Four more days before I add to the unemployed pool.

The last 3 weeks have been very good.

I’ve been spending time on figuring things out and am pretty pleased with what I’ve figured out. Very importantly, was able to realize that certain things weren’t for me. Also, been able to figure out few things that I certainly would want in life.

I would say, the map is almost 3/4th done. There are missing links, those can be figured out, by trial and error.

A few key updates

1. am more a Benjamin Graham type personality than a Paul Graham (Paul’s bio says he is an investor, but to me he is more of a startup guy / startup funding angel investor) and that is a huge realization, though not surprising
2. my most prominent basic skills (quality / skill level don’t matter as much as interest in doing it)
   • I love working with numbers
   • I love gathering information, esp by reading
   • I love writing
   • I like evaluating, organizing and storing information in that order
3. personal finance / asset management and relevant fields are my most favorite areas
4. in my case, #3 satisfies the hedgehog concept(in the book Good to Great) better:
   • it is something am passionate about
   • already possess few skills and would love to really improve upon
   • easily, my best economic engine
5. travel and photography were late entrants in my life to add variation to a sedentary lifestyle. Am not a natural in both, though I enjoy doing both.
6. cycling is a true passion and I have no intention of mixing that with work, at least for a few more years. However, my passion stops at around 150km per ride mark.
7. books are a passion too, but I somehow cannot imagine running a book business / library for some reason
8. my current job actually fits pretty decently with the skills I mentioned above. However, it would be a better fit if I were a functional guy than a technical guy or a bit of both.
9. I would love working for myself than for anyone – for more autonomy, ownership and freedom.

Now, that said, while designing the rest of my life, a few things

1. I guess its going to be a composite career from now on
2. the most important one being investing and personal finance, and this shouldn’t consume more than 4-10 days per month (and I feel trying to put in more time beyond that could have diminishing returns)
3. should I have a regular job that feeds my interest in #2 with a regular income? Until at least till it can be fully self-sustained.
4. should I start a venture related to #2 that helps bring in more funds?
5. should I start a venture related to #2 that helps do something /ease / assist / blah blah for myself that I can roll out to others over a period?
6. should I start a venture unrelated to #2 that helps bring in more funds? (believe that variation in learning some other business could actually help in investing)
7. not interested in higher education as of now
8. cycling, travel and photography will remain as hobbies.

So, the biggest questions are mostly answered at least partially. Need to work on connecting the dots! And post that, will test the waters in a very small scale to validate things.

Will take my own sweet time.. after all, am designing my life here. :-). Of course, that may involve a bit of trial and error as well.

I am already surprised how different my own thoughts are from 2 months ago when I didn’t have much clarity. I don’t think this could have happened by staying in a job and doing all the analysis. The 2 months have been totally worth it!