Same situation, I truly empathise because it really does seem to take a lot of purpose out of everything. What Iâve found is that you need to replace money/salary/financial success optimisation (assuming you spent a lot of your life and energy to this point focused on these, much like I did) with something else totally unconnected with being measured in that way. For me, I am focused on proving myself as a guitarist in the local jazz and blues scene. These people have no idea how much money I have and wouldnât give a shit if they did (I didnât really change my lifestyle after getting lucky so itâs not obvious). So itâs an area I can be creative, grow, and still feel like Iâm doing something. At the same time Iâm doing part time consulting, mainly for people I worked with in the past who have started companies, just to scratch the tech itch. So far so good but I canât say yet if it will stick. Maybe for you itâs art, music, going and getting another unrelated degree, or something along those lines? If you have more money than you know what to do with, fundraising and supporting good causes can be really rewarding. Both in terms of giving back something to your local community, and having really nice social elements to it.
One big piece of advice I have is to try to avoid letting others in your social network know exactly how successful youâve been. Everyone starts wanting to pitch you their investment idea and it can burn down friendships when their ideas are bad. Being a VC to your friends is a path to sadness for everyone.
I donât think his problem is money.
I think his problem is his identity (founder of Loom) suddenly disappeared.
Now he needs to develop a new identity.
This is especially difficult for single founders without kids (in the sense that people with spouse/kids already derive much of their identity from those 2 things).
Selling a company isnât all that different from going through a divorce (in the sense that your identity needs to be completely rebuilt from scratch)
Been there, done that.
General comments:
- Most people who make a lot of money all at once blow it within seven years. Check out what happens to lottery winners, jocks, and rappers. As a rule of thumb, you can safely spend 4% of your net worth per year. Pay yourself some fixed amount each quarter.
- You don't have to get into complex investments. Half in some bond funds, half in some diversified stock funds will work out OK.
- Any investment where they call you is probably not very good.
Useful reading, although dated: "The Challenges of Wealth", by Domini et. al.
What to do with your life? No idea. What are you good at?
- I was a visiting scholar at Stanford for a while. But it was the "AI Winter" and not much was happening. Did robotics in the 1990s. Held patents on legged running on rough terrain, ragdoll physics. Ran a DARPA Grand Challenge team. Didn't really lead anywhere. Too early. Still programming. A metaverse client I'm writing in Rust is running on another screen.
- Horses have been good for me. Every day, I go out and spend time with a pushy alpha mare who keeps me in shape. "Riding is the only art which princes learn truly". Horses are not impressed by money. Neither are most riders.
- I've known a few ex-CEOs. One did a lot of reasonable little stuff but never did anything with much impact again. One founded a charity. Another was really into sailboats, and he just kept on with sailboats, crossing the Atlantic and such. He's lucky in having a wife who is also very into sailboats. One guy bought a nightclub, but it loses money year after year.
Probably not gonna get upvoted but Iâm pretty surprised none of the the top comments mentions volunteering or philanthropy. I believe people who get lucky should land a hand in making the world a better place. We are facing huge crises (climate change to name one) and as a wealthy individual you have both the time to spend helping to fix that and the fortune to donate. Being a smart wealthy individual just makes everything more valuable
As a young(ish) man with retirement level wealth personally I don't understand this primarily I suppose because my main passions in life are not profitable.
Great, so now I don't have to profitmax every single thing and can rely on my investments. That means I can study pottery, languages, learn about cars, guns, travel, spend time with my old mum, family, start a small business, whatever it is, without care for whether it contributes to the bottom line.
It kind of seems to me as if the poster here has some sort of savior complex - like they can't just be well off and enjoy it, they have to somehow change the world. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but at some point why not take time for you and yours?
I do however identify with the "it's not relatable" thing. If you live off of investments then suddenly you are, well, seperate, from people who can't, in a way that you can try to hide but it leaks out, you can't explain away being able to travel wherever whenever you want, etc.
I can't imagine a world where I wouldn't know what to do.
There is diarrhea on my building, trash in the street, people needing medical help in the alley, and potholes in the street.
Just walk out your front door and start doing things.
My recent triumph was getting a building owner on my street to finally repair the hole in front of their building. Imagine what I could do with a backhoe.
Start small, think big. Help people who deserve it in real, honest (typically not through the computer) ways.
I'd much rather be less wealthy in that way to be rich in this way.
Therapy. Wealth and success is one of the most massive crutches there is. It can make it almost impossible to be truly in touch with your insecurities and pain because its simply too easy to hide in your victory. Your toughest challenge now is to, despite your wealth, find a way to contact the pain that drove you to your hunger for success. As the bible said, it's easier for a camel to get through the head of a needle than for a rich man to go to heaven. I interpret that metaphorically.
I can definitely sympathize with this guy. I imagine selling your company, coming into immense wealth, and losing your identity of ~10 years can really mess up an individual.
But at the same time... this seems rich coming from the dude who co-founded Loom. Calling his ex-coworkers NPCs and believing he's qualified to streamline the US government - all because he built a glorified screen recorder? Have some humility LOL.
"Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water"
You do what you were enjoying before, just now you don't need to get paid in money for it. May be you will get paid in fame, noble prize, smiles of people whose life you impact etc. The money you have can't buy those directly but only when you put effort.
See this is why people need to get married. If I have no idea what to do, my wife will surely think of something.
> NPC coworkers
I suppose "the author can go fuck himself" is a frowned-upon response on Hacker News
Like what an incredibly egocentric, condescending, deplorable way to talk about other human beings with their own rich inner lives, desires, needs, relationships, etc.
"No, they're just pre-programmed, unthinking bots following basic algorithms."
Perhaps I missed something, but from what I saw none of his attempts to do something new seemed to involve any kind of genuine efforts to improve the lives of others...
Bit amazing that wasn't even something he would consider.
In 1997 Kurt Vonnegut did not write
Donât feel guilty if you donât know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didnât know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still donât.
I'm not sure if Mary Schmich (who did write it) takes pride in her words being frequently credited to an esteemed writer, or if it rankles. Later Baz Luhrmann made the words into a #1.
Anyway, I agree. You don't need to know where to go next, just be curious and find things as you investigate. Sometimes a project will call to you. Don't be concerned if it hasn't yet.
Your project does not have to be a business. If you wanted to embark on a Dwarf Fortress kind of project you could happily work at it for the rest of your life without needing it to be a money making venture. Your Dwarf Fortress might be A database of the world's cheese or a castle built entirely from synthetic diamonds you produce one at a time from your own machine. It doesn't have to be easy or even possible to complete. I don't think you can decide on something and go do it. I think your thing will tell you when it is ready.
Sounds a lot like the guy who said I have 23 gold medals and have no idea what to do (Michael Phelps). Although it isn't a DSM recognized condition, psychologists often refer to the depression of people who obtain the pinnacle of success as âpost-gold medal depression.â Here is an article about it. [0]
"What shall we ever do?" -- T.S. Eliot - The Wasteland
"What SHOULD we do?" -- Dr. Seuss - The Cat in the Hat
"What should we do?" -- Shakespeare - Hamlet
When I'm bored I like to read poetry.
[0] https://www.npr.org/sections/thetorch/2016/09/08/493111873/a...
The author co-founded Loom [0], which was acquired by Atlassian a year ago ~$1B.
If the insights are correct, each cofounder netted ~$56M [1]
[0] https://vinay.sh
[1] https://www.cbinsights.com/research/loom-valuation-investor-...
Regarding the part of breaking up with girlfriend shortly after a winning startup exit, I'm reminded of a friend. (Different situation, but something to think about.)
She saw her bf through the difficult process of a developing a creative work, and eventually he completed it, won a prestigious reward... and he broke up with her.
He got invited to the White House because of the award, and I think missing out on that recognition and experience, where she could've attended as the partner, was symbolic for her.
It wasn't that he was upgrading, since she was an all-around catch, including probably being fabulous at whatever kind of cocktail party circles he entered.
It did seem like awkward timing, to decide that a relationship wasn't going to work out, after all.
(Don't worry, she's OK now: highly accomplished in her own career and creative side, and is also raising a family with a better match.)
I stopped working over twenty years ago and it was the best thing to ever happen to me. I spent thousands of days with my children, paid off my house, we drove brand new cars for the first time ever.
Over time, Iâve just found things to do with my time. I try project Euler problems and Iâm pretty interested in meteorology. The rest of the time, I just participate in things my kids are interested in or involved in, though itâs not as easy as when I was young.
Routine is key, and being honestly and wholeheartedly engaged is key. You gotta do the time, donât let the time do you.
This worked for me anyways.
"Working at DOGE" for 4 weeks reminds be of "Teach for America"... maybe it's fairly smart people with decent intentions [1] but not what's needed - not people taking a break from getting rich to do some charity work - rather what's needed is dedicated professionals devoting their careers to teaching / governance.
[1] for the record, I don't think that DOGE has good intentions. A lot of the tweets are nonsensical and I think just a rebranding for typical Republican cuts to health and retirement spending in exchange for more tax breaks at the top.
I think that a lot of people with money need to be reminded that having wealth is a social responsibility in itself. If you can live just from passive income maybe you should just gift interesting people the excess money and have them accomplish their goals.
Talk to a bunch of people and realize what you want to support. If some of them need 10k to start a business just give it to them. Or, if you want some equity, put it in a non-profit that reinvest its earnings. Go to a film school, organize a contest and fund the movie of the most promising students.
I was never rich like the author, yet I once gave a bookbinder that I had hired to make a cool leather-bound book the starting capital he needed to make his own shop just because it turned out so well and he was so passionate about it. Looking back, it still feels great to have helped someone like this.
Humans need activities that produce meaningful outcomes, they don't need careers or work.
I read the blog post and many of the comments and canât help but think⊠how is it you guys are so smart you can create enormous amounts of wealth with no idea what to use it on?
There are millions of people struggling to survive and you have amassed a pile of resources youâve determined the best thing to do with is bury?
Absolutely childish.
I felt similar when I finished my PhD. It was the singular âthingâ in my life to the exclusion of all others. Luckily I was 150k in debt so I didnât have the luxury of acting like a buffoon for months.
Man if I was rich Iâd donate half, invest half, and go back to stocking a small family owned grocery store like when I was in high school. I really enjoyed that job.
Itâs a weird post. Part cry for help, part not-so-humble brag, and 100% not something any close friend, significant other, or therapist would recommend you hit send on. Feels a little strung-out, to be honest.
âRich guy is bored, youâll never believe what happens nextâ
despite the title..i read this post as an exhaustion with SV culture. everything starting with the personality types that are elevated (ie some flavor of antisocial personality disorder) and ending with the activities that earn you social capital (ie identifying the next anti-consensus big industry).
i've seen this happen with people that have had much much smaller financial success in the industry..or even ones that haven't had any at all. you are either naturally inclined to identify with the culture or you trick yourselves into it so that you may belong.
<insert paragraph about social desire to be connected and how we construct an image of ourselves through others>
the culture of SV today is an amalgamation of Taylorist ideas, Randian objectivism, Utilitarianism etc etc. there is a lot of social capital to be earned by embodying the values of these currents. DOGE is a quintessential representation of this. it is not surprising at all that author had such a visceral reaction to it.
its important to emphasize that there have been very successful companies that have gone against the current (ie Apple), with an emphasis on craftsmanship, obsession with the process, taste-driven vs data-driven decisions and appreciation for things that are outside of profit maximization.
I am hearing you say âwhy canât I be normal and do insignificant thingsâ while calling the people who do âNPC coworkersâ
And that is your internal struggle my friend
Hey Vinay, this part struck me:
> with all the mounting insecurities I had stuffed down over the past several years. I didnât feel like I could work on them with her. So I broke things off after almost 2 years of unconditional love. It was extremely painful, but it was the right call. I needed to fully face myself.
You had something really special. You obviously miss her. I am not saying that anything will come from it, but why not try some therapy and see if you guys can work things out? What you had was harder to find than the dollar amounts in your blog post. A lot of people just don't find that at all.
All the best on whatever's next.
Seems like the author could do well to spend some of their millions on a therapist?
Itâs sort of like the parent whose kids have finally left home or the person who hits retirement after decades of routine. You spend so long in a role that demands all your energyâraising children, clocking into work, scaling a startupâthat once itâs gone, it feels disorienting. Itâs not really about the money he made; itâs about losing the sense of urgency and purpose that kept him going. Now heâs stuck figuring out how to fill that void, which is something parents and retirees often deal with, too.
Professional athletes who retire face a similar void after years of training for a single goal; military personnel returning from deployment often grapple with the loss of a clear mission; newly graduated students or PhD candidates whoâve just defended their thesis can feel a void, too. Itâs the same pattern: once your main structure or purpose vanishes, you have to figure out how to fill the space it leaves behind.
His story is not about money. Although many see that as the main info here, itâs not. Itâs about losing identity, the main goal in life.
I find the tone jarring. The author is all over the place. It feels like the author is trying to brag with every quasi-unconventional activity they've taken. Hiking in the redwoods, climbing a 6800m mountain and joining DOGE are a trifecta of cliches.
It's sad that the author broke up with their girlfriend, who was likely the only source of reason in their situation.
Genuine, selfless, introspection might help find a path. Hiking in the redwoods doesn't automatically produce introspection.
Take up trading, it will give you something to do, and afterwards you won't need to worry about being rich!
I have the opposite problem: Iâm dependent on my jobâs salary but know exactly what I want to do instead. Unfortunately the job makes my life so drained I canât pursue my true callings.
Itâs always climbing mountains. Why does nobody ever go money-mad and excavate an exact replica of the dwarven city of Khazad-dĂ»m in the Black Hills of South Dakota?
I'm confused. He discovered robotics is hard/boring/silly/whatever--that makes sense. Now he moved to Hawaii to study physics (over mechanical engineering) so he can build physical things. It seems like he's relearning the robotics mistake.
He also had a moment where he realized how he wanted to look (or be seen) like Elon, and how that's so cringe. Then he goes and works for Elon on the "extremely important" mission of DOGE.
It sounds like what he really wants is a mission where he's learning.
The classic rich guy to Himalayas pipeline. He went to the poorest country in Asia and was dragged up island peak and lobuche east by people making $1000/yr while he has $60m in his pocket and can't come up with anything worthwhile to do with his time or money beyond aspiring to be Elon. He can't even spell rappel correctly. What a coward
I honestly cannot imagine living with these thought patterns, it truly sounds like hell to me. You donât need to do hard things or overcome adversity every day to have purpose and find life fulfilling, it is an Infinite Game (read the book), not a Finite one.
If you are reading the comments, IMO these giant grand gestures to find some spark of insight (climbing mountains, moving to Hawaii, etc.) arenât going to accomplish what you want. Ground yourself - go volunteer at a homeless shelter. Get a hobby that is social that you have no innate skill for, donât tell anyone about your money, make some friends while learning a low-pressure skill. Donât do anything until after the first day you didnât worry about what you were going to do. Recover from your burnout.
Im sorta where this guy is but not wealthy much and my money train could run out and I'd have to find a new one.
With that said I have lots of time on my hands, some work projects to focus on from time to time and currently single as of this summer. I live alone and a ton of my time is spent on apps connecting with people to meet up offline for adventure and adult fun in the hopes I will find my new person or new friend(s). It's a full time job but for me really worth finding my new person (or friends) to enjoy life with!
I definitely wouldnt be lost if I was completely set I'd have more resources to have many homes in different parts of the world, immerse myself in different cultures and enjoy my outdoor activities (skiing, hiking, kayaking, surfing, etc) with locals in different parts of the world (Iceland, Colorado, Miami, Hawaii, Australia) . As well turn my hobbies like songwriting and creating tech into more then a hobby and most importantly help people succeed!
I believe one of the founders of Booking.com has had some similar experience (source: "De Machine", the book about Booking.com) and after 4 years of travelings & yoga etc. he sneaked back in into the company. Most of his coworkers do not know he's a founder. He's been fixing Perl bugs, writing scripts and coding some features at least for some years (maybe he's moved on already, don't know, the book is a couple of years old).
There are 739 comments in this thread and only one of them mentions emotion. That comment is suggesting the appropiate emotion is gratitude.
I'd go further and suggest you take your time and resources to learn about your emotional state and regulate your emotions so you can help others do the same. Find what you want to be a student of from that calm, content emotional state and with less attachment on how to live your life you will likely find more clarity.
It's very interesting to see these same patterns at the micro level. Often, people start doing what other people are doing: book some massively expensive trip to go climb mount Everest, travel the world to snap a selfie at tourist traps, etc. You wont find happiness following the herd.
As I've become more successful, I've had similar problems. It's tempting to think "yeah just more money and I'd be happy". Instead, what has made me happy is much cheaper: general learning, and developing new physical skills. As my coworker put it, "I don't collect things or experiences, I collect hobbies".
If I had to pick a celebrity that seems to do this well, I'd pick Jay Leno (granted there's a lot of criticize him elsewhere, so maybe don't nitpick here). Watching him talk about his cars: restoring them, working on them, preserving them, trading, while ignoring a lot of other celebrity pleasures.
