Are you building on your dream, are you living your life purpose?

[cguy]

I've managed to achieve a few goals in my life, many of which only became clear as I met the prior one. First I became an academic, then decided that I really wanted to build something impactful, which I did overseas at a big tech company, and then I decided to focus more on my finances (for both personal stress reduction, and the ability support friends/family in need and several charities/causes), and moved on to Wall Street, where I have been very successful.

As for purpose, I don't believe anyone has one as such. If anything, perhaps "to help others".

 

[Urist]

Tried, started a little late.
Wasted a decade of my life in a directionless comfort while married to the wrong person in a **** town.

Started studying, started doing challenging work, bought a motorcycle that scares me, started hanging out with characters, realised a **** town is only a **** town if you make it a **** town.

 

[foozball3000]

Most definitely, a mistake is just another lesson. More mistakes == more lessons. Guess some kids prefer 6 of the best as opposed to writing out chapters from the Bible.

Sad to say and I hope I am not killing anyone's dreams with saying this, sometimes we need to rely on ourselves without hopes of relying on others.

That is true though, some of the loveliest people I have encountered in life are those that have been through quite a bit, can swing the other way though hehe.

Yup, fail your way forward. Probably not the best way, but certainly effective... and beats doing nothing any day of the week.

It's a hard balance, isn't it? Trying to manage expectations without discouraging people. It is the type of things I wish people spoke about more openly. Because being blind-sided with how rough it is was worse. All that was taught in our house was the rosey lottery version: Get a good idea, work a little hard, someone will see that and then you've made it.

 

[pboy]

I'm genetically predisposed with an insane appetite for failure.
there is no other way up!

 

[foozball3000]

I'm genetically predisposed with an insane appetite for failure.
there is no other way up!

Have we finally found the legendary Leeroy Jenkins?

 

[pboy]

its not like that. some read, some gather, some reflect... and only a very few really do post. Depending on the content, I'm anyone one of the above.

 

[Gozado]

I'm struck by how many people (not just on this thread) claim to be totally broke, living on nothing, have not a dime to their name, etc. while also claiming that they are working long hours with great dedication to try to build up their business.

Where do they/you live in the meantime, and who provides the food? It seems that "nothing" and "broke" must be relative terms. I'd be really interested to know how people keep their noses above water during such phases.

And also in how much it really costs them to get by, until a business scheme starts to take off and generate income to cover their needs, and then more beyond that.

 

[Not_original]

If you have Internet. You have money.

Now wait...

What I mean is, the internet opens up the whole world to almost any opportunity you can imagine. Most of the time the only thing stopping us is ourselves. We were taught from a young age how to think within a box. In order to do this or that you need X qualifications or X experience. To hell with that.

If you have internet, you have money. Yeah...no . If you have a specialized skillset AND internet, you have money. Trust me, wife got EOC'd 6 years ago. Now she had only been a clerk at that time, but it still left a gaping hole. I asked her what she would like to do. She said she think she is finally ready to follow her goal of becoming a teacher. So apart from the gaping hole, we now had to fork out R35k / year + a weekly 400km round trip for her to get her degree. Now she did what she possibly could helping to fill the holes but studies takes time so I had to step up and fill those holes.

For two years I did make some monies of the web but I'd say it was never more than R4000/ month on a very good month. My skillset unfortunately doesn't virtualize well so I had to settle for technical writing in a world filled with lowballers and countries where $1 make a evening is better than having to sweat a whole day for it.

 

[RedViking]

If you have internet, you have money. Yeah...no . If you have a specialized skillset AND internet, you have money. Trust me, wife got EOC'd 6 years ago. Now she had only been a clerk at that time, but it still left a gaping hole. I asked her what she would like to do. She said she think she is finally ready to follow her goal of becoming a teacher. So apart from the gaping hole, we now had to fork out R35k / year + a weekly 400km round trip for her to get her degree. Now she did what she possibly could helping to fill the holes but studies takes time so I had to step up and fill those holes.

For two years I did make some monies of the web but I'd say it was never more than R4000/ month on a very good month. My skillset unfortunately doesn't virtualize well so I had to settle for technical writing in a world filled with lowballers and countries where $1 make a evening is better than having to sweat a whole day for it.

You need to think outside the box. The Internet is just a tool. You might need to learn new skills or be creative with the way you apply it. I don't say it is easy, and it takes time to develop something successful. But you don't need a masters degree and 10 years experience before you qualify to do something. I guess also it depends of what we consider a good income.

Cheap labour is a big challenge in the Freelancing world, completely agree.

 

[TofuMofu]

I'm working on building my dream.

I don't know what that dream is. The ultimate dream is to get out of this country, but a more reachable dream is to live in a sea town (Cape Town would be great) and managing my own property rental business so that I can get out of the Gauteng rat race.

Busy paying of as much debt as soon as possible so that I can start buying more property and snowball it from there.

Work in progress.

I'm fortunate enough to have a stable job and the lockdown has been good for my budget...saving a lot of money by not going out and not driving to work and back.

 

[Wut]

I'm busy building a small beach cabin on a largish plot within walking distance to the beach (self-funded, so no debt involved). I've already planted a ton of fruit trees on the plot and put in some raised beds to become somewhat self-sufficient (unfortunately the buck in the area eat all the veggies before they really have a chance to grow, so I will have to fence them off when the cabin is complete). I do all my work online for a foreign company and can pretty much work as much or as little as I want.

