Ambitions

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Originally Posted by bbaucom

ambitions?

make lots of money and retire before i'm 40.

short term ambitions? increase my salary by at least 33% in the next few months

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Retire at 40 eh?

Well first of all....you need to figure out how long you are going to live till. If you plan to die on your 80th birthday, then that means you need enough money to last you 40 years. If you start(ed) saving for retirement at age 20, then that leaves you 20 years to accumulate that money. If you intend to maintain the same cost of living during retirement as during your working years, then you need to earn 3x your cost of living, so you can save 2x your cost of living.

Of course, you can buff these numbers with investments, but its still not an easy task....especially since I believe many find it hard to even save the recommended amount, which is about 10% of their paycheck (let alone 66%).
Why do you think a lot of rich people still work into their 50s-60s?

For the record, I usually aim to save at least 55% of my net paycheck.


Edit: Oh, I suppose I should update my goals...since it's been almost a year when I created this thread....

I'll say that my next goal is to achieve a net worth of $1M in 10 years

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Originally Posted by Abdula

I know what you mean about anti-social tendencies but despite that people still seem to like me, I just find myself incapable of caring about them and what they want or think of me.

I can mirror your last two goals, but I have a couple musicians in my family who have tried to teach me guitar but its not an instrument I'm interested in but I would like to find one though, liked piano but lost interest in that as well, as you can see its a recurring problem.

Its hard for me to have any long term goals as I'm expected to die very young, I'm surprised I made it to 20 , was actually planning to sign a DNR but now I have a few positive influences in my life now so reneged on that. Looking to choose a field to study now anything that can challenge me enough to hold my interest, or whatever my body permits to do. I don't need to be particularly successful just need something that would keep my girlfriend contented when I finally decide to marry her. I was thinking computer sciences, medicine or psychology as they are all things I have an affinity for.

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Wow, you sound like me, except for the short lifespan part. I doubt you want to discuss it in a public forum, but I hope you beat whatever ails you, and get a chance to accomplish your goals. I'm not musically inclined at all, but I'm going to seriously work at learning the guitar. I hear it just takes a lot of practice. I plan to major in CS with a minor in one of psych/sociology/philosophy and/or Japanese.

@DB_Hunter: I meant ambitions at the workplace, which do require social skills.

@masamuneehs: I've traveled a bit, it's fun and really opens your eyes to the world beyond the US and A. I wish people would remember that they are the foreigner when they visit other countries, and that they need to respect the local customs. Americans are really bad about that.

Japan is a great place to start. Foreign country, but safe and with enough English speakers and signs so you can find your way. And if you get lost, there's less chance you'll end up in a shallow grave, unlike in some 3rd world countries. I'm practicing the Japanese writing systems right now. You have to learn by repetition, like school kids. Just write them over and over until it sticks.

@bbaucom: Everyone wants to retire early, but I'd get bored out of my mind if I didn't have a job. You miss out on so much without a workplace, like social interaction and continued learning. Depends on the job of course.

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Originally Posted by Animeniax

I'm practicing the Japanese writing systems right now. You have to learn by repetition, like school kids. Just write them over and over until it sticks.

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Yeah, I've been learning Russian and though the cyrillic alphabet wasn't very difficult to learn, I found cyrillic cursive writing to be disproportionally difficult. It really is like being back in grade 1 again, spending hours just making lines of letters (or words, as would be the case for Japanese). Best of luck with the language learning! Being bilingual is such a useful skill. I'm hoping to be fluent in Russian within a couple years, but we'll see if I continue having room for it in my class schedule.

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Originally Posted by KitKat

Best of luck with the language learning! Being bilingual is such a useful skill. I'm hoping to be fluent in Russian within a couple years, but we'll see if I continue having room for it in my class schedule.

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Wow, Russian? Is that your family's cultural background? Languages like Arabic, Russian and Chinese are too complex and foreign to me, I wouldn't know where to begin. Strangely Japanese isn't that difficult a language, just the multiple writing systems make it harder. I plan to take Japanese courses in college. Should be fun. Ja ne.

