Labels, Identity, and Goals
drodol • 22 May 2024 •
In my last post, I wrote about how I had been doing some reflections lately.
I have kind of continued doing that, and after writing for myself about what I consider to be the best financial period of my life (material for a future post), I came to conclude on a few things.
We put a lot of importance and labels and our own identity. What are you known for? What do people go to you for? What are you good at? Are you the programmer/coder guy? The entrepreneur? The safety guy? The weirdo that "works online"? The auditor? The consultant?
We (I) let a lot of those labels define us (me). Life is too short for that.
I don't want to be a coder or maker. My goal with coding is not to just learn coding. Coding is a means to an end.
My ultimate goal is to build some boring business myself -through coding. An online business that almost runs itself on autopilot, requires little input and maintenance from me, and grows steadily while providing value for its users. A business that will ultimately replace my main income, and surpass it even. Eventually, allowing me to decide whether I quit my 9-5 and dedicate myself fully to it, or not.
Comments
I like that quote very much. I wrote here: https://golifelog.com/posts/vision-1715867462668 about how without “a compelling vision”, it’s hard to effect change.
Regarding my use of “boring” it refers to the fact that I am not interested in chasing a “sexy” business. I will be excited to create a business that isn’t fancy, public (gets little notoriety), or “popular” if it will bring in good profits, with good margins, little maintenance, and is evergreen. Low stakes. That is what I meant.
I like your framing regarding labels. The minor change I would make to your ultimate goal is to eliminate the word “boring.” Wouldn’t you rather have something exciting to work on? As Michael Beckwith has said, “Pain pushes until vision pulls.”