It's an interesting question, and I'll check out those books. I've always wondered about this--I grew up in a rural area and it didn't really ever enter our mind to enjoy life. I started as a writer before anything in tech, and then the products that I worked on just became a creative obsession like an essay or novel.
I totally agree that freelancing too much can kill the soul and make you miss things because you're constantly working toward deadlines and under client decisions. But if you get to know a small segment of customers, that could help for building a product?
I used to spend most of my days just going really nice places, but it wasn't meaningful. Cicero has this book called On duties or De oficiis, and reading it earlier this year for the better or worse made me end up moving back to my home country.
I guess along with enjoyment, what do you find most meaningful? I kind of just stuck with that through thick and thin, but I don't think that's the "right" way to do things--just my take.
I've always thought that programming must be a lot like writing a book - haven't written a book, but I can see some parallels.
I also realized something similar to what you did recently - and it became increasingly obvious after my last backpacking trip to southeast asia a few months ago. Basically, I realized that you can only see so many temples, beaches, waterfalls, cultural sights, bars, and go on so many adventures before it all gets a bit tired and starts to feel pointless. I think a better way to live is to do truly meaningful work and be located wherever is best to do that work and where your community is, even if it means going back to your home country or staying in the same place for a long time instead of being nomadic.
I'm personally gearing up to move to another country to extend my financial runway to be able to do indie hacking as long as possible, but I don't plan to hop between cities/countries every few weeks. ~3-6 months per location at minimum until I find somewhere that works for me, then I'll stay for years. I'd like to find somewhere where I can build a friend group and join a community of people who are doing the same thing (looking at Thailand which has options like KoHub + tons of indie hackers in BKK and Chiangmai), and I think that'll be good for my mental health too.
It's an interesting question, and I'll check out those books. I've always wondered about this--I grew up in a rural area and it didn't really ever enter our mind to enjoy life. I started as a writer before anything in tech, and then the products that I worked on just became a creative obsession like an essay or novel.
I totally agree that freelancing too much can kill the soul and make you miss things because you're constantly working toward deadlines and under client decisions. But if you get to know a small segment of customers, that could help for building a product?
I used to spend most of my days just going really nice places, but it wasn't meaningful. Cicero has this book called On duties or De oficiis, and reading it earlier this year for the better or worse made me end up moving back to my home country.
I guess along with enjoyment, what do you find most meaningful? I kind of just stuck with that through thick and thin, but I don't think that's the "right" way to do things--just my take.
I've always thought that programming must be a lot like writing a book - haven't written a book, but I can see some parallels.
I also realized something similar to what you did recently - and it became increasingly obvious after my last backpacking trip to southeast asia a few months ago. Basically, I realized that you can only see so many temples, beaches, waterfalls, cultural sights, bars, and go on so many adventures before it all gets a bit tired and starts to feel pointless. I think a better way to live is to do truly meaningful work and be located wherever is best to do that work and where your community is, even if it means going back to your home country or staying in the same place for a long time instead of being nomadic.
I'm personally gearing up to move to another country to extend my financial runway to be able to do indie hacking as long as possible, but I don't plan to hop between cities/countries every few weeks. ~3-6 months per location at minimum until I find somewhere that works for me, then I'll stay for years. I'd like to find somewhere where I can build a friend group and join a community of people who are doing the same thing (looking at Thailand which has options like KoHub + tons of indie hackers in BKK and Chiangmai), and I think that'll be good for my mental health too.