Manifesto
Be present.
Be uncontrollable.
Hang out with passionate people,
creating things that matters to me.
Be present
This is a health thing, physical and mental. A prerequisite for happiness, and everything, is to be fully there in the moment. To be in the now. If you are sleep deprived, overweight, sugar addicted, or eat unhealthy foods, you won't be fully present, and can not fully take advantage (not even experience) the current moment. You also cannot be present if you are constantly connected and have one million things going on in your head at the same time - you need to disconnect, meditate and focus once in a while, and know at heart what is important to you.
Be uncontrollable
This is an economical thing - in practice it translates to living below my means. “Power over a mans subsistence equals power over his will.” If you spend more than you earn, own lots of material things, and have little capital, you are really just a slave, forced to jumping through the hoops that people with money hold up. The amount of economical control other people have over you equals the difference between how much money you have and how much money you use. Earn a healthy amount of money, and don’t spend it all. Living below my means slowly expands my ability to decide how I spend the hours of my life.
Spend time with passionate people
I really like spending time with people. It’s probably my favourite activity. It gives me (and most people, I guess) a very direct boost of happiness. No matter how bad the situation, one can always rely on this for a boost of happiness. Just spending time with great (which I define as passionate) people. Not complicated at all.
Creating things that matters to me
I have always enjoyed, and will always enjoy creating. It’s in my blood, and the process of creating gives me great satisfaction. Movies, theatre and software has been chosen channels so far, but to be honest, it could have been anything. I don’t enjoy programming in itself - solving problems is not especially fun at all. For me to enjoy the craft, it needs to be creating something new, that did not exist before. Or as Anders Lundin calls it - “Hitta på”. That said, not all creations are meant to be finished. Some are just there for play. Some begin as something serious, but stops at being just a great experiment. Some (a very select few) end up being finished, but that is NEVER because they are fun (finishing projects is stressful and boring). Projects that get finished get finished because there are people that really want them to get finished, and they want them to get finished because they matter! In some cases, this might be just me - if I really, really want a job, I’ll do the application for it, or if I really, really could use the money that launching a project will give me, I’ll probably finish it. But to really get something out there, my own will is often not enough to push through the finishing part - it takes the will and pressure of many.