Finally, the other thing that has been extraordinarily gratifying is old fashioned advice: Live below your means. This by gives me more satisfaction than anything else and I'm not really sure why.
I'm not in the US or San Francisco, I totally don't get the purpose of this post. It's like dude's living in a bubble after all this time. Dude should travel to poorer countries (like where I'm from right now) and get some inspiration.
Sounds like a good time to engage a professional coach or therapist, if you haven't already. Particularly to deep dive on the questions asked at the end of the post. In my experience, I often stalemate these kinds of internal debates on my own, but having a second player in the mix got me out of the gridlock.
If you are rich you have the ability to become a scientist without worrying about money. That is an absurd privilege that I am personally working towards. To contribute to science is one of the most enduring things you can do for humanity. The money will come and go. Even if you pass it down, it will be diluted away within 2-3 generations. But, if you contribute knowledge, it will forever be a brick in the edifice of humanity's collective knowledge. Please don't waste the opportunity.
Understanding than being rich was never the answer, community and sense of purpose is.
You can be a rich asshole.
And you can "just get by" but be the most loved grand-father the earth has borne.
Recent research from Killingsworth and Kahenman in 2023 [1] highlights that those most already happy have their happiness accelerated by money, while those most unhappy have their happiness plateau.
This makes some intuitive sense to me. Money provides freedom, but freedom is not happiness. It's freedom to explore, which is quite scary in and of itself. But if your mindset is proper, your creativity and appetite for exploration will be unbounded.
Everyone calling Loom a glorified screen recorder... there was a $975M dollar bill on the floor and no one else picked it up.
The technology was simple, but it solved a real problem for people. Solving well defined engineering tasks is vastly easier than solving a real problem.
I remember the feeling of being 12 or so and lamenting that I no longer enjoyed the same kind of play in the (literal) sandbox any more; a bit of sorrow at the loss of a source of joy in my life that I had grown out of. It was an interesting realization that growing up means changing desires and priorities and that I should expect to reach plateaus where I would need to pick a new direction to go in. I've always followed my personal interests and hobbies since then; there seems to be a fairly broad line between nonproductive hedonism and goal-driven productivity where there's plenty of room for personal satisfaction without risking an identity/purpose loss when big goals significantly drop in priority.
Working on a particular goal to exclusion of all else sounds like quite a shock when that's no longer a driving priority.
One option not mentioned is to find fulfillment in helping others -- not "helping people making $200K be even more efficient" or "fixing the US government by making it more efficient (mostly by firing a bunch of people, which helps who exactly?)" but people who __actually__ need help -- and there is a very very wide spectrum to work with there of all types of needs. The freedom to deeply engage with that from some angle -- without having the burden of having to also make or earn money while doing so -- is a huge privilege.
Go read a book, contribute to linux kernel, eat a cheeseburger, get in a nice hotel, watch movies, learn to cook, drive though the country, befriend locals, start a wine collection, earn a master's degree, publish papers..
The author seems to put great value on doing grandiose things, so those suggestions may seem frivolous.
It's a respectable goal to pursue huge achievements in professional life, but please be aware that it involves lots of: (a) talk to other people and (b) doing mundane stuff most of the time. It all depends on how hard you want it.
> I was added to a number of Signal groups and immediately put to work.
Not a ringing endorsement for DOGE's accountability and record keeping practices.
A lot of comments talking about having kids for purpose, so I thought I'd add mine. I don't have kids and when I compare myself to other friends that have kids I can see how having kids can add purpose (to some extent).
That said, personally I have found immense purpose in life by having a dog. My dog not only makes me happy he teaches me that it is okay to do mundane things in life everyday and still feel extremely happy and satisfied. Each day I look at him and I thank him for being there, for teaching me how to live life, how to love unconditionally and how to live in the moment. I know it's silly but I'm having tears of joy as I'm typing because he is sleeping right next to me at my work desk. Love you my best friend ever !
You did a speed run of what people discover when they work their entire life for retirement, get there, and realize they don't know what they were working for.
Retirement
F-U money ("FIRE" in modern parlance I guess)
Save n dollars
It's all the same: too abstract. That you were able to discover it now with plenty of life left and plenty of resources to figure it out is worth more than the money.
Personally, I always try to keep enough saved to replace my computer all at once if it dies on me. If I lose that, it's hard to pursue my hobbies and interests while trying to figure out which parts of them I can sell without losing what made them interesting in the first place.
For what to do with it, I found it helpful to pick a hobby, any hobby, and pursue it for a year. You probably have a lot of these left. For me: One for music. One for photography. One for writing (fiction). One for writing (nonfiction). All the skills complement each other. I'm about to pull the trigger on buying a set of tools for recording podcasts and audiobooks to help deal with my significant speaking anxiety. The skills from the writing and music eras are especially helpful here!
This process started back in 2017 when I found myself with no steering or engine power on my way into a turn lane in the rain and fog. I'm glad your existential crisis didn't start with a near death experience!
How about "sharing your money back" ? Or "helping" other in any kind of way ? Focusing on something else than yourself ? You have immense freedom, but also incredible power given your wealth. Lots of things that would be hard choices for most people will be about pocket changes for you.
In the end, your life expectancy is finite. Add a couple of philosophy book to the physics regimen, find a cause where you money can be put to good use. And "live hapilly in the meantime".
Good luck !
I think OP's title itself answers the question â they're wealthy, and most if not all things that he could really want in the world is a transaction away. "Constraints" are key to finding purpose and direction. There can be a right/optimal set of constraints, but when there seems to be none, any is better. Constraints forbid us from being able to have something in life (things or experiences) that we also want. When we can satisfy any want, it doesn't feel like the wants matter anymore. The very reason the want existed in the first place was because it was not something that was possible at the time.
I'd advise OP to strategize smartly, given they have enough money to last a simple and full life, save, invest, donate, and keep the transactions small; ie. not investing or donating all or a majority of wealth into one thing, instead of a little bit here and a little bit there, every now and then, gradually and slowly.
Taking it slower itself is a form of constraint. And together with keeping relationships and connections, minimizing the noise in life, and making it simpler towards enjoying the truer pleasures of their life, they can grow richer and live more luxuriously, not just in terms of wealth, but also in a safer, more secure and a cozier human experience.
Give your money away and force yourself to have to do some real work again.
It's wild how a random tech millionaire can just walk into our government and start deciding how the rest of us get to live as part of a therapeutic exercise for his mid-life crisis (or whatever you call this).
The way this is written suggests there's still a little bit of self awareness left in him, but that's definitely on its way out the door. I wonder if there's a name for that phenomenon? If not, my suggestion is "Elon's Disease"
I hope if I ever reach that point that I have enough wisdom left to take my money and fuck off to an island somewhere.
This reminds me of the saying "one must imagine sisyphus happy".
Humans can be very happy working towards something. Not having a goal is an existential problem because we have no true purpose.
You know what I got from this story?
DOGE already processed a lot of applications and set up the signal chats etc.
This guy applied and right away heard back, because he has millions of dollars, good reputation for having a large exit, and he "reached out to some people and got in".
I simply applied in the way they asked -- DMming them on Twitter -- the very next day, submitting a link to my resume, background and cover letter that fully spells out how exactly I could help them in their mission. And they didn't even bother to visit the link, let alone respond. (I know because I put in logging.)
Until now, I didn't know that DOGE was even hiring people yet. Now thanks to his story, I believe they've already hired the main people back in November.
I am going to take a different approach in life. Thanks guy :)
Capital matters. Connections matter. Timing matters. Substance doesn't matter as much, sadly. Don't simply follow instructions. Get unfair advantages.
For what it's worth, here was my DOGE application link: https://magarshak.com/resume-cover-letter.php
Three suggestions
- pick anything you don't know the answer to, try to find the answer (can also be personal, like how you behave in certain ways)
- pick something physical you do not have, instead of buying it, make it yourself
- pick some skill you don't have or would like to have, get proficient in it
When I was at Google during the IPO I saw people with similar challenges. I can empathize with what he's going through, it can be hard to find a sense of purpose when "the need to provide" is suddenly gone and you realize that many of your life choices were made based on that goal.
I can also empathize with those who consider him a whiny brat. It's hard to get someone to care about your plight when in their eyes you've achieved success. It's just different levels on Maslow's hierarchy.
Buy a boat. Preferably a sailboat. Your money problems and depression will quickly solve themselves. Ask Ishmael[1] about it.
[1]: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2701/2701-h/2701-h.htm#link2...
I don't know anything about his situation, but I will say one of the lamest things ever when breaking up is to say it's not you, it's me heh. I mean that's probably something everyone hears face to face and I get it, nobody wants to hurt someones feelings to give their "real" reason when what's done is done, but to see it articulated on a blog post as some kind transparent confession is a little surprising.
Like unless maybe you were going thru some massive event that was very clearly damaging to your relationship (drugs, abuse, etc), the optics of finding yourself to end a seemingly great relationship after selling a company for mega millions isn't going to jive with a lot of people. But the again I guess that's the point of the post, there is no point or purpose. Alright, taking off my judgement hat now.
>NPC coworkers
Imagine being a whole ass person living a whole ass life and getting called an NPC by someone who barely took the time to get to know you
Of course itâs therapy. He should find a good non-rich CBT therapist (just for the sake of not falling prey of rich-man-wiveâs leeches type) and start asking questions on why heâs not at ease with the success. Something sabotages it, and that something may be some a random (now obsolete) belief/mode he picked growing up. Uproot obsolete beliefs, these are drivers, not goals. This is absolutely manageable, especially with so much time on your hands and relatively limitless possibilities.
I donât think that community/society advices itt are on point, because the author doesnât express particular interest in socio things. Giving something up to feel good is not a bad thing, but itâs not a complete-able thing either. Itâs still symptomatic despite being generally positive.
You've won the competition, and you've found it meaningless. Maybe you could work on helping others do meaningful things with their lives, rather than being forced to grind and grind and grind their lives away.
I don't suggest mere philanthropy, but structural change. (The nature of which I will not attempt to dictate; after all, identifying the problem doesn't mean I know a solution.)
Ok so this is what strikes me: he dumps his girlfriend and runs away to a mountain he humblebrags about climbing without training.
He talks about people as NPCs.
Maybe the only real thing in life is good relationships with other people, odly enough.
Now you have all this money and nobody to share it with? Where are your friends and family?
Now that the whole world knows youâre rich youâll never know if they really like âyouâ or just your money.
I have a tentative plan for if I ever reach that level of success.
Basically, take all the money, set it to the side in parked long-term investments, pay myself a basic low-middle class paycheck, and live on it.
Then start again. Swing the bat. Rinse, repeat until I'm ready to just relax and be happy staring at the clouds all day.
I know myself well enough that I understand that a huge part of my character is the struggle. Without it, I'd feel ungrounded - purposeless.
If I'm too comfortable, I'll just get lazy and may end up in a downward spiral.
If I have just enough to pay my bills, I'll keep working hard, but it'll be on things that interest me instead of working on someone else's idea.
For the author: Getting all that money without the life experience to build some values or ambitions for your impact on the world is proof enough that your fortune is just random luck. There are millions who have put more thought into life and had no financial reward for it. Give it to them, or get a life for yourself. Then you'll know what to do.
My instinctive reply is - go back to work and fix Loom because it sucks. OTOH, it's super impressive that they managed to make such a success from a pretty bad realisation of a reasonable product idea. The founders clearly did a great job in terms of marketing/sales and selling the company. That is no mean feat.
My next suggestion would be to go give some of the money away to individuals who need it. There are many many homeless people in the US if you need somewhere to start.
Beyond that, where are your friends and family? Might need to address that. Therapy will help. The NPC comment is disturbing, no well-adjusted person would write that.
Volunteer in your community. You need to find a way to evaluate your self worth by serving someone other than yourself.
>What is your most scarce resource if not time?
I would argue attention is more valuable than time. After all, if all your time is spent paying attention to the wrong things, how valuable can time be? I would urge the author to look at what is commanding his attention and that might give some insight into his malaise.
I have a solution. You can spend some money on me haha. I am the opposite. You know what they say âopposite attractsâ and I am attracted to you being rich haha jk.
Jokes aside, it is wild to read comments like these. I guess I do not know that feeling. I come from a working class, I did good for myself but then got affected by the entire layoff wave which kind of sent me back to stone ages.
You could travel and you could invest in new ideas something that has potential to make a real life changes in our future. You could become Batman!
But dm me if you really want to help someone out.
âI think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it's not the answer.â â Jim Carrey
Have you tried doing things for others instead of yourself?
There was a founder in a similar situation who sold their company (Tsheets to Intuit) for $300m as part of an acquisition and checked out after. Employees say he lost his purpose and became unmoored, with no grounded next steps for years. He ended up attempting to kill his wife and killed himself.
https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/crime/article27507...
Just as a side note because you mentioned it in relation to DOGE: the US government cannot go bankrupt in its own currency. As long as prices are kept in check, there is no reason not to create more money. The fact that the US has to pay interest on it doesn't change that. If the government decides to spend more money than it takes in, the money is simply created by the central bank (through the detour of bonds). If you are interested, read up on Keynesian economics and Modern Monetary Theory.
Points for realizing ego and musk complex is a problem.
Points deducted for still following through with musk complex
Big points deducted for
> NPC coworkers
I have no doubt that this guy is very intelligent and capable, but he's also a totally emotionally immature sucker. Guy's got a classic case of (Minecraft) Notch Syndrome.
He may yet find tranquility!
To me, it seems that the author previously focused on "making as much money possible". That is understandable as a driving force, as most people think to be rich is what it means to be successful. It is also very understandable in the context of "the American dream", which is all about this. But now that the author reached the place of being more than rich enough, this overarching purpose and goal is gone.
What I think is much better though, is to instead just have curiosity as a driving force. And I think many people here on Hacker News do have curiosity as a bigger driving force than becoming rich. It is curiosity that drives one to tinker around, make random projects, hack around. Making money in the process of this has just been a convenient side effect in our industry. The truth is, if you have insatiable curiosity you will never not have purpose because there will always be a "next day" that you do not know about yet. It isn't just something intrinsic either, you can self-identify as being insatiably curious and try to live that way.
Having that said, there is a certain amount of privilege required to even be in a position where you can claim this without having to worry too much about your survival.
Dickens was right, some people truly need to be visited by the ghost of Christmas present.
This has to be parody.
When you become rich you need to switch from a goal oriented mindset to a value based one.
There are no more goals for you to achieve. Instead, focus on values you believe in and try to live those values every day. It will be an endless journey that will last the rest of your life. Values donât need a reason or purpose, they just exist.
For example, if I became rich my values would simply be traveling the world and dressing fancy. Easy.
All the rich kids these days seem to be in to a healthy diet, exercise, and stable relationships. Whatever happened to harems, drugs and gambling?
Do something to help everyone else stuck in the system. Hire lobbyists to improve healthcare in the US. All the other rich people are just trying to make things worse and extract as much as possible.
I'll never be rich but if I were I'd just travel. That's it. So many places to explore. Completing the 88 temples Shikoku Pilgrimage is one my lifegoal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shikoku_Pilgrimage
Dear ChatGPT: please help me construct a HN posting that's purportedly about a rich guy at loose ends trying to figure out what to do since that's guaranteed to tickle most peoples' fancy, but ensure that the payload paints a favorable picture of the DOGE since that's actually the motivation for the posting.
Just go to therapy dude instead of trauma dumping on HN
Just a thought Iâd like to share: the finish line to âFuck you moneyâ (FUM) isnât even remotely close to the $60m mark. Itâs not even beyond $100,000. Once you have no debts nor a mortgage, and you have $100k in savings, you have FUM, because suddenly you need $25k a year to live well.
I say this as a member of this community, who are (generally speaking) relatively well paid folk in IT.
If you have a partner in life then youâre even better off again.
I donât believe itâs actually that hard to reach FUM if youâve got your fair share of luck, discipline, a partner, and the stable environment. For those who donât have those things, I respect your position and wish you the best of luck â Iâm sorry life is harder for you.
Edit: Iâm aware you need insurance too, for health, life/death, accidental, etc. Again, you need a stable environment to make this work and be easier to achieve â the USA is not a safe nor stable environment.
"Buy more bicycles", duh.
That, and find some ways to leave the world better than you found it.
Just help others achieve that freedom, maybe they can do more than you: https://www.givedirectly.org/
Invest some (eg. 10-20 million) and use that as a giving fund, giving 1 million per year you could free several thousand of people each year.
Your capital has made you lonely, moreover, redundant as you have no needs. You cannot be coerced into a job, medical bills are no bankruptcy inducing issues for you (which is rather boring too), no need to work for the man.
And like a chipmunk sitting on a mountain of nuts anyone you meet wants one so nobody acts normal. Again how sad and lonely.
me i live in a blue collar neighborhood with people getting by and we look after each others kids and pets and gossip and share tools - trying not to sound too romantic but that's how it is. Sometimes I sweep the streets because I like it. Please enjoy your capital. Iâm not jealous at all, why should I? Donât want to be a Midas, everything golden and hungry. I have community purpose and people to look after. For me, thatâs wealth.
