Question for guys who are location & schedule independent, rich & laid like rockstars
05-05-2015, 01:01 PM
Once again, many thanks guys for sharing your thoughts and questions. I'll respond to each of your posts but after meditating today, I realized that one source of continuous happiness I've had is the freedom and time to just chill out and think about life. Whether I've been on a beach in SEA, in the middle of a major metropolitan city, relaxing no pressure suburbia, just having that automatic reset button/get out of jail free card has given me peace of mind. Sounds so simple but I personally have been in life situations in the past where I did not have that, where I felt stuck so for right now, that is one definition of happiness for me. That freedom, which some of you pointed out.
Hey thanks for the long, well written post man. Much appreciated. You may be younger but you definitely dropped a lot of knowledge that I learned from. Also agree with many of your thoughts (although the country over city ppl is open to debate, haha. I actually like country ppl who just moved to the city personally as you've got the logistics for a lot of fun with the down to earth attitude although that is a broad generalization)
My main takeaway from your post was the time, freedom and quality of company part. Time and freedom are pretty obvious benefits but the quality of company really hit. For example, if one has abundance of money and women, you're not gonna waste even one bit of energy on a client, business partner, girl who doesn't add SUBSTANTIALLY to your life. You could cherry pick who you bring into your circle in any area of life. Now granted, you could also make the argument that if one is truly satisfied with life, they would bring positivity to others, all human beings (like say Tony Robbins, Stephen Covey, hell even Roosh, Tyler or Mystery haha) but I know for myself, unless I'm at 110%, it can be draining to be around ppl for long periods of time who don't reciprocate the love sorta speak. As an example, I wouldn't mind talking to a homeless person or drug addict for a few minutes to try and inspire them to do better with their lives and even hook them up with a little cash (well maybe only for the homeless person) but to be around them on an ongoing basis when I'm tired from work or not in the best mood would be a negative. Anyways, I'm going off on a tangent.
As for a nice flat, I've actually had some of my most inspirational moments while living in a shithole (albeit in an interesting, exciting area like Little Italy in San Francisco, Shibuya in Tokyo) and have been bored out of my mind in nicer places that were out in suburbia. But I get your overall point. Thanks again for sharing man
Haha, I am too man, that's why I posted my initial post. Actually, not so much lost but just CURIOUS to hear what types of concerns and problems do guys who have this lifestyle have. Here's an example of a real life problem that someone who is broke as fuck would have no clue about but that anybody making serious coin thinks about constantly. TAXES. When someone makes a lot of money, you'll always looking for some kind of tax shelter, right? But if you're barely scraping by, you wouldn't give a fuck about the Isle of Mann or any other tax havens, 1031 exchanges or differences between short term and long term capital gains taxes. Thus, I'm curious about what others who are in a position that I'm currently working for are dealing with.
Interesting that you mentioned I have a desire to commit. What made you sense that? If you're referring to the fact that I actually wanted to marry my ex, yes I did. But I don't think it was because I necessarily was wanting to commit for commitments sake. Rather, I just felt satisfied. Sexually, emotionally, at the time I was doing pretty good financially. But before her, I was a cheating dog. Not a whole lot as I'm no pimp BUT I definitely wasn't ready to commit. But as mentioned in the initial post, that was a big learning experience as well because I realized that I was lacking several things in my life and that's why I was so hooked on her. For now, I don't want to commit until I'm in an area where I have streams of girls that I'm attracted to around me on a regular basis (Tokyo, Seoul, Kiev, Manhattan to name a few places)
Ohhhh, nice man! Never thought about it that way. It's one thing to work hard in your business, sport, music, art, etc but to find a girl who's a great match?? Hmmmm.. very good point. On one hand, I don't think a girl should be a guy's primary focus but with that being said, for the time that a girl IS your focus, why not invest in finding a quality one. To be fair though, I actually have met a lot of my ex-gfs on the street, NOT in nightclubs. And when I say street, I'm not talking prostitutes, haha (sure you knew that but it's funny when I type that) and I get to know them. I've also met many girls where there was just no click. It's only recently that I've been hitting up nightlife venues regularly, not so much even to meet the best girls but more for the challenge to myself of meeting girls in an environment that I am not as familiar with. But after a few months of that, while any challenge is good exercise, it gets tiring when you know there are much better logistics and streams in other markets. It'd sorta be like if you had a young niece or nephew who wanted to open up a lemonade stand on the corner. Yeah, it could be fun to try and help them design their sign, come up with pricing, figure out the ideal days and times to do business, but you wouldn't want to do that for more than a day at most, hell , even a few hours. At some point, you figure, okay it's been fun, but now to make real money. So on the girl tip, after the challenge part has been tested, it's time to do it for real in the best case scenario.
