Jossstick's Journey / Journal

[Jossstick]

Hi!
Recently I made my first post here in this forum and I am eager to start a journal. To learn, share and find people who may (or may not ) think like me. One thing i have learned in my 20s is that I am greatly motivated by the "way-we-do-things-here" to do it in another way. I will try everything to not be normal - sounds a bit silly as I write it out, but in hindsight I have learned that it is true for me.

I really don't know where to start, but that really doesn't matter - I will start far back:

First Hints
After finishing school I started a dual study at a local hardware store. I did not last long. After a few months I was feeling uneasy. Every Day felt the same: What are we doing? Why are we doing it? Is anyone happy with what we're doing?
We were learning how to sell more to customers, while studying how to optimize financials to extract more "value".

The same time I was scared. 18year old me was scared of the everyday minutiae of office politics, formal processes and level of abstraction behind "corporate processes". I didn't think I would last long. Or could do it in any way.

All the while I was thinking about trying to follow a career in music. Playing Guitar in a cool rock band. That was my (teenage) dream. It was a way to say to friends and family "See, you totally can do things that are valuable on a deeper basis than a monthly income".

So i quit.
Today I am convinced that this was the first hint of me having to do it another way.

First Steps
I went off and practiced. networked and tried everything to get a foot in the music industry. I didn't take long to teach students and workshops at a music academy. Happiness didn't last forever though (today I know the concept of hedonic adaptation). I knew that music was not the last thing for me.
There was a daily grind too. Practice in the weekdays. Concerts on weekends.
Yes, it is great to be on the road and play bigger and bigger venues (biggest was 38000). But it felt more and more the same to me. I was getting detached from the emotions I once had when starting out

I started to get interested in investing because if you're a musician in Germany you are pretty much off to yourself with your pension.
So I read. And Read.

First Contact with ERE
First contact with MMM and the likes. Started to trade forex with hard earned 1000€. It went okay-ish but I was hooked. I read a lot about minimalism and frugalism. That was starting in 2014.
I looked up the year when I bought the ERE book in the kindle store: 2017.
I knew I was on to something because the concepts of minimalism etc. were too narrow. They focused on specific rules (e.g. cold showers) vs. underlying concepts (e.g. do something that boosts your energy).
I was 26 then. Not really "fluent" in English.
I didn't really understand all of it.

But I was hooked by the vibe of "Im gonna do it my way and you can't stop me because the underlying principles are working".


How I got here
I recently started a new band. Smaller and with less excitement and more business-character. I was/am doing ultra-distance cycling and started gardening. In all these things there are likeminded people that I can talk with.
But there is no-one that gets my idea of trying to live life in a different way.
I once tried to explain my idea of a "integrated life" to my best friend. I tried again. And again. We both agreed that he doesn't get it
(or my idea isn't fleshed out enough yet)

I am searching for people that I can talk with. About deranged Ideas of trying to be self sufficient in Germany where food is cheap and sources are reliable. About trying to be a human with many competencies rather than a single mastery. About trying to live a life of either investing and living off the returns or, favorably, living without the need of money.



So i am here now.
Where do I go from here?
I don't know yet. But I look forward to good discussions that will lead to learning on both ways
Cheers

[Kipling]

Jossstick, welcome. It’s great to have people in multiple countries documenting their journeys. We all learn from that.

[AxelHeyst]

Sounds like you're in the right place Jossstick, welcome.

[thef0x]

Welcome! I really enjoyed your point in your welcome to post about "doubling the utility of every dollar" instead of doubling your income. What a succinct way to summarize what a lot of folks here are doing.

And eventually, it seems to me, that focus on doubling utility transitions from dollars to far more important assets (and their inputs): health, relationships, community, creativity, etc.

Excited to follow along on your journey.

[Jossstick]

The last week was packed, I donated much of the unneeded furniture of a gardenhouse I recently bought. My girlfriend and I have some family pieces that we are planning to place there.
I did several training sessions for the ultra-distance Bikepacking event in July and a longer ride yesterday to my friend with who I started the new musical endeavor…today we are busking in the city.

Making music
That’s were it all started and we don’t want to loose it. It es a great way to practice performing, performing while being distracted and getting payed a little cash while doing so.
The forecast doesn’t look too good, but it will be no problem i think. The people are looking forward to the summer here in Germany and it’s Saturday - all the retail therapy that happens
I get goosebumps so often when I see it. Some stores look like the entrance to a temple with their fake marble.
Anyway, some new gigs came in and some are not set in stone yet. But I’m very happy that this project got to speed so fast.
My friend and I have established a mode of doing this. We are reminding each other of it everyone one of us seems to get caught in „hustly“ way of thinking: „Tomorrow's effort must be justified by yesterday's success“

Riding the bike
After years of Freeletics (bodyweight & fitness HIIT app), barefoot marathons and Tabata I thought I might try out intervals on my bike. Never ever have I felt so empty after a workout. These weeks there is not so much space left in my calendar so my usual approach to training (just ride the bike through the woods for 15hrs) doesn’t fit. But this seems like a good middle way for the hectic weeks.
Nevertheless I got to do a 100km tour yesterday and thinking about the context utility and money and (meta) my thinking about that

Preparing the garden
My girlfriend and I bought a plot of land (625m²) with a house on it. The plan is to get to self sufficiency as fast as possible. I know we can’t get there so fast, but we can try nevertheless. The house was full of trinkets and old furniture that we Don’t need or want - so we donated most of it. I am thinking about and doubting the idea of throwing it to the garbage on Monday. I have a bad bad conscience because most of it I perfectly usable. But for most of it we have replacements with a family history. I don’t see us using a table that we don’t like instead a family table thats 200years old and belongs to the family (including the notches left by the family’s kids).
All the while I sawed many vegetables. The tomatoes, zucchini and pumpkins are waiting eagerly to be planted.

