I got a big boost in quality of life when I dropped down to 4 day weeks.
Working a full time job, I had gone from my usual "doctor visit every 10 years" to "doctor visit at least once a year", with an added flu or something each year on top of that. So when kid #2 came along, I used the excuse to drop down to 4 day weeks, and once the family was ticking away on all cylinders again I started using that extra day for climbing, cycling, and other "selfish" things. The idea being that this was "my day" and not just an extra day to do errands.
Boy what a difference it made. I haven't had more than a case of the sniffles since. I'm healthier, happier, and get to spend more time with the family.
I've since packed in the job entirely (to live off my business stuff full time) but if I do ever take another full time job, I'll be sure to negotiate 4 (or even 3) day weeks in to the contract. It's just night and day.
I have similar experience with switching to full time home-office. No open-office jerks, noise, air-condition/heating/light fighting. I am more happier, don't get work issues personally and so seriously, less stress, better thinking and working environment. Have stand-up desk with large display. Enviroment which I like the most. I can help my wife with our kids. I am satisfied as never before. I am not able to go back to open-office environment anymore.
What do you do that you can work a 4 day week? Was it difficult to convince your company to accommodate that? I know there are some companies out there which do 4 day work weeks (e.g. Treehouse), but it definitely not the norm.
It was a developer gig. And I had negotiated my employment as a 1099 contract (which you should always do, by the way, for lots of reasons besides just this) so the conversation went something along the lines of "Hey, I'm going to drop down to 4 day weeks."
In reality, all companies allow this sort of working arrangement. If it's not explicitly offered to everybody, it can be a matter of proving your value, making yourself indispensable, then negotiating from a place of strength.
Good developers are really hard to find (and keep) in this market. Smart employers won't want to lose you over something as silly as this, so they'll find a way to accommodate it.
Being able to self-sustain myself so I don't need my full-time job. Either through contracting work, my own startup, or my job's options being worth something.
Finding a social group closer to my own age in the area where I live. All my friends are 20 years older than me, and they're great friends, but there's no opportunity for dating at all nearby.
Although not permanent, try this for a couple of minutes of bliss:
Place the palms of your hands over your ears with fingers resting gently on the back of your head. Your middle fingers should point toward one another just above the base of your skull. Place your index fingers on top of you middle fingers and snap them (the index fingers) onto the skull making a loud, drumming noise. Repeat 40-50 times. Some people experience immediate relief with this method. Repeat several times a day for as long as necessary to reduce tinnitus.
Not a cure, but you might experience notable reduction of symptoms if you up your intake of magnesium.
(If you need magnesium, you likely also need calcium and calcium is best absorbed when taken with vitamins D and K -- and there is also the issue of bioavailability. Magnesium glycinate is the recommended form, or eating magnesium rich foods, such as certain nuts or dark chocolate.)
I was going to say "My son's tinnitus is not gone, but it makes him less crazy and interferes less with him getting to sleep." but I ran that past him for accuracy and he said he hasn't had tinnitus in some time. To be fair, we have done a lot more for his health issues than magnesium.
I always imagined an app with a command line/chat bot/text interface that would be used as a middleman for everything.
For email you'd simply type:
@email $@bob@gmail $@this is the subject $@this is my message/email content
You can of course use different parsing symbols than $@, but the concept remains the same and can be extended to many things. Typing simply @email will bring up format and usage info. If it's your first time using that function then you will be promoted to enter your sign in credentials as well.
Example for alarm:
@alarm 15:30 2x2m
This will set an alarm for 3:30pm, 3:32pm, and 3:34pm
Getting a quality 7 hours of sleep every night, 7 days a week...oh and giving up alcohol(or at least drink only on weekends) which is easier said than done.
Living near a warm ocean. It's one of the very few public activities that you can enjoy collectively with a group of strangers. It is relaxing whether you swim or just sit in awe of it. Miami Beach on a Saturday Morning is enjoyable if you live here... On vacation it doesn't feel the same.
I've often thought that 10mil (*in a suitable economy) would be enough to set you and your family up well, if you did it right. You could get some investment properties to generate a small revenue stream, enough for a decent holiday, then a nest-egg to generate some interest. You'd probably want to start a business or something to plan for the long-run, but I do agree that ten mil would be a great launch pad while not being too greedy.
Though to be honest, right now just ten grand that's disposable enough for a trip overseas would be nice, haha!
Getting solid sleep each night, removing processed carbs from my diet, weight lifting, stoicism and having fu* money enough for the next 10 years (which is second/higher level effect of the previous ones).
Working a full time job, I had gone from my usual "doctor visit every 10 years" to "doctor visit at least once a year", with an added flu or something each year on top of that. So when kid #2 came along, I used the excuse to drop down to 4 day weeks, and once the family was ticking away on all cylinders again I started using that extra day for climbing, cycling, and other "selfish" things. The idea being that this was "my day" and not just an extra day to do errands.
Boy what a difference it made. I haven't had more than a case of the sniffles since. I'm healthier, happier, and get to spend more time with the family.
I've since packed in the job entirely (to live off my business stuff full time) but if I do ever take another full time job, I'll be sure to negotiate 4 (or even 3) day weeks in to the contract. It's just night and day.