Ask HN: What is your goal in life?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16786965

by gallerdude • 8 years ago

27 25 8 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

gallerdude3• 8 years ago

I ask this because honestly, I don’t know, and that’s kind of interesting. I’m in college now, and I want the basics: to have a good job, be married. But other than that, the future is kind of vague and uncertain. But that’s ok.

flockonus• 8 years ago

Those are perfectly fine objectives!

Thorough life seek working with inspiring individuals who love what they do, and eventually you'll make sense of what your inner purpose seems to be.

mottomotto2• 8 years ago

My goal is to live the life I want to live knowing that what I want will change over time. My biggest drive right now is to gain financial independence through both lowering my cost of living, a high savings rate and continuing to grow my income. I work full time as a software developer but have also started a business on the side with a partner. That is part of my strategy of increasing income. Recently, I've realized that business, while bootstrap profitable, is not going to grow as fast as I want so I am going to start another business (and I expect this cycle will continue until I reach FI -- it may continue beyond that as it is fun).

So my goal is overall happiness with financial independence being a key part of it. I should note that I do not strive to be excessively frugal -- just cut where it doesn't impact myself or my partner. I've also elected to have children and I think that contributes positively to my overall happiness although it can be expensive and they can take a lot of time (so I think that is very much an individual choice).

gallerdude3• 8 years ago

Yeah, FI is a huge one. But it’s tricky - at the end of the day it’s just a means to more life goals. If you won the lottery today, that’d mean you’d have to come up with a new life goal for tomorrow.

mottomotto2• 8 years ago

I really hesitated to reply on this but I'm about 15+ years into my career and what the heck. On the one hand, I agree with you. On the other hand, I really disagree. The reason I disagree is we spend an immense amount of time every day working for money. Sure, many of us love what we do but we still go to work at a certain time and certain days because we have to by our agreement to get a paycheck.

So my goal is that I'm writing my own paychecks. By gaining FI, that might mean I'm just going to pay myself to watch TV and play videogames all day. Or go spend time traveling Japan and visiting all the Onsens/hot baths. Or spending time with my kids and working on my own businesses -- trying to bootstrap new ideas and just seeing what works and what doesn't (which includes working on interesting projects).

So the part of me that disagrees with you is the part that sees just how much of our life, how much of every single week day, is dedicated to one thing. And that one thing is not something I live for. I want to work on things I live for and fully believe in.

Does that make sense? I don't want to be harsh but on the surface, startups seem so awesome. Everyone is aligned and motivated along the same angles. But the reality is often much worse than one might expect. The investors are pushing the lead developer, who has health problems caused by stress, to use the new framework of the day. The cofounders are trying to figure out which management to hire. The managers are coming in and deciding to change the whole culture and bring in their people to do things their way. It just goes on and on. And nobody is really aligned in the end. There is that magic when it works but most of the time it doesn't. And it's disappointing to spend your life on things that don't ship, that fail, that aren't interesting to work on.

ccajas• 8 years ago

Work for an space exploration company, and work on software for flight guidance or testing. Currently I have mostly web dev experience. Being self-taught, unemployed and with my experience being snubbed it's gonna be a very tough road ahead.

blabla_blublu2• 8 years ago

I view life in 1 year increments. For this year, I aim to become fitter and healthier.

On the professional front, I would like to switch to a different team and seek new challenges!

gallerdude3• 8 years ago

That’s a great idea. Makes it easier to turn far off dreams into immediate and actionable goals.

blabla_blublu2• 8 years ago

100%, I find it hard to take a marathon approach and keep chipping away. Keeping the immediate goals in mind with an overall path to follow keeps me motivated more!

randomsearch• 8 years ago

To build a lighthouse.

klez• 8 years ago

That's peculiar, to say the least. And I don't mean this in a bad way.

What are you doing to achieve your goal?

tohmasch2• 8 years ago

If you do it right, maybe it can be solar powered?

bausshf2• 8 years ago

To not be forgotten.

Xeoncross• 8 years ago

For how long of a period? Also, what level of detail? Is someone only knowing your name (like most famous people in history) sufficient?

bausshf2• 8 years ago

Indefinitely period.