I would recommend for him to visit a poor country and see how the people live and survive. He will find (I am assuming) find purpose. Maybe he will make his life mission to build and install water wells, or sponsor underprivileged kids education or something along those lines.
> DOGE
Was saddened to read this section in the post. You'd think that smart people would be able to see through Elon-ego-filled-bullshit; but I'm afraid many have been in that circle so long they've drunk the Kool-Aid. I'm not steeped in the wealthy SV community, but I can tell you that the few I've personally met or am acquainted with, make me want to run the other way.
On DOGE, I'm quite sure every Gov department could benefit from greater efficiency, no argument there. I'm also quite sure that it won't actually reduce the Gov budget all that much (just take a look at where most discretionary spending goes). And more importantly, would it make the lives of ordinary Americans (not rich Americans) better? Or would it just be some "achievement unlocked" type of thing. It's clear to me that Elon mostly cares about the latter.
Now if Elon were to cut our military budget in half, now __that__ could have a significant impact. Except that even if he wanted to, Congress (both parties) wouldn't let him: one does not kill sacred cows.
But you know what worries me more a lot more than government waste? The fact that the richest man in the world was able to pay $250M to sway an election. I'm not saying Elon bought the election, because maybe Trump would have won without Elon spending a dime -- but we'll never know, will we? If this were in some other country we'd be talking about "banana republic government corruption" and our "model" constitutional democracy, etc.
I think it is important to support what I call 'amplifiers' in the tech sphere.
I think the FSF is the number one for me[0]. They invented the GPL, got the ball rolling, and were very innovative with the creation of the AGPL.
If anyone has extra money and reads this, please do your own research into the FSF and figure out if it makes sense. They take extreme positions when it comes to tech software, but they define a point on the tech spectrum that in turn defines the whole spectrum. I hope that last sentence makes sense.
[0]: https://www.library.hbs.edu/working-knowledge/open-source-so...
I am really, really eager and excited to see the result when these DOGE-istas cook up whatever insanely ârationalâ schemes they imagine will make government not completely âdysfunctionalâ roll them out to the people they actually need to implement them (i.e., Congress).
Surprise! Politicians only claim to care about budget and spending matters when the opposite party is in control.
But I think most of us arenât so naive as not to realize DOGE is just and only another way to troll Democrats, not actually a serious way to tackle our fiscal and budgetary problems. The past n Comptrollers of the United States have been banging away on that policy drum for as long as Iâve been paying attention to politics (beginning ca. 2000). Nobody cares. They write nice reports though.
This person is focusing too much on themselves. Help other people, actually help them, and you'll feel amazing and find real driving purpose.
However productive or enlightened you make yourself doesn't really matter, you eventually die. Network effects matter, help other people.
I donât believe in giving advice, I donât assume to know whatâs best for you. Iâm not rich and have had a mediocre developer career but I have found contentment and fulfillment in personal development. I have learned to be an unconditionally kind and loving person to everyone, even the most difficult of people, and to me this is a forever challenging and fulfilling role to play that also provides me a sense of identity. I value developing relationships with humans. I like hearing their stories and getting to know them and learning to be mutually vulnerable in loving, kind ways. I think all we really have is each other, and I think a lot of people would find this to be a really fulfilling way to live their lives.
One of the most honest and thought provoking pieces Iâve read in a while.
Thank you so much for sharing. It really makes me think what Iâd do if I were in your shoes.
For me a big portion would be family, and helping it thrive. And putting my time and energy into some of the crazier ideas I have about how to help improve the world for the greatest number of people.
I wish you serendipity in trying to find yourself, deeply, and in discovering what you truly enjoy.
Iâd also say donât give up on love. The most important part of it all are the people you share your life with. So once you are in a good place, fill your life with them. Keep channels open with those that you know check that box, as you go through this journey of self-discovery that may require more time for yourself.
This is very common among people who sell their companies. AJ Wasserstein[0] at Yale's school of management has written a few things about it. He built up and sold a (non-tech) business for a substantial amount of money, so he's not just theorizing. Here's one of the things he's written: https://yale.app.box.com/s/ye0naovus7anbz875vcrcpzrdskjskgf
[0]: https://som.yale.edu/faculty-research/faculty-directory/aj-w...
Okay, I have a wild idea for you.
You need adventure.
As others have said, you also need a hobby.
Consider how rapamycin was discovered, by scientists traveling to distant Rapa Nui and sampling soil. There are lots of truly wild places left on Earth -- most of Papua New Guinea, the northwestern Bolivian Amazon, the deep interior of the DRC, to name but few -- places where civilization has yet to touch. Go out there, discover new plant and insect species, and fingerprint plant and soil samples. You might find some very interesting and commercially-useful small molecules. But, more importantly, it would be a lot of fun.
You'd need a team, but that shouldn't be too difficult to assemble.
It's what I would do if I had absolute freedom.
I recommend focusing on (1) health and fitness (2) community / volunteering (3) charitable foundation (4) art - create it or support it.
The author thinks this is a novel or rare position (â ) to be in, however it's actually fairly common and most people resolve it relatively easily by being with other people. The point is integration, not separation.
Those chasing prestige, and programmed to chase prestige from childhood, often do not know that prestige is a form of separation. They think that once their respect with their peers rises they will feel more connected, or more connected with better people. This is all wrong â connection is fostered by humility. (Hiking large, easy mountains might look impressive yet it is not an antidote to loneliness and isolation.) Prestige is like a drug: attaining it often makes a person hungrier for more. Prestige, at its best, is a tool to accomplish good things, and nothing more.
I suggest the author find hyper-local challenges with direct and obvious impact... maybe volunteering with the mentally ill, or cooking for large groups, or tutoring in math/physics. Of course these aren't prestigious, and I sadly doubt the author will be interested (and hope to be proven wrong).
A note regarding "purpose": I believe purpose is a misleading solution. Most of us can conjure purpose â the key is to close the feedback loop by acting on it in a way that draws one closer to community.
(â Footnote: The author may think their wealth is a distinctive quirk of their predicament; it is not. The defining characteristic is freedom and space, and a lot of people are in this position, regardless of net-worth. I hope the author looks beyond other rich people to find solutions.)
You said it best. Your own words: you're a phony.
Humans are meant to have kids and form families. This is the life meaning that is escaping childless strivers.
I can't believe there is nothing a person would be interested in building/exploring with that much resources. I simply can't grasp it.
The expensive prostitutes and yachts and cocaine and butt kissing hangers on would get old very quickly. So you need something to do, a reason to get up in the morning. A project.
Understandably everyone doesn't want 12 kids and not everyone is altruistic. That's fine, the world might be better with less rich "altruists" pushing society around anyway in my opinion. But you have no curiosities? Nothing you have always dreamed of achieving? Nothing you can think of to achieve that would bring you joy?
Go to India, buy some property and have a giant pyramid built with a statue of yourself on top. You can employee thousands of people and act like a king and push local officials around with your money. People will remember you hundreds of years from now (if that is your thing). Work on bringing back the extinct Mastodon. Create an island quasi kingdom on a Pacific Island and build a little world how you always wanted it to be.
Honestly, this is one of the differences with the new immigrant rich people. They aren't the rich American immigrants of old. Look at what Andrew Carnegie did. Or even (for all his faults) Musk. Or Kellogg (of cereal fame, not an immigrant). He did all kinds of wacky stuff even developing his own religious texts. But point is, he did something he thought would change the world. These new rich are vapid uninteresting shadows compared to those guys.
nobody realizes it but this is an ad for having kids. if he had kids they would have helped him not be such a little bitch and continue doing productive things. when you are an evolutionary dead end you have the curse of excess productivity rather than the joy of investing in the future.
I struggle to understand stuff like this (to be honest, it makes me feel a little angry):
> We started getting into regular arguments, and I knew it wasnât on her. It was me. I was starting to come to terms with all the mounting insecurities I had stuffed down over the past several years. I didnât feel like I could work on them with her. So I broke things off after almost 2 years of unconditional love. It was extremely painful, but it was the right call. I needed to fully face myself.
Relational experiences are why and how you're encountering your repressed shadow or confronting the false self in the first place. Don't you face yourself by staying and accomplishing your promise of truthfulness and learn how to practice real love through e.g. honesty, courage,âŠ.
I found this lecture once on a webpage that has since disappeared....
"Enlightenment isn't a thing that you can get abandoning family and undertaking mountaineering asceticism. Enlightenment can be attained having family, and is a thing that cannot be attained through mountaineering asceticism. Enlightenment starts from accepting Truth and process of understanding Truth." https://web.archive.org/web/20090805085956/http://www.ircsc....
Humans are social animals.
Your tribe were the people you worked with at Loom. When you left your tribe became only your girlfriend. What are you going to do? Have perfect harmony with 100% of your tribe forever? Of course not. Of course you fought. Because on top of lover she now fulfils all sorts of roles including rival, competitor, and nemesis.
You need to pick a group, any group, and stick with it.
Jumping around both physically and vocationally is not only not going to help you, it's going to make integrating yourself in to a group way harder.
Sorry but Iâm not going to upvote this, instead Iâm going to act like the rest of the normal people and say WTF? You have so many millions and donât know what to do? Youâve attained financial and work freedom and yet you complain? What is wrong with you rich people? If I had 400k I would live a trouble free and happy life and we have rich people coming here on HN to rub in our faces their zeroth world problems⊠I donât care if I get down voted or my comment gets deleted, but I feel sorry for the OP :-(
To me it sounds like he is rich but still hasn't earned enough to be extremely wealthy. The price of an nba team is about 5 billion. Price of a twitter is 25 billion. It's going to take a lifetime of 60 million a year salary to even get in that range. He can keep going if he wants to or retire. There is always bigger things to buy.
I would have taken the 60 million salary and changed the lives of many every year. That would give me purpose.. but that's not for everyone.
I think it's strange that he rejected the idea of humanoid robots because it was "cringe" to copy Elon so instead he... studies physics with a goal of applying first principles thinking to manufacturing businesses? That's kind of Elon's whole thing.
To be clear I don't think any of it is cringeworthy at all. I just don't understand the reasoning there. Why not do humanoids, they're awesome, and Elon is hardly the only one who thinks so!
Strongly recommend tiger21 - which is an amazing community of people dealing with the positives and negatives of wealth. I have found it immensely helpful.
Message me if you are interested.
Tiger21.com
The hedonic treadmill runs both ways. I'd venture many people successful on paper are driven by the need to escape something, for me, it's financial insecurity even though I was never poor nor am I close to it right now. If I were to be as financially successful as this fellow, I think I would soon find myself back to having the same fear\ or finding something to substitute it, regardless, the feeling or mood would be the same
I found myself burned out and with enough money from video game development at the age of 17 to âretire.â
I thought that having lots of time and quiet to read and write code and not worry about money would be wonderful. Instead, I fell into depression and isolation.
I need to feel that Iâm helping people. I need to be part of a project. I need people who rely on me. Thatâs what I learned. Thatâs where lifeâs meaning comes from.
I met a girl and married her. She spent my money so I went back to work with new vigor and purpose. All that happened about 40 years ago. My first marriage ended amicably a few years laterâ and while briefly single again I once more felt depressed. I spun into more wild things. Eventually sold everything and was about to go trekking around the world when I met and married my current wife. That was 34 years ago.
I settle down again. No one is going to make a biopic of my life of not drinking, not doing drugs, and not having fights with my family. But I tell you, it looks boring from the outsideâ yet from the inside every day is full of contentment. Life is a struggle, because I am NOT rich, but itâs not an emotional struggle. I feel lucky.
Nothing beats reasonable health and a family that loves each other.
While I can't totally relate to this scenario I feel something like this playing video games. I'm happiest when I'm working towards the goal and once you defeat the big boss / get the best gems, etc you're just standing there wondering what now.
I think the most exhilarating part is before you are about to beat the big boss (which in this case would be the offer for acquisition i suppose).
I think if you are doing things just to keep yourself busy or self-focused stuff like learning a language or playing an instrument, you will eventually hit the wall of motivation created by lack of necessity when your financial needs are already met forever. Definitely do them to keep life interesting but don't expect that much from these activities (unless you are like crazy passionate about any of them, in which case, congratulations, you found your true purpose).
I believe you'll need to have goals that involve improving lives of those that most need it. Of course it is more complicated than just that - there will be disappointments, betrayal and all other stuff that comes with getting other people involved but the key is to do it based on purpose, with a calm head, clear goal and less on fumes of emotion to manage such pitfalls better. You can let that emotion out when you see the unprivileged child you mentored succeed - I would wager that that moment will outweigh practically any joy you could feel from solely self focused achievements.
This is an interesting read. After years of conversations with folks in SV all over the socioeconomic ladder I've concluded they're 2 types of thinking:
- type 1 "employee thinking": focused on status, TC, consumption, vacation time, free time for hobbies
- type 2 "founder thinking": it's about how much value you create for other people
We (almost) all grow up and are formatted in type 1 - we look for a good "role" that brings wealth and status. The problem is when you have access to type 2 but are trapped in type 1, which seems to be the case here (the frame is about gaining money and status).
The funny thing is you can be incredibly rich, and a founder, and still think like an "employee" without ever being able to get out of it. Conversely you can be poor but think like a "founder" it's not so much about the money. In type 2, as you get richer, the scale of your impact grows and the value you can create gets bigger beyond your personal circumstances. Type 1 is not necessarily negative at all, but also can be a trap.
If having a bunch of money is a problem, thereâs a solution. Give it away and start again. It sounds stupid but a lot of people do it.
Iâve traveled a lot and opportunity is definitely not evenly distributed. There are millions of people who have potential and canât afford silly things like books, school, tools necessary to succeed. If I wanted to give away a bunch or money Iâd found work training programs for blue collar jobs in some major cities of developing nations. Provide training and tools for capable youngsters who might not otherwise have opportunities.
Although⊠this is not a tale about having too much money. Itâs a tale about not knowing what to do next.
You need to recapture the satisfaction of work. Your professional identity was a big part of who you were and youâre falling apart without it. Unfortunately the old one is dead so you have to create a new one. The good news is thereâs a foundation to build in.
Track down half a dozen people youâve enjoyed working with before and start a business with them. I also recommend working mentorship into the mix.
Man, this thread is a bit silly. Not having to worry about finances is a fucking miracle for most people.
I'd happily trade places with the OP, because there is so much I already do and would do even more with the free time.
Completely un-relatable. I have come across a sum of money once before, it was stressful initially but it gave us free time.
People saying money makes things harder, what a fucking stupid thing to say. Money makes EVERYTHING easier.
Learning for 1, I love learning. Being with family, and letting them have more free time. Starting an animal rescue shelter. Tinkering with retro-electronics. Hiking and walking entire countries and writing about it.
If you get "fuck you money" before you've discovered true joy and happiness while being poor, you're fucked forever.
I have enough money that I probably won't need to work again, though I'm certainly not anywhere near as wealthy as this guy (I assume he has one or two more zeroes at the end of his bank balance than I do).
The first half of it just felt so... weak... to me. But I decided I'd give the author the benefit of the doubt. Findig purpose can be a really hard thing, and I suppose even people with a Scrooge McDuck vault deserve sympathy when they're trying to figure that out. (Spoiler alert: there is no Big Purpose; life is what you make of it, and nothing more.)
But then he talks about joining DOGE. Great, now you're a part of the problem. Part of the Silicon Valley know-it-all techno-dystopia crowd who thinks government can and should be run like a for-profit company. Disgusting. What a huge waste of an opportunity to use his wealth to help make the world a better place, as much as the wealthy philanthropist/savior concept makes me uncomfortable.
It also says a lot -- and nothing good -- that he was able to get hired by DOGE with his only qualification being "sold a tech company for a truckload of money". These people are clowns. The US is screwed for a generation or three if they're successful.
What to do? Apparently long so overqualified that unemployable so am doing a startup. If it is successful, I'll pay off some old bills and loans. Then, sure, pursue mathematical physics, maybe get a modest house with a lake, woods, and fields, hope foxes, beavers, swans, etc. have a good home there. Did too well with education and technology but still wasted nearly all my life with nonsense from in too many respects being poorly informed (about people, academics, business) and would like to help some children in the family tree avoid the waste of the nonsense and get on with a good life, at least love, home, marriage, family, and some accomplishments in business, science, etc. Made enough progress with violin (easier to carry than a piano) to play the D major part of the Bach Chaconne but would like to return to music, on a piano and play through some Richard Wagner scores and try to learn what he did.
I spent my 30s in a VLCOL (very low cost of living) city. Iâm now in my 40s and each year my sentimental feelings somehow keep growing. The small things in life: a local art museum, the local YMCA and its pickleball playing seniors, sauna, inline skating around lake paths, road cycling, local coffee roasters, a small upstart Italian restaurant, and of course my young kids. Iâm absolutely in love with these things in a way that isnât directly coming from them or a product or service⊠itâs coming from within me. Deep satisfaction. Not necessarily happiness. Somehow, these things define me in ways my business never can/could. Iâm a participant in my community and it feels SO GOOD. I could optimize for something else ⊠something âout thereâ but then what?
https://bemorewithless.com/the-story-of-the-mexican-fisherma...
