Starting working life with the end already planned

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shelob
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Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2021 11:04 am

Starting working life with the end already planned

Post by shelob »

Actually, both "working" and "end" need to be hyphenated.

When I imagine what I'd do if there were less external constraints, I'd probably spend my time mostly reading and writing (both fiction and nonfiction). I mostly do that anyway, but I'm an INTJ and therefore supposed to be aware, at my 18 years of age, that "one cannot earn a living with that". Mostly due to a desire to not burden my parents with having to provide economic outpatient care, and also to not be dependent on it, I've so far avoided universities. Instead I've signed up for something that is law enforcement in the widest sense of the term (our social media guidelines are a bit tricky, so I'll avoid details till I figure that out) and will provide me with food+shelter+physical exercise (badly needed) as well as the median salary for my Central European home country. If I like my job-to-be, I can extend the contract till my mid-thirties, and possibly get to study something that interests me (econ or history) without regard to personal financial ROI. I'm not yet rolling away my drawing board though.

I'd put my de facto current Wheaton level quite low, mostly due to never actually having managed my life on my own. Other than doing just that starting next month, major things I've got to work out are how effective altruism fits into my web of goals, family planning, and the robustness of my side hustles. One of them was working part-time in a car mechanic shop after high school, but so far all were heavily dependent on drawing on my parent's social capital. The things I've come up with myself (which mostly involve writing) that I'll implement once the paperwork gets through do not seem recession-proof at all.
tl;dr
I need to get better at weaving.

Because I'm lacking so much data that is vital for planning, it would be more accurate to say that there are multiple possible ends for my traditional working life plan (which I'm currently selling to family and friends as acquiring the funds necessary to become a full-time writer). I think participating here will help me track over time both my progress and how much personal change I need to account for. If I stumble upon a way how I can give back to the community which has already helped me so much, that's even better.

Best wishes and thanks for reading.

P.S. On the very off chance that someone is planning to sign up to this forum or MMM with a web dot de email address: the activation email won't come through, leading to annoyance due to inability to use one's intended username. I should have known better after the first time :lol: Totally off-topic, I know, and sorry, I just wanted to mention it somewhere in case it's not yet a known issue. :oops:

AxelHeyst
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Re: Starting working life with the end already planned

Post by AxelHeyst »

I think it was in "Big Magic", but it might have been somewhere else, that Elizabeth Gilbert warned against setting up an expectation that one's writing should support you. You should be in service to your writing. So get a day job, figure out some way to earn your cheddar, and write. And if one day your writing is pulling in enough money that you don't need your day job anymore, hey, neato, quit. But pressuring one's writing to pay the bills is an excellent way to turn the pursuit toxic, burn out, get bitter, etc. I really liked the idea of decoupling "how I get my money" from "how I creatively express myself". FIRE/frugality/ERE is a method for making "how I get my money" as quick and painless as possible (e.g. 5 years if you take the straight ERE route, 85% SR), allowing one to completely focus on "how I creatively express myself" for the rest of your life.

Welcome!

shelob
Posts: 86
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2021 11:04 am

Re: Starting working life with the end already planned

Post by shelob »

Hi, thanks for the welcome🙂
You're absolutely right, and that was a major reason for me to get into the pursuit of FI in the first place. Even if I could get my writing to pay my bills, I wouldn't want it to. I don't want to ever have to write something because it's what others want to read. That vision is my personal nightmare. Thank you very much for the reminder!!

It really does come back to living like a (poor) aristocrat. It's not very surprising how much of older literature and philosophy was produced by people with other means of income. Though whether that has had a positive impact on our Western cultural canon, well...

The novel I'm currently writing will probably be published as a webnovel, to further reduce economic considerations (except building a reader base). No donate button, because that's just a paperwork nightmare. OTOH, there are two unrelated just-for-fun-and-profit-and-practice projects where I'm testing the waters for self-publishing, so to speak. But I won't be disappointed if they bring in exactly three bucks from friends and family.

So, thanks again for reminding me of the importance of expectations:)

jacob
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Re: Starting working life with the end already planned

Post by jacob »

I can change your username if you want.

shelob
Posts: 86
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2021 11:04 am

Re: Starting working life with the end already planned

Post by shelob »

That is very nice. Thank you. I'd like my username like it is without the "1", please :)

Thank you also for sharing your thoughts with the world, braving all the attacks and such that must have come with it, and the immense amount of work you put into this community. I can say for sure that it has made my life better :-)

(I just contemplated why phpBB forum software doesn't include a question in their FAQ about smaller/local providers, and came to the conclusion that there are probably so few of us who insist on using one of them that it's just not worth it. IOW, probably a known issue but an irrelevant one. I'll remember it for if I ever make an email address connected to a website I'm hosting.)

Edit: I'm an idiot. Just found out (by complete coincidence, not even dedicated error search or anything like that) that the issue was on my side and had to do with an arcane switch in the settings. That explains some strange things that happened in the last couple months. I'm glad I've now discovered it and very sorry for any inconvenience created here and elsewhere. :shock: :oops: Now I'm off to fix it!

white belt
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Re: Starting working life with the end already planned

Post by white belt »

I discovered ERE when I was around your age. I thought I had an understanding of it at the time, but the reality is it took me many years and experiences until I really grokked the ecological side of things. It’s still a work in progress.

In terms of advice, I’d recommend focusing on skills that will immediately apply to your life. Cooking comes to mind as an essential skill that I wasn’t very good at. Social skills are also important, especially if you are an INTJ. Skill acquisition takes time so patience is essential.

I also recommend you allow yourself room to grow in your planning and mental models. I thought all I wanted to do at your age was play music, but over the years my interests migrated to other things. It’s very likely that you will be a very different person at age 22 compared to now, and yet another person at age 27, and so on.

shelob
Posts: 86
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2021 11:04 am

Re: Starting working life with the end already planned

Post by shelob »

Thanks for the useful advice.
I used to be very socially awkward (which exacerbated my introversion) but then I participated in a lengthy student exchange when I was 14 and had to sink or swim. I'm still good friends with some people I met there, so something must have worked. :) I've also drawn up an improvement plan for the areas where I struggle (e.g. humor, fashion sense,...) and discovered a while ago that I am capable of enjoying cooking if it doesn't mean "to be ordered about the kitchen by Mum". Though that doesn't necessarily translate into other people enjoying what I cook :lol:

Planning for one's understanding and self to change seems like quite a difficult thing to do, even (especially?) if one is otherwise a good planner. The part of "not doing things that are useful only in a narrow set of circumstances " is fairly evident, but my current solution of solving the problem of employment needs without having many marketable skills in a heavily regulated job market involves making a rather long-term commitment that would be opposed to that goal. Thankfully I still have about 1-2 years to think about that, and other options such as learning a trade before I have to decide.
(I can't find anything in our social media guidelines about anonymous forums, so whatever. I'm doing Voluntary Military Service with the Navy right now and might extend my enlistment to become an officer. Still lacking data for that decision though, so glad it's not yet due.)

MeloTheMelon
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Re: Starting working life with the end already planned

Post by MeloTheMelon »

This is more related to sentiment of "one can't earn a living with that", but have you ever heard of Kevin Kelly's 1000 true fans?
(https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/)
It shows that you don't need a large fanbase to make a good living from whatever you do. Now if you combine this concept with ERE, you literally need only a handful of real fans to support your lifestyle. His focus on super-fans - people that buy pretty much everything you release - might also work well for you because that would mean you could still write whatever you want and getting in the money to make a living.

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