Thread: What do you hope to achieve in life?

My Life Goal. The detailed plan is still in the works.

On a more serious note, I already have a small software-related business -- currently doing web development for clients -- so my long term goal is to keep growing it. Of course, the precise nature of the business is likely to change over time, e.g., I have been discussing with my partners how we can move to offering a scalable product instead of a service that already sees product-based competition and can only be scaled proportional to staff hired.

Besides this, I dream of attaining a high enough skill level and mastery of music pieces to earn a teaching license for the Japanese traditional flute known as the shakuhachi. The plan for now is quite simple: work my way through the student repertoire, practice, get feedback, practice, etc. At some point I will probably acquire shakuhachi of different lengths, become more familiar with playing using Western notation instead of traditional notation, and try my hand at performing for friends, but I am still a novice for now.

I'm 46, so I'm maybe 20 years away from retirement, depending on my capacities. I do feel mentally tired and not as sharp as before. So it may come sooner than later. I've abandoned most of my programming in favor of managerial tasks and teaching. I think I've achieved my career goals, owning my own software development business and prospering on it and teaching on a high school as a side and incredibly rewarding experience. So my goals shifted now towards the end of my life.

I plan to eventually buy a small country house, surround myself with farm animals and gardening and spend the rest of my days away from the city and in relative peace and quiet.

I play guitar in a heavy metal band. Ideally, I'd like to make it my primary source of income, but for it to entirely replace my software engineering income, it will probably never happen. But a guy can dream.

Late to the party

I havent really given a serious thought yet what might be my goal in life. :'( I have some petty pipe dreams though:

1. what is Elkvis's side project right now
2. make a cartoon showing Pokemon characters grown up, another cartoon about a beautiful reptilian anthro, and a cartoon to worship a certain zebra anthro
3. make a personal starship...a kind that is a cross between a combat craft and the huge carrier ships. (no seriously I really want to do this xD)

As of now I havent even started work on any of these ideas. Well some day I guess...

Which reminds me, I havent posted anything programming related here for a while...dont worry though I'm about to make an appearance on the C++ board in one or two days.

Originally Posted by Epy

@Mario - sounds like you're living the dream, very cool

Unfortunately, no.

My responsibilities mean I got used to sleep 4/5 hours a day, my coffee consumption has increased X fold, can't plan my free time, don't follow through very well with my responsibilities as a father and husband, don't exercise enough. And since this has been going for the past 10 years, I think I irreparably affected my health and in just a few years my body will start showing me the symptoms letting me know that it is time to pay.

I was never sick in my life, I don't know a low health condition is, beyond the obligatory seasonal colds and the occasional Malaria burst in my current location. But I fear I might meet sickness before the end.

Ideally, I should have reached my present status during the mid thirties. The next few years would have been used to grow the business just enough so it ran by itself, with others managing it and me just ripping my share of the fruits. A condition I like to call "making money by just getting in my slippers in the morning" and that you should ideally reach by the end of your 40s. But alas, a mixture of bad luck, bad calls and the economy playing its tricks removed that option.

So, I don't know if I will live to see my 90th birthday. I'm exhausted mentally and physically and while I can perform the management tasks at the top of my game, I just practically gave up on any professional code where I have noted a clear loss of capabilities, and just do it at home occasionally and for silly pet projects that I never finish. "Living the dream" at this point would be to get rid of my business by either selling it or getting someone do manage it for me and stick to teaching exclusively.

So... a piece of advice: If you have a goal to start your own business in SE, if by your late 30s you haven't achieved it, it's perhaps best you don't pursue it anymore and stick to what you are doing or manage someone else's business. Even though we may feel that the 40s are our best age (and in many respects they are), any excesses will have much bigger repercussions than if you had them when you were on your 30's.

Yeah statistics. But there's plenty of octogenarians around. The reason being someone has to give ranged values the upper bound. I aim to be one of those.

Originally Posted by the_jackass

1. what is Elkvis's side project right now

Musically, my side project is to create a death metal band for kids, that has songs about unicorns and teddy bears and kittens and tea parties.
My current programming side project is to learn Go, and develop the first pieces of a system that will replace the main system I develop at work.

Originally Posted by the_jackass

3. make a personal starship...a kind that is a cross between a combat craft and the huge carrier ships. (no seriously I really want to do this xD)

I've always thought it would be fun to build a submarine. A propane bulk storage tank, removed from service, would make the perfect inner hull. ballast tanks could go on the outside, with a thin outer layer of sheet metal - perhaps 1mm thick.

I meant I wanted to create a metal band...any kind really (death/black/doom/whatever).

Originally Posted by Elkvis

I've always thought it would be fun to build a submarine. A propane bulk storage tank, removed from service, would make the perfect inner hull. ballast tanks could go on the outside, with a thin outer layer of sheet metal - perhaps 1mm thick.

Haha it hadnt occured to me a propane tank could be put to this use. If not a starship, at the very least I want to make something flyable from old helicopter/jet engines...something that can both pierce the skies like a jet and if needed hover over a spot for extended periods. Dont know if such a thing is possible/feasible, but eh...what's the harm in dreaming.

Originally Posted by the_jackass

at the very least I want to make something flyable from old helicopter/jet engines...something that can both pierce the skies like a jet and if needed hover over a spot for extended periods. Dont know if such a thing is possible/feasible, but eh...what's the harm in dreaming.

Find yourself a matching pair of Garrett jet fuel starter units, and build a smaller, lighter version of the V-22 osprey.