What you are chasing is your god or a spiritual quest.
As you don't have a conception of a global god on top of all the other you swing from one to another: finding myself, doing hard, things, robotics, climate change, girlfriend, pleasure, etc.
Those can all be good things, but they are not the top thing.
"You will have no other god beside me"
The central God is you idea of good, the things beyond your reach.
You keep your girlfriend, she become your wife and you have kids. You can climb montains but it doesn't need to be himalaya, etc. Maybe your big thing will still end up around physics Everything in it's place. In the proper amount.
Now if you loose one thing it's not the end of your world.
This keep you centered and avoid the crazy swings.
As we can see in this tale, his god was the startup or money. Once he had more than enought no motivation was left, he killed his god and had to find another one. This happen to a lot of people that reach their goal, instead of being happy they are emotionaly destroyed.
I hope this is clear and can help others.
This post brings to mind people like Andrew Kelley, the guy who created Zig, who basically has foregone a lucrative career in software development, to work on his passion project (which is probably much more useful to the world than what he could've done otherwise). He lives off donations, and probably isn't lacking for a purpose.
To all those people speaking about this guy in the third person, I would just point out he is also the OP.
Hello Vinay.
I'm sorry you don't know what to do with your life, but I promise you it's nothing to do with being rich and successful. Lots of people who are not rich also reach a point in their life where they just don't know what to do next. I suspect a lot of the people we meet or read about who find their "life's purpose" have actually just latched onto one thing and decided it's super important or meaningful, deluding themselves into happiness. This is also why people find religion.
I don't have any great advice to dish out. I'm older than you but not by much. I'm not a rich founder of some company. I haven't travelled as much as you have. I would say, from reading your post, that it sounds like you're trapped in a few echo-chambers that influence your learning patterns.
If learning physics in Hawaii doesn't fill the void for you, maybe try some things that don't have an end goal of starting a company. Do some simpler, less extreme things. Read some fiction. Buy an old VW camper and drive it across Europe. Build a log cabin. Learn a new (spoken) language. Knit. Get out and meet some real people who do not know you are rich and don't expect great things from you.
> What is wrong with being insignificant?
We are all insignificant. Nothing we do matters. We're specks of dust that exist for a microsecond on a warm rock that will eventually be eaten by our star. And there is nothing wrong with that.
You don't need to find a purpose. Life doesn't have to "matter".
The hardest part of getting what you want is figuring out what it is.
Read recently in Smithsonian about a founder in a similar situation (although I think he was still involved) who started an organization to find missing soldiers and return their bodies to relatives. Spent a lot of time and money finding MIAs lost in the Eastern theatre of war from WWII. (Dr. Patrick Scannon, Project Recover).
Excellent! Find 5 people who need your help, advice and funds and give them both, but slowly. You will enjoy it.
I almost wrote young people, but any will do, if they are stuggling and are confused where you have clarity, you can be of immense help.
Maybe getting back with that amazing girlfriend wouldn't be bad idea, but that is beyond :) this post.
You're about to discover political foundations on which this world runs. That leaving working class is a bad idea.
Do none of these people have any creativity at all? No artistic spark that wants to be brought out but never could because art isn't really a profitable career?
Like it's the same thing that boggles my mind with Elon. All that success and he seems to destroy it by making himself miserable begging for approval on Twitter.
> To push myself to be completely (and awkwardly) vulnerable to a blob of nameless strangers over the internet.
This tone speaks to me, even if I have no desire to present myself in such a way. :)
> The immediate 2 weeks after leaving an intense 10-year journey, I did what any healthy person does and met with over 70 investors and founders in robotics. I had been learning about robotics for quite some time and was positive I wanted to throw myself into giving computers arms and legs.
FWIW, I see this a lot from normal-money people when they leave companies, even with shorter journeys. I've been that person, in more ways than one.
I also don't know what I should do with myself, but have considered doing an extra physics degree. Unlike you, my financial situation is currently only on the border of FIRE (and I've always been a low spender) and therefore not secure enough to actually drop off the labour market and into the second degree on a whim.
Not being American, the combination of you cringing about Musk and also finding the DOGE mission to be important is⊠surprising.
Regardless, good luck figuring yourself out.
There are so many incredible ideas, projects, inventions, songs, books, movies, video games, etc. that will never see the light of day because the brilliant person or team who could make it canât afford to stop working for long enough to create them. Find things that excite you and help them become a reality.
I've always had philanthropic ideas that I will never be able to do, because I do not have the funds or the time. Metastatic cancer and alzheimers, on a cellular level, is an obvious pursuit. I would educate myself and get involved. I want to make a difference in the world, and not by monetary measures.
Have you read the subtle art of not giving a fuck? - you are a perfect example of what happens when someone achieve their goal. They feel empty, with nothing to do. Sad And alone. https://markmanson.net/not-giving-a-fuck
Now you need to find yourself a new purpose. Only you can find it, maybe that can help: figure out that plants are the top of the food chain, and the more we treat them well... the most fun we have around them! Explore the spiritual world, help others who haven't been as lucky as you, be hurt, and heal again, that's life man.
*You could join me in a suicide/impossible mission to save the world, but i doubt you will - nobody is mad enough to follow me in this endeavour.
Although I've done quite well for myself, I'm not remotely near this level of wealth, so my insight and advice is likely just plain wrong.
Building on an analogy you used, you've let society dictate your "unattainable main quest", but then actually managed to attain it, losing your core sense of purpose in the process.
So pick a new unattainable main quest and internalize it, before proceeding with your life.
Easier said than done of course. You're fighting to replace a goal that was repeatedly forced into you from the early days of your conscious existence. How hard this will be comes down to your individual mental composition. It might be impossible. It might be easy and just require willful thought on your part. There are probably therapists that specialize in exactly this kind of situation.
Good luck!
This post is ultimately a scathing indictment of capitalism.
Money represents power. Our society let you have much more power than most individuals will ever have.
But you don't know what to do with it? Why should you have it then?
Capitalism at its best would allocate power to those who know how to use it effectively.
Look around you. Isn't there anything in the world - commercially, socially, culturally - you think should be better? And aren't any of those things in a domain in which you can be effective?
The legitimate capitalist would know the answer to those questions.
Itâs very interesting to me that the author realizes he knows nothing about physics and robotics, but feels justified in talking about âsaving the governmentâ even though he also doesnât understand economics.
This entire post is about having more money than you know what to do with. Very strange.
I would recommend reading "The Status Game" by Will Storr.
In short: try to join as many communities as possible, you will get emotionally rewarded just for being accepted. Eventually you will find ones where you really want to fight for status, and this will re-ignite your life.
If youâre wondering why you still feel unsatisfied even after having gotten everything youâve ever wanted and achieved everything you set out to do, consider reading about the story of Siddartha Gautama and his journey of discovery.
The answers youâve been looking for are there.
A couple other commenters mentioned seeking enlightenment. I cannot claim to have anywhere near OPâs amount of wealth, but something that weightlifting and yoga (and more particularly power lifting) have taught me is mindfulness, and contentment. That might seem strange but coming to terms with the limits of oneâs own strength and then learning the limits of their body and pushing both of them requires lots of thoughtfulness and patience - especially if you want to do it for the long term (Iâve been doing it for ~10 years). In my mind there is no cheating either (steroids are not an option).
Whether itâs weightlifting, yoga, meditation, or chopping wood, I hope you can find your path to contentment OP!
Man sets goal to be rich Man achieves riches Man is lost
When your identity is defined by something external, you are sure to feel empty when it's taken away.
He'll no doubt soon be on a $10,000-a-day ayahuasca retreat to "find himself," and I sincerely hope he does.
The author has two choices: 1. Learn to enjoy the freedom gained from his wealth and not work another day. 2. Give away ALL of it to charity and start over again so he can prove to himself and the world that it wasn't luck that made him wealthy.
Rest is all noise.
Philanthropy is an option
Hereâs an idea, donate most of it to a reputable charity organization and go back to work.
Just one idea for making a positive impact while meeting amazing communities of folks: Invest in early stage climate startups (and not just software ones). Theyâre struggling and theyâre building stuff that weâll desperately need to survive.
Surprise, surprise, money and "success" are not the keys to happiness.
Sorry to be a bit harsh, but it's both hilarious and sad to me that people like this exist (people, who, no less, have the gall to call other human beings "NPC"s yet would be helpless and have no idea what to do in life were it not for the world telling them to follow the facile pursuit of extreme wealthâhah!) It's no wonder software is infested with technology that is, at best a hyper niche, lucky market fit that really doesn't need to exist and will not be remembered in a decade and at worst of products that are outright societal ills.
Well, such is life when we encourage people to be narcissistic, mindless, money-seeking drones instead of socially aware, emotionally intelligent, and caring human beings.
I'm happy you are finally on the way to reflection OP, but it really does depress me that there are so many "intelligent" people that seemingly don't bother to think about or question the motives of the socioeconomic system at large and whether or not the life the system is suggesting they pursue is really a meaningful one. Apparently for some it takes getting incredibly lucky (and hard work, let's not ignore that, but luck is a key component here too) and incredibly rich to even begin to start engaging in the level of self-reflection that scores of nameless barflies, poets, and yokels were capable of hundreds of years ago.
What you are experiencing is the fundamental human predicament. All humans ignore it because they keep focusing on the outside - chasing money, power, fame, things. However, nothing from the outside can fix our deepest desire, the deepest restlessness. There is no way to know what you want without understanding who you are. Since you like hard things, Iâll say this - the outer journey can be hard but the inner journey is the hardest. No one can be satisfied with themselves unless they see themself clearly. The one who is looking at the world is the one who suffers. The answers lie in the observer.
Do nothing until you realize there's something to be done but it's too late.
have you tried deep sea exploration in an experimental vessel?
Unfortunately can't retire yet but have had enough time off to know how boring having no purpose is.
But I'm working on it anyway.
The only thing I want is to know my future is secure, have enough passive income/savings to be able to meditate.
I've seen for myself that thoughts just throw you off balance, and it's possible to be deeply contented just with the present moment. But the last thing I wanted to do was run a business or do work in that state.
I want to get loaded so I can just slip back into that state of contentment, then teach it. That's all.
But pursing experiences isn't the way to get there. I can see why someone would write a post like this.
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats' feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar
Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;
Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom
Remember us - if at all - not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men.
I retired four years ago just before hitting 50 years of age. There is no real purpose and never was. I got my degree, worked in a field I loved. I was good at it, learned and was successful. But there never was any real purpose except personal growth and being challenged in my field of expertise. I've seen CEOs come and go, engineers much smarter than me leave and poor replacements being hired. Nothing ever really changed. In the work setting nobody is truly important.
I don't know what Loom is and I don't really care. It was not spectacular. It doesn't matter. You succeeded. Now you can start on a new part of life. One where you do not have to prove your ability, you already did. So enjoy, you've earned it.
I am sitting in the cold, snowy Scandinavia. In a few days time I will be travelling to Spain. I cannot wait. When I leave the airport and walk into the sun and the heat, I will be grinning like a madman. After a week of hiking / running, exploring and drinking cold beers in sun I will return home and once I leave the airport I will sigh with relief, home sweet home. After a few days of chores at home I will start looking forward to the trip that is already booked for the next week.
Life is great.
Earning gray hairs with blood, sweat, and tears is the natural way of marking satisfaction milestones. Most of us will not get a chance at steering just 1M in wealth without major struggles and juggles. But having 60M without any major struggle? Well now you have to struggle with an existential crisis. Here's the solution: Watch your children grow to adults, sail some seas, and fix anything that bothers you. Life always finds a way of keeping you active. Now it doesn't actually matter what you're doing, as long as you are happy to be doing it.
There must be something like a "sudden wealth-life crisis", comparable to a midlife crisis. My only advise is to refrain from impulsive decisions in such a situation. But that advise is late here. I hope he has an environment that can ground him. Find productive work, but nothing that puts on too much of a burden (like this ultra-political "DOGE"). Always remember: your wealth is a result of luck and/or decent leadership and OTHER PEOPLE'S WORK. Be decent, be kind and BE REALISTIC. Please don't become Elon.
I feel like there's a weird psychology to these kinds of boo hoo posts that I see from rich people lamenting their good fortune. What's the actual sub-conscious impulse to flaunt your wealth in such a way that devalues it to the 99% of all humanity who weren't so lucky? I can only possibly conclude that the individual who does this is looking for ever more subtle and excusable ways of bragging while appearing to do the opposite. Really sad. If life is so hard when you don't have to work, please, oh virtuous one, do the selfish thing and offload the burden onto some other poor soul like myself. I'm sure I can find a way to bear it.
I've always felt these stories can be summarized as happiness or fulfillment is derived from the (positive) rate of change in circumstances rather than the achievements a person has in a point in time, money or otherwise. Even if you have millions in your pocket but that amount is not changing or you don't have a way to make it go up, you won't be happy for long. Same goes for a less wealthy person who is moving up in their career or their life-goals, they would be happy from experiencing positive change.
Why not map out suffering and ways people optimally can learn to solve it, using our collective intelligence? I mean, if you're looking for ideas. Hopefully someone gets around to that one.
I think your problem is shared by a lot of rich people. I think a lot of them have no idea what to do with their lives.
Wealth is like a clicker game. As you work you earn money, like clicking the cookie to earn more cookies. Once you have enough surplus cookies, you can put them to work earning more cookies, and then put THOSE to work earning even more cookies, and so on. Eventually you're well beyond the point where clicking the cookie makes any damn sense, but you're still in the game, seeing how fast you can accumulate cookies and seeing how far you can go, just for the sake of seeing it.
Welcome to the life of the super rich. That's what investors do -- spend their time looking for ways to spend their money that will make them even more money, just to see how rich they can get and how fast they can get there.
If that doesn't sound like a fulfilling life, think of something challenging and beneficial you can do. Start a biotech startup. Look for ways to clean up oil spills. Invent a new battery. Build a toy for your kids with Arduino. You're smart, and in a position to do things many smart people can only dream of. Take advantage of it.
I donât get it⊠you can do whatever the hell you want now. Whatâs the problem? Surely you like do _something_?
And if you only want to do something for 4 weeks at a time then do that. Whereâs the despair coming from?
Also, this person loves capitalism so much because it worked for them. But then the way they say like itâs the greatest gift ever seems so out of touch.
What a great problem to have.
I missed my chance like an idiot, but I originally was going to take a long vacation with a modest 50k saved up. I figured that's at least 6 months in less expensive countries with 20k remaining when I come back.
Then I basically had the worst year ever.
How I wish I took that vacation.
But here's a startup comp idea. Pay a 25% sign on bonus, with the expectation that your not allowed to do any paid work for 6 months.
Travel , spend time with family, work on that play.
Then when you get back to Soul Crush Inc you can present new ideas.
But I'd also pay below market overall.
Well, at least he got over his "mission of DOGE is extremely important" phase quickly enough. May he go off and learn something about himself and the universe studying physics.
Give away your money and build a new company if that's the purpose you need to fulfill in life.
Being altruistic can be immensely rewarding.
You have tremendous privilege. Go help some people with that money.
Don't just think of yourself.
Try taking up meditation. Balance your mind. Try to stop your thoughts.
You are super lucky.
Also, consider your death. No matter how much money you have, you can't take any of it with you. One day you're going to die. It's all going away. Enjoy what you have now and ideally help some others. That will bring you purpose.
I'm pretty sure that you don't need to come into excessive wealth to go through this kind of identity crisis, but it does probably afford you a lot more free time to dwell on it (which probably makes it feel "bigger"). Here's hoping the author can settle on a new goal on which to anchor his identity, and here's also hoping that it's some kind of philanthropic/common good (helping move society towards low-carbon energy abundance would be my pick).
'I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream' (1967)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Have_No_Mouth,_and_I_Must_Sc...
https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/?get_group_doc=22694/15401...
Work on affordable housing tech. There is a huge need for housing at all levels, and I really believe the lower end could be revolutionized by new materials and techniques, along with novel approaches to land use. You could make a real meaningful contribution and choose to make money or not along the way.
Or whatever you want really. I recently contemplated what I would do if I won the lottery and arrived at that conclusion. Hopefully you arrive at yours.
> I didnât feel like I could work on them with her. So I broke things off after almost 2 years of unconditional love.
So really there were conditions as well as no commitment. The hidden condition was "If I don't feel like I can work on myself I will break it off". This is why I don't take people seriously who refuse to enter into a marriage covenant that actually means unconditional love regardless of sickness or health.
I am poor and have no idea what to do. So you are good! ;-)
I am new here, but can I ask a serious question? How does a question like this even get listed?? Or responded to? I really would like to know the system here.
