Start with the end in mind
Lately I’ve been trying to improve the way I think about things. I’m at a stage in life where putting effort into the right areas seems to be more important than putting in a lot of effort.
Getting this right seems to hinge on figuring out what your goals are.
Cal Newport writes about this from a career perspective. He recommends finding what is important for your career (it’s probably not what you are asked to do day to day) and focusing ruthlessly on that.
There is also the idea of designing your day. What activities are you good at at different times of the day? What environments do you enjoy or make you productive? How much interaction with other people do you want, and what kind of interaction? Daily Rituals is a fun book on this topic.
From a life goals perspective, you can also try the funeral exercise. Imagine you are observing your funeral. Who is there? What are they saying? What is your legacy in terms of people and achievements?
It’s also important to make sure you consider all your options. Often I find myself assuming that there is a certain way to achieve a given option, when there might be a better one to achieve the same end result.
Let’s look at some specific examples of things I am thinking about.
WORK
What do I want to work on? What do I need to focus on to build the future I want? How will that fit into my life?
Sadly I think my day job is over, and it’s just a matter of timing now. The real nail in the coffin was realizing that I was not going to be able to effect change or build something great at my university. The things I would need to work on to succeed there (bureaucratic skills and academic research) are things I have no interest in.
For my wife’s school, should we continue what we are doing now or gamble on a radical redesign? In order to succeed here, too, I would need to work on skills that don’t necessarily come easy to me (management, training).
RetireJapan seems easier. I think I know what I need to do (reach more people, learn more, share information better) and am happy to continue doing that. Unfortunately RetireJapan is nowhere near paying our bills (I’m not even sure if it’s in the black yet) so some combination of work is still necessary.
NON-WORK
I have a tendency to focus on work, even as leisure, so ‘everything apart from work’ is not a bad category.
Today is the Sports Day national holiday, and that is something I really struggle with. Exercising enough, eating healthily, sleeping enough. I know what I need to be doing, and actually enjoy it a lot of the time, but building good habits consistently has so far eluded me (mainly the consistently thing).
I also need to work hard at keeping up relationships. Left to my own devices, I have a tendency to withdraw into my own world. To overcome that, scheduling time with friends here in Sendai (normally lunch or coffee) and scheduling emails to friends elsewhere has helped me be more sociable than I might have been otherwise. Given the dangers of social disconnect this is probably as important as exercise and diet.
And the thread tying the whole tapestry together is what do I actually want? What do I want to do every day? Figuring that out unlocks the next step, which is how do I do that? What is the path to get there?
I’m going to go for a walk now (it’s a lovely day in Sendai) and give this stuff a bit more thought.
How about you? What are you struggling with? Any insights for me?
This site may be a hobby for you, but nonetheless, it’s helping a lot of people. It isn’t a ‘time-waster’ site.
For everyone here, this site serves as an investment for our futures. But only a time investment at the moment.
And if you’re paying for the privilege of helping us, seems you got the short straw.
So why not ask for donations to keep the site running? Something like ¥1,000 year is not going to hurt anyone, will motivate you (as a paid business) and pay for the hosting. I know you sell your ebooks, but that isn’t guaranteed or regular income.
I’d be more than happy to chip in!
Thanks, Neil, that is a really kind comment 🙂
I have thought of doing something through Patreon, or maybe just taking Paypal donations. I could also make more of an effort to monetize the site through advertising. In the end though, I’d rather keep building a community and let the money come later (if at all) through higher-value products.
The first Guide sold fairly well, and I’m planning to write more of them, so hopefully that will end up funding the site eventually.
At the moment, anyone clicking on an Amazon link who then buys something contributes a few percent to the site, and every three people that sign up for TransferWise and use the service.
You’ve inspired me to do a post about the finances of the site soon, so that’s something! Stay tuned for more detail 🙂
Ah, the ol’ Thinking Long Term again…! 🙂
It’s my curse! And maybe blessing 😉
I’d hate to ruin what we have built so far by trying to monetize it in a way I wouldn’t like if I were a visitor/member.
Naturally you don’t want to lose goodwill by suddenly charging people for information! I was thinking less monetizing, more helping support the site by paying for its upkeep. I think there’s a difference. The same reason I contributed to Wikipedia.
Ha, ha, I gave money to Wikipedia too 🙂
(but then they kept sending me emails asking for more…)
Every time, though nowhere near as annoying as evey website warning me they use cookies. As if I was sweating the fact before I clicked.
