How I Choose What to Work On (2023)

3/28/2025 at 9:53:37 AM

Note that there is a difference between wanting to have more money and wanting to make more money.

The author seems to be lucky in being born with the latter trait, but most humans luckily don't.

If you're in the other group, feel free to simply ignore this advice. Make money to support yourself and your surroundings, but don't feel sad that you can't constantly do the things you love. It is just not how reality works.

by smokel

3/28/2025 at 1:32:44 PM

If you have the first trait but not the second then you are pretty much doomed to misery (unless you happen to be very lucky).

by tonyedgecombe

3/28/2025 at 10:55:14 AM

Can you elaborate on the difference, I’m not sure I get it.

by mehphp

3/28/2025 at 1:49:39 PM

There's people that would be happy winning the lottery, and others that would be happier if they had worked for it.

by stronglikedan

3/28/2025 at 11:06:27 AM

I, for one, love to think about having a lot of money that I can spend on fun things. I do, however, not love coming up with schemes all day to actually transfer that money from someone else's pocket to mine first.

by smokel

3/28/2025 at 11:12:08 AM

People want the "end result" of making money (having money), not the "process" of making money.

Say you make a startup, you "make money" by working hard for 5 years, but you "have money" only when you exit in the end.

by ddorian43

3/28/2025 at 9:18:36 AM

> I would rather be poor than make a lot of money doing something I hate.

I too would love to have that choice. But my wife and kids might disagree

by yfw

3/28/2025 at 11:03:01 AM

It depends just how miserable it makes you, and the rest of the family's views. I wouldn't want my parent/spouse to be absolutely miserable just so I can have nicer things. Also a parent who is absolutely ground-down by their work might have psychological problems as a result which could negatively affect the child, or at minimum less time/energy to directly give to the family.

by HPsquared

3/28/2025 at 1:42:53 PM

This is what Kafka’s Metamorphosis is about.

Most everyone only ever talks about parts 1-2, probably because that’s the beetle stuff. Everyone in his household is miserable and depressed and he is killing himself working hard to try to carry that burden for his family, just barely holding everything together, to the point it breaks him and he transforms.

Part 3 is his slow death and then a quick denouement takes place after dies, and it’s about how happy and healthy everyone else is after he’s stopped making himself ill trying to give them something they clearly are happier without.

by treffeer

3/28/2025 at 3:29:03 PM

The subtle thing is that the family becomes the main character in the second half of part 2 into part 3, once they start getting agency.

> it’s about how happy and healthy everyone else is after he’s stopped making himself ill trying to give them something they clearly are happier without.

You can even say that in the end everyone feels relief, like they got rid of a burden.

by libertine

3/29/2025 at 2:52:43 AM

Most people, past or present, have had to do whatever labor they can to (hopefully) simply survive at the contextual standard of living. Some kids may love a parent who lets them go hungry so they can do work they don't dislike as much -- but the other adults around them probably won't have such a generous view, and I think rightly so.

by cjameskeller

3/28/2025 at 3:27:39 PM

It's also entirely possible, maybe even likely, for people to get burnt out doing something they love because we don't set the natural boundaries we would with something we're strictly doing pragmatically.

I still think it's the best way to live, but the saying "do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life" really is double edged.

by Alacart

3/28/2025 at 1:38:28 PM

In general kids follow their parent's lead for things like this.

by tonyedgecombe

3/28/2025 at 12:31:30 PM

"If you do something you love, you will become good at it much faster than something you don’t love, and when you are good at something you will have some opportunity to commercialize it."

This sums up my life philosophy very well at this point. It also applies to kids and education, as I encourage my boy to do the things he loves (happens to be Minecraft and its thousands of mods, commands and other things to learn), and gently guide him over time to a place where he might be able to commercialize his skills in the future. It's amazing to see what a child is able to learn when they are obsessed.

by martindbp

3/28/2025 at 2:08:07 PM

> Part of the reason I’ve been able to do this is because I’ve always designed my life such that it can benefit from having money (pinball arcade rooms and all that…) but is also compatible with having no money.

Good observation from the OP. Living lean opens up the possibility to do more things; but it also requires sacrifices that most aren't able to make, and why it's so difficult to work on the things you want to. Sometimes it's nearly impossible to give up life's commitments, comforts, and responsibilities.

by smjburton

3/28/2025 at 2:48:11 PM

I’m just not sure how to square that quote with this from the about page:

> I reside in Las Vegas but also spend a lot of time in Hawaii, Budapest, and elsewhere. I’m a minimalist nomad.