Perhaps you should consider exploring the path of religion or spirituality. Faith has a way of providing inner peace and grounding. As humans, we are inherently designed to seek meaning through connection, building a family, and raising children. Watching them grow can bring a profound sense of purpose and fulfillment that no material success can replace. This might be the key to rediscovering what truly matters in life.
I didnât have DOGE on this bingo card (though Mt Everest certainly was).
It now sounds even more like a hobby club for Silicon Valley ultra-rich who have no interest to learn anything about how government works. Once they finish their beautiful âreinvented from first principlesâ decks of PDFs and Keynotes, they wonât get a second look from the elected politicians whose support they absolutely need to deliver any of this.
Or, as the meme would say, âmen will literally pretend to singlehandedly save America from decades of deficits rather than go to therapy.â
It sounds like the author is just trying to aimlessly find something to lose themself in, as if what they need to do has to be the most important thing ever done.
Maybe satisfaction comes to those who can make a difference with others more directly. Author should consider volunteer work, or working for a non-profit. Maybe just be a regular worker, and not the boss for a change. Learn to listen and be OK with following orders for once.
Some time ago I have watched an interwiew from Shia Labeouf on why he became catholic, for more that I think a good advice for everyone is getting closer to God, He said something that may help you:
"Purpose in life is when you get something you're good at or have a natual inclination to that and help people with that, that's porpose"
I'm very very far from getting rich but that's what I think that maybe help you
Opposite problem. I am tied to a corporate job, and I'd absolutely know how to use every second. No, really. Every second.
Wait, so the Department Of Government Efficiency spent time and money recruiting a millionaire who left after just 4 weeks? Talk about inefficiencyâŠ
If I became rich, I would create a company of metal detectors that would uncover long lost treasures. They would also find lost items for ppl.
I can dream, right?
> I should work for Elon and Vivek at DOGE and help America get off its current crash to defaulting on its own debt
Iâve got an idea: take some good economics courses so that you learn how government spending actually works.
I have the opposite problem. I know exactly what I would do if I had enough money in the bank to live off the interest. I remind myself how lucky I am and to be grateful, which is probably the most helpful thing I do.
As someone who has developed software for almost 20 years, and who is also staying on top of LLMs because I genuinely enjoy it, I really feel like I will make some good money soon.
It's "rappel," not "repel."
At the start of the article, I was thinking âwell, I would go deep on learning physicsâ. Had a good chuckle at the end of the article.
It's okay. Keep learning, searching, asking questions, trying to find answers. Some questions are answered by starting a new company. Others are answered by going on a vacation to Hawaii and learning Physics in the jungle. Sometimes both. Sometimes neither. The idle mind is the devil's playground. So, stay busy, stay hungry, and keep searching.
What the author is missing is noblesse oblige.
Some peasants become nobles, but will never stop being peasants. Some peasants were nobles all along.
My advice would be to touch grass maybe? Learn pottery or something, there's more to life than hoarding wealth. Read Camus. And if that money really is a burden, you can always donate most of it away.
Sorry for the vitriol, but I honestly lost all respect for OP after he mentioned joining DOGE. Working with oligarchs towards enacting austerity when you won't suffer from it makes me not care that much about how vacuous you feel your existence is.
Are we supposed to feel sorry for him? Poor people have the same existential thoughts too. At least he has the freedom to choose what he wants to do and not to be beholden to anyone, which is the whole damn point of being rich. No one ever claimed wealth solves all of lifeâs problems. Anyway, his lack of grounding is most likely from lack of a family.
Hope mr self centred provided financially for his ex girlfriend who by his own description gave him unconditional love and support.
The happiness state is not an absolute value, it is the derivative. It explains why even people in the most shittiest situation can be "happy". Otherwise, once you have your 5 basic needs you would become perfectly content.
We are not evolved to become happy, we evolve to strive to become happy. But this is a trick, there is not destination to this journey.
Start nonprofit businesses that hire, train, and support people with physical and developmental disabilities. For example, the Adelante of New Mexico. They create companies to provide jobs to people with disabilities. They also provide health insurance, a living wage, and housing assistance.
Make more companies like that. Put money to doing good, not just being good.
Focus on your mental and physical health. Your relationships especially family. And work on things that challenge your mind, if nothing does currently thatâs ok something will peak your interest again, no pressure, in the mean time work on being the healthiest you can physically, that has a way of making sure other things fall into place.
I had my doubts about Wentsworth's thesis that money cannot buy expertise; but this is certainly some evidence in favor: https://www.lesswrong.com/s/xEFeCwk3pdYdeG2rL/p/YABJKJ3v97k9...
"Most ambitions are either achieved or abandoned; either way, they belong to the past. The future, instead of the ladder toward the goals of life, flattens out into a perpetual present. Money, status, all the vanities the preacher of Ecclesiastes described, hold so little interest: a chasing after wind, indeed." - Paul Kalanithi
This does add some validity to my belief that DOGE is full of wealthy mid-brains trying to convince one another theyâre smart boys.
If you had tens of millions of dollars and wanted to help the world, there are a million legitimate paths. They might not be glamorous. You might not get to hang out with Elon. But you would actually make a huge difference.
I feel sorry for the girlfriend, invested months or years into the relationship and left with nothing after the dude got rich
Great post this helps me reflect with my own insecurities about freedom vs agency. I think what youâre experiencing is very human. Finding meaning in life is in fact the most human thing I can think of. The answer is not clear but the beauty in the answer is itâs very open ended.
Thank you to the author. I hope you find what youâre looking for.
This person is obviously mentally disturbed. Freedom awarded by recent lucky windfall resulted in detriment to him. It already costed him his only deep relationship with a peer and almost costed him his life.
I'm really happy that he ended up learning physics. It's probably safes activity of all mentioned given his specific brain.
I'm not rich but after my first exit I went crazy investing in friends' ideas (including over-decorating my tiny SF apartment) and I actually came out a little ahead but I never bothered the failures because I was never expecting a return. It was super fun and I highly recommend it especially if you're rich.
If your problem is that you're rich and have no idea what to do, why not just spice it up and give away _all_ of your money, with no way back? That's too difficult? Well, try it. If you're lost and can't figure out any other option...increase difficulty level in this game and start again. Good luck!
Ok, I did not see nearly ending up at DOGE coming.
> I should work for Elon and Vivek at DOGE and help America get off its current crash to defaulting on its own debt
Thinking that DOGE will somehow accomplish something important seems very naive. DOGE's purpose is to try to cut government spending so that Billionaires can get more tax cuts.
Vinay - would love to chat about what you learned about robotics. I am in the process of starting a robotics company (focused on software), and could use any advice you might have. Talked with plenty of investors, but talking to founders is much harder with this being my first startup. Is it alright if I email you?
You don't have to lose everything, in order to find yourself, but it may help. Although.., don't lose the people of your life. They aren't "stuff".
p.s. Tove Jansson, in one of her stories, has some guy who was collecting stamps whole life, and collected them all. And was feeling very lost..
If you don't want to live your own life, you can live it for others.
If you get tired of living for others, you can live your life for yourself.
There are a lot of philanthropic pursuits that could really use an extra million or two per year (LEVF would be my top pick), which is less than you'd expect to make from index funds returns.
I'll be downing tools this year. Haven't seen 8" floppy disks but 5 1/4" sure. That's where we started.
I think even with a lot less one can simply let go and retire. But lots of ducks need to get in row.
Personal health Family situation Where you are Where you came from Hobbies & interests Good spouse
Same situation but 10 years ago. My advice would be to put all your money in stocks and live just like you always did. Find a normal job. Buy a normal house and car. Its great to never ever think about money. Live moderate. Don't show off. You stocks income will be roughly 2.5m a year btw.
Start by doing a long walk, like the PCT or Te Araroa trail. 3+ months of hiking. You are busy every day, get up, eat and start walking. Finish the day physically tired. Sleep rinse and repeat. Have a break from news etc You come out fit, mentally reset and have a good perspective. Just my 2c
He's describing what many of people FIREing experience, lack of purpose and direction.
This also scares me as someone who's been saving and investing for that purpose and I would not want to go through it. I have few ideas (similar to his with robotics) or different ventures, but it still scares me.
If OP is reading the comments, Iâd highly recommend developing a meditation practice. As youâve already experienced, the quality of oneâs experience of life is determined by oneâs mind, regardless of possessions, achievements, etc. And meditation is the best way to âtrainâ the mind.
It has become a meme at this point, but it seems men will do anything but go to therapy. Especially here, when the author can clearly afford it, and is going through a existential crisis.
Also, if this is the cohort of people joining the DOGE initiative, I'm even more afraid that I was before.
Fund something not necessarily tech related and be part of it, not some remote benefactor. That is the point of capital. It could be a problem that needs solving, or just some community/culture/industry. Earth is immense and spherical. Look beyond the concept of borders.
As someone who isn't rich, but has taken extensive time off work, I love not working. The last 18 month break I took may have been the happiest I've ever been. I'll never be rich, because I'm not motivated by money, but I've never been bored or rudderless.
I'm not rich, but I have enough to live out my days [humbly], and leave something to my daughter.
But I get to write code, Every. Single. Day. Code that I want to write, the way that I want to work, at the Quality level that I want to deliver.
That's heaven.
I would not be here, if I had been able to find work, after leaving my last company at 55. So, I guess being frozen out of the tech industry is maybe the best thing that has happened to me. It was the kind of thing I wouldn't have known was possible, until I was forced into it.
But I wouldn't turn down a few extra mil. It's just that I don't think the fox is worth the chase.
You could make art, perhaps? Some people find that helps with developing purpose beyond the immediate.
Please sell off extra real estate. We're paying too much to live. Please stop figuring out ways to make more money. Enjoy your wealth. You don't need any more from our blood sweat and tears. We're already suffering enough at the whims of the idle rich.
Children. They are the purpose in life. Literally every biology textbook says every life form from amoeba to whales to people seek to reproduce.
Having a family is by fat the best thing I have ever done. I have been independently wealthy now 10 years from my business I founded.
FFS.
Write Wikipedia articles. Volunteer at a charity. Go and do a PhD in whatever field takes your fancy. Take up auto racing. Learn an instrument. Have children.
The writer is in the incredibly fortunate position of being able to do whatever he damn well pleases, at an age where he is still physically able to do whatever he damn well pleases.
I find it very difficult to sympathise.
Personally if I were in those shoes, I would focus on contributing directly to open source projects, both directly by volunteering, and financially. Its worthwhile work that has major impact, and you don't need to work 24/7 if you don't want to.
Find something that other people would see as infeasible or inaccessible and work on that. You are in a position of privilege that can be used to advance well-being and knowledge.
Deciding whether to explore challenges solo versus as part of a team is a crucial differentiator.
Consider having children. That will help with the âproblemsâ of having too much money and time.
He should put his money where his mouth is. Give it all away. That'll really change the world for the better and then he'll get to prove his entrepreneurial greatness by doing it all again without that gnawing sense of security.
If you're feeling too rich you don't need to cure it by donating all your money etc. Simply buy a jet and make fancy friends. Soon you wont be rich anymore, your existential dilemma will vanish and you can get back to working.
Iâm pretty sure thatâs the last point in Navalâs infamous tweet thread about getting wealthy.
It wonât fix you - but it will give you the time and resources to figure out something that might.
The author needs to find himself a good counselor and get to work on himself.
It's not really a lot of money, but it is a non-trivial management problem you'd have to spend more time than you think responding to- and at an opportunity cost against things that provide belonging, satisfaction, hope, and joy. With these new obligations, you need to manage them so that you can focus on those other good things.
Get it managed, out of cash, and get it planned for and pay yourself your old salary with a small raise for a bit. Be sober for a while. Avoid sex workers. Rent a supercar before buying one. Use a personal trainer to get fit. your job is "managing investments" to anyone who asks. Luxury is mostly symbolic. Family and friends are both free and irreplacable. Privacy and mobility are usually worth it.
It's not something you are, it's just something you manage now. There's a great quote from the BlueBottle coffee guys, "money in hand, not in heart" or somesuch. How to extract value from a big pile of cash is a challenging question that really smart wealth managers get paid stupidly well to solve, and there's zero reason why you should think you can do it without investing in some education. Take some time to grieve the attachments it has evaporated.
You're just you with a new and peculiar set of problems. Good luck.
(I don't have that money, but I've known it most of my life, and within my means I've just learned to do the things that people who can have anything in the world choose to do. they're pretty good.)
This now is your moment to improve the lives of other people in scalable cost-efficient ways, in improving the human condition. It may not be obvious how, but it will come to you if you try.
For the vast majority of people, becoming rich is a means to an end. More time to make art, freedom from stress, ability to travel more, or just the fun of buying lots of toys.
He keeps talking about wanting to do something "important." But I think he is conflating the "prestigious / expected" meaning of important with another interpretation: "meaningful."
Plenty of next steps for a founder are prestigious. But few are meaningful. Most new companies make money by finding efficiencies and disintermediating people from processes in various ways. This usually means pushing an entire sector (like travel agents) out of gainful employment. For whatever reason, Silicon Valley startups rarely punch up - they don't find efficiencies in health insurance or healthcare billing, they don't do "Moneyball" for CEO's and figure out how to run a company for less, they don't find efficiencies that cause us to pay less money to the rich (except Cost Plus Drugs).
No, they punch down, and make increasing numbers of the middle class into the new precariat. For that, the founders are praised and told that they are important. But the work, being morally questionable, is not meaningful.
By contrast, many meaningful endeavors are about charity - giving access, opportunity, dignity, and money to those on the bottom rungs of society.
The emptiness he feels is a lack of meaning, but he's trying to fill it with more prestige, and that's why it's not working.The author is a self-proclaimed "big fan of capitalism". Turns out capitalism doesn't provide a meaning in life. The author should put down the physics books and pick up some books on Stoicism instead. Learn what a good life really is. There are so many problems that people have that they need help with and of course you won't see any of that while studying physics in the jungle.
You sound like someone who has been in constant mania from a panic attack for, like, months.
Stop. Breathe. Do something to relax.
You very clearly need it, even if only to center yourself long enough to not throw yourself into the very next thing you see.
Enjoyed reading your story. Hoe you find your purpose in life, but not searching it.
Like other commenters mentioned here, lifting people around you, not just your friends and family, but random ones, might give you some joy.
To bad he didn't meet someone he wanted to stay with before the money. I would say have a family. The next best thing he could of done. Its going to be hard to find someone that can't see past the money.
Wealth makes it even more difficult to figure out what to do with your life.
It's almost as if you can either have wealth/comfort or purpose/fulfillment, but it's vanishingly rare to have both at the same time.
My dearest memories are with friends and lovers, I miss the former and canât always have the latter; if I had all the money in the world I would use it to spend more time with the people I love and care about.
> It seems plausible, but Iâm learning to just accept that I am happy learning physics. Thatâs the goal in and of itself. If it leads to nothing, thatâs ok.
This is it, the happy ending. Do things for the sake of doing them.
Well, if you are going to study physics somewhere, Hawaii seems like a great place to do it. It seems like a great place to do many things really. Hope new year's eve was just as fun for you as for me :)
Hi, Vinlay. I'm a broke artist. You should give me a lot of your money.
Congratulations to the author! They basically "won" and did something that most people on HN can only dream of.
My 2 cents: I would devote the remainder of my life to solving problems that the current system is unoptimized for. Things that seem intractable like the housing crisis, homelessness, climate change, food insecurity. Like this guy who is trying to re-green a part of the Sonoran Desert after getting a windfall from helping the El Salvadoran government switch to Bitcoin [1].
I think ultimately the author is going to have to find a very difficult task/goal that will require similar if not greater effort compared to starting Loom.
Here's what I don't understand: Vinay, if what you loved so much was the journey, why would you sell the company?
Loom was your life, clearly. It meant a huge amount to you. You cared about it and the work you did there, so you... sold it to a giant multibillion dollar corporation and let them absorb everything special about it so they could make another buck.
Was there just no way to continue on without being acquired? If there wasn't, then what was the value in what you were building? Did you just luck into a fortune?
I am one of those people who thinks capitalism is largely worthless as a personal ideology (though not as an economic system). I think that because, as the author of this post has discovered, money is inherently worthless. Success means something, but money doesn't. Loom could have been a going concern. So many companies could have been. They didn't need infinite growth. They needed to do a good job to help their customers and make the world better by doing so.
Nobody seems to understand or care about that anymore.
If I were in your position, Vinay, I would quit my own retirement. I would give away as much of my money as I could, leaving only just enough to act as a safety net if I failed or had a true emergency. I'd put that money into some form of trust where it was difficult enough for me to access that I had to live within some limited means. Then I'd start another company, and, if it succeeded, keep it. No more acquisitions.
There's no point in money except what it buys you, but you already had what you wanted. You made a mistake and lost it. You'll have to start over to get it back.
(I also personally don't love AI and don't want more companies doing AI, but I am trying to focus on the point of this post, not an ex post facto discussion of Loom itself.)
I canât add much to this topic, but I did come across a word yesterday which may fit how OP is feeling.
