

Ask HN: what would you do if you did not have to work? - mynegation

With all the latest talk about basic income and the future of work (or lack thereof), I am genuinely interested what would HN readers do if they did not have to work.
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ElongatedTowel
You're asking for plans, but I'd like to tell you what actually happened for
me. As someone who did this in the past for far too long I've seen the
darkness that emerges. I'd rate myself 2/10 in terms of willpower and 8/10 in
terms of can-always-find-something-interesting. I probably handled it better
than most people would (never ended up unshaven for weeks in a yellowed
wifebeater), which to be honest frightens me whenever the topic of not-having-
to-work comes up.

A bad day might have looked like this:

1\. Get up at 11AM.

2\. Eat for an hour while watching some Let's Play/V-Log or listening to some
podcast.

3\. Start reading blogs and learning which after an hour turns into reading
bullshit that leaves my brain a day after.

4\. Play guitar for two hours.

5\. Play videogames for two hours. If lucky with people over skype (the
tiniest amount of social interaction for the day)

6\. Repeat the eat-watch-routine

7\. Lift weights for an hour

8\. Repeat the eat-watch-routine

9\. Reddit/HN

10\. Get bored by the general Reddit/HN and read the weird subreddits instead

11\. Do what I call the horny-but-jerking-off-in-5-minutes-is-too-fast routine
which I guess releases quite the potent mix of endorphines because I might end
up sitting there for an hour with my pants open

12\. If nothing good comes up I use my useless amount of private torrent
tracker invites to find some porn I've never seen before (which becomes
increasingly rare). If I'm too lazy to do that I just browse around and might
come across some weird shit like Japanese women squirting milk on each others
out of their ass (I guess that's pretty tame in comparison). Not that it
matters, my mind is sometimes so numb, I could jerk off to a car accident

13\. Lament for an hour where my life has gone while doing Yoga and stretching
to bottle up some memories

14\. Play a poker freeroll and lose

15\. Refocus and write 20 lines of code for a project that I'll never finish
in a hundred years

16\. Throw a coin. Heads I shower, shave and promise myself tomorrow will be
the day everything changes. Tails I contemplate suicide again.

17\. Cry myself to sleep if bottled up memories come to light

At the end of the day I'm a better guitarist, one step closer to beeing jacked
and one step closer to insanity. That must be the reason why some rockstars
are complete lunatics.

~~~
codegeek
I am almost sure that you don't have wife or kids. If you did, most of the
stuff you listed will become redundant to you. I hear you though. Been there
(brief period) while I was single.

~~~
ElongatedTowel
It's kind of a vicious circle. I wouldn't even play videogames (something I
enjoy very much) if I had a girlfriend because I would value the relationship
and time spend far more.

But at the same time it was pretty much impossible to find a partner while
living such a life. No one finds you attractive. Maybe good enough for one
night, but not for a relationship.

People say you shouldn't rely on other people to provide you happiness. But a
relationship would have added so so much to my life.

------
codegeek
I already try to do these things but not with complete freedom because I have
to make money and that takes my time. But if I had complete independence, then
in order:

1\. Spend time with my family and friends as much as I can.

2\. Travel around the world (with family/friends again)

3\. Teach for free whatever I can.

4\. Get really good at few of the things: Guitar, Martial Arts, handyman at my
house etc.

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poissonpie
Go back to university and study more. I would probably start with arts -
literature, music and move towards psychology, philosophy, medicine, economics
and if time permitted, some languages. I could happily spend my days learning.

------
petercooper
I had a couple of years like this after selling a business (for non-crazy
money) coupled with stumbling onto an accidental Adsense scenario where I had
$2-10k coming in monthly for zero work. In short, I just alternated between
goofing off and being bummed out.

Once that faucet dried up after a Google reranking I started working again
(still for myself), then got married, had kids, etc. Now I always have tons to
do, am upbeat 99% of the time, and doing better than ever! I've learnt working
and making money in exchange for what I do is a core part of what keeps me
happy and sane.

