Hey everyone.
This might seem like a stupid question, but for someone who isn't used to it, I feel like its worth asking.
I'm a self-taught software developer and I come from a low-income background.
I left home at 16 and worked my buns off to get where I am. Got into and out of debt. Bought my first house, and landed a great paying position at a tech company. My dream has always been to go it alone. Release my own products and have the freedom to choose what I want to do, and get paid for it.
The problem I have is, I have worked so hard for so long. Bought the things I had always wanted. When my friends were teenagers and all playing Call of Duty or whatever was the trend at the time. I wasn't able to do that because of the cost games/internet connection.
I have invested in a gaming PC, I have friends to play with and lots of time to do so. I also have a big list of goals and dreams that I intend to achieve. Which, at the moment feels like they get pushed to the back burner after a long day of work. It doesn't help that due to the lockdown, I have been working from home for nearly a year. The same spot I work in is also the space I have downtime in. I know I need to separate the two.
Even before lockdown, there were trips away, meals out, all things I never had the chance to do growing up. Sometimes too many options and not enough time. My questions are...
How do you manage your time with all these distractions?
Are there any good systems you follow for work/reward?
I'm curious of how everyone manages their motivations each day, even when they have it all, what keeps them going to the next level?
I know these are first-world problems, but it is something I am not used to. You hear billionaires saying they wish they could lose it all and start over, just to have that same hunger they did at the beginning. I can understand this in a small way.
I don't have an answer for you, but just know that this existential questioning happens all the time to everyone and will probably continue for the rest of your life. 🙂 I think it's totally normal.
I grew up in an incredibly poor immigrant family and became a software developer in adulthood and with a couple decades of work experience I'm comfortable where I'm at. However, I do still have the nagging itch to keep building and making things, not so much for the money (although being able to work independently is a dream), but for the joy of it. I love the craft.
At the end of the day, there's more to life than just building product and being successful there though. I think that's why a lot of successful people get involved in non-profits and try to better the world that way. Some people enjoy mentoring as well.
It's good to just chill and take it easy now and then. Find a hobby outside of tech pursuits and form a community if you can. (Difficult in a pandemic, of course.)
Thank you for responding.
It started as a love of the craft, but then I saw opportunity and then that became a hunger to build something successful. Both to create something people value but also, as you said, to be able to work independently, which is the dream. I live comfortably now, taking a salary, but not comfortable enough to stop and go out on my own. I would honestly love to work on a non-profit, when I have enough behind me to support myself and my family.
My problem is, in pursuit of achieving these goals, I burnt out. Which all creators have the possibility of doing. I lived and breathed hitting these goals day in day out so much that it was all I thought about, which doesn't provide a good work-life balance. So distractions were the easy way out.
I did what you said and took a few days self-care time outside of tech pursuits and its reignited my love for the craft and I now have the strong urge to build things again. I will be giving myself more of this time and exploring other hobbies.
Appreciate your comments.
I feel the same exact way about building things for the sake of building and not success or money. My first and only post I made is talking about this exactly. I just want to build. I love building things and making them work. If they help other people or improve the world, even better!