Thursday, September 26, 2024

Takeaways from Hard Work

Last year upon the insistence of my family and my poor cashflow situation I decided to return to work. I explored a myriad of different options. I looked into working as a photographer, train driver, engineer, teacher, nurse, flight attendant, security guard, traffic controller, and considered mining, renting out property, renovation, travel events, cruises, aged care, selling options, tax preparation among other pursuits.

After the ecstacy of landing a job that I really wanted, reality set in after returning to the workforce for a few months.

I learnt some important lessons. I learnt what hard work is. I saw how hard people work for the money. I jumped into a high paying FIFO job where I worked a 84 hour week all for 65-70k + super after tax. A 100k job where you only earn 75k after tax and 35k after mortgage.

I learnt about behaviours to keep and avoid
  • I learnt how quickly time flies. I overhead two guys saying that they were turning 50 and it wasn't long ago that they were 21-30
  • I learnt about the importance of safety practices
  • I saw my manager swearing at the computer and I don't want to be like that
  • I saw how work is not living and how people struggle to get by on a high wage. One manager lives paycheck to paycheck and says it is difficult just paying bills. Another manager says going to his home country is too expensive so he hasn't seen his parents for two years
  • I learnt that I am not happy sitting in front of computer all day socially isolated as I did at home because before I knew it the day was gone
  • Life is gone when you are working. I wanted to end it after two shifts. You waste most of your life for work. Most people work until they retire at 67, following which they only have 7 healthy years without disability (AIHW, Healthy life expectancy). Health and happiness are more important than making money
  • I have more important goals to accomplish than work. I have my precious life to live. I want a girl to love
  • However, I recommend working in mining to earn, save and live frugally for those who are hungry to save some money
  • I prefer working 1-2 days every two weeks, but there are almost no jobs like this except some low paying jobs. Later, I realised I prefer not to work at all as I want to travel for 3 months at a time and it is huge amount of time and energy leaving and returning to Australia
  • My rentals are just as important as work as I lose 1k per week when one of them is empty
  • I notice that people happy when you buy them something small and unexpected, like a tea or snack (I saw this generosity from a traveller and from customers at work)

I wrote some pros and cons for work

Pros

  • Provides money so there is less financial stress (now I have a buffer so not so stressed, but my money was blown trading a few months later)
  • Less time focused on markets and removes the desire to revenge trade (but I can fill my time with long term goal related activities instead; giving the login credentials to my trader has helped reduce the tedency to overtrade too)
  • Social aspects - practice communication, nice when have you good people around (but I can satisfy this by actively participating in social activities, there are no long term benefits from socialising at work unless you meet a good friend, additionally most people there were not nice)
  • It provided a temporary relief for me. I was feeling down thinking about markets at home. I was worried about coming winter. I had the opportunity to experience what it was like in north west WA which I wanted to see

Cons

  • Not going for long term goals (marriage, building granny flat)
  • Time is most important but two weeks pass by (same with every job)
  • Already did many short term jobs after retirement and none provided lasting satisfaction
  • Not fulfilling work (but almost noone's work is fulfilling)
  • Not happy at work. Runs counter to my desire for happiness
  • Don't like the work
  • Only save 8k in 3 months. Can only save 30k in a year or 300k in 10 years
  • Blew all money saved on trading
  • Social - don't like most people, noone welcomed me when I started, only one person cares about me
  • No people to have fun with
  • Damage to hands, skin
  • Aging
  • Tires me out, draining
  • Heat and flies in summer
  • One week not enough to travel (this is the same with every job)
  • Not enough time for travel on week off and rushing around too much, especially since most places I want to go require two flights to get to and another two flights to return
  • Flights changed, delayed and cancelled - 3x
  • Blowing a lot of money travelling for a week (2k in a week - 3x my usual spend)
  • Not happy travelling
  • Feeling of dread. Heart tighten before work
  • Feel stressed at work
  • Told off at work 5 times in a week and received a performance warning. Realise that no job cared about me and I hated all jobs I worked
  • Night shift for many people
  • Expansion of work duties - more area for tavern so more bins to clean, shutdown so more staff on site, drinks with food delivery, early 4am shifts
  • Surrounded by people who I don't want to be (most colleagues were unhealthy, had damaged skin, and not smart. To accomplish my goals I need to surround myself with people who I want to be) 

I am grateful for the opportunity. It was the job I wanted and it was not easy to achieve it. I was able to save and travel for a week - almost no other job offers this flexibility. I would have otherwise been wishing I was working in FIFO, freezing in my home town, and wasted my time being angry from the trading losses.

