That quote’s got to be the only thing I agree with that old arsehole Heinlein, and even then, he forgot half of what it means to be human, the social and emotional parts. Specialising and cooperating are bad things, just not to be used in every instance; better to optimise, which often means balance and dynamics.

@Steve Austin: Funny you should mention car-drivers offering bike riders help; not long ago, I was riding along the motorway in POURING rain here in Sydney, and a pick-up pulled over (from 120km/h) and a young tradesman offered me, slightly concerned, a lift home. I was enjoying the warmish rain and was almost home anyway, so I declined, but it was very nice of him.

Cheers,
Jeremy

I had a chance to go fishing with my family this past summer and the best part of the trip was getting together for a nice shore lunch and cooking the fish. Outdoors on a beautiful sunny day, hanging out, and eating fresh fish and just soaking it all in.

Next summer, I want to take my wife to an outdoor movie theater, classic style, where you go there with your vehicle and catch a flick. We just think it would be a fun and inexpensive night out and something different.

Nice post.

Thanks for the reminder of what is important. We all need a reminder now and then!

As a homeowner, I’ve learned a lot of different skills most people would just throw money at – carpentry, painting, plumbing and electrical. 12 years and a few homes later I’m still here and not blown anything up! I’d rather learn to install a new toilet than watch the guys on This Old House do it while paying someone to fix it for me.

Age 1-10 A grasping of who, what, where, and when/how you got here and what’s the requirements? How do I get from a to b the slickest way?

Age 11-20 Forming. Picking up the pieces. Plotting the course. Noticing the other gender? Get you one if you want one.

Age 21-30 Putting it into action. Discovery of the paths, but do you want to be on them? Are you headed the right way? You need $$$$$.

(WOW 30 years of your life already history!!!)

Age 31-40 Your locked in. You either hit the nail squarely, or your drowning in your own stupid mistakes. Hold it, still time to get it right. Consider risk management now, consider the future of your moves.

Age 41-50 Should be/could be/possibly is your best decade. You should be locked and cocked. Your fruits should be harvesting without effort. You should be shifting to your own inner desires and seeing about those. Your closing nifty fifty, Get some more of it NOW.

Age 51-60 The payback years. This should be some great time for you. It is almost time to go get your ticket punched. You worked it, did it, and made it in this decade. Your good to go. This should be the icing on your cake. Your physically fit, your well resourced, your ready to tread life your way. What did you miss the last 60 years? Get it now!!!

Age 61-70. The bonus years. No worries, be happy. Reflection time. Fish, swim, hike, eat, drink, be merry. Surely you prepared for this decade? Right? You Johnny-well better have, because the odds are not stacked in your favor unless you invent a new toothbrush or an easy way to clean a house and can sell it on TV by the zillions. Too late for that most likely. Nothing, however is impossible. These are your “glory years”. Luckily, you don’t need Viagra or some other “prop me up” drug. Chase those rainbows you had no time for before. The world is/should be your oyster.

Age 71-80. Some of you are still around, just not as aggressive as you used to be. Life can still be red wine and cheese if you are in good health. Some won’t buy Viagra until age 80. There are LOTS of single widows out there now, go get you one if you need one.

Age 80-90 Well, maybe you can catch up a little on those unread books you have stacked up under the bed. Get you a clock that does not run too well or too fast. Get some more of life as you can. If you took too much Viagra in the last decade, you may be blind by now, but if your not—hey, great!!!!

And during all this mess of decades of life, have all the fun you can. Tick Tick Tick!!
Your doing nothing but spending minutes. You will not be getting an extension of those!!!

The way I see it, it is important to travel at least at some point in one’s life. And no, not traveling the same way everyone else does. That is, the predetermined, generic way of traveling. Rather, I think real traveling means relying less on money. Not only is that good for the wallet, but it provides more adventures, journeys and discoveries.

What I mean by that:

Getting lost
Hitchhiking
Meeting new people
Practicing the language
Spending time in nature
Learning skills
Etc.

I think it’s just a good idea to travel uniquely, not as the travel agency tells you to. I am planning a trip in the new year. I shouldn’t say “planning”, because the best plan might be no plan.
I just can’t return to school. After my trip I will settle into the skilled trades.

Trying to learn a variety of skills, such as car maintenance, gardening, home improvement stuff – there owning a house has proven quite beneficial. Of course I’ve also learnt about disadvantages of certain aspects of home ownership. But that’s a learning experience, right?

I agree with you on a personal level. Doing the same thing over and over is just boring. ERE’s example of a plumber hiring a tax guy, electrician, etc was spot on. I used to work as a Corporate accountant and did the same thing everyday. When it came time to fix something at my house or car, I just called up the “fix-it” guy and had it done. Now, I’ve realized there is tremendous value in actually doing things myself. While I don’t always enjoy changing the struts on my car, I do find there’s some nice intrinsic perks (to go along with the money savings). As such, I no longer call the “fix-it” guy and instead rely on my own two hands to fix things. While I’m no expert at anything, I’ve learned a lot about a few things over the past few years. That’s called a “Jack of all trades” around here.

The US is the strongest economy in the world today precisely because it does the opposite. It doesn’t specialize. Compare that to some countries in eastern Europe or Africa which are largely agricultural and tell me who is better off – the specialist or the generalist?

Nature values diversity.

In my life. I work as a software developer. While this task is fun some of the time, doing it full-time is utterly boring to me. I do the same things over and over again and I yearn for employment which isn’t so specialized.

Ideally you pick your favorite things to do now or the things that make the most sense to do now, like whatever your current friends like the most.

Anyway, about the tourism thing: Yeah, I agree, it *is* very passive. But I think that people might want to try it once on the broccoli principle (If you’ve never tried it, how do you know you don’t like it?) After doing that, the person probably has a better perspective on the pros and cons of an active participation in something and a passive tour of it. Even bad ideas are valuable for informing you of what not to do in the future.

Anyway, great post, esp. the Heinlein quote. It reminded me there’s still a few things I need to learn how to do yet…

2/ I enjoyed the bit about the guy on the motorboat tooling out to give you a return tow. Life and work at sea (or on a body of water) can bring out the best in humans. The (often unspoken) duty of the mariner is to assist others in distress. Even in times of war, the sea is the first and mutual enemy, while the fight with the actual mortal enemy comes only second. Glad to hear that he did right by that to offer. You’d rarely see the analogue happen on land (you riding your bike in a tough situation); when was the last time a driver of a motor vehicle offered to give you a tow up a steep hill or in inclement wx? ;-\ Even if you were clearly in a bicycle wipe out, you’d get fewer assistants (%-wise of the passers-by) than if you were in distress at sea (e.g. capsized and just hanging from the bottom of the boat yet still able to swim to shore if you had to).

3/ Other than fun, I think there is something else to be said for fishing and boating: they are valuable survival skills, and it’s always good to either learn them or refresh oneself with them. The law of competitive advantage narrows a bit in a survival situation, so it’s best to be able to do it most (of not all) oneself. But your emphasis on the fun of DitY works, too.

Life is definitely more than efficiency. I really like the Heinlein quote, but it raises a challenge that I grapple with from time to time: when to say no.

There are so many interesting and fun things to do in life, that I find prioritizing really important in order to feel fulfilled and give my full effort to the things I do. There have been times in the past when I’ve let my interests run too wide and I’ve spread myself too thin. This had negative consequences for many of the things I was doing and the people I was in relationships with. Now I am much more selective in what interests and activities and relationships I pursue … I focus on quality and let some things go by the wayside.

Do you relate to this? How do you handle it?