Ennui: A feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement.
help more people. Use your skills and resources to accelerate progress in the areas in which you are sufficiently competent. If my startup exits i have zero doubt that I will continue in this way.
Good lord. I don't care if Silicon Valley was wrapped up in 2019. They need to make another episode which is nothing but a reenactment of this blog post.
Ordinary things can be stolen, real ones cannot - Oscar WildeâŠ
money is not being rich.
Damn, that's crazy. I'm poor and know exactly what to do.
Why not doing what many people do? Helping/funding the next generation of startuppers? That might bring some purpose to your life, and hopefully some good humans too.
I guess im not rich as you so you can give me some of your money, because then I'll be able to think what rich people do so I'll give you some ideas what you can do m8.
Time to find a long term partner and have / adopt / take care of kids.
No joke. Iâve seen it work wonders for providing meaning to many, including multiple rich-beyond-belief founders.
What's loom? This app for screen recording?? A terrible product, I personally hated every second of using it, yet my bosses were pissing rainbows and insisted on everyone using it. Congratz on taking a shitload of corporate money in your pocket for this. Truly impressive job! And I'm in a good way envy you.
There is an impression that money made you unhappy, or at least it made you realise something. But you must always remember that loosing everything is just as easy as hard it was to get. Feels like you're really chill and sophisticated guy, but you need to spend more time alone and eventually you'll think these things through
Read through most of these comments unsatisfied myself. Sad to see people be mean.
In my humble opinion, some spirituality gives one true purpose beyond this limited and at times unfulfilling material realm. It will provide compassion and gratitude for all beings. Buddha too was a Prince with unimaginable wealth. Wealth is not necessarily by itself a path to happiness.
Iâd go find a spiritual space that appeals to you. Itâs not easy as people with riches like the Beatles and people without like the hippies of the 60s too spent their life finding it. Read about George Harrison, for e.g.
FWIW I found my spiritual space at this tiny piece of heaven called Bhakti SF.
Buy a social media outlet and waste your day and night there
Read your blog post backwards. Paragraph by paragraph and you get the answer to your intrinsic question. And btw it would be a much better read at the same time
Help and support others who actually have a vision.
If I didn't have to think about money I'd work on inventing Skynet. No, this is not a joke. I'm dead-serious.
Hereâs a take I havenât read yet: I have no sympathy to offer you.
Living organisms probably started as some self replicating RNA. Already a beautiful, complex creation of our Mother Earth. After eons of constant struggle for survival and resources, miraculously the consciousness emerged. Our kind, of millions of distinct species is the sole avatar able to perceive just about every aspect our planet has to offer AND reflect on them and our own existence. Tens of thousands of years of more struggle, each generation of our kin building on the teachings of generations past; from existing as specks roaming the face of the earth at the mercy of Mother Nature, to organizing as civilizations, and finally building robust systems that supply billions of people with necessities, give a voice to the people and escape serfdom and slavery (a process thatâs still ongoing). A quirk of our capitalist system is that it __allows for__ and __benefits from__ individuals like yourself who can work extraordinarily hard to create lots of value. And naturally, you are rewarded with the profound ability to DO ANYTHING YOU WANT, HAVE ANYTHING YOU WANT, GO ANYWHERE YOU WANT (of the external aspects of your life). You have conquered all of existence.
You like climbing mountains. Imagine Everest but 1000 times higher. Imagine every living thing ever blindly climbing up with all their might, and their offspring spawns from their corpse when they die. Some fall. What you did was make it to the very PEAK of this impossibly, unimaginably large mountain of existence. You look out and you see nothing (because itâs so large, of course). Please, itâs okay to be confused. Donât be scared. Take your time. You earned it. Donât be upset that thereâs nothing above for you to keep climbing. You have some options. Lay at the top forever (boring, lonely). Or, try to bring a few people up with you. Or, make it your mission to help as many people scale higher as possible. But what I think you might need, is to come back down - give up what you have or detach your self from the idea of being at the top. Much love brother, I think you are pretty cool. I would love to chat if you are down, Iâll send you an email.
Most NPC thing Iâve ever read.
Youâve built a screen recording software and youâre calling employees of Atlassian NPC.
Whilst being an Elon Musk fan.
Paying to be brought up a mountain and being shit at even that.
Find a shrink
Unsuccesful and rich, depressing to read this garbage tbh.
I have thousand of projects i would do yesterday with proper money.
Buying and renovating or buying my own house. Creating a park with different influences (japan, china, asia etc.). Doing a lot of arts and crafts and experimenting with things. Building my own workspace etc.
And when everything is settled, having space for friends and family to visit and use this too.
And after that, helping people around me.
I'm also lost why this person thinks being rich is boosting. I'm very happy with my relationship with my wife and it doesn't sound like he has anything to really boost about.
I was going to comment on his insta photo's of wads (this morning, EU time) of cash and now there's none (evening) <thinking face.gif>
Isn't blowing out all your money on fun/cool things/experiencies & helping a lot of people (friends, family) an option?
I really want to hear the ex gf's side of the story
I forget what show my wife and I were watching, but the running gag was that you turn into a psycho when you become a billionaire.
At one point, one of the characters is on a date with a very kind, modestly wealthy guy. Then, the guy has to take a call where he finds out his company just sold. In the very next shot, his head is suddenly shaved and he's raving about climbing mountains or something.
I donât think anything will help the author as much as giving a bunch of money away. I grew up in a community where I met good number of very rich people with inherited wealth and every one of them is depressed or has some other issueâhypochondria, feelings of inadequacy, or some strange striving for significance through conspicuous consumption which is, of course, ultimately unfulfilling, etc. The root cause in all these cases, in my view, is the money. Just give it away and face the fear of engaging with the world again.
Hey Vanay, go do a thru-hike like the Pacific Crest Trail. You won't regret it. (I hiked it last year, and will again this year)
not rich and not lonely and I would learn something new every day if I could. Learn to be rich in ideas. If you already are, write them down and share them with the world. Or study an ancient civilization. Or learn to fly a plane. learn something that is difficult for you to learn. There are so many things to study and learn and teach.
If the last sentence had been: Probably I will never figure that out. Then I would have said that you are on the right track.
It's kind of like using an infinite money cheat in a game - it's a guaranteed way to get bored of it quickly.
Do something positive for the environment, like supporting the development of cheap sustainable plant-based packaging.
I appreciate the authorâs openness in sharing their experience - itâs really worthwhile to share experiences where money isnât everything, and that it can be a poor generator of meaning.
Speaking of meaning, I think itâs a task for everyone to find their lifeâs calling - something youâre uniquely suited to do. Sometimes that pays the bills and sometimes it doesnât. Iâm a bit surprised that âstart another saas companyâ wasnât really on the list for Vinay, but thereâs probably a good reason for that. For me, I found that starting a family completely changed my life, as well as helping me appreciate more the family I already had - but I suppose thatâs not something that lasts forever either. Good luck to the author.
With that amount of money I'd just go to school. Volunteer here and there. Otherwise I'd lose my mind,
Having money is as hard as not having it.
Having money is actually harder because there are no constraints to guide you.
Arnold is right - be useful
Not to judge or sound condescending, but it seems like youâre lacking empathy and a community.
I know exactly what Iâd do in your situation: help others. I live in a small city, and it has some problems and some opportunities. Even lacking funds I still do what I can to help the community around me. Spend some time with people who arenât all in tech or on the beach and go find some reality. People like elon preaching doge are too far removed. Work on the ground. Itâs hard and itâs real.
Best of luck!
Would you consider donating to me so that I could take some time to work on some similar internal struggles?
He actually did the "it's not you it's me" routine, I hear George Costanza invented it.
The antidote to despair is action. I recommend volunteering to anyone who wants for meaning in their life.
having a lot of money is crazy because there is literally nothing to do. there is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. if you sit around all day then people who work at local restaurants will start to know you and people here and there will start to recognize you from wandering around between your haunts every day. its such a weird feeling when you realize that the world isnt as big as you thought it was. before having total freedom, you image that even a single metro like sf bay area is enough to swallow you up. its not. the reason it feels so big is because your are busy all the time. and the same goes for the entire world. theres nothing to do here unless you are busy with something. traveling and gawking at stuff is not going to get you very far. that is the terrible and insane reality of life. that life is an illusion. this is part of the reason why so many people buckle under the apparently feather-weight pressure of having lots of money. the other reason is that your sense of identity and self-worth becomes tied to your money. you find yourself completely unable to ask for a lower price, balk at a price or decide to not buy something if there are other people around. because after all you have the money. except nobody has enough money to behave like that. 60M would evaporate very quickly under someone who did not recognize and correct this effect. this is why so many rich people are so comically cheap. they have to be because you lose the ability to think rationally, to thread the needle. you have to just shamelessly be cheap.
elon musk said "vacation kills." hes one hundred percent correct. when you feel totally free you stop thinking in terms of how to protect yourself and begin to explore all possibilities in an unconstrained way. i dont have to be at work on monday so why not climb a mountain? why not go on safari? why not try this designer drug? logic could save you but without the impulse to protect your fragile life, not everyone is logical enough to sail those waters. i almost killed myself twice before i learned it.
the strange and absolutely unambiguous truth about life is that there is no such thing as not working. you must always be working. it doesnt matter how much money you have. the only way to live a good and satisfying life is to work and have enough at stake that you are afraid of failing. it is better to risk losing your money or even your life rather than stop working.
We're all players in a game called evolution. This means we're biologically designed to cope with adversity, not success. The real contest in life is between closely matched organisms, each having only a small chance to survive.
Being a creature that's 1% more or less appropriate to its environment (not too smart or dull, not too strong or weak) is the actual game. Everything else is random noise. This means becoming spectacularly successful makes you irrelevant -- a spectator.
This can lead to artificial contests, between organisms that have already won the primary contest. So, after saying, "Wait, what now?", people invent make-believe goals -- climb mountains, make even more money, learn to cook a perfect omelette -- hoping to restore a sense of purpose.
In this non-contest, the least successful burn out, maybe even die prematurely. The most successful invent an imaginary, artificial goal that turns into a real advance. Transistors. Lasers. Antibiotics. Things that weren't really necessary until they appeared and, by existing, became their own reason to exist.
So ... done climbing mountains? Choose an important, unsolved problem and work on it. The problem list is long and deserving:
Batteries.
Cancer.
Population.
Late-stage capitalism.
People who want to kill everyone who doesn't share their beliefs.
So he hired the best and brightest to advance Musk's fascist agenda. What could possibly go wrong?
Self absorbed.
go climb everest a few more times op.
The unspoken and oft-forgotten part of the "immense wealth" agreement is that, unshackled from the need to work to survive in perpetuity, you are also free to give yourself and your time to causes who otherwise would never afford to pay for your skills. My plan - should I ever reach that level of unfathomable wealth, as statistically unlikely as it is even for my privileged upbringing - is to eventually divide my time between IT work for the local school system/town government and running a small, tech-focused community center (think LAN center + board game tables + maker lab) out of my own pocket; the former for the benefits more than the salary (healthcare is expensive), the latter to give the local youth a place to hang out that doesn't require continuous outflows of money or a credit card.
So my advice to anyone, really, is to always consider what you'd do with your life if money were no longer the chief concern of it, and to find more ways of incorporating that into your life until and unless such a time arises. Whatever you do, though, should be in the interest of uplifting others rather than yourself (you won Capitalism by reaching this point, after all). That provides a fulfillment every human ultimately needs in some form.
My grandma has same problem when her only cow died. Now I understand why elderly women meditate.
It sounds like the primary issue is being rich. I'm pretty sure I can help you with that.
If you want a challenge, there is one that exceeds and trumps all others - the climate crisis.
Seek meaning by helping others, or strive to conquer and shape the world through your will.
Instead of engaging with others, you shouldâve just stayed bold (or in your own words - foolish) and started the robotics company, pouring in whatever money you could. Sometimes other people are unintentionally demoralizing. Who cares if youâre burning through your own cash? In a few years, it might just turn into something big.
Give it all away to people in abject poverty and start again. Youâll honestly be happier.
THE FABLE OF THE LOOMER
Create context for understanding what this bible passage you all have heard before is actually about. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2019%3A...
I was in a somewhat similar position as the OP, having had a successful exit many years ago and trying to figure things out. I was lucky that I still had a faculty position at a top university, young kids, and a good family to help ground me and guide me.
My general take on things is this: money is one of the closest things we have to a superpower in this world. With enough money, you can build new things, make steps toward solving hard problems, and influence people and organizations to do things you want.
Given all this, what kind of world would you want to live in? And with your newfound superpower, what kind of steps can you take that might get us closer to that world?
Now, of course, this path is fraught with many challenges and dangers (especially as evidenced by so many superpowered billionaires around the world that want us to live in an oligarchy, but that's a rant for another day). Instead, I'll end by sharing a few things that have helped shape my thinking about how I spend my time and what kind of positive impact I want to make on the world:
- https://whorulesamerica.ucsc.edu/power/wealth.html
- John Rawls on the Veil of Ignorance and the original position https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_position
- Prof. Michael Sandel (Harvard) on Justice: What's the Right Thing to do? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBdfcR-8hEY&list=PL30C13C91C...
- Prof. Robert Reich's course on Wealth and Poverty (former US Sec of Labor) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f2blKai7HA&list=PLOLArO56vj...
There's also an interview with a sci-fi author (Ted Chiang I believe, but I can't find it to confirm), that also posed an interesting question: what is your ideal world, and what steps are you taking to help us get closer to that world? For me, it's Star Trek, not the space exploration part (though that's cool), but the idea that Earth has become a planet where things like war, poverty, hunger, racism, and xenophobia are things in the far past, and every person can achieve their full potential. I know cynics will scoff, but that's a world I'd like to live in, and one I'm trying to use my superpowers to get to.
> Within 2 minutes of talking to the final interviewer for DOGE, he asked me if I wanted to join. I said âyesâ. Then he said âcoolâ and I was in multiple Signal groups. [...] So I reached out to some people and got in. After 8 calls with people who all talked fast and sounded very autistic smart, I was added to a number of Signal groups and immediately put to work. [...] The next 4 weeks of my life consisted of 100s of calls recruiting the smartest people Iâve ever talked to, working on various projects Iâm definitely not able to talk about, and learning how completely dysfunctional the government was. It was a blast.
While I can attest that current day governments in general - some more, some less and I assume past governments as well - can be quite inefficient. I sometimes fantasize about making parts of it more lean and efficient because how hard could it be, right? And with the "right" kind of result evaluation it will not be that hard to score better than it does right now. But having silicon valley techbros apply their move fast and break stuff attitude to things that aren't tech startups has repeatedly resulted in awful results [1]. So I must say reading this passage is quite revealing in ways I think the author did not intend it to be.
You should chill for a few years and really consider the meaning of your money.
I studied philosophy in college and grad school, mainly because I was raised extremely religious and couldn't figure out what was real and what was bullshit.
Every time I read something like this I think to myself 'just please go get a degree in academic philosophy.' It teaches you how to think.
The type of folks who were incredulous about the idea that someone would study something so useless and naval-gazing, I see many of them unsatisfied with life because they have taken the world as it comes, and haven't taken the time to read the existentialists, specifically the ones who wrote about success. I would recommend Tennessee Williams "The Catastrophe of Success": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Catastrophe_of_Success
Understanding existentialism, understanding absurdism, these are really useful things to being able to live a satisfying life but in abundance and in a lack of abundance. My partner is really into yoga and meditation and stuff, and much of what I've read about buddism is basically just religious existentialism and absurdism.
All the best to the author, I hope you are able to do well. Life is hard, and success isn't always what we wanted.
First step. Get some therapy.
I mean if you're looking for a todo list, travelling to third world countries and tipping just like $5 for normal service and seeing people's eyes light up is fun.
I had the same thoughts, as some other people in the comments - there are so many problems to solve, so many people to help. It is hard to match the fulfillment that comes from helping someone less fortunate that you.
This essay has not-so-subtle shades of individualism and meritocracy which can warp ones views about self-worth. I do applaud his self-awareness regarding his own vanity.
As a side note, this is the first I am hearing of interviews for DOGE. Curious what that process looks like.
you have a lack of purpose, sorry buddy but finding one is a life's work. you'll never fully admit it even if you write blog posts like this, but you basically got fooled. happens to lots of people
He should spend more time with his family since he already left his partner.
One idea. Just a thought. You could find ways to help OTHER people succeed?
Go and meditate in order to find out 'I' and 'mine'.
"Ambition is the first curse: the great tempter of the man who is rising above his fellows. It is the simplest form of looking for reward. Men of intelligence and power are led away from their higher possibilities by it continually. Yet it is a necessary teacher. Its results turn to dust and ashes in the mouth; like death and estrangement it shows the man at last that to work for self is to work for disappointment."
He needs therapy is what I'm hearing. And he doesn't know it.
I was getting ready to pile on, but then saw the dude boxes. Anyone who voluntarily risks getting punched in the face gets my respect.
Sadly I'm not of independent means like him, so I can't really relate but good luck to him. He's managed what most of us here dream of.