When I travel I see people around the world living their own lives and they don't need to make a lot to live. Even if I run out of money can find some work for a day a week. For example, an Uber eats quest earns $150 for 3 hours.

There is no point working if you can lose it trading. For me, it all got gambled away. Trading did not go the way I thought it would. I lost everything I earned. Income is bottomless pit if used for trading. Even if I earn 300k I could lose all.

I accept I sacrified my career and $8-10 million of forgone personal wealth, making many mistakes in the past decade.

I feel sad that I wasn't able to recoup the $10 million forgone. I feel internal pressure to make it butit didn't happen this year. It started so promisingly, going from 5k to 150k in the space of two months before realising the strategies I had didn't work and blowing the funds saved from working. I must reflect on the positive too. I was able to do a muscle up, 30 pull ups and break my Murph Challenge PB, travel to so many cities, limit my trading losses, and land the job I wanted.

I reflect on the work I did in the past and the fact that working does not bring me happiness.

I already met retirement money although I admit that cashflow is tight and I could have had $10 million if I continued working. The only reason for work is if there is something I want to buy (such as a trip to Antarctica or building a granny flat) or if my cash flow situation is dire. I'd rather just fucking live. Working one year to save 30k isn't going to make any difference to my life. To save 10k after 3-4 months work (or 1 year for other people). I need to save 80k+ per year to save 1m in 10 years. I can instead borrow 15k to build a granny flat, but I am working so hard for that. What is the purpose of work when I can't achieve this basic figure?

I lost myself for the money that wasn't there. Selling my precious time and my soul for nothing.

Life passes by so quickly while working. I imagine working until 65-70 and reflecting on my life spent not living. Every day doing something I don't like. Every day not doing something I enjoy. Every day blurring into the next. It is not worth working the rest of 30 years of my life. At work I was told you 'work to live' but most of my life was spent working in an unsatisfying job. My goals become more and more distant as I inch closer and closer to death.

Your life is over quickly. Like everyone else in history. How do you feel about that if all you did was work? All the present eras sporting greats careers are limited. I look at my contemporaries - Ronaldo, Federer, Nadal. Soon Messi and Djokovic too.

At the same time, it is easy to become complacent and lack urgency when there is no work. Home is too comfortable. My time gets filled with lots of errands and distractions like taking mum somewhere, meeting friends, cooking breakfast, and going out for the weekend. It is not bad to do these things but I also need to focus on my long term goals.


Takeaways:

- With the same mindset, I can apply time and energy to another endeavour / goal in life I want to succeed at. I can schedule my days the same way and put actvities in a structured timetable similar to university or work. I can allocate full time hours to finding a wife
- A job can't make you rich unless you earn a significant amount more than average
- 12 years of my life until age 50 is worth 150k passive after tax or 200k before tax / 0.04 = 5m. I need to save 400k per year to achieve 5m, which is 650k+ gross wage
- Focus on trading as the result is much greater than a job

Getting older

I still feel young at heart and look relatively young. Feeling young is good for health. I was called 'young fella' at work. 

But deep down I know I am halfway to the average life expectancy. The big 4-0. I am looking into skin treatments to make myself look younger. Trying to pause father time but the stark reality is:

In 10 years time I will be 50. 

I saw man who used to live in the flat I grew up in and he has aged. I heard about the people who passed away in the flat. It is a sombre message about the brevity of life.

I will be past my prime at 50. My mum may not be here. I have to put in the effort to find a good partner now.

In 2024 I made the mistake of travelling too much just like I did in 2018.

Be dominant. Stand up for my own values. 'I want to go there. You want to come'