Quote: (05-05-2015 06:09 AM)H1N1 Wrote:
I am younger than you, and although I run my own business that does ok, I'd hesitate to try and offer anything that could be interpreted as advice.
What I would say is that for me, once the basic human needs are met (food, shelter, water, health etc), material enrichment offers little other than fleeting happiness, if indeed you could even call it that.
I live in a nice flat, which I like, and it's nicer than living in a less nice flat, which I've also done, but I wouldn't have said I was demonstrably happier as a result. If your pleasures are more abstract in nature, then having a different coloured Ferrari for each day of the week is unlikely to add very much to your quality of life.
When you think about the things that matter, ultimately you can probably boil it down to a few things that truly make you happy. For me personally, it comes down to: time, freedom, and quality of company.
Money can't buy you any of those things directly. However, enough of it gives you the means to maximise your ability to have those things. Clearly the more money you have, the less pressing the need to go to work is to cover basic bills (rent, living etc). However, most people when they start making more money adjust their lifestyles up accordingly, and that is why you end up with the whole 'more money, more problems' scenario. It is easy to become trapped in a cycle where you are defined by the the amount or value of 'things' you possess, and I genuinely believe this is because very often people do not analyse their lives and assess the core principles that can truly make them happy. We live in a consumerist society and it is all to easy, when bombarded with advertising all day, to feel that having more things equates to more happiness.
To come back to my own situation, my happiness would not now be increased by moving into an even nicer flat, or driving a faster car, or whatever. Given the values I stated: time, freedom, quality of company, the acquisition of most material things would actually diminish my happiness, as it would reduce my capital reserves, thereby reducing my ready potential for maximising those values. Expending cash on such items would increase my potential for problems, having a negative net effect on my happiness.
That's not to say money can't add materially to your happiness. For example, although I would gain little by moving into a nicer flat, for me personally, were I able to buy a country estate, whilst retaining enough invested capital to have the time to enjoy it, I could materially increase my happiness, as my time quotient would stay the same, but my freedom quotient (as I would define it for myself - space to roam/increasing the demesne over which I am master) would increase exponentially. Possibly my quality of company quotient would also increase (country people>city people).
Fundamentally, as with all things in life, poor choices will always (likely) lead to unhappiness, and informed choices are more likely to lead to a greater experience of happiness. If you're using substantial amounts of money to make marginal increments to your quality of life (eg, dropping thousands more/month on a slightly nicer flat to pull girls +1 on your scale), then you aren't really doing anything different from what you were doing previously when you had less money. It is the lifestyle and the priorities you have chosen that are limiting your happiness, not the amount of chrome in your pad. In this situation, more money won't decrease your problems, and will most likely add to them, because all you've done is upgraded the triviality of your existence and now you have to stay on the treadmill to hold on to it.
Money is just a tool. More money is a better tool, but still just a tool. If you're a shitty workman, it doesn't matter whether you've got a good tool or a bad one, their both ineffective in your hands at best. But give a bad tool to a good workman and he'll still produce something excellent.
None of the above is aimed directly at the OP.