TBH, I'd say to him to reach out to other ex-founders and chat to them. They'll probably have the best perspective. Or become a partner at YC or something.
I have a special project, would love to tell you about our progress!
Been there, done that. Become a farmer and am now quite satisfied.
Step one is to take down the post saying you have $60 million. Step one in every. single. guide. on what to do is to not to do when you make it big is advertise how much money you have. Holy hell, just ask for "what to do if I win the lottery"
Step two is to find new friends. No, not to ditch your old ones; for being relative to you, poor, but to find other millionaires you can bitch about "zeroth world problems" with. If I told my friends that my Ferrari is going to take 2 years because there's a list, they're not going to have the remotest bit of sympathy, OR be able to help in any way. But if you make friend ym who are in that scene, they'll at least remember what it was like for them to get their first one, and maybe let you borrow theirs. (obviously Ferrari's aren't everyone's thing. The point is not the specifc brand, or even cars in general, but that, rich or poor, find community that you share interest with. You don't have to, but you can develop new, previously too expensive hobbies and will need new people who like those hobbies.
Form a foundation through which to give money that doesn't have your name on it. It'll come in handy for GoFundMe's for people you liked before you got rich. The anonymous button still gives your name to the organizer.
Take some time off to get utterly bored of not working. It's fun for a bit, but it gets old. After that, go find a job. Doesn't have to be a full time job, doesn't have to be paid, doesn't have to have anything to do with your. previous career, but trust me, you'll get bored having nothing to do eventually and need something.
One thing sticks out in that article though, and that's not doing something because Elon's cringe. If someone had said how cringe it is to record a video yourself reading slides, would he be where he is today?
Don't be Elon if you don't want to, but if you want to work on robotics, go work on robotics. Who gives a shit what that egomaniac does?
The bigger advice there is find a therapist and talk it through with them. find one through your new wealthy friends for someone that's experience in your new problems. Just like there are therapists rush specialize in bullying or sexual abuse or divorce, there are those who specialize in other areas.
Post-scarcity world will likely make these scenarios more common.
I may sound very arrogant and I am, but I am shocked how clueless one can be about themselves and what they want, while still being clearly very competent and intelligent.
When you have no job and "infinite" money (for most purposes) and you don't even know what you like doing, you should really spend some time just thinking. It's telling how the next arbitrary opportunity presents itself and the author is immediately 100% on it, possibly changing their entire life immediately after it. As someone that likely thought too much and did too little (I don't have millions), I think this is a case of someone that does too much and thinks too little.
Sitting on a beach and studying physics is probably good start, but it might be better to study nothing and just think about what you like and why you do things. And when you figured it out, keep sitting there a while more (weeks, months, I don't know).
It's a bit disappointing that we live in a system that rewards behavior like this so much and unfortunate for everyone that they often end up with power.
The purpose of life is ultimately to acquire internal resources.
First, hunter-gatherer internal resources (we are all still hunter gatherers after all, biologically speaking). The kind that makes you a capable hunter, i.e. the ability to acquire food/goods:
- Self-confidence - Self-belief - Patience - Ability to acquire new skills - Charisma/EQ - Ability to succeed in society and on earth
Then, the qualities preached in religion:
- Peace - Love - Kindness - A teaching and empathetic heart towards others - Compassion, etc.
Once you've acquired these things, you will no longer be afraid of death. Because you will have accomplished what you were born to do.
TLDR: Study the qualities that martial arts masters have. Because they are the people most at peace with death, which likely means they have accomplished what they were born to do. Then, acquire those qualities. Finally, teach others those qualiites.
I'm living a pretty okay life, I need money for certain things and helping my friends and family takes a lot of money. I think the guy in this article and some of the people in this thread have their perspective warped by the amount of money they have. (This has been proven time and time again: https://caldaclinic.com/the-psychology-of-wealth-and-how-it-... )
Try making some friends with people who aren't as wealthy as you and try to help them out, maybe they need something that is out of their reach, maybe their family needs expensive medicine or something. Anyways, my TL;DR is make friends, spend your money on others and stop hoarding it because it won't make you happy.
What does it even mean to "work for DOGE" at this point? Is it a company? I don't think it's a part of government (yet).
Two words: make babies.
They will change your whole program, and for the better.
brother, just have kids
Thank you for sharing, educative. Will pray for your journey.
That kind of blog post never happened in the 1950 to 1980 era. It is so naive and selfish. But It might have been written in another era by Marie Antoinette. Avarice and decadence like this need to be taxed into oblivion
The author knows exactly what he wants to do. He wants to be Elon Musk. Sadly despite his successful exit he is still many orders of magnitude away from that level of wealth and power. I hope he can find satisfaction in lesser causes, otherwise he is going to live an unhappy life.
I have 500$ in my bank account and just got laid off. You can send me some money and get a sense of fulfillment you helped someone. Dont ever say you never had an opportunity to help anyone.
Anyway. As some people have touched on, service to others and evaluating unjust power structures can be a good place to look for fulfillment. Good luck
if this dude needs a hard task, can you please solve a way to fix whatever is broken in america. counter the republican propaganda machine somehow.
shows you just how much luck really is involved versus having insatiable grit, determination, skill, etc to be successful.
Guy seems amazed that based on whatever probably incorrect information he gets about the government being inefficiently run left him aghast.
Dude got super lucky on a bet about remote work that is not even panning out for the purchaser.
Mike Cannon-Brookes is pursuing Suncable and other energy projects for the future, he's partnered for periods with non software billionaires from the hard resources world (eg: Andrew Forrest) ... there's no shortage of big projects that take big commitments .. even while ensuring you still "never need to work again" (ie. don't push all the chips in).
I too want to have a say in a thread about wealth.
You could have some kids, and let them lead you :)
You can pay off all my debts if youâre bored ;)
Reference: his cofounder https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FbCdBFnZbM
Pay me to tell you what to do with your life.
If you want to see how shallow and utterly stupid anyone in tech is that has money, read this post. It is golden. I was doubled over laughing at the DOGE part. What a chud. And they say the rich know how to use capital. No, they donât. Theyâre just like you and me and itâs mostly just to get their rocks off. Typical HN trash.
Here's an idea!
The biggest challenge I see - the economy is about to be transformed dramatically. AI systems may replace much or all of cognitive labor, and soon afterwards manual labor via robotics. Labor displacement, inequality, hupercapitalism, you name it.
We have no good theses on how to handle this transition, or the role of governments in making sure this goes well for people. We need economic policies and strategies to improve human outcomes post-transition.
If you don't care about money, I can't think of anything more impactful than this work. Ping me @ Convergence Analysis if it's of interest
What this guy definitely needs is a bicycle.
THERAPY.
THE THING YOU ARE LOOKING FOR IS THERAPY.
SAY IT WITH ME:
THER A PY.
Everything in this post is about how you keep tripping over your own bullshit and donât know what you want. The only difference between you and everyone else having an existential crisis is you won the lottery before you ran out of ways to lie to yourself. The good news is youâve apparently got enough money to pay for the help so many other people need but canât get. Go find a therapist and figure out why youâre so goddamn miserable (emotionally, not as a person) and what stupid stories youâve been telling yourself to make you that way so you can use all the wealth youâve accumulated to do something fulfilling, instead of trying to cosplay as the most visibly miserable person on the planet.
Buy some empathy
That is how famous mythical genius from the woods with a background in physics was born, with the swiftness of a single blog post.
> billionaires want you to know they could have done physics https://youtu.be/GmJI6qIqURA?t=1271
How about studying some philosophy? If you dedicate yourself to it for a couple of years, it'll hammer in a sense of what truly matters. (While at it, it'll wean you off the Silicon Valley's empty humblespeak.)
Particulary, ancient Greek and Roman philosophy. Grapple with the originals, and not some weak "modern" versions. Don't try to "hack" philosophy, give the time it deserves.
As a more concrete pointer, in the past I wrote a list of high-quality English translations by scholars who have immersed themselves in these works here[1].
Using the correct words such as "gratitude" but pretty much missing the point. I no place do you mention you took help or how it affected your pre startup personal life.
If one doesn't have principles based on life meaning, optimizing metrics is a good way of calming down your urges but it the end it does not work. How can you tell it doesn't work? Simply because your feedback loop stops giving you the dopamine response you expect and you need to escalate just to calm down. Far away travels, dangerous actions, more expensive stuff even tried to get into an DOGE without even knowing what the problem with DOGE -smart- thinkers is because philosophy, political science or history apparently hasn't been your life's focus. You still consider it important, that it was a very intelligent group they allowed you in, without figuring out what was wrong with their whole premise. It would be apparent to a first year social sciences student, someone who has visited a Tesla factory o to someone from a country with a sizeable functioning government that has not been a victim of corporate capture for decades.
Money is important, but if I were I would beg my girlfriend back if it was a relationship of feelings, try to reconnect with some friends and family that were probably lost during this multi year grind, people you will be considering as boring because no dopamine. Ask then how they are doing, play with their kids see why they are not boring. Read some Gabor Mate and Irvin Yalom and have just one main goal: Being able after 2-3 years to lie down in the grass for a couple of hours,doing nothing, just looking at the stars, being calm without your nervous system randomly spiking and pushing you towards chaos. Talk to people who don't know you are rich, try to learn from them. Avoid extreme environments.
Currently you describe a nervous system that seems to be taking important decisions for meaningless actions which you then rationalize. Not admitting any mistakes, not failing since there were no goals in the first place other than grinding.
I know that, been there, done that, I am still there, I am not getting out anytime soon either. There are many people in that status, that is not special either.
8/10 people I'm friends with who have been through an exit could write this post. It's a very, very, very, very common. The questions at the end too, two hands to count the times I've been asked those questions. I think the answer is, because: because those are what got you to the point of where you are right now, they are in fact just you, there is no why, they are not questions they're statements, that's who you are. Why are you that way? does it matter? ÂŻ\_(ă)_/ÂŻ (oh, and letting people down is hard because you're not just letting people down, you are letting yourself down too)
you went to work for "doge"? Man don't take it the wrong way but you really are cringe.
I do not have anything to add to this beyond pointing out that it is an incredibly ironic first post for someone who loudly states how much they love capitalism on their about page
Wow.Poor baby!
sucks to get what you want, no? haha
always amazed how life is like that
we get more high from chasing something than achieving something
Clearly this is a joke, and you're all missing the point! He decided to fill in the void left after HBO's Silicon Valley and take up startup stand-up comedy, and this essay is his entry into the space :)
I find that there are limitations of satisfaction from grand accomplishments or capitalistic success.
At the end of the day, we are born naked, die naked and decompose.
Doing what you want to do without some grand goals, interacting with others, helping others, joking around with friends and family with no other âgrandâ purpose, or just reconnecting with someone you havenât for a while, all these things shouldnât be tucked away completely in the name of âachieving moreâ.
I mean if you wanna angel invest I have some backburner projects I can't get done without some funding for hardware and time spent not earning an income, which I could probably spin into startups
> However, there are some questions left unanswered.
> Why did I need to do the absolute most to reach this point?
> Why couldnât I just leave Loom and say âI donât know what I want to do nextâ?
> Why do I feel the need to only be on a journey if itâs grand?
> What is wrong with being insignificant?
> Why is letting people down so hard?
For these questions, I would suggest, you please read blogposts on https://os.me
Om Swami is an entrepreneur extraordinaire and has discovered his own truth. I am sure you will find it helpful.
Spoiler: He was(is?) also ultra rich and has figured out this stuff.
Dude is burned out, he needs to relax a bit and stop drinking coffee if he does, cause it is probably giving him overdrive to the tired mind. Stop and smell the roses for a bit is true in this case.
You're a very poor person.
> Makes a bunch of money
> tries to be Elon Musk
> Breaks up with girlfriend
> joins DOGE (to not be like Elon�)
> Mentions repeatedly the desire to not be cringe
Sounds like a cringey Elon fantasy despite the self awareness
Adults of all stripes - and of all socioeconomic backgrounds - manage to pull themselves out of funks all the time without needing to write woe-is-me blog posts about it.
That our wealth-worship culture has gone so far and gotten so bad that we're supposed to give any fucks about this "zeroth-world struggle" is absolutely asinine.
We are truly on The Worst Timeline, without doubt.
(It shouldn't surprise anyone that OP "larped as Elon" and "had a brief stint at DOGE"...)
I'll take the money. I've got a bajillion things I want to work on and not enough time because I have to spend 40 hours a week at my day job. Give me enough money to live on passive income, and I will just work on self-directed interesting things.
I mean I will also probably spend about the first three months just catching up on video games, but after that I have a couple of mpd plugins I've been meaning to write, and that's just for starters.
...is this satire?
I honestly have a hard time believing anyone could survive doing what he says he did in the Himalayas without learning to spell "rappel" if it isn't.
i'm not rich but i know what i want to do
0xB7ed48cEb34Bcf73d8cFCB7904d2ae2C3F685D42
Pathetic. This is a failed education, producing classic "dumb money" that in a planet in dire straights with dire problems left and right, this clueless dope can't figure out how to keep himself satisfied. Boo hoo. If I were physically in the presence of this individual, verbal if not physical slaps to the face as I explain what their education failed: empathy and a sense of duty to others.
Down vote away!
Why the hell does this crap have 940 comments, lmao? Why would anyone seriously spend any amount of time discussing this nonsensical crap of man-child?
If I did not have to work I'd probably get a dog and start a kayak and paddle board rental center near some scenic lake, along with a small fishing tackle shop. Screw Elon, robots, DOGE, AI, Mars and other stupid tech bro ideas.
In fact I already did the dog part, but I'd probably get an Aussie instead if I did not have to work, had more space and more time on my hands to keep a more active dog engaged.
Man if tech bros could pull their head out of their asses for one second and value an opinion of someone who was not themselves (or Elon). They would find that this feeling is perhaps the best documented feeling in philosophy.
A manâs search for meaning is perhaps the best book on a cure for this affliction. I have a hard time taking seriously people who believe their problems are unique
Do I understand that this person envies Elon Musk on physical appearance?
The world is full of beautiful people and they arguably command way too much attention.
Better looking than Elon Musk? Most people I know are better looking than Elon Musk.
If I woke up and saw Elon Musk in the mirror Iâd yearn for the badly aging nerd I saw yesterday.
Another lucky idiot who thinks he's a genius.
Goddamn, this is peak tech bro performance art.
Dude, youâre a bigwig at atlassian. Fix JIRA.
More than anything else, this just strikes me as tone-deaf. Doubly so given where we are with the economy and everything.
You are lost and thought DOGE was a good idea? The entire org is ketamine-fueled techbro Elon wannabes; not the best life-valuing gurus.
Maybe take a Buddhist retreat for a year and see if doing quiet charity work feels better than trying to consolidate electrons.
Or just be lost while building affordable housing? Try focusing on others rather than you.
IMO:
Why did I need to do the absolute most to reach this point? Ego
Why couldnât I just leave Loom and say âI donât know what I want to do nextâ? Ego
Why do I feel the need to only be on a journey if itâs grand? Ego
What is wrong with being insignificant? Ego
Why is letting people down so hard? Ego
Fix the unhealthy Ego and master self worth. You are a gift to humanity, hope you find a path to help humanity.
IMO:
Why did I need to do the absolute most to reach this point? Ego
Why couldnât I just leave Loom and say âI donât know what I want to do nextâ? Ego
Why do I feel the need to only be on a journey if itâs grand? Ego
What is wrong with being insignificant? Ego
Why is letting people down so hard? Ego
IMO fix your ego issues and master selfworth. You are a gift to humanity, hope you find your purpose and path.
So, while I do not agree with everything Jordan Peterson says (or even most), his writing/speaking about âtake responsibility for something meaningfulâ is good advice.
You want freedom, but that is a freedom to choose. It is not an end goal to never choose anything.
You should try having someone fucking you in the ass for half an hour.
Hey,
You are talking about money. You are talking about girlfriend. You always think about possessing.
If you are fishing for some suggestions Iâd first find a good personal trainer and fix the body. At the same time join a career change counseling group workshop.
Donât let others do things for you. Walk everywhere, use a bicycle. Also cooking kills some time.
Good luck
Maybe youâve got it right.
I lost it all. I spent some time grieving, did some crazy things, decided to build wealth all over again, but then didnât. I instead picked a topic and started learning. Three degrees later Iâm pushing the boundaries of a field I had never heard of in that past life.
Iâm not rich, but Iâm comfortable.
Iâm happy.
Enjoy Physics. Itâs awesome.
what about just buying houses for homeless people
Wealth only makes it hard to figure out what to do with your life if you believe wealth is a goal.
Wealth is something that removes obstacles to figuring out what to do with your life. If you had "being wealthy" as the goal itself, no wonder you're now feeling aimless. Instead, you should have been living your life, and now you'd think "great, now I can continue doing what I've been doing, except I don't need to worry about money".
Work shouldn't be your life. At most, work should be an interesting thing you do for the challenge, and which you'd do even if you weren't getting paid to.
