Broken cars and life choices 🤔

Do you know what you want to achieve?

The last two weeks have been quite odd.

My parents visited us for a few days. My car broke. Then, I ended up spending way too much time dealing with emails, maintenance of side projects, and thinking about life choices…

…instead of prospecting clients for my business, as I intended.

Am I lying to myself? — Part 2

Photo: Oceans, by Sharon Christina Rørvik

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the realisation that I was not the super developer I thought I was. Now, I’m wondering if creating my own business is not yet another ego-driven challenge that I’m inflicting to myself. What is it that I’m running after, exactly?

Derek Sivers advises to keep your real passion as a hobby, while learning to master (and thus, enjoy) a well-paid job to ensure a sustainable future. My family and some of my friends think that way. But, to me, this sounds boring, for some reason. While I’m quite risk-averse, I like to think that I have a chance of achieving something bigger. So I’m trying things.

On the other hand, while “trying things” sounds fun and instructive, it also sounds random and unpurposeful. Having a purpose (“WHY”) is important to stay motivated, especially when dealing with hard or unpleasant tasks. So, if I want to follow that route, I believe that I need to have a direction in mind. I need to know what I want, and what I don’t want. And, these days, I’m having trouble figuring this out…

Or maybe I should accept that we’re all delusional, that I should stop overthinking all this, and rather ask my friends for their point of view.

I’d love to read your take on this:

1. When you make life choices, what drives you?
2. Don’t you see a contradiction between the two articles by Derek Sivers I linked above?
3. When working on a project that you believe is driven by your purpose, how much “pain” (or boring tasks) are you ready to tolerate before quitting or reconsidering your purpose?