At the same time, I see my parents experiencing ageism & trouble getting back into the work force. So I've become a dependency & primary source of their income.
I can only take so much risk, because I am their last line of defense.
They are still at least 5-10 yrs away from being eligible for social security.
Even then, early on the job injuries forced them to dip into 401k and borrow from a future that was already thin.
The power dynamics in the family due to this dependency have completely shifted, I'm no longer the just a son, I am THE SON who is a provider like a Husband, the Father to my brother as we didn't have a father to guide us.
Had to wise up quickly from a young age, was lonely.
When you're the safety net, you have to reshape your whole life to absorb the shocks of your family.
A lot of energy is exerted to reform/reshape resentment and passive aggressiveness.
I have a strong entrepreneurial spirit.
Raising money from the family was never an option.
They raise money from me, TO SURVIVE.
I wish I could play startup, but a stable income is necessary to prevent ruin.
The risks are much greater to come back from, takes decades.
The emotional exhaustion & tool from managing family problems is so great, there is little in the tank left to handle the imminent emotional toll of starting a company.
Now I'm in a position of having to coach my parents in starting a company of their own, because the economy is so slow/broken, while I work at a company, to provide them financial collateral.
I learned how to code on the fly, to make money to climb out of poverty.
I learned to love coding after the fact, & it's still something I don't want to do all the time, I have a lot more interests.
But I have to play life strategically, secure six-figures on low risk.
When your family sacrifices so much for you, you feel a sense of urgency to repay them so they can at least have some enjoyment and peace before they get too old.
Even tho, I have a job with great benefits. I can't even add my parents to my health insurance!
I missed out on a lot of great investment opportunities because I needed to allocate the cash to help pay my parent's rent.
We live apart because our relationship is better that way & will under no circumstances allow them to go homeless.
I have received "advice" before to just give up on them, as it was affecting my career progression.
First off I don't want a "career".
Second, off I WILL NEVER give up on my parents.
Our individualist society has gone to the excess of us pushing away our parents/elderly.
Don't shame people for taking "a job", people gotta eat.
I fully know wealth comes from equity & ownership.
The path to get there is a straight line for some and for others, it's a maze that may or may not even have a walkable path.
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Most books you see at airports or on bestseller lists don't deserve to be read.
Many others are marketing schemes or blog posts stretched into a book.
Here are 12 books with the actual substance to change your life:
1. Man's Search for Meaning
Written by a survivor of the holocaust who explores the nature of suffering and meaning. An inspiring book that demonstrates the triumph of the human spirit.
2. A Short History of Nearly Everything
A timeline of humanities' scientific and historical progress and insight into the things we take for granted to spark a sense of wonder and a drive to explore and experiment.
Our relationship with time can be a skill in of itself.
Past — Thinking backward to empathize with history & culture and feel how things were different, what parts of it to cherish & what to discard.
Future — Ability to project oneself, trends, or consequences forward in time and feel distant patterns yet to pass, to lead, warn, inspire and motivate a reason to change course or act.
An Annual Review Tech-Stack makes the process a lot easier.
The tools support the habits you want to cultivate in the long-term and provides tracking to help you manage and experiment with systems that can make your life better.
Here's a list of tools I've used 🧵
I'm experimenting more with writing with my voice when I go through writer's block.
Using Audio Transcription
Ottter.ai is my tool of choice when it comes to voice transcriptions.
The transcriptions are accurate, searchable, highlightable, a summary of keywords is created and you can share the transcripts with others.