What to do when FI

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Jean
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Re: What to do when FI

Post by Jean »

yes, but as I said, I could live there and still rent it. It would require some work. I promised my actual tenant that our arrangement won't change for two years at least, so I leave like this for now.

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Jean
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Re: What to do when FI

Post by Jean »

I'm still there, I still haven't found what to do with my time. I'm getting unatractive to my SO because I have to much free time.
I only come up with project that are too ambitious for me (getting elected as president, write an opera). Even smaller thing, like starting a day-care, or writting a book seems too ambitious for me now.

Can anyone help me?

cmonkey
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Re: What to do when FI

Post by cmonkey »

Why do you get up each morning? At your core you know the answer and that is what you should focus on.

FBeyer
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Re: What to do when FI

Post by FBeyer »

Start as a mason's apprentice. Quit when you're bored to tears. Start your own construction company after that.
Personal trainer? How'd that work out for you?

I don't understand your post. Why is it too ambitious to write your book if you have too much free time? Sit down for two hours every day (schedule it) and write the outline first then the subplot, then the subsubplot, what characters do you NEED to tell the story, do they change or do they not? Start fleshing out from the foundation and work upwards and fill in the blanks until you have a complete story. Then axe everything that is absolutely crucial to tell the story.

That should keep you occupied for at least a week...
If the book doesn't happen now, maybe it happens later.

- Learn to program in Python, Julia, CUDA, Ruby or C#

- Learn to mediate.

- Buy some fly fishing gear and get busy learning how to haul fish over the summer.

- Start a sourdough. Bake your SO some TASTY AS ALL FUCK BREAD!!!

- Learn Yoga

- Draw! People who know how to draw do not see the world like the rest of us do. When you get good at it, give private lessons. Fold 10 A4 sized pieces of office paper over in half (making 40 A5 sized sheets) Sketch on at least one page per day. Don't worry about what it looks like, just learn to SEE, and make a habit out of doing somehing productive. The rest will come.

- Wallow in your restlessness. Let it set in your bones until you simply HAVE to do something... then do that.

cmonkey
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Re: What to do when FI

Post by cmonkey »

@FBeyer, those are all things you enjoy doing. Perhaps the OP wouldn't enjoy anything on that list.

One other thing that would help out is to know your MB personality? Are you introverted or extroverted? That will help you narrow down which direction to go.

FBeyer
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Re: What to do when FI

Post by FBeyer »

.... wtf forum?
Last edited by FBeyer on Tue Jun 06, 2017 8:57 am, edited 1 time in total.

EdithKeeler
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Re: What to do when FI

Post by EdithKeeler »

Have you considered that you may possibly be a bit depressed? Might be worth getting checked for it. No shame in tweaking your brain chemicals if they're a little wonky. And if they're not, even better.

I'm afraid I can't relate much to your dilemma. If I didn't have to work, I can think of approximately 1 million things I'd like to do with that time.

FBeyer
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Re: What to do when FI

Post by FBeyer »

cmonkey wrote:
Tue Jun 06, 2017 8:37 am
@FBeyer, those are all things you enjoy doing. Perhaps the OP wouldn't enjoy anything on that list.

One other thing that would help out is to know your MB personality? Are you introverted or extroverted? That will help you narrow down which direction to go.
Well, no. They're not.

Jean is physically fit[1] so any near-free physical things to do could be tangentially interesting. Ie yoga, personal trainer and so on. New ways of moving could potentially be interesting, new ways of using your brain (ie meditating) could be very beneficial in case that is not a well-developed aspect.

Our resident protagonist is also an engineer: hence learning new and applicable programming languages could open up even more avenues of creativity for him. Programming is thus not only related to an existing education but could also serve to alleviate some boredom in the future since all you need is a working computer (and an internet connection while you're googling the one million things you need to know about the language you're learning).

Physically building something rather than calculating it and/or drawing it would still be related to many kinds of engineering.

Since we're dealing with an engineer who has a distinct creative side to him, why not entice him towards further creativity? ie Drawing? If Jean wanted to make music, I reckon he would already be on it.

If you have an unhappy SO, making nice food is almost surely one of the easiest ways to appease any misgivings about your surplus of free time versus their deficiency of free time. It's called being a good SO.

etc...


Maybe the issue is not "What do to" but "how do I stop procrastinating?"

[1] Halfmoon: do NOT under any circumstances click the link. You will be traumatized![2] Everyone else are perfectly safe.
[2] If you click the link any way, don't say I didn't warn you.

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Jean
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Re: What to do when FI

Post by Jean »

I allready do some music. It's the only thing i produce.
I don't need idea. I have ton of them. I need a purpose in order to want to carry on things when they stop being pleasant.
I graduated because i wanted to proof that i was good enough. I did this special force thing for the same reason. But now, nothing seems to have a point.
When free of obligation, i get up because i'm thirsty and play video games. Nowvthat i quit gaming, i stay in bed until i have to meet someone. And i got back to music. But i dont know if i have enough ego for it.

FBeyer
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Re: What to do when FI

Post by FBeyer »

Prove that you're good enough? Prove what and to whom? (who? spelling help needed)
Who gets the final say when it comes to gauging whether you are 'good enough'?

Me?
Reddit?
Your parents?
The government?
Youtube commenters?
You?

Shit's gonna get difficult at some point. Those who overcome shit get the results and the admiration they deserve, those who quit as soon as shit turns tough get nothing. Shit's probably good when it was hard to make. You've overcome shit before, why is this different?

