<story><title>I&apos;m 25 years old and I am lost</title><text>I co-founded a startup couple of years back which got acquired recently. Even though it was termed an acquisition, it was really an acqui-hire. When people congratulate me on that, I know in my heart that it&amp;#x27;s not true and it doesn&amp;#x27;t really make me happy.&lt;p&gt;Now, I&amp;#x27;ve quit my job at that company because I just couldn&amp;#x27;t work there any longer. And am trying to figure out what to do next.&lt;p&gt;I know for a fact that I want to run my own business and attain financial freedom but I can&amp;#x27;t risk another startup at this moment because: 1. Startups are tough and I am afraid 2. I have a few financial responsibilities towards my family which I have to take care of.&lt;p&gt;Thus, I have picked up another job which I&amp;#x27;ll join in a few weeks. It is not in a very &amp;#x27;sexy&amp;#x27; or &amp;#x27;trendy&amp;#x27; industry and I have no idea where it is going to take me in two years.&lt;p&gt;What do you do when you believe that you can do great things but something that you have no control over is holding you back? You believe that you are good at what you do and are meant for great things but you have to do your job even though it doesn&amp;#x27;t do justice to your capabilities. How do you cope with that? Seeing your future as an underachiever pains you. What do you do?&lt;p&gt;In the course of trying to figure it out, I spoke to my friends about this,  I realised that most of them are going through the same thing. But they haven&amp;#x27;t figured out how to deal with it. I don&amp;#x27;t know if this is what they call a quarter-life crisis.&lt;p&gt;Thus, this is as much a distress call as it is a rant. And not having anyone else to turn to, I am posting it here at HN assuming that this is not just a problem for a handful of people but a general problem for people who believe in their ability to do great things (whether it is true or not is irrelevant to them).&lt;p&gt;The questions I posed here aren&amp;#x27;t the only ones I have in my mind. But, I hope I have been able to convey the message. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!</text></story><parent_chain><item><author>webwright</author><text>&lt;i&gt;Why&lt;/i&gt; do you want to do great things?  Seriously, dig into it.  When I ask a lot of people in startups this question and dig long enough, it comes down to money-- they want to be rich, they want to be free.&lt;p&gt;Fact: I&amp;#x27;ve met these rich&amp;#x2F;free people and they are largely working their asses off to get more rich (and presumably more free?). The ones who make it (largely) LOVE THE GAME. The few who get rich somehow but don&amp;#x27;t actually love the game of getting rich are listlessly complaining about being unhappy.&lt;p&gt;You don&amp;#x27;t love the game, it seems. The way to be happy&amp;#x2F;satisfied is to find the game that you love or learn to love the game you&amp;#x27;re playing.  The latter is often what to focus on-- there people with much less interesting jobs that are satisfied with them. Whatever job you have, figure out how to be freakin&amp;#x27; awesome at it and opportunities fall into your lap- trust me. Or be the guy who gets by, can&amp;#x27;t be happy, is always looking out the window.&lt;p&gt;All that said, don&amp;#x27;t settle for a shitty job.  Get one where you&amp;#x27;re surrounded by people who impress you in an industry&amp;#x2F;market that has potential.  That&amp;#x27;s where you&amp;#x27;ll find your next co-founder.&lt;p&gt;If you&amp;#x27;ve got great ideas, start side projects.  They turn into businesses all the time.&lt;p&gt;Reduce your burn rate ruthlessly and save $.  Seriously, your car&amp;#x2F;house&amp;#x2F;clothes are too nice, and you have them because society makes you feel less successful if you don&amp;#x27;t. Happiness and stuff have virtually no correlation. Get to the point where you&amp;#x27;re downright smug about your burn rate. Smirk at people who drive BMWs.&lt;p&gt;Remember that a million years of evolution has made humanity &lt;i&gt;naturally discontent&lt;/i&gt;-- do you think happiness&amp;#x2F;contentedness is a survival trait? Add to that the external pressure of peers who make it big, do &amp;quot;great things&amp;quot;, and the river of marketing telling you that you need fancier watches, shinier cars, the newest iPhone.  Being happy&amp;#x2F;content takes smarts and discipline that most people simply can&amp;#x27;t manage.  Be one of the ones who can.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>buckbova</author><text>&amp;gt;  Seriously, your car&amp;#x2F;house&amp;#x2F;clothes are too nice, and you have them because society makes you feel less successful if you don&amp;#x27;t.&lt;p&gt;Stuff makes me happy. Moving from a tiny apartment with a small everything to a spacious house made me much happier. It&amp;#x27;s comfortable. I now have a wonderful kitchen to cook, which I enjoy doing, that I just couldn&amp;#x27;t do as well before. I have a view out my large bay windows. It&amp;#x27;s great.&lt;p&gt;Driving a nice car is awesome, especially if you commute longer distances or like road trips. I enjoy a comfortable luxury sedan with power.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m much happier with nice things. Society isn&amp;#x27;t telling me I like my large flat screen tv.  I am because it looks stunning on my wall.&lt;p&gt;I agree with what others say here about debt though. Don&amp;#x27;t go into debt to buy yourself a bunch of crap you don&amp;#x27;t need.</text></comment>
