Fulfilling Your Own Wishes
Last night while I was driving I saw a billboard saying that tomorrow’s Florida lottery was for an estimated $15 million and like most people (I’m sure) thought how nice it would be to have that much money. But then I thought if it was nice to win that much money wouldn’t it be better to work towards that goal and why stop at $15 million? What number of dollars would satisfy me and was I even attempting to work towards that goal?
I know not everyone is infatuated with money, but I am pretty sure most of you out there have a magic money number in your head that you think about occassionaly. The number where you tell yourself:
All I need is $X and I would be set for the rest of my life. Everything would be so much easier.
But how many of us are really working to get there and how come everyone isn’t doing so? Doing design work was fun, but in the back of mind I always told myself that the rewards were limiting. There was only so much I could make due to time and resources. Same thing applied when I worked in a corporate job.
Still with all this in mind, for some reason last night was the first time that I realized I still really wasn’t working towards hitting my magic number and honestly just that thought helped to kick my own ass a bit. This of course not only applies to just money, but to anything we wish for. What prevents many of us for really pushing towards our wishes. You want more web fame? Go for it. You want 1,000 readers for your site? Go for it.
But still, many of us don’t go for it. Many of us are content with staying in our own boundaries, our comfort zone so to speak. Since it’s Friday and I know nobody is really doing any work I suggest you look at the things you wish for and ask yourself if you are actually striving for them and if not, how come?
Related reading:
I think that we have all become lazy and dont have the drive. Sure we want a lot of things but do we really want to work for them or have them given to us. I think most of us just wanted handed over and its just not going to happen that way. We need to jump in as a whole and do what we need to do in order to meet our goals.
By Bullock on March 24, 2006 12:28 pm
I’m just going to be spewing cliches here, but I really don’t think much about the money and I think it’s because I am pretty much guaranteed a comfortable life in the field I’ve chosen (medicine).
Even now, while I am paid fairly well, I don’t do it for the money. I had a much better offer recently but I chose to stick with my current job because I really love it.
I’ve spoken to a ton of medical school students and residents and they all say the same thing: “If you’re doing it for the money, it’s not enough”. It just isn’t enough motivation to get you through the rigors of medical school and beyond.
Do it for the enjoyment of the activity itself, and the ends will come in time. If you aim straight for the ends, you’ll completely miss the joy of the path you take.
By Thame on March 24, 2006 12:36 pm
I look at money or a big payday as what will free my life. As soon as I don’t have to do anything for money anymore, I’m free to be as creative as possible and work on anything that might make me happy. I do some work now that makes me really happy (working on 9rules stuff, redesigning my own sites) but in general the work I do that pays the bills isn’t necessarily the stuff that makes me truly happy. Sure, a few client projects are actually exciting or fun, but the vast majority are simply “okay” and I take them to pay the bills, but that’s to be expected.
I think my magic number is only $5mil after taxes. With that money I can buy/build the house I want, buy the car I want, and then let the rest sit somewhere gaining enough interest that I won’t have to worry about money for a really long time. After you have the house, the car, and the tech stuff (I pretty much already have all the tech stuff I’d ever need) then you really don’t have many bills left to pay, therefore less stuff to spend your dough on. That’s just me though :)
By Mike Rundle on March 24, 2006 12:42 pm
Haha, “only $5mil”…nice, nice. I’ll keep that in mind during the buyout phase of 9rules.
By Scrivs on March 24, 2006 12:44 pm
Are you channeling me or something? :)
I almost quit yesterday. Really. I am in total reaction mode and it sucks. Especially noticable because of the contrast between here and my time at SXSW.
Just have to keep in mind: “Don’t forget, You’re here forever.” That’s my goal right now. So the answer is, for today, suck it up and deal with the asshats.
By Matthew Oliphant on March 24, 2006 12:47 pm
It is very funny how a couple of days ago I had the same thoughts. I realized what a pain being an employee really is, and how designing is fun, but most of the times you are either dealing with pain-in-the-ass clients or you just don’t have enough time to dedicate to the fun projects due to the fact that I need to push projects out in order to pay the bills.
I think only a very-very small amount of us developers/designers have the opportunity to work with clients that understand the value and the time it takes and are willing to pay for it.