I thought most people in the world are bilingual? I might be wrong though....

Anyway writing a personal vision statement is one of the ways to get your priorities in life sorted out. It should be a statement where you can do self reflection upon, and provide the guiding principles especially in possible life changing decisions.

Most Americans can't even speak English properly, never mind another language. I think more and more people across the world are learning English as a second language. It's kind of saddening in a way. In a few hundred years, a country like Japan might use English as a primary language as often as their own. When I visit Japan, I'm happy to find areas with no romaji signs and no English signs, even though I tend to get lost that way.

Hanging around with the right sort of people also helps you get your goals in focus. I hang around with a bunch of slackers and tech nerds in my current work situation. When I was at home for Christmas I was around my brother and sister and their friends, who are all doctors and lawyers, and talking to them led me to want to go back to school to finish my degree and become a professional.

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Originally Posted by Psyke

I thought most people in the world are bilingual? I might be wrong though....

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never been to USA eh?

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Originally Posted by Animeniax

I hang around with a bunch of slackers and tech nerds in my current work situation. When I was at home for Christmas I was around my brother and sister and their friends, who are all doctors and lawyers, and talking to them led me to want to go back to school to finish my degree and become a professional.

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Yeah same thing happened to me, I've never considered myself to be someone who was influenced by other people, but I was talking to one of my friends recently who is currently working on getting her law degree, which got me interested in what my other friends were doing and they all are having successful lives for the most part some are even married and have kids but then again they are all much older than me. I decided to at least give this life thing one more try.

I don't mind discussing anything, its just that talking about it takes me to a very dark place and I'm really trying to maintain the flow of positive energy right now.

My goals are almost always short-term. I feel I can actually accomplish a list of precise short-term goals pretty efficiently. It's worked for me the last few semesters at least. I make a list of 10 things I want to change about my life before the next school year and I work at that. It's probably not as good as having a "big picture" goal, but it's better than just floating around. It helps keep me productive, if nothing else.

A few things I'd like to accomplish soon are 1.) Studying abroad in Spain before I graduate, 2.) Find a direction I want my Linguistics and Spanish degree to take me in; looking at career options/internships, and 3.) Find a band to play with and improve my bass playing.

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Originally Posted by Psyke

I thought most people in the world are bilingual? I might be wrong though....

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I spent the better half of my life thinking it was extraordinary to be bilingual, not knowing just how multilingual the rest of the world was.

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Originally Posted by Animeniax

I'm not musically inclined at all, but I'm going to seriously work at learning the guitar. I hear it just takes a lot of practice.

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If you really are a total beginner, I'd suggest finding a good teacher and taking lessons. Only practice can make you a great player, but I've been told it's 100 times more beneficial to have a teacher when you're first staring out. Having someone there to correct the little mistakes and explain to you the music theory behind what you're learning means you can improve much more quickly and easily.

One of my best friends just started taking lessons, and his teacher told him "My goal is to teach you to teach yourself."

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Originally Posted by Animeniax

Wow, Russian? Is that your family's cultural background? Languages like Arabic, Russian and Chinese are too complex and foreign to me, I wouldn't know where to begin. Strangely Japanese isn't that difficult a language, just the multiple writing systems make it harder. I plan to take Japanese courses in college. Should be fun. Ja ne.

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No, my background is purely English/Irish/Scottish.....mostly Canadian though, back several generations. I became interested in learning Russian a few years back when I visited the country of Azerbaijan. Now that I've started grad school in linguistics, I wanted to study it a bit more seriously, and I'm considering working in language development and literacy programs in the former Soviet Union with an organization known as SIL. I had a really good discussion the other day with a lady who has been working there and it was really good to get an idea of what's involved. Just to give you an idea, she said that in that area there are 157 distinct languages. Language workers there start out learning Russian before they go, since that's the trade language of the entire region, and they learn the national language of whatever country they are working in, and lastly learn the local language of the people group they're working with. I still have a couple years yet to decide, but I'm definitely planning on doing linguistics work overseas for a while. And then, probably come back to engineering at some point.