I also have a largish plot (well my young son does) with a dam in a central province in Thailand. We've stocked the dam with Mekong catfish and the neighbor is running a small fishing park from it and depositing the money into my account over there. I will build a small house and spend the SA winters there so that I have a perpetual summer. Just hoping that air travel will return to normal soon.

Those are my short-term goals and then I will focus on some other dreams, but will never go into debt to achieve them.

 

[TofuMofu]

I'm busy building a small beach cabin on a largish plot within walking distance to the beach (self-funded, so no debt involved). I've already planted a ton of fruit trees on the plot and put in some raised beds to become somewhat self-sufficient (unfortunately the buck in the area eat all the veggies before they really have a chance to grow, so I will have to fence them off when the cabin is complete). I do all my work online for a foreign company and can pretty much work as much or as little as I want.

I also have a largish plot (well my young son does) with a dam in a central province in Thailand. We've stocked the dam with Mekong catfish and the neighbor is running a small fishing park from it and depositing the money into my account over there. I will build a small house and spend the SA winters there so that I have a perpetual summer. Just hoping that air travel will return to normal soon.

Those are my short-term goals and then I will focus on some other dreams, but will never go into debt to achieve them.

Whoo, sounds like a good life you're building/already have. Well done.

 

[Polymathic]

By the number of slightly unnerving dreams I've been having during the lockdown I'd say no

 

[DsBalsak]

I'm busy building a small beach cabin on a largish plot within walking distance to the beach (self-funded, so no debt involved). I've already planted a ton of fruit trees on the plot and put in some raised beds to become somewhat self-sufficient (unfortunately the buck in the area eat all the veggies before they really have a chance to grow, so I will have to fence them off when the cabin is complete). I do all my work online for a foreign company and can pretty much work as much or as little as I want.

I also have a largish plot (well my young son does) with a dam in a central province in Thailand. We've stocked the dam with Mekong catfish and the neighbor is running a small fishing park from it and depositing the money into my account over there. I will build a small house and spend the SA winters there so that I have a perpetual summer. Just hoping that air travel will return to normal soon.

Those are my short-term goals and then I will focus on some other dreams, but will never go into debt to achieve them.

One of my fathers friend also had that problem with his fruit trees what they did was dilute chili powder or Tabasco sauce in water and sprayed it over the trees and the buck didn't come near it worth a try

 

[Not_original]

I'm busy building a small beach cabin on a largish plot within walking distance to the beach (self-funded, so no debt involved). I've already planted a ton of fruit trees on the plot and put in some raised beds to become somewhat self-sufficient (unfortunately the buck in the area eat all the veggies before they really have a chance to grow, so I will have to fence them off when the cabin is complete). I do all my work online for a foreign company and can pretty much work as much or as little as I want.

I also have a largish plot (well my young son does) with a dam in a central province in Thailand. We've stocked the dam with Mekong catfish and the neighbor is running a small fishing park from it and depositing the money into my account over there. I will build a small house and spend the SA winters there so that I have a perpetual summer. Just hoping that air travel will return to normal soon.

Those are my short-term goals and then I will focus on some other dreams, but will never go into debt to achieve them.

You have nice goals. Can you kick one for me too?

For one, I'd like to be debt free. Well about 70% of debt is currently "paying itself". The other 20% I see as "paying rent to myself".10% was just me being stupid. Got to live somewhere I guess. I have a stable job so I guess I got that going for me but cannot really envision myself forming a career out of it. Guess everyone will remember me as helpful but I feel I will not really leave a legacy. Hopefully I have children and start them off with a moerse head start of 4 rentals and an education. I however, will not be their biological father but if this corona stops its sh@t I may be related to him.

I first saw this thread two days ago and have been thinking really hard what to say. I have nothing. I know I will not be an old man that rots away in a government run hospice, but that's about it. I have a SO and we dearly love each other and will probably grow old together. Got that dream box ticked I guess. Busy renovating the house so it can be nice and comfy but that is almost done.

Maybe a ceremonial visit to the space aliens will change things. Currently just staying alive.
Why am I posting this to a room full of strangers? I don't know.

 

[WorldWarIII]

i built a hot wheels race track out of cardboard

 

[cn@]

I might be living towards a realistic end goal.

But there have been plenty of times where I almost ****ed it up and I'm sure there will be plenty of chances ahead for me to succeed in ****ing it up.

 

[kolaval]

It occurred to me the other day, I'm turning 40 and I have no plans/ideas for retirement or what happens when the kids leave the house.

 

[SZN]

It occurred to me the other day, I'm turning 40 and I have no plans/ideas for retirement or what happens when the kids leave the house.

Better start making retirement plans from a financial perspective ASAP. It's not that hard, plenty of good resources online + local books + here on MyBB.

 

[foozball3000]

Hi hi. Any developments from any of you?

From my side, lockdown did at least give that one golden egg. Not only did I manage to sort out my business plan and other things, I now also know the life I want surrounding that.
The only missing element at the moment is one or two key people in my team.
It is a strange feeling, watching everything prepped, the ground work done and all that remains is to find the rain.

Please don't be shy to say ask what you need. Even if it's just a zoom/hangouts session to bounce some ideas, brainstorm or find solutions for problems.