For example, if you take on a medium site redesign and charge $3,000 which to most clients is a large amount of money for a website you can’t really dedicate all the time it would take to complete it the way you want it because you we all have bills to pay, and if it’s going to take me 2 months to create a masterpiece, my family would starve to death with the $3,000. So what ends up happening is, you take the project, get it done as well and as fast as you can, which kind of feel like doing busy working or working as an employee.
I believe that as a developer, to achieve personal fulfillment in the work you do, you need to not be pressured, you need to have enough time to for example, take a day off and visit a park or the beach, looking for interesting ideas, moments, to add quality to the current project you are working on.
Maybe when I do have 5 or 10 mil in the bank, I can continue to take on design projects and finally not have to worry about a production line style environment since I would be designing for pleasure and not for money. I really don’t think that anyone can make that kind of money working as a design consultant or even being the owner of a small consulting firm.
Something’s got to change.
By Bruno on March 24, 2006 1:07 pm
This line of thinking is what got my ass kicked into gear last year (and which is why I missed SXSW this year). I decided to focus on my love of screenwriting and have just finished my first draft of a feature-length screenplay. The odds of selling a screenplay are quite a bit better than winning the lottery.
I asked myself what I would do if I won the lottery. I’d make movies.
Maybe one day I’ll be fortunate enough to write and direct “9rules: The Rise and Fall of Scrivs.”
My magic number is in line with Rundle’s.
By Britt on March 24, 2006 1:26 pm
A magic number… interesting.
Let me do the maths:
A comfortable monthly salary: 5000$
Months in a year: 12
# of years to work (in France): 40
My magic #: $2.4 Million
Because even if you didn’t do anything, even if you sucked and being well paid, that would be the maximum cost for your employer (free of tax)
Get me for cheap, get me for $2.4 million per life ! :-)
By Tim on March 24, 2006 1:52 pm
Is this a recycled post or am I just having deja vu?
By John Koontz on March 24, 2006 2:42 pm
I wouldn’t be surprised if I have spoken on this before, but I didn’t recycle any post. I definitely put in the 30 seconds of effort to write it :-).
By Scrivs on March 24, 2006 2:52 pm
Looks like I put in longer than that :-) .
By Bruno on March 24, 2006 3:05 pm
I’m living in a country, where the common salary is somewhere around 600 usd/mo, and even good programmers have 1000 usd netto max.
During last 6 years i’ve managed to increase my monthly income from 400 usd to more than 10000 usd/mo [still living here, monthly costs about 1000 usd ... woohoo :].
And more money I’ve got, the more I invest, work even harder … and harder … and I’m pretty sure [knock knock], that I’ll get till the end of next year to 50.000 usd per month.
I’ve realized than trying to get next job, next big client … is all just about working hard, and about limits [why aren't days a little longer?], and working more doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll end up in your fifties with enough money to feed your big family.
For me, it’s all about setting an unrealistic aim [target, whatever] and trying to reach it.
I even can’t tell here anyone how much I’m making, and what my dreams are. Even my family would think I’m insane.
It’s friday, and it’s been a long week. So although my post might seem a bit incoherent, all i wanted to say … together with scrivs … find something you love, do it hard, do it a lot [porn is not the way ;], and aim higher, than you would even think it’s possible. If you’ll persist, your dreams might come true.
By brm on March 24, 2006 4:47 pm
Hey nice!! Really nice I like your attitude!!!
Keep it up!! :smile:
By emma on March 25, 2006 8:38 am
I think most people just don’t know where to start the race to the end.
As soon as you get to your “magical number” then what? Would you be truly happy stopping there? I wouldn’t. It’s not a money thing it is about the challenge.
Money is a GREAT way of measurring success, but that’s not what life is about.
I wish there was a way of measuring other peoples happiness with ourselves.
By Shayne on March 26, 2006 10:08 pm
I totally agree with this post. For the last few years I’ve been ‘working for the man’, thinking that a nice, comfortable dull job would provide for my family in the future.
The more I look, the less I’m convinced that the ’security’ offered by being an employee is actually real.
My salary has increased but more and more I’m finding myself unchallenged, unmotivated and unfulfilled by being a cog in the wheels of beuracracy.
I’m gonna get me a magic number… ;)
By Paul on March 27, 2006 6:04 pm
I read somewhere that the magic number is $50,000 per year.
Anything less causes poverty stress.
Anything more causes wealth stress.
Don’t know if it’s true, but it does make some sense…
By Robert Bruce on March 29, 2006 1:07 pm