My plan is to finish my studies with a bachelor of design in either character design or illustrative design. And although concept art would be my ideal kind of career, I don't want to limit myself to that.

EDIT: 300th post. SPARTAAAAA!

Lol @ Squiggles' sparta post

So, I've been unemployed for awhile now, since graduating (I don't count temp work), and it's made me really sit down and think about what I want out of life. I'm not the kind of person who has "a plan" and sticks to it, nor am I the type to fall madly in love with one career path or industry.

But one thing I've come to learn about myself is that I don't care too much for money or going around saying "I completed my 5 year goal in just 1 year!" (not a shot at you Assertn) or "I make $XX,XXX a year!" because I think you can still be a failure of a person and be rich.

What I want is to be able to have an impact on people's lives. It's what drew me to Government / Poli Sci in the first place. But after seeing how dirty it is, and how much it's usually about helping yourself and your other rich fuck buddies, I don't think I could get involved on that gravy train.

One of the things I find I really enjoy is working with kids. The potential and energy they have makes me feel like helping them can really turn out to be something good outside of myself. I've always really liked tutoring and teaching at day camps, and so...

so i've applied for a few teaching positions, among the deluge of resumes and cover letters I've sent out to all sorts of companies and groups.

Today I finally got a reply that I'll actually go on.

So, I'm proud to say that I'll be teaching kids. It's not a glamorous job, but it's something I know I'll like and will give me enough monetary breathing room to really start out on my own. Also, the position is one where I'll have small class sizes, and an absurd amount of material support that I can use to teach with. No scrounging for supplies like in some bad school districts...

The one thing I'm slightly worried about is teaching very young kids. I've babysat, but the idea that I'm going to be teaching all ranges from infants to high schoolers (and even some 'pre-natal' classes with the moms... seriously, what the hell is that about?) So that's got me a bit worried, but I'm sure I'll be able to handle...

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... did i mention the job is in Japan? Cuz that's kinda important. Yeah, Japan.

Banzai, mother fuckers!


One of my ambitions is traveling. I want to see the world. I think it all started when I was a kid, and all my friends went to this 'Teen Travel' summer camp where they'd go somewhere cool every day... but my family didn't have enough money to send me because that was when my dad got real sick. Ever since then i've tried to travel as much as I can, even though I've wound up spending all my life in my hometown and at school in the state of New York (not counting the semester abroad, which cost me a pretty penny, but was so worth any amount of coin I could ever have). So, yeah, that jives well with finally getting the chance to learn Japanese AND make money AND do something I'll like.

Congrats and good luck.

My Ambition was to do something with my life. After High school I went to college to get a Degree. After I finished it I found myself lost. Lost in that I lacked a direction for me to apply my degree as well problems in jobs and money. I made it a goal to get my life in order and have a purpose.

A few months ago you can all remember what I did. I joined the Canadian Armed Forces. I Worked tireless during my 14 weeks of basic. It took everything I had to finish it. However I completed it and with that I start my career....sort of

My Ambition is still the same more or less, my goal is to complete my Trade's course and serve my country. The next Milestone is my current posting, which for lack of a explanation (to avoid a lengthy post) awaiting training company. It's just another thing I have to apply myself too

Here is to hoping :p

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Originally Posted by masamuneehs

So, I'm proud to say that I'll be teaching kids. It's not a glamorous job, but it's something I know I'll like and will give me enough monetary breathing room to really start out on my own. Also, the position is one where I'll have small class sizes, and an absurd amount of material support that I can use to teach with. No scrounging for supplies like in some bad school districts...

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Oh wow, cool coincidence Masa. Shortly after I made my post, about Tuesday of last week, I started to seriously consider teaching as a work option. I'd really love to hear updates about your experiences doing this. It's not something I see myself doing for the rest of my life, but I'd love to try it out at some point.

Congrats on landing that job.

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Originally Posted by masamuneehs

... did i mention the job is in Japan? Cuz that's kinda important. Yeah, Japan.

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Congratulations! It sounds great to be able to work in Japan. You'll definately learn the language much easier and faster, through daily conversation with the native speakers. So, when is the interview or is it confirmed already?

