Interesting article on "Do what you love"

[Jay_Gatsby]

http://paulgraham.com/love.html

I found this particular thought rather interesting:

"Much as everyone thinks they want financial security, the happiest people are not those who have it, but those who like what they do."

[setab]

The article raises several interesting points, including the one you mention. I also like his tongue in cheek sense of humor. I think a lot of his points lend credence to the retire early philosophy of these boards. One of my favorites is his commentary on English majors: "

...it is the existence of English majors, and therefore jobs teaching them, that calls into being all those thousands of dreary papers about gender and identity in the novels of Conrad. No one does that kind of thing for fun."

I was and undergrad English/journalism major and I can only say, Oh yeah!

setab

[ESRBob]

Sharing this with my 14 year old. I like it -- hope he finds something useful in there, too! I especially loved the line about the doctor stuck doing work that was chosen by "some teenager", (herself in her youth).

[Jay_Gatsby]

Originally Posted by ESRBob

Sharing this with my 14 year old. I like it -- hope he finds something useful in there, too! I especially loved the line about the doctor stuck doing work that was chosen by "some teenager", (herself in her youth).

I liked it as well, otherwise I wouldn't have posted it

Seriously though, when I first started reading it, I thought it would be another one of those cliche articles encouraging people to "do what you love" without acknowledging the realities of life. In addition to actually doing so, and as you pointed out, the article also addresses how people get into situations where they aren't doing something they enjoy doing. This is the first time I've seen a "do what you love" article help the reader, in any measurable way, understand how easy it is to get into such situations before proposing solutions.

[ESRBob]

Yeah, it is sort of an anatomy of how people get sucked into the rat race.. with the idea that forewarned is forearmed. I think a lot of us end up in ER after figuring this stuff out. Use FI as a way to buy back the time/freedom to do what we love while still covering the costs of whatever daily life we've grown accustomed to. It is sort of an expanded take on the writer's idea of having two jobs -- one to pay the bills and one to keep advancing in the field you love-- only this time the safe withdrawal from the portfolio is in effect your 'day job'. Nice image.