My name being remembered is insignificant to me, what about me I want remembered are my achievements.

gianouts• 8 years ago

Personal: Have fun, continue to learn and have new experiences.

Work: Personal goals + Enable the people I work with to excel in their roles.

gwking• 8 years ago

Recently I've started thinking about the importance of acknowledging multiple top-level goals. At times I've tried to describe my life goals as a dependency tree of priorities, but eventually decided that framing it as such, with a single root node, does not do justice to the human experience. I want some selfish things, and also some very altruistic things, and those can coexist because I'm not a singularly focused machine. I have different moods and am influenced by the people and culture around me, and I admit that I cannot fully control my environment.

Perhaps this is too abstract an answer, but maybe it helps a bit. I'm 35, and am still working on more concrete answers. In many ways my thinking has not changed much since I was 21.

I want to do no harm to the world (or as little as possible from the environmental perspective). I want to spend my time on intellectually stimulating, meaningful work that is of real consequence to others. I want to be in love with someone, and have deep relationships with a variety of people. I want to be wealthy enough that I can live in comfort as I get older (although I feel that some level of frugality is healthy, physically and mentally). I want to enjoy the natural beauty of the world, all the more because much of it will be gravely damaged in my lifetime.

I think I have made some progress on all fronts!

thyselius• 8 years ago

I got to think about this for months after I made a hit ios app (everything is relative but should be fine economically for many years).

I landed in something like "creating things that humanity hasn't yet created."

Ideally this should be real technical inventions or scientific discoveries that makes our lives better or extends the knowledge of who we are.

However I'm not smart enough to even start doing this within say nanotechnology, physics or cosmology.

I am now working on a science fiction film that also aims to raise awareness about ai security (very indirectly but still). If I can contribute to that discussion starting in society at the same time as I'm doing something I love, and people can enjoy watching, I'm very happy.

jonjonBoy• 8 years ago

Get high and watch tv err I mean play video games.

nunez• 8 years ago

$200k salary before I'm 33; $20MM before I'm 45.

twodave• 8 years ago

Probably going to get some back-lash, but screw you guys, it's MY life ;)

If I achieve nothing else for the rest of my life, to live long enough to see all of my kids choose a relationship with the Lord would be more than enough. It's not really a goal in the traditional sense I suppose, since I have only so much input on what they grow up to believe. But it's the #1 reason why my wife and I make the (not burnt, but time, money, attention, patience, etc.) sacrifices we do every day for them.

hikarudo• 8 years ago

To defeat the Guardian and become Master of Orion!

throwaway2016a• 8 years ago

My goal is to be able to spend my life spending time with my family. Have them never have to worry about money. Hike the Appalachian Trail. Get in the best shape of my life and take 4 weeks of vacation a year. See the world.

Eventually I'd also like to be an angel investor and help entrepreneur's achieve their dreams too.

My method to achieve that is very unsexy. I am simply working hard to fully fund my retirement account.

Right now I am funded well enough to retire at 60 if I contribute nothing more -- I'm 33 -- but I want enough to be able to retire immediately. Which would be about $6MM USD.

Not so I don't have to work (I'll still work anyway) but so I can be picky about who I work for / what projects I work on. Probably even self-fund some of my own idea.

To help with that I've accumulated as much equity in startups as I can muster through hard work and making the value I added good enough to earn substantial equity.

freebornjohn• 8 years ago

found a city on mars and endow it with values and institutions that will, long after I am dead, become a new Rome; the absolute pinnacle of human civilization

tohmasch2• 8 years ago

Live to learn, feel fulfilled, and give back to bring or sustain positivity in my surroundings.

Material view: Live in a home and land that can sustain itself, OR improve the environment I live in.

Capital view: Live relatively cost free, or generate enough income to allow me to support family if I, or they, fell into a rough time. Lots of money is nice, but I think it's more important to be able to give to others, or those you care about. There's no point in striving to be ultra rich if you only bring negativity or are completely self focused.

Mind/body: Be fit and healthy, stress free.

Ask HN: What is your goal in life?

Related Stories