Well, I'm a little ahead in time but not that advanced... depends on how you see it.

So I have a degree in Engineering bla bla...
I've been working since the end of 2000.
I had different experiences, good and bad ones.
I'm married, with no children and won't have children (wife can't, no reason found) and don't want to adopt. As of yet I do not want children as I do not have enough energy for looking decently after myself...

In fact the main problem with my life in the past 5 years (or more it seems) has been health. Not very bad problem, just no energy at all... and it doesn't help when you're starting your carreer. It took a lot of time to find the cause that is so silly I would cry if I wasn't a man... Silly because of the system that do not recognize the effects and do not
do the prescriptions as they should when it's easy and cheap! Rather they send you in
appropriate places with inapropriate prescriptions that are very expensive, are dangerous for your health in the long term and solve nothing...

Why this seemingly out of topic digression? Well because it totally changes your ambitions.
I have my basic needs taken care of. I have a roof, a wife, I eat well and so on.
Yet I'm empty, with no ambitions due to a lack of energy to support any actions towards
these.
I was very ambitious, not a day dreamer. But when energy started to lack, I had stress
depression and so on... before I could accept my state and lower my self mind torture regarding ambitions.

No pity, I'm not here for that, plus I'm on the way of finding the appropriate course of
actions to regain energy and become who I am to be... Part of the problem is solved, and it wasn't a one variable one, but multivariable one... so it's a bit though to find solutions, moreover when 80% of docs are incompetent...

What will I want with my new life?
A bit more room to live, my flat is a bit tiny. Maybe a passive house, well built.
I would like to restart learning languages and maths/physics were I was good.
Anyways I'm passively starting to understand spoken japanese thanks to the many
fansubs I see.
I would like to find jobs where motivation is automatic, with confortable incomes and
possibly starting early in the day and have long evenings for familly life and social life
outside work

On a last note, for a dream rather than an ambition, I would love to voice acting in anime
for french accent characters (I know, very small niche). I would also love to help anime
and manga guys with their writing in french when needed. Again a small niche I know.

thanks for reading

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Originally Posted by Psyke

So, when is the interview or is it confirmed already?

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I'd start training in the U.S. in April, so there's still a good amount of time in between. I've already gone through all the interviews (I have the contract sitting on my desk, but I have one last potential job chance to consider before I send it in) and so there's really not much to do except say 'Yes' and start getting more frequent temp work so I can have savings for when I go. They also haven't strictly told me where I'd be working, but I think that's just a formality until I accept the offer.

and thanks for all the well wishes!

@David75
Lack of energy has generally been a huge problem for me as well. I tend to sleep a lot, stay up late, and squander lots of the day. Even if I wake up early, I'm generally unmotivated for good stretchs. I can get alot done in a short time, but I can't consistently spend energy like that.

...thinking about that point... I'll probably have to find some super crazy Japanese energy drink thing to keep me going during those days... I'll work with the kids for about 4-6 hours a day (as part of a 8-hour day), so I might need some kind of "boost" to keep me going every now and then

No offense, but the yellow don't typically like the darker shades, if you get my meaning. The Japanese don't even like other shades of yellow! I imagine you're going to be teaching ESL. Do you even speak enough Japanese to be able to interact with these people?

Keep in mind, I'm Asian, and you see how well we get along. I'm really not trying to be a dick, it's just a pleasant by-product of this reality check.

lol, if they want to make something of my race, they're perfectly allowed to.

in return, i just don't need to tolerate their shit.

besides, i really can't realistically expect that everyone I meet in Japan is going to have a problem with my being there. Those that do aren't even worth squat, and I'll gladly pass them by. Life's too short and the world too big to get bogged down in stupid crap with people you won't be able to gel with anyway.

My class is in English. I don't need to speak any Japanese to the students (in fact, I won't, because all it would possibly do is give them something to laugh at me at, since I'm not anywhere near skilled enough in the language). I've even heard that people working for this company don't ever need to speak Japanese ever. Obviously, I think those people are wastes for going to another country and not attempting to learn the language, but...