Thinking about money
I listened to a podcast episode of „the art of manliness“ with Jared Dillian. There he said something along the lines of „is the one who thinks constantly about money richer? Yes. But is he happier or more stressed out than his/her folks?“
And I’m gonna be honest. I feel called out. Constantly thinking about money is something I do as a habit. And once I saw it, i would like to change it.

How (like, as a habit) do you think about money? My theory is that it is „better“ to think about it in terms of systems and processes than to think about it in a literal sense. A more systematic approach to „wealth management“ instead of money/currency.
What are you thinking about that?

[Jossstick]

Welcome! I really enjoyed your point in your welcome to post about "doubling the utility of every dollar" instead of doubling your income. What a succinct way to summarize what a lot of folks here are doing.

And eventually, it seems to me, that focus on doubling utility transitions from dollars to far more important assets (and their inputs): health, relationships, community, creativity, etc.

Excited to follow along on your journey.

That’s it! I cannot possibly imagine to be happy about some number on my screen. It’s too abstract. Like, 15383628462. there. A big number with absolutely no meaning.

But what if it’s a phone number of my best friend. Or a number of people that are coming to the next birthday party. There are so many more important things than money itself, because there are so many things that have more meaning to a personal life (utility) than money.
I bet that e.g. Having a robust social circle is worth more money I could ever imagine

[Cam]

As someone who dabbles in music but has never pursued it full-time (I still get nervous even singing in front of others) I find your journal very neat. I'm excited to hear about your attempts at self-sufficiency with your house and plot of land. Welcome to the forum, you're going to learn a lot around here!

[Jossstick]

@cam: thank you! It will be exciting, I hope. I still get nervous before concerts, but you learn to cope with it and use the adrenaline rush for your advantage. In normal life I am a pretty introverted person - my girlfriend always says that I have a „performance mask“ that I wear and get rid of the last note I’m playing

If you want to do it (making music in front of others) maybe change your perspective: I always think about making music WITH others (instead if „in front of“) - that helps me a lot

[delay]

Thinking about money
I listened to a podcast episode of „the art of manliness“ with Jared Dillian. There he said something along the lines of „is the one who thinks constantly about money richer? Yes. But is he happier or more stressed out than his/her folks?“
And I’m gonna be honest. I feel called out. Constantly thinking about money is something I do as a habit. And once I saw it, i would like to change it.

How (like, as a habit) do you think about money? My theory is that it is „better“ to think about it in terms of systems and processes than to think about it in a literal sense. A more systematic approach to „wealth management“ instead of money/currency.
What are you thinking about that?

Thanks for your journal update! I split money decisions in:

• yearly decisions: re-allocate investments and savings, set monthly spending amount
• monthly decisions: make a budget and assign spending money to categories
• daily decisions: aim to spend within budget. If priorities change, adjust the budget by shifting money between categories (learned from the YNAB method, although I no longer use their software.)

Decoupling earning, spending and saving works well to reduce the time I spend thinking about money.

[Jossstick]

Hello,
I broke my rhythm there for a week. I don’t even know why. Possibly the concerts we played but also just a feeling of „meh“.

The thoughts i have most in the last days is: maybe it’s all too much for a conscious and targeted control? The garden too big? The house too big? The concerts too many? The students too many? The ideas for my life too lofty? The ambitions too high?

The thing is, I was a „minimalist“ most of my life because I could do what I wanted to do without much physical belongings. Now that I want to garden, have a guitar teaching business, play concerts alongside renting Equipment and am actively trying to to ultra-distance bikepacking
there. Is. So much. Stuff.

To think about. To maintenance. To buy/sell/try. To learn. To plan. To make time for.

I don’t know, it is maybe too much.

Anyways, I am not here for complaining (not exclusively at least):
Last week I started to practice the guitar in the garden-house. My girlfriend and I noticed that we both were more relaxed as a result of that. We don’t have to go out of each others way because I am practicing at home.
I was more focused and more relaxed too.m maybe it’s the result of taking the breaks in the garden, watering plants, etc.

But that has left me wondering again: how much can we really do to change? I mean just intrinsically. And how much are we a result of our surroundings?
I think, our „habitat“ is a strong influence. More so than i/we thought.
Is it possible that we could change our behavior with asking the question: „which surrounding supports try intended behavior?“ instead of „how do I want to behave?“

[Jossstick]

Decoupling earning, spending and saving works well to reduce the time I spend thinking about money.

That’s a cool way to think about it. It is a multi-scale way of doing the work

Decoupling earning, spending and saving is something that crucial. I mean, my basic idea of ERE is that I want to completely decouple my life from „work“. A.k.a. Decouple spending from earning. The first way that’s even supported in our capitalist society is investing I think.

Currently I am not earning so much that my investments are making big progress (e.g. earning 800 and saving 400 from that. 400 is not „enough“ from my point of view) , the focus on earning more ahead payed off big time though. There will come a time in the next few years (2-5) where i and my partner will lean back, not expand our repertoire but will still reap from the work we once put in.

As I think about it: learning songs could be seen as an investment. If we pick the right one, we can play it over and over again. Playing it is the maintenance of the competence to play it itself. So we don’t have to reparative it and it pays again and again. Pick the wrong one though and we have a foul one in the basket.