaps I phrased it poorly. Is current work really that dull? I prefer to change the term being "slave to wage" to "I worked for a living". But everyone has different circumstances financially. If you are truly stuck in a miserable position then moving to another job is fine by my philosophy. The future of "no need to work" for everyone sounds pretty awesome. I hope it happens. I am actually living that way now. After a couple of decades of working and some big redundancy payouts, I have savings to fall back on.
  - ZenoArrow 11y ago
    "Perhaps I phrased it poorly. Is current work really that dull?" I'm sure I could've given it a more generous reading, my apologies. Is current work really that dull? Certainly not for everybody. However, if it's best to switch off your emotional capacity to get through it then yes, perhaps the work is dull. "The future of "no need to work" for everyone sounds pretty awesome. I hope it happens. I am actually living that way now. After a couple of decades of working and some big redundancy payouts, I have savings to fall back on." Sounds good. What's the best part of living without paid work for you?
    - gluggymug 11y ago
      No commuting in traffic! (That's a joke for the Sydney-siders on HN) I essentially see myself as an early retiree so I live like a retired person. My parents became a bit of a template. The 8 or so hours of the day that I had to work are now gone. I just replaced it with more of what I did in my leisure time. My life wasn't bad while I had the job so the only drastic change was to not go to work!
abandonliberty 11y ago
That's quite enlightened and Buddhist, and certainly helps to cope with the unpleasant reality of work. We are still trading our time and lives for money working on things that don't resonate with our values. When fighting for survival we never questioned whether our actions fit with our values; there were no vegan cavemen. We are fortunate, but struggle with this new understanding.
- gluggymug 11y ago
  If your job is completely misaligned with your values, I think making a job change is a good idea. Don't do something that isn't you. Maybe it's my particularly uninteresting values but no job resonates that much. Even if it did, you eventually have to retire. Then you are going to really be depressed. Better to not be so attached to the job and be retired happily. Or in my case get fired happily! Free money and any job you like does sound good though.
  - abandonliberty 11y ago
    The science is quite clear that sitting is incredibly bad for our health; yet many of us are sacrificing both our time and health to do something we don't want to. Seems like a bad deal

ZenoArrow 11y ago

"Essentially, you should perform your work like a machine." I agree with a lot of what you say, but I can't agree with that. Yes, if dull work was a necessary part of life then there's some sense in just getting through it, but I don't agree that it is. Take away people's need to work and you can free them up to do what they want to do instead. Your advice is pragmatic, and there is wisdom in what you say about taking the rough with the smooth, but there is a better way of living than being slave to a wage, even if it's only part of the time. Why sell ourselves short when we don't have to?

gluggymug 11y ago
Perhaps I phrased it poorly. Is current work really that dull? I prefer to change the term being "slave to wage" to "I worked for a living". But everyone has different circumstances financially. If you are truly stuck in a miserable position then moving to another job is fine by my philosophy. The future of "no need to work" for everyone sounds pretty awesome. I hope it happens. I am actually living that way now. After a couple of decades of working and some big redundancy payouts, I have savings to fall back on.
- ZenoArrow 11y ago
  "Perhaps I phrased it poorly. Is current work really that dull?" I'm sure I could've given it a more generous reading, my apologies. Is current work really that dull? Certainly not for everybody. However, if it's best to switch off your emotional capacity to get through it then yes, perhaps the work is dull. "The future of "no need to work" for everyone sounds pretty awesome. I hope it happens. I am actually living that way now. After a couple of decades of working and some big redundancy payouts, I have savings to fall back on." Sounds good. What's the best part of living without paid work for you?
  - gluggymug 11y ago
    No commuting in traffic! (That's a joke for the Sydney-siders on HN) I essentially see myself as an early retiree so I live like a retired person. My parents became a bit of a template. The 8 or so hours of the day that I had to work are now gone. I just replaced it with more of what I did in my leisure time. My life wasn't bad while I had the job so the only drastic change was to not go to work!

abandonliberty 11y ago

That's quite enlightened and Buddhist, and certainly helps to cope with the unpleasant reality of work. We are still trading our time and lives for money working on things that don't resonate with our values. When fighting for survival we never questioned whether our actions fit with our values; there were no vegan cavemen. We are fortunate, but struggle with this new understanding.

gluggymug 11y ago
If your job is completely misaligned with your values, I think making a job change is a good idea. Don't do something that isn't you. Maybe it's my particularly uninteresting values but no job resonates that much. Even if it did, you eventually have to retire. Then you are going to really be depressed. Better to not be so attached to the job and be retired happily. Or in my case get fired happily! Free money and any job you like does sound good though.
- abandonliberty 11y ago
  The science is quite clear that sitting is incredibly bad for our health; yet many of us are sacrificing both our time and health to do something we don't want to. Seems like a bad deal