Uncertainty. And thankful. I'm 25 years old, single, employed, with a college degree and living with my mom and brother. - I don't know precisely on what I want to work on, on what problems to solve. I have a deep confidence that I can learn and focus on something and become good at it if I really dedicate my time and effort there. My lack of decision-making relating to that big decision, and others, paralizes me in some way. I'm particularly interested in crypto (public blockchains), mobility (self driving cars, mobility as a service, electrification), travel (adventure, photos, movies / still have to do my tripreport from Canada x Alaska, and will be able to as soon as I get my computer fixed) or starting my own company* in something I believe in (e.g. I think I have a great idea but no technical knowledge and with the competition I would need to raise millions to be able to execute. The idea is 'Carpooling on demand' and it improves current solutions on multiple levels (I'm thinking about Uber for the on-demand part and Blablacar for the carpooling part). It would cost way less per trip than Uber, it would be a way more 'instant' and 'direct' experience than Blablacar. Less congestion and pollution because you don't add any cars compared to Uber. It scales with mobility as a service solution and self-driving cars beautifully. I think it would be hard to penetrate the US Market but I'm confident it would work quite well in France. The end-of-state scenario would be: xx.xx$/months. Unlimited Car Pooling, Worldwide. Price could vary if you want to add options about being able to use public transport, scooters, and other mobility solutions). - I don't know where I want to live ; - I don't know if I want to be a dad one day or if I want a life full of adventure and travel ; - I don't know how to make these decisions because I feel like the 'me' in three years from now might have a different opinion on what I should have done. - I'm thankful that these are the questions I'm wondering about. That I have choices. For those of you who went through this and others who have an opinion about it: how did you chose between your options, and why? What questions did you ask yourself at the time?
I'm not sure how much I could contribute (still in University), but speaking from my own experiences with semi-realistic goals and hobbies, I'd encourage you to start planning it out as a small business, just to see how feasable it is. So you'd need a database for the drivers, a way to test and then add new drivers (since it's starting out, you could do it by hand), a database for the users, a user-side and driver-side app (this would be the expensive part. If you're ever bored, try learning how to make an app (I say as a Computer nerd), but honestly this would be the toughest part of the startup). Etc etc. At least putting it on paper might help organize it in your mind and assess if/when it's viable. Back to the general questions. If it helps, you in 3 years will definitely have a different opinion on what you should've done. That's inevitable, and that's okay. What really matters is figuring out clear goals now, so that finding what you should work on becomes much easier. Live a life full of adventure/travel (if you want to) and worry about being a parent when you get there. Working backwards, being a healthy father would originate from a loving relationship, and the key to that is living a satisfying and fulfilling internal life. Love yourself, and respect/pay attention to others, and that bit will work itself out, I believe.
@On the startup idea: me not engaging fully with this says to me that I’m not ready yet for the sacrifices that launching a company entails. As soon as I get my computer back I will probably write a business plan and see where I can go from here, and try to learn how to code to try basic features just to get an idea and some knowledge about the technical part. I will try to do the free courses on Lambda School during the first semester of 2019. While I’m confident that the idea has merit, I also deeply believe that there are way too many competitors with deep pockets right now in the mobility-space and that my solution would provide a small improvement, but not an 10x one that would be necessary to gain adoption. Will have clearer ideas about all that when I put it down. I also believe right now is not a good time to launch a company that needs huge amount of VC money to reach scale, because as the markets are turning red, the VC money is usually the first one to dry up as it’s high risk. But going through this whole process, of identifying what are the steps needed might definitely help me to be readier 5, 10 years from now to launch something I believe in. @On clear goals: yep. That’s where I have a hard time making sacrifices to define one goal instead of another one. Will take the holiday season as I have a few days off to think about all this. @On love: you are right on this one, I shouldn’t overthink about it right now.