Status of Entrepreneur
After reading 4-hour work week I think more about myth of Entrepreneur and Status of all those stories I have read in the book.
I don't have anything specific yet on my mind but I have a nice list of articles that I am thinking about right now.
Status Malfunction
Idea here is that we spend most of our time thinking about Status and comparing ourselves to others. Unfortunately we all do it all the time and there is no easy way out of it. I am not sure if I agree with Josh Kaufman about your own business being a good way out... I start to think that it's just the same thing but giving you status among other people.
How to use it? Ask yourself: If no one would appreciate it, would I still do it? Is it fun in itself?
Working for the man ain’t so bad.
For some reason I notice those kinds of articles a lot, maybe I am just afraid of starting my own business and looking for excuses but if you consider how many startups fail I think it's just more logical. For example it's not really a good idea to get equity in the Startup. If that's the case then I think it really make sense to just find a job that makes you happy and gets the burden of thinking about bills from your shoulders.
Connected article: Talking About Money is something that is really connected to getting salary in a job. I believe in clarity in wages. I have seen the result of non-disclosure agreements and in the end everyone eventually is talking about money over beer. The end result is that people seek new opportunities more of feeling unappreciated and fooled than 'looking for a new challenge'. It always ends badly and in my opinion is just unfair.
Ask HN: Those who quit their jobs to travel the world, how did it go?
There is variety of stories but even this question alone made me think about how I think about 'travel around the world' thing. My thoughts so far are that I was carried away by reading too much HN and books like 4-hour work week. End of April my Wife and I went a one week trip over Andalucía. It was really fun and we've seen a lot but at the end of it we just wanted to go home and rest a bit. I would say it was like full-time job.
I don't want to say that I didn't like it, I loved it, but now I'm mindful that it's not something that I would enjoy all the time and for me it's best to have some quiet time for myself and a bit of just going to work every day to get some work done and some regularity in life.
If there is any single idea in this though it's the questions you have to ask yourself if what you want to do is because you enjoy it or because you got it from someone else. It does not matter is this is promotion in your company or your own business and travelling the world. Those ideas while sound good may not be what you would enjoy. Try to test those ideas in smaller scale before you commit everything to the pursuit.
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