His attention span won't be enough to stick with physics for longer than 4 weeks.. he should just apply his skills in building companies to hire a couple of people to work on cool stuff that he is excited about. A good approach is to find some smart grad students at a local university who are in electrical engineering probably since you have to know lots of physics to get there and say "hey i have some money, want to build some cool prototypes?" and the best part is you can just ask those grad students how all this physics stuff works and they will happily tell you whatever you want to know.
Just an essay in ego-bashing and showing off. While I donât deny the author is self-made, highly successful for his age and ultra-rich, this essay is just an attempt to stroke his ego.
Itâs evident in the paragraph below where he said heâs leaving DOGE to âsave our governmentâ. The writer lacks clarity and coherence of thought. How exactly is he saving the government after his DOGE stint?
>>So, after 4 intense and intoxicating weeks, I called off my plans to move to DC and embark on a journey to save our government with some of the smartest people Iâve ever met. And I booked a 1-way ticket to Hawaii.
Studying physics in the jungle, focusing on my insecurities
So now Iâm in Hawaii. Iâm learning physics. Why? The reason I tell myself is to build up my first principles foundation so I can start a company that manufactures real world things. It seems plausible, but Iâm learning to just accept that I am happy learning physics. Thatâs the goal in and of itself.
"There's nothing at the top but a bucket and a mop and an illustrated book about birds."
This is the most childish thing Iâve read. And shows a lot about he doesnât have any people relying on him or community to support. He takes one hike and throws away 60m. Doesnât try to find anything interesting to do at Atlassian just calls his coworkers NPCs. This is zero-empathy Peter Pan syndrome at its worse.
Sad how he just goes adventure hopping to try and find meaning. The problem is no matter where you are you are also there. Time to look inward and not outward.
This reads like a bit from Silicon Valley the TV series... is this parody?
The best thing that ever could happen to Elon Musk is for him to start over with just 200k in the bank, and no assets other than a modest house.
Stay hungry my friend.
Boo fucking hoo. Oh, pity me, I'm rich and sad. What ever will I do with all my money that will make me happy?
You don't need purpose, you need perspective.
Instead of benefiting the billionaire class by working with DOGE to tear down what little safety nets we do have, go volunteer to pack meals or drive a truck at your local food bank. https://www.sfmfoodbank.org/volunteer/
They'll be a lot less judgemental than I am.
991166
hookers and cocaine of course ⊠https://youtu.be/0yrIvEgqAuo?feature=shared
Shit. At the very least. Just travel. Via hostels or a PJ. Take pretty pictures. Make people smile or spark their imagination. Easy.
Can get rich but can suss this out. More common than not
Be kind.
Was there an occult(ation)-like timeshift that I missed hearing about, which somehow made today April 1st?
Or is this a test ChatGPT or other LLM post to see if HGI exists, considering the comments that seem to be taking the OP seriously?
H for Human. As in Human General Intelligence, as opposed to AGI.
Or is the OP just an Elon-level narcissist and/or a huge startup koolaid alcoholic?
Genuinely can't tell.
Emperor mumble clothes.
Bro has all the spare time to try and build AGI. That's software with datq acquisition and stored procedures. I would do that.
That is a good problem to have
One thing he does is âtrying to be Elonâ in robotics. (But what impressive things has Elon or his underlings done in in robotics? Or just outside of Spacex?) Because the âworld is going through a labor shortageâ. So the save the world shtick here is to solve propaganda-problem (fake) of there being a labor shortage, in other words get rid of needing workers. I bet that will change the world for the better in this time of massive inequality.
Then he wants to work for the upcoming US government spearheaded by two billionaire robber barons, one of which made his fortunes by pump and dumping a worthless Alzheimer drug. The other one has a very suspect track record and is a very big government contractor (but for some reason we donât call people like him oligarchs). âGovernment is dysfunctionalâ. So letâs, as billionaires (and financially independent multi-millionaires) take a sledgehammer to government and remake it how we want it to be. Oh boy. And attract all the âsmartestâ people to this project.[1]
Iâm not afraid that some small number of financially independent, Scrooge McDuck ideologue techbros have the power to make the world significantly worse (although it is a bit concerning). Iâm also not upset that they donât plan to do something âphilantphtropicâ (i.e. main dish of ego-stroking and PR with a side-dish of actual good work). And Iâm not upset that they donât go into something hands-on with a direct positive impact on peopleâs lives (c.f. âsolving the labor shortageâ) by volunteering themselves.
Iâm just upset that these ideologues just donât spend their money on one or five yachts, a private plane, their friends/family/entourage, and leave the rest of the world the fuck alone.
[1] âAll the brightest minds of my generation who venerate Musk and billionaire-world problems like âlabor shortageâ are going to work for robber barons in order to dismantle the US goverment...â wait maybe these people are not the brightest lightbulbs after all.
stopped reading at "NPC coworkers"
Yeah itâs a problem. Jimmy Carter had the same type of problem 45 years ago. He seemed to deal with it pretty well.
Lmao nobody truly earns that much money, it's theft from the people, plain and simple.
Sure, DV me tech bros. You all create the foundation for all the MBAs and C levels to make 10x more than even you do, people who don't even understand the tech behind the product. Yet y'all think it's a great deal bc you're still richer than the "poors". Wealth inequality is going to eat the world very soon.
Boo hoo. Give it all away to children in Africa. I assure you they'll know what to do with it.
Very poor spiritual or philosophical foundation. Why not dedicate a year or two studying meaning itself from many diverse sources? Reminded me of a friend who told me once: Mount Everest is full of dead bodies of bored millionaires. But this case is totally innocent, continuing with DOGE would have been great tho. The dangers come when they start using networking and political power to play god and plan on eugenics or eco-communist kind of ideas/projects hallucinating they are "saving the world" as ants hallucinating the jungle needs them.
Another instance of money doesn't bring you happiness or peace. Congrats on your exit.
> NPC coworkers
I very much dislike the trend of calling other people NPCs.
When you feel tempted to see someone else as an NPC, it might be helpful to remember the concept of "sonder":
> the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your ownâpopulated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited crazinessâan epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that youâll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.
https://www.dictionaryofobscuresorrows.com/post/23536922667/...
Just realize that compared to Elon Musk you are a poor bastard.
I could use 50k ;)
He looks like a perfect victim for a cult. I can't help him though.
Bro sold a screen recorder plug-in for large amount of money. Now sad he is not Elon Musk. Existential crisis ensues.
What a problem, eh dude? Damn, this rich guys are incredible.
relatable.
Great example of tech bros getting way to much compensation for not much ... and also not knowing how to live a basic human life. I would like to see their wealth taxed to the hilt so they can go back to work and stfu.
Give your money to me. I'll put it to good use! Lol
discipline is all you need
insufferable and now our tax dollars are paying for him to cut government services via DOGE.
A few million is workable, but 60 million is a scarlet letter. Good luck finding someone who doesn't want their cut of it
clears throat
fuck you.
I can't remember the last time I read something this tone deaf and obnoxious. It reads like a 13 year old's journal. And a selfish 13 year old at that. Guy is so devoted to capitalism that he can't conceive of any way to do good in the world if it doesn't involve starting a business (or trying to make the government run like one).
Maybe try helping people without expecting or even wanting any financial return.
This is why you have kids lmao
Oh fuck off. Just fuck off.
So, I managed to get in the same situation last year too. Not as much $$$, but still in the 'no longer have to work' and 'my family will never be poor again' camp here.
Honestly, yeah, I feel you man. I'm a bit adrift. I had a bad childhood too. I largely defined myself through my work and effort. I saw other people (mostly older co-workers in my career) as NPCs. I majored in Physics, PHD in neuro. I might get it, I dunno.
But I have a family, and that changes things a lot for me. I have built in 'purpose' in my life that is orthogonal to my 'work life'. So, caveats there. Now, work life comes after kid-time, in terms of priority.
The things that I can say that are different is that I'm finding purpose through others. The way I see it: We're all just naked beach apes on a soggy rock flung through the void, telling stories to each other around the fire.
So, tell the stories that matter.
I.E. get to work trying to help other people. You have the fuck you money now, like me, it would be a shame to not say 'fuck you' a few times. To the people that really need it said to them. This is gonna sound really strange for HN, but, maybe start going to religious services. Generally, religion is there to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. That's maybe something you sound like you need. Shop around for churches/mosques/etc. Unitarian Universalist is the 'church' for atheists, pretty old too, not a 'new' thing. It's good to get into a community that does a lot of volunteer work, FYI.
You said you found an iota of purpose with the DOGE thingy. Maybe try breaking that down a bit for yourself, explore why those feeling came up. You're a go-getter, ready and willing to work hard. It does sound like some sort of public service (define that as broadly as you can) would be good for you, and for all of us.
Still, we're both 'babies' at being rich. It's gonna take some time, maybe longer than we have left, to figure that out for ourselves.
One real thing though: Get your GF back, fast. Grovel. You'll find nothing but gold-diggers now, it's just a fact, I'm so sorry about it. She was there before you were rich (I think I read that right?), you know she's in it for you, not the cash. From what you said, she doesn't mind the hours you work. Or just you in general. That's a tremendous gift. If you want the kids, she's the best path you got for a family you're not paranoid about. Really. Marriage is a market, and you're hot property now, be very careful. Honestly, if you can get her back, fuck that pre-nup shit too. Jump in with both feet, never leave, tie yourself up, make it really hard to go. Your future self will hate you, but that guy's future self will love you.
Best of luck man. Take the time, forgive yourself for dumb shit as you get used to it. Get back to work and say fuck you a bit more for the right reasons. You sound like a chill dude who is trying hard. Keep that vibe.
Peak, peak HN.
"I am rich and yet find it to be unfulfilling and not the ultimate goal of human existence"
and yet,
"I am a big fan of capitalism" and repeat wholesale its most puerile, naive ideological propaganda mantras (see his about page) which are meant to justify _exactly_ that.
Bud, seems like you have some more thinking to do if you think those two positions are perfectly congruent.
Thats some top 1% shit
I have no idea who this guy is but anyone willing to go work for Elon/Trump seriously needs to reevaluate their ethics in life. How disgusting.
Come on,this post is a wind up, right?
Putting aside the whole "I'm rich and aimless, what should I do" thing the author's got going on, I found the product they got rich for (Loom) to be fascinating as a statement on where we are right now.
It's essentially just a program that allows you to record a video of yourself while iterating through a presentation or screen share and then share it for feedback.
Powerpoint has this as a native feature with OneDrive. There are other screenshare programs that do the same thing.
The whole incentive for using it (according to the video) is to "avoid another all hands meeting." And AI is involved somehow?
I find it so fascinating how companies seem to be aware that the way many big companies work (usually in office, in meetings, sometimes on video calls) is flawed, but rather than revisit the model, we just try to map the existing structure onto new expensive shiny tools.
The only benefit I see to having someone send me a video of them reading their presentation or narrating their screen share is that I can watch it on 2x speed asynchronously. At that point, why not just send me a set of bullet points and the presentation or screenshots?
I look at these products and I get the same feeling I do when I watch a road worker paint a tiny bike lane on an existing 4 lane megaroad with no barrier. You're not fixing the problem - you're just causing new ones. The whole system has to shift somehow.
"I don't fucking care what people say.
Go America. Go capitalism. Go free markets. Go hard work."
So if everyone works as hard as him, then everyone can become rich and retire early?
Instead of studying physics in the "jungle" he should be studying logic, ethics, and history. Pay your goddamn taxes, elect uncorruptable politicians, and support free open source software.
"billionaires want you to know they could have done physics." âAngela Collier, physicist; https://youtu.be/GmJI6qIqURA
Boo hoo.
I find it a little unsatisfying when people write these things without telling me roughly what they're worth. "Rich" can vary wildly depending who you ask.
edit: according to another's comment referencing a $56m payout, it now occurs to me that his confusing mention of a $60m figure may have been exactly that
If you want to see the picture of success in spending one's money, find the pictures of Lebron James surprising the kids in the school he built in his home town of Akron, Ohio. His smile is the verifiable truth of "you reap what you sow".
Find other people to make happy, by first reducing their misery, and you ensure your own luck and happiness. It's the most important magic there is, along with repeating a Holy Name of God, like Nyame in Ghanaian (I learned that today on a walk).
Lebron reaps the joy of those hundreds of kids that he makes happy every single day. It comes back into our inner peace and happiness. And power.
Succeed for others and your success will only grow. Because compassion. Always compassion.
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The cringiest humblebrag of a blog post in some time.
The only proper emotion in success is gratitude to the many people who helped you along the way.
Have some bloody decorum.
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I know that people like me do not belong on HN anymore, but:
Calling people "NPCs" is vile.
And, the entire ideology that makes it okay to say that one's fellow earthling is just an NPC? That is probably a major component of this person's problems.
The insufferable derision of "NPC Coworkers."
How about you use some of that fuck you money and go buy a soul, asshole?
I will never have $60M, but I will also never not have a soul.
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TLDR, I've let how I think and what I value to be entirely determined by capitalism. I then (essentially) won capitalism. Hence I don't know what to do since capitalism has no meaning beyond achieving extreme relative wealth accumulation.
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brother, the answer is kids
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I recommend reading The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**
Idk read âthe monk who sold his ferrariâ or something not that i have (read book, or ferrari) Also youtube.com/watch?v=GmJI6qIqURA&t=15m14s but for millionaire equivalent instead of billionaire
e: advice comes in all shapes and forms. you want me to lie to him? what would buddha do
So I put this into my (WIP) AI writing app, and these were its thoughts on seeing the first paragraph:
{ "reflections": [ { "text_snippet": "Life has been a haze this last year. After selling my company...", "response": "This reminds me of Joseph Campbell's concept of 'hitting the wasteland' - that disorienting period after achieving what society told you was the ultimate goal. Campbell wrote about this in 'The Hero with a Thousand Faces,' describing how many mythological heroes face their greatest crisis not in battle, but in the emptiness that follows victory. There's a beautiful quote from his lectures: 'If you can see your path laid out in front of you step by step, you know it's not your path. Your own path you make with every step you take.'" }, { "text_snippet": "Everything feels like a side quest, but not in an inspiring way", "response": "This evokes Viktor Frankl's concept of the 'existential vacuum' - the state of emptiness that comes when our primary drive is satisfied but we haven't yet found what he calls our 'will to meaning.' You might find resonance in his lesser-known work 'The Unheard Cry for Meaning' where he writes: 'What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal.'" }, { "text_snippet": "I have infinite freedom, yet I don't know what to do with it", "response": "This reminds me of Kierkegaard's meditation on anxiety and freedom. He saw anxiety not as fear of external threats, but as the dizzying awareness of infinite possibility. In 'The Concept of Anxiety,' he describes it as 'the dizziness of freedom, which emerges when the spirit wants to posit the synthesis and freedom looks down into its own possibility.'" } ], "questions": [ { "personal": "What did you imagine freedom would feel like before you achieved this level of it?", "philosophical": "When you say things feel like 'side quests,' I'm curious - what would a 'main quest' feel like to you now?" } ], "closing_thought": "Your situation reminds me of Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha after he became a wealthy merchant. He had everything, yet felt a profound emptiness that eventually led him to his true path. Sometimes the void itself becomes the doorway to something deeper." }
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Really cool to read the comments in this thread & see the real-life advice of people who have been in these situations too!
the critics in this section about doge are absolutely dumbfounding. it seems to be hiring the smartest people from the industry, and yet people complain it didnât recruit people with education or exp in state administration / bureaucracy ? which is precisely the field which in fact needs a cultural shakedown ?
Are you people out of your mind ? this is the passage that in fact made me the most impressed about this DOGE project. They seem 100% focused on agility and velocity, thatâs just crazy when you think about how those kind of projects usually work in other countries (like france, which would have a commission created with long pompous ceremonies of hearings of pseudo-experts)
I think you should start investing in companies and then possibly get some drive there helping others make it. Sometimes it is nice to give back to the community I think
If you do think that can be given a try then hey.. we (my wife and me, my wife more than me) are looking to build something and could do with some investment to take that risk.
I don't think you have to have Fuck You Money to get to this point. Most people eventually become disillusioned with work enough that they reevaluate what matters to them. Getting a very profitable exit is just one way to trigger that experience.
In my experience, a lot of people who get into this state start self-sabotaging hard as a way of rejecting what feels, ironically, like losing control. Sudden freedom can feel foreign and lot like your world got forcibly taken away from you. I'm not surprised the author is turning down opportunities and breaking off with his girlfriend. It's a way of taking back control.
When this happened to me, I pivoted hard from getting satisfaction out of what I built to getting satisfaction out of developing people. Now I take great pride out of the careers I've nurtured...a lot more than what I've built, in most ways. I've heard others express similar ideas in different ways, like "I now enjoy making other people rich."
No matter what, I encourage the author to use this time to build connections instead of destroying them (real connections...not work or SF acquaintances). Something I did not read in this essay is how he grew closer to anyone (in fact, I read the opposite). No path out of this valley involves traveling alone.