Have to agree with Neil. An inconspicuous Patreon or PayPal link would not be at all discouraging, and I think most of your regular readers would be more than happy to make voluntary contributions occasionally.
And, I’m sure we all appreciate the lack of advertising all over the site and constant pop-ups (or is that just my ad-blocker working properly at last?) many other sites have.
Ha, ha, no, there is no advertising on the site (except for the odd affiliate link). That’s very kind of you to say that.
I will have a think about a Paypal donation link somewhere. It would give me another blog post at least 🙂
I agree that a donation button would be a good idea… at least allow us who enjoy your site and appreciate the info you provide to pitch in for the upkeep.
In regards to how to make money off Retire Japan, have you thought about offering individual financial consulting to expats? You are building both a good size user-base and a good reputation thanks to all the free advice you provide here. I think you could leverage that reputation into providing paid-for retirement advice to expats in Japan who may not have the time, dedication, motivation or Japanese language ability to set up their own retirement saving plans. Seems like you would be the ideal person to offer those kind of services to expats. To be honest, most of the financial advisers I have met in Tokyo are super shady so you would be doing the community a service!
Hi EWS
Thanks, I am now working on setting up Patreon and Paypal donation links for the site. Will write a blog post once they are ready.
I guess that would be one way of finding out how many ‘true fans’ the site has 😉
As for financial advice, yes, that is Stages 4 and 5 of the master plan: http://www.retirejapan.info/blog/the-retire-japan-master-plan
“finding what is important for your career”
This really resonates with me and is something I think about a lot. I’ve been teaching in some capacity for over ten years and in the J-uni system for over 5 now. It’s safe to say I can a plan a good lesson pretty quickly. I think I’m more than decent in my job. I spend some time refining my teaching skills, materials, lessons, and evaluation methods, but even takening that and adding it to actual classroom hours, I still feel the majority of my energy is spent on research, Japanese skills, papers, presentation, my volunteer postions and work. None of it central to my daily job but all of it more important to keeping this career, finding that next contract and moving up. It’s not all bad. It’s not a waste to go out and present and try to improve your Japanese skills, but because of the contract situation many of us Jokyo find ourselves in, I feel the pressure to work harder on the next job than the one I have everyday.
I spend 30 minutes prepping a 10 minute demo lesson, and because I’m good at my job and doing this a while, I knock it out of the park. Getting a custom Japanese resume ready or writing a western style cover letter, 2-5 hours. Multiple that by 15-30 applications every time a contract is about to end. My job becomes concentration of my career. It’s silly is all and I wish I could focus more on teaching.
Hi Bob
I had hoped for a bit that universities here would move away from the ‘teachers musical chairs’ system, but it seems pretty entrenched, eh.
Hope you find a good solution.
Lately, my list of struggles could go on and on; ) I just want to tell you about Steemit.com. Maybe you’ve heard of it already. At any rate, it will help you make some profit through blogging. Take a look for yourself.
Looks interesting, but I think it might be better to keep all the content in one place, here on RJ 🙂
I’d be happy to write a guest post for you and your readers explaining how the site works. From an investment point of view, it has a lot of potential because your earnings can produce dividends. Another nice benefit is that the community, which you have said that you want to continue building, is already there, in one place waiting for.
In addition, Steemit produces great Google search results and there’s absolutely no reason for you to not repost the content you have already created and continue to create on another site. You already have the content. Why not repost it and be rewarded?
Thanks, Elliot. I have signed up for an account and am waiting to hear back from them.
I was wondering if there is any qualification you need in Japan in order to get paid for financial advice…? Or some sort of protection against getting sued. Have you looked into this?
Good question, Jamo 🙂
I believe the financial planner qualification (national certification) covers general financial advice. In order to sell specific financial products you need some kind of broker license, but I have no intention of doing that.
Still studying for the FP test (next one is in January I think).
So, if you have decided to get out of uni teaching, by when are you thinking? Do you have a deadline? Im also thinking about escaping the rat race. There is no perfect time eh. Im wondering whether to just do it, a la Richard Branson (screw it, just do it)
Well, I am fortunate enough to have FU money now, so if I really wanted to I could quit on the spot.
Barring unpleasant developments, I’m on a contract which runs out in March 2019 (fateful timing?), and can renew for three more years.
So I will either leave in 1.5 years or in 4.5 years, unless my department changes completely before I leave and this becomes an interesting and dynamic place to work.
So I’ll be leaving in 1.5 or 4.5 years time 😉