Am I Still Financially Independent If I Got a Job?

A fast 7 is better than a slow 10.  This is a motto that I have lived by when it comes to startups.  While a near perfect 10 may be necessary for a few things such as launching a space shuttle or winning an olympic gold, most things allow us time to iterate on a 7 rather than shooting for a perfect 10 the first time.  In a startup, the pursuit of a perfect 10 would kill you. Competitors would be coming out with a 7 and iterating to an 8 and then a 9.5 in about half the time it took you to stab around in the dark trying to hit perfect 10 on your first try.  You would likely also fail since no one knows what a perfect 10 looks like until they have put it in front of customers a few times. 

If Pareto’s 80/20 rule dictates that 80 of the results come from the first 20% of the efforts, the power of a fast 7 really comes into focus.  With things such as lifestyle design and the pursuit of happiness, fast 7s and some iteration seems a superior approach to me.  I get to put it in front of myself and keep iterating every day that I wake up.  I can iterate over and over toward the goal.  If I occasionally fail miserably, it also does not hurt to have a giant cushion each time that I fall in the form of financial independence and support of a family that I am grateful for.     

A few months back, I wrote about designing your life using design thinking.  Much like my fast 7 approach, this method is biased toward action and iteration.  Using the method described in that post, I created 3 possible life plans and one of them included me doing some teaching.  It is something that I pictured myself doing one day but when?  I looked at how I might have some prototype experiences around the things that were on some of my life plans and this has lead me to an interesting development.

You Can Call Me Professor

I am teaching a college course.  I am going to keep this vague because I am not clear on my responsibilities to the institution and certainly wouldn’t want anyone confusing my sharing on this site as representing anything other than myself and my personal opinions.  However, I am certainly planning on wearing tweed jackets with leather elbow patches and spouting wisdom at dinner parties between huge billowy puffs from my pipe.

In all seriousness, I am honored by this position.  It is very part time and gives me a chance to prototype whether teaching is a calling for me.  In my unique situation, I also have the time currently to put a substantial effort toward giving students my best attention and set them up for success.  

The Luxury of Working For Something Rather Than Getting a Job

One of the great things about this life outside the maze so far has been working for myself and being able to make decisions about where to apply myself that are not based on money. Rather they are based on other lofty things such as meaning, altruism, and impact.  The full effect of this transition in how I view working now is hard to explain.  In the past, work was a tradeoff.  There were of course some things that I liked about working.  However there was always some vague notion that I was actually held back by the need for money and having to save up for some vague security cushion.  This comes with a certain level of resignation and powerlessness to one’s own fate.  

Now that I have achieved a level of financial independence and made this transition, everything that I work on is purposeful and entirely by choice.  I will never again get a job.  Instead I will work for X.  This means that the feeling of powerlessness that we have all felt while working a job has gone away for me.  It also means that I have leverage and mobility more than I ever did in the past.

In a past post, I wrote about how dreaming of never working again is like a thirsty person dreaming of drinking water forever.  It makes no sense.  We may be overworked as a nation in general and need a better balance. We may need a vacation. However, applying ones self to a chosen endeavor is healthy. Am I still financially independent if I got this job?  My answer is that this may be exactly what financial independence looks like.  I get to do something that I would not have the opportunity to do if I had not made this transition.      

Lifestyle Prototyping

I thought that I was going to be immediately relaxed teaching in front of students. After all, I had spoken in front of auditoriums of professionals and presented in boardrooms many times. However, I woke up at 4am the morning of my first class with an irrational fear that I might be locked out of the room.  We all fear the unknown.  Strangely this fear is exactly part of why I am doing this.  All growth comes from getting outside of a comfort zone. Teaching is certainly very different from presenting and has already proven to require different skills.  

Despite my fears, I did fine that first class. By the second lecture I improved noticeably. I am now only a few classes in and it is too early to tell yet if I will thrive but I am sure having fun.  In the design of my life will this be a pivot or a path?  I am excited for the adventure and the learning that comes each day.