Hey thanks for the long, well written post man. Much appreciated. You may be younger but you definitely dropped a lot of knowledge that I learned from. Also agree with many of your thoughts (although the country over city ppl is open to debate, haha. I actually like country ppl who just moved to the city personally as you've got the logistics for a lot of fun with the down to earth attitude although that is a broad generalization)
My main takeaway from your post was the time, freedom and quality of company part. Time and freedom are pretty obvious benefits but the quality of company really hit. For example, if one has abundance of money and women, you're not gonna waste even one bit of energy on a client, business partner, girl who doesn't add SUBSTANTIALLY to your life. You could cherry pick who you bring into your circle in any area of life. Now granted, you could also make the argument that if one is truly satisfied with life, they would bring positivity to others, all human beings (like say Tony Robbins, Stephen Covey, hell even Roosh, Tyler or Mystery haha) but I know for myself, unless I'm at 110%, it can be draining to be around ppl for long periods of time who don't reciprocate the love sorta speak. As an example, I wouldn't mind talking to a homeless person or drug addict for a few minutes to try and inspire them to do better with their lives and even hook them up with a little cash (well maybe only for the homeless person) but to be around them on an ongoing basis when I'm tired from work or not in the best mood would be a negative. Anyways, I'm going off on a tangent.
As for a nice flat, I've actually had some of my most inspirational moments while living in a shithole (albeit in an interesting, exciting area like Little Italy in San Francisco, Shibuya in Tokyo) and have been bored out of my mind in nicer places that were out in suburbia. But I get your overall point. Thanks again for sharing man
Quote: (05-05-2015 07:16 AM)Cobra Wrote:
I'm actually still lost on what you actually want to do. Say you had no problems to deal with in that location. What does your ideal life look like. Post some details about that and maybe then some of the guys that have that type of lifestyle can comment.
On top of that, through your post I read a sense of desire to commit. Meaning you seem to want a marriage or relationship at the least. What are your goals there? The answer to this question may lead to a different set of choices for you and different challenges to overcome.
Haha, I am too man, that's why I posted my initial post. Actually, not so much lost but just CURIOUS to hear what types of concerns and problems do guys who have this lifestyle have. Here's an example of a real life problem that someone who is broke as fuck would have no clue about but that anybody making serious coin thinks about constantly. TAXES. When someone makes a lot of money, you'll always looking for some kind of tax shelter, right? But if you're barely scraping by, you wouldn't give a fuck about the Isle of Mann or any other tax havens, 1031 exchanges or differences between short term and long term capital gains taxes. Thus, I'm curious about what others who are in a position that I'm currently working for are dealing with.
Interesting that you mentioned I have a desire to commit. What made you sense that? If you're referring to the fact that I actually wanted to marry my ex, yes I did. But I don't think it was because I necessarily was wanting to commit for commitments sake. Rather, I just felt satisfied. Sexually, emotionally, at the time I was doing pretty good financially. But before her, I was a cheating dog. Not a whole lot as I'm no pimp BUT I definitely wasn't ready to commit. But as mentioned in the initial post, that was a big learning experience as well because I realized that I was lacking several things in my life and that's why I was so hooked on her. For now, I don't want to commit until I'm in an area where I have streams of girls that I'm attracted to around me on a regular basis (Tokyo, Seoul, Kiev, Manhattan to name a few places)
Ohhhh, nice man! Never thought about it that way. It's one thing to work hard in your business, sport, music, art, etc but to find a girl who's a great match?? Hmmmm.. very good point. On one hand, I don't think a girl should be a guy's primary focus but with that being said, for the time that a girl IS your focus, why not invest in finding a quality one. To be fair though, I actually have met a lot of my ex-gfs on the street, NOT in nightclubs. And when I say street, I'm not talking prostitutes, haha (sure you knew that but it's funny when I type that) and I get to know them. I've also met many girls where there was just no click. It's only recently that I've been hitting up nightlife venues regularly, not so much even to meet the best girls but more for the challenge to myself of meeting girls in an environment that I am not as familiar with. But after a few months of that, while any challenge is good exercise, it gets tiring when you know there are much better logistics and streams in other markets. It'd sorta be like if you had a young niece or nephew who wanted to open up a lemonade stand on the corner. Yeah, it could be fun to try and help them design their sign, come up with pricing, figure out the ideal days and times to do business, but you wouldn't want to do that for more than a day at most, hell , even a few hours. At some point, you figure, okay it's been fun, but now to make real money. So on the girl tip, after the challenge part has been tested, it's time to do it for real in the best case scenario.