If a basic income were available and high enough in my 20s, I'd have stayed on
it, probably remained single forever, and lived a hikikomori-esque lifestyle..
which is why I remain a little skeptical of some basic income ideas despite
appreciating the idea. Would all people be like me? No. But I think a higher
basic income for everyone who _holds down a job_ is a far better idea and we
already have something mildly like that in the UK.

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Casseres
As someone who plans to stop working for income in the next 5 to 10 years,
I've put some thought into it.

1) Volunteer. This is the only thing in my list that I know I will do for
certain. I don't want to become a sloth, and doing so would seem like a crime
against humanity when I have so much to offer. I genuinely like helping
people. It's also a great way to meet interesting people. While it's not
really a reason, I also find that I'm more of a producer than a consumer.

2) Travel. Nothing too extravagant. I'll still be watching my penny bank so I
don't cause myself to have to go back to work for an income.

3) Backpacking. It's important to me to be able to connect with nature
sometimes.

4) Write two novels that I already have ideas for.

5) Write essays on the human condition.

~~~
mercer
That sounds like a great combination. I've found that volunteering and
traveling are wonderful in themselves, but also 'unlock' the ability to write
and produce things I want to produce, rather than sit around and do nothing
(and eventually feel bad about it).

I'll be embarking for something similar, but for about a year.

I wish you all the best, and would love to hear what you have to say about
humanity.

------
strwbrry
Great question and it's one that is driving my current plans for 2014 "to wake
up and do what I want to do".

I would spend a lot more time with my wife and daughter even in the small
things such as taking my girl to school and picking her up.

I would spend more time being aware, walking and meditating.

I would then spend a huge chunk of time giving somehow. I have a few projects
me and my wife are starting in this area such as running a free course for new
parents on how to resuscitate babies, top 5 risks for new borns etc

And travel!

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OafTobark
I'm in that situation already and if you had asked me this question before, I
would have said something along the lines of travel, have fun, or some other
variation thereof. The reality is while I did do those things for awhile, what
I ended up doing was went back to "work". By work I mean grinding on other
things of interest to me.

I can't speak for others but its incredibly tough for me to not proactively
work on something I enjoy, especially once you have develop the habit of
getting use to working a lot.

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a3voices
I'd probably sit around on the Internet most of the day.

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ereckers
If I didn't have to work because of money concerns I'd probably become a
hobbyist fishing guide, which can still be work in some sense.

If I didn't have to work because of a basic income guarantee I'd probably
still work. It would feel different to me, plus a basic income guarantee I
doubt will be financial boon in a sense that you could do something other than
working.

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karolisd
I would just bike around, lay at the beach, and eat great food. And I would
not have a care in the world. Serious answer. That would satisfy me.

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michaelkavanagh
A lot of developers are so because of the need to fix problems, that and a
flair for logical mathematics. Sitting on a beach sounds nice but I think it
would only be a matter of time before members of this community try to come up
with a solution to sitting on the beach.

I think workers work. The satisfaction is in achievement of worth, or at least
in the endeavor.

~~~
rjwebb
If I sat on a beach, I'd have to take a computer with me...

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kevrone
I would work. But not for someone else, and perhaps not for any clear goal or
achievement. I would work patiently and methodically on long-term projects
that could only be possible with that amount of leisure time.

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munimkazia
Travel. And work on my own side projects ( I guess you can't call them side
projects any more, can you). Not for immediate gains, but for the long term
goal of building a good product.

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collyw
Whitewater kayaking, lots of it. Learn to surf. Cook nice stuff every day.

There are many things I enjoy more than coding, but coding is sometimes fun,
and does pay the bills.

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mynegation
I would go on long road trips through interesting places. But I would still
create software along the way.

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zachlatta
Work for myself, on things I'm interested in. Likely nonprofit work in the
education space.