Music in particular is good when you can hear the artist in the music, right? Putting you into your music is probably the most diffiult thing a musician encounters because you need to be very familiar with your instrument before you develop that ideosynchratic expression. That shit takes work! A shit ton of motherfucking work! And a spine, because you are putting 'you' out there when you express yourself creatively. If you compose its most likely even more difficult because your voice has to be recognized in 'the manuscript' rather than in the sound itself. What's wrong with making music if that is what you like to do? Are you ONLY willing to make music if you get rich and famous? Are you willing to make music if everyone dislikes it, but you love it? Do you dream of some specific outcome when you're playing or are you simply spending time expressing yourself? Are you practicing something deliberately or are you noodling around for hours with no clear intention?

If you're feeling more besides yourself in a way you haven't experienced before, go see your doctor. I'm serious. Depression (and its related siblings) never feels like what you think it does.

Have you burned yourself out on strenous activities in the past and need a major break? If you simply need to fuck around and do nothing productive with your life until your shame gets you motivated, then so be it, but make sure you've checked off all the other boxes first.

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fiby41
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Re: What to do when FI

Post by fiby41 »

The wiki has a bucket list of things to do when FI. There's also a blog post about it. (I don't have the links but it would be quick to find.)

How about getting a job and doing it however you want to do it? Putting in the bare minimum to not get fired ... Or just doing it how you feel it is right, how you think it should be done, knowing well that you have the stability, power and F-you money even if it doesn't work out?

(I think there's a thread about this also but again I don't have the link handy.)

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Re: What to do when FI

Post by jacob »

Jean wrote:
Sat Mar 04, 2017 6:20 pm
...
I'de like to get a job, but any real job requires me to work full time, which isn't compatible with how I like to organise my time.
...
So my goals are:
-Create something that is somehow valued by other humans.
-Keep my SO happy with me and have 2-4 kids.
-Have a lot of time to spend with family and friends.
-Build a source for food and heat that doesn't require money.
Cooking (molecular gastronomy?), chef, event planning/organizing, ... ?

All lend themselves to part-time efforts and creates something (food) that most humans value. You didn't mention scale? Are we taking a million people or just a few? The culinary-arts school would also create structure. And cost money. With sufficient drive, you could self-educate to a fairly high degree. Fancy baking seems particularly popular.

The main problem with these kind of lists is that you "can't want to want" them (Goethe, IIRC), which of course is the main problem. It's easy to come up with long lists of hundreds of different activities, but usually the problem is not lack of imagination but rather the lack of meaning.

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Jean
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Re: What to do when FI

Post by Jean »

I don't even want to want.
I need to need.
I needed to finish degree and special forces selection process in order not to loose face in front of myself.
Signing up for it didn't requir a lot of motivation.
I still do some music. I will do more. I don't want fame, I just want to point at the truth in catchy ways.

BRUTE
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Re: What to do when FI

Post by BRUTE »

brute has experienced similar troubles.

seems that the only solution is to construct one's own rat race.

FBeyer
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Re: What to do when FI

Post by FBeyer »

BRUTE wrote:
Wed Jun 07, 2017 9:31 pm
brute has experienced similar troubles.

seems that the only solution is to construct one's own rat race.
The positive formulation of which is referred to as: identifying what you want out of life.

fingeek
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Re: What to do when FI

Post by fingeek »

I've experienced this too (still do). There's something about "winning at life" (however you prefer to calculate that) that, I think, causes miserable depression, burnout and pointlessness for particular personality types (I'm a Type A INTJ).

I *need* to have a goal. I enjoy the thrill of rushing to the finish line as quick as efficiently as possible. I'm miserable when I get there. I'm currently employed, but I got to where I wanted to be ~2yrs ago, and since then I haven't been motivated, challenged or happy. I envy the Type Bs!!

One answer is to find a goal bigger than yourself/your lifetime - Some would call it your purpose. Perhaps you're destined to do something a lot bigger than yourself.
-Create something that is somehow valued by other humans.
Perhaps follow your curiosities, and even take some people with you? If you find something interesting, it's extremely likely that others will find that interesting too.
Mountaineering is fun
-Build a source for food and heat that doesn't require money.
Demartini has given me some good perspective on things, and has really helped, worth taking 30 mins to view https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZPn_2t4yvY then identify your values and see where that takes you. Good luck, have fun! :-)

FBeyer
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Re: What to do when FI

Post by FBeyer »

Jordan Peterson talks about the need for responsibility in order to lead a meaningful life:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QctT0Oc_uQQ

Women are 'given' by virtue of biology responsibility, men have to find it and make something themselves. Meanwhile society is treating boys as pathological and unworthy of their own achievements which tends to turn men in particular into a group on unresponsible 'children'. When you don't get anything from your hard work and get discredited by virtue of the existing politcal debate, why the hell would you get up and do anything?
People will carry a heavy load if they get to choose their own load

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Jean
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Re: What to do when FI

Post by Jean »

Yes, thinking that i have to make music seems to help a lot. I produced one tune a day for the last days. Having responsabilities seems key.

distracted_at_work
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Re: What to do when FI

Post by distracted_at_work »

I actually thought about this thread a lot because I expect I might have the same problem at FI. OP, I'd recommend reading Man's Search for Meaning if you haven't before. It's about how the author had to find purpose in his life in order to survive the holocaust. It really helped me.

I don't think we (humans) can just live for the sake of existing. We need to always be moving forward in some way or another.

FrugalFred
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Re: What to do when FI

Post by FrugalFred »

Oh, I don't know... hike, build the body of a Greek god, read, play videogames, travel... live. There are a million things I want to do but can't because of my 50 hour work week. That's why I'll never understand these kind of posts. If it's that much of an ordeal, then give your free time to MMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

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