This is a question I’ve always dismissed because I was studying and wasn’t really working. Recently this has changed since I’ve been on placement almost full time. I’m now, for the first time, spending the vast majority of my time working. I’ve also seen the time I spend doing things like going to the gym, spending time helping around the house and importantly sleeping has all decreased, which I’m not happy about. This has made me really consider what I want my future work life to look like, as you saw in my previous post about not working full time.
I think this is a question which people don’t ask themselves enough. The most common answer is, I’m sure, to earn a lot of money and then be able to retire (whatever that means) and travel, or do whatever it is they enjoy. This answer is flawed, in many ways, but it’s also a trap. You’re unlikely to just replicate your desires now, in 20, 30 or 40 years time, whenever it is, you’re values will change and you wont be able to re-coup those lost years working your ass off. An extreme example of the converse of this is to always be semi-retired, working remotely or earning money through passive income, living in a place with very low costs. Tim Ferriss shows that this isn’t as difficult as it sounds, that you can live well for 20-30k per year in a lower income country like Vietnam or Brazil. This is an extreme example, but an interesting idea. What if you weren’t deferring your life for this amazing period we call retirement but lived doing whatever it is you truly love doing, every day.
The other option, and in my opinion the ideal option is that you love doing your job every day AND it pays very well, so you can afford to go part time as soon as possible. This is something I don’t want to assume will happen because I think it’s so rare and don’t want to just jump on the corporate hamster wheel seeking this.
I’m yet to really figure out what it is that I really want to be doing, I’m not sure I ever will. My heuristic for making life decisions is, what will I enjoy most in the short term, its fared me well so far. Despite this, I feel as though I’m getting drawn more and more to what I think I should do rather than what I want to do. I have no answers, other than to continue asking myself the question “do I really enjoy what I’m doing?” The way I help myself answer that is asking if I’d do it for free, and so far, I have been doing it for free and the answer is still yes.
My biggest worry is convincing myself I like what I’m doing and not spending time doing the things I love and I think this should be the worry of most people. So why are you working so hard, and is that really the path you want to continue going down?
Harrison Hansford 