Ask HN: What is your goal in life? - gallerdude
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gwking
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!

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mottomotto
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).

~~~
gallerdude
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.

~~~
mottomotto
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.

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blabla_blublu
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!

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

~~~
blabla_blublu
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!

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tohmasch
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.

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throwaway2016a
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.

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thyselius
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.

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gallerdude
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
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.

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randomsearch
To build a lighthouse.

~~~
klez
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?

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ccajas
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.

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hikarudo
To defeat the Guardian and become Master of Orion!

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

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twodave
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.

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

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

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freebornjohn
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

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

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bausshf
To not be forgotten.

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

~~~
bausshf
Indefinitely period.

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