No matter how minimalist one is, traveling is difficult with no money.

by eCa

3/28/2025 at 5:07:00 PM

Tynan here. I've bought small apartments with groups of friends in Hilo, Budapest, Tokyo, and bought a small island in Canada. My share of all four of those cost under $50k. So most of the time when I travel I go to places I have my own place. I don't do a ton of touristy stuff, because I've been to all these places dozens of times, but instead more or less live a life like a local there, which doesn't cost more than my life in Vegas.

I still have to buy flights, but there are a lot of well known methods (points, etc) to get really cheap flights.

Even back when I really had no money, a buddy and I just rented cheap apartments around the world for a year and gave up our places at home. It cost very little.

by tynan

3/28/2025 at 3:15:35 PM

I saw that too but took it to mean that he lives lean even when times are good by traveling as minimalistic as possible (cheapest flights, hotels, gear), and has set his life up in a way that he could survive even if he has very little to no money.

by smjburton

3/28/2025 at 12:06:55 PM

"build the right thing, charge something reasonable"

Damn. I like this statement very much. Though I might as well a do with the build and maybe honorable

"build/do the right thing, charge something reasonable , be honorable"

by Imustaskforhelp

3/28/2025 at 12:30:39 PM

I like the idea of autonomy and fulfillment. That said, the values expressed here seem to contradict the reliance on cheap flights and promotion of cruise tourism, both heavily petroleum-dependent and environmentally unsustainable industries.

I’m curious how this fits into the broader framework of doing meaningful values-driven work.

by chiffre01

3/28/2025 at 1:48:25 PM

It's an interesting question, should you factor other people's consumption into your own environmental impact? I suppose you are enabling it although I doubt it would have any impact on the cruise industry if he shut up shop, clients would just select another agency to book through.

by tonyedgecombe

3/28/2025 at 9:43:11 AM

About section:

> Formerly, I was a pickup artist (as featured in the book The Game) and professional gambler.

(probably soon to be purged from the site)

by mentalgear

3/28/2025 at 12:17:08 PM

I doubt that. He's been quite open about it for years and posted plenty of posts about what he did.

by verzali

3/28/2025 at 5:07:34 PM

Haha I doubt it too.

by tynan

3/28/2025 at 3:26:04 PM

> I would rather be poor than make a lot of money doing something I hate.

This post and quote resonated with me. I love my work and have been fortunate to make enough disposable income to enjoy life and support my family. And it is funny how the money seems to follow the passion-- something that wasn't obvious to me for several years. However, I would stop well short of saying that I'd rather be poor than make money doing something I hate. I grew up poor and I can still recall moments from my childhood of being unhoused, not having meals or clean clothes, standing in line at food pantries, and of my mother and grandparents going without to ensure me and my siblings had something. Now, I admittedly haven't read the author's other posts to know his background, but for me I'd rather work just about any job than subject myself or family to poverty and it's longer term psychological and physical health complications.

by PetitSinge

3/28/2025 at 5:17:50 PM

I'm the author. I'm married but don't have kids. I distinctly remember when I first visited Hilo, Hawaii when I was 15, thinking that if I had to be homeless there, it would be better than having a job I hated. For years I lived in a tiny 21' RV behind a gas station in SF.

Now I'm married, and I would certainly sacrifice a lot for my wife. I don't have kids, but I would also sacrifice a lot for my nieces and nephews.

What I should have said is that I'd rather live a very materially basic life than do work I hate. If I couldn't afford clothing/food/housing/etc. I'd do whatever I needed to.

by tynan

3/28/2025 at 4:05:24 PM

Agh, the glory days of when tynan and sebastian marshall inspired what I would do later on in life (it's vagabonding, sort of vagranting). Also, his gear posts are really interesting.

by barrenko

3/28/2025 at 5:07:22 PM

Happy to hear it! --Tynan

by tynan

3/30/2025 at 8:03:21 AM

Thank you, means a lot

by barrenko

3/28/2025 at 8:23:33 PM

I think this is the best insight into why OP is successful: "Once I have a business, my priority is to make it the best possible option for the user"

by lucaspauker

3/28/2025 at 9:37:36 AM

(2023)

by dantastic