To explain that, I need to ask you a question first: Have you ever had a thought stuck in your brain so deep that you felt you had no choice but to follow it? Like an itch, you need to scratch it because it is driving you mad? If yes, I feel you; if not, you lucky son of a gun. In either case, you better buckle up, sugar cup, because down the rabbit hole we go.
I've just emerged from a mini-vacation in the land of gloom because my brain decided to throw a little pity party. A friend came over to check on me, and we quickly disappeared from a conversation about anything and everything. The lottery was in the news again because the jackpot was nearly reaching its limit. So, there is little surprise that our discussion at one point turned into a question that lets your imagination go wild.
What would you do if you won the lottery?
After the usual stuff like buying a house, a new car and travelling the world, we both quickly agreed there needs to be more than materialistic things. You need to have something to do not to get bored out of your mind. A kind of purpose, regardless of how vain it may seem to the outside. For example, I would like to travel the world to find the best W hotel and document the experience at the different properties so you can compare it.
Feels like a year worth spending, don’t you think?
While this and the other things we discussed will remain a wild dream because neither of us won the lottery, a pattern was seemingly emerging.
Trying out and learning new things.
To be fair, since curiosity is one of my values and a driving force in my life, this was not really a surprising revelation. Yet, seeing it that clearly in front of me felt different. Regardless of the feelings, we quickly returned to reality when exploring what held us back from acting on this pattern. Setting aside the big-ticket tasks, we just didn't have the time and energy. With a full-time job eating up more than half of our waking hours (because, you know, sleep is important), I'd much rather hang out with friends to recharge my batteries than tackle anything else.
A few days later, I'm hopping on a call with a friend from the Dubai Product community. It's been about a year since our last real conversation, and in that time, we've both left Dubai to chase new adventures.
I cherish these people where you pick up where you left last time like no time has passed, and the usual banter is in full swing. He tries to mock me about my career change. “And Chris, how is retirement?” I reciprocated with, “How is life on the dark side of product as a VC?”. Just two friends having fun.
But deep in my subconscious, something else was afoot. Neurons rapidly fired to map a new pathway. Creating a sleep-preventing thought later that night.
What if I don’t need to work to pay the bills because I’m retired?
This is obviously nonsense because
- I just turned 40 and, therefore, far from retirement age
- My private retirement fund is designed to cover life after the age of 67
So, whatever idea I might be having is crazy and irresponsible. Or is it?
Yes, it is. There is mathematically no way for me to retire right now without living on the streets. But math also says that I have the budget for a three-year mini-retirement. I spend the rest of the night building different models, and in the early morning hours, I’m certain: The math is mathing.
Suddenly, it no longer felt irresponsible; it felt only crazy.
While these thoughts marinated in my brain for the next couple of days, this joke about life came to mind.
You only ever have two in life:
In your 20s, you have energy and time but no money.
In your 40s, you have energy and money but no time.
In your 70s, you have time and money but no energy.
After much deliberation with myself and others, I resorted to a simple wisdom shared in many variations by people much smarter than me.
I’m more likely to regret what I haven’t done than the things I did.
With this decision, we are off to the races, and while there is much to figure out over the next weeks, one thing was clear: I wanted this journey to be documented.
The difference between screwing around and science is writing it down. - Adam Savage