<story><title>I&apos;m 25 years old and I am lost</title><text>I co-founded a startup couple of years back which got acquired recently. Even though it was termed an acquisition, it was really an acqui-hire. When people congratulate me on that, I know in my heart that it&amp;#x27;s not true and it doesn&amp;#x27;t really make me happy.&lt;p&gt;Now, I&amp;#x27;ve quit my job at that company because I just couldn&amp;#x27;t work there any longer. And am trying to figure out what to do next.&lt;p&gt;I know for a fact that I want to run my own business and attain financial freedom but I can&amp;#x27;t risk another startup at this moment because: 1. Startups are tough and I am afraid 2. I have a few financial responsibilities towards my family which I have to take care of.&lt;p&gt;Thus, I have picked up another job which I&amp;#x27;ll join in a few weeks. It is not in a very &amp;#x27;sexy&amp;#x27; or &amp;#x27;trendy&amp;#x27; industry and I have no idea where it is going to take me in two years.&lt;p&gt;What do you do when you believe that you can do great things but something that you have no control over is holding you back? You believe that you are good at what you do and are meant for great things but you have to do your job even though it doesn&amp;#x27;t do justice to your capabilities. How do you cope with that? Seeing your future as an underachiever pains you. What do you do?&lt;p&gt;In the course of trying to figure it out, I spoke to my friends about this,  I realised that most of them are going through the same thing. But they haven&amp;#x27;t figured out how to deal with it. I don&amp;#x27;t know if this is what they call a quarter-life crisis.&lt;p&gt;Thus, this is as much a distress call as it is a rant. And not having anyone else to turn to, I am posting it here at HN assuming that this is not just a problem for a handful of people but a general problem for people who believe in their ability to do great things (whether it is true or not is irrelevant to them).&lt;p&gt;The questions I posed here aren&amp;#x27;t the only ones I have in my mind. But, I hope I have been able to convey the message. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!</text></story><parent_chain><item><author>webwright</author><text>&lt;i&gt;Why&lt;/i&gt; do you want to do great things?  Seriously, dig into it.  When I ask a lot of people in startups this question and dig long enough, it comes down to money-- they want to be rich, they want to be free.&lt;p&gt;Fact: I&amp;#x27;ve met these rich&amp;#x2F;free people and they are largely working their asses off to get more rich (and presumably more free?). The ones who make it (largely) LOVE THE GAME. The few who get rich somehow but don&amp;#x27;t actually love the game of getting rich are listlessly complaining about being unhappy.&lt;p&gt;You don&amp;#x27;t love the game, it seems. The way to be happy&amp;#x2F;satisfied is to find the game that you love or learn to love the game you&amp;#x27;re playing.  The latter is often what to focus on-- there people with much less interesting jobs that are satisfied with them. Whatever job you have, figure out how to be freakin&amp;#x27; awesome at it and opportunities fall into your lap- trust me. Or be the guy who gets by, can&amp;#x27;t be happy, is always looking out the window.&lt;p&gt;All that said, don&amp;#x27;t settle for a shitty job.  Get one where you&amp;#x27;re surrounded by people who impress you in an industry&amp;#x2F;market that has potential.  That&amp;#x27;s where you&amp;#x27;ll find your next co-founder.&lt;p&gt;If you&amp;#x27;ve got great ideas, start side projects.  They turn into businesses all the time.&lt;p&gt;Reduce your burn rate ruthlessly and save $.  Seriously, your car&amp;#x2F;house&amp;#x2F;clothes are too nice, and you have them because society makes you feel less successful if you don&amp;#x27;t. Happiness and stuff have virtually no correlation. Get to the point where you&amp;#x27;re downright smug about your burn rate. Smirk at people who drive BMWs.&lt;p&gt;Remember that a million years of evolution has made humanity &lt;i&gt;naturally discontent&lt;/i&gt;-- do you think happiness&amp;#x2F;contentedness is a survival trait? Add to that the external pressure of peers who make it big, do &amp;quot;great things&amp;quot;, and the river of marketing telling you that you need fancier watches, shinier cars, the newest iPhone.  Being happy&amp;#x2F;content takes smarts and discipline that most people simply can&amp;#x27;t manage.  Be one of the ones who can.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>refurb</author><text>&lt;i&gt;Remember that a million years of evolution has made humanity naturally discontent&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;That about sums it up.  The drive to always want more is just how humans are.  If it wasn&amp;#x27;t, the human condition would never improve.  However, you need to recognize it for what it is and don&amp;#x27;t let it control your own happiness.&lt;p&gt;The older I get the more I realize that doing what I want to do &lt;i&gt;now&lt;/i&gt; is much more rewarding that doing what I &lt;i&gt;think&lt;/i&gt; will make me happy years from now.</text></comment>