3 most important decisions of your life

Tiny Insights from the Countryside.

No.020 — Read old posts on Tinyfarmlab.com
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This is the most profound advice we received from Naval Ravikant in the book

There are basically three really big decisions you make in your early life:

where you live,

who you're with,

and what you do.

Naval Ravikant

We are all guilty of taking the backseat and letting life happen to us.

Trying to go with the flow.

These are decisions you take based on behavioral biases or trying to avoid discomfort.

You find yourself living where you grew up.

You marry someone because you were in a long-term relationship.

You keep following a career path that you chose when you were 18.

Going abroad for a master's degree and living there for 10 years.

Taking a job where you work 40 hours a week for 3 years.

Choosing a partner for a lifetime.

These macro decisions can change the trajectory of your life.

These decisions need at least a year of contemplation if not years.

Do not compromise your future self to avoid short-term pain. Think long-term. Take time to think about these life-changing decisions.

1) Where you live

The majority of people end up living where they grew up.

Your physical environment plays a crucial role in your life.

Environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behavior.

You can observe the same in Nature.

James Clear

The tree that gets the right environment, water, sun, and other nutrients, grows taller.

Your environment and location influence your -

  • Lifestyle.

  • Habits.

  • Business opportunities

  • The food you eat.

  • The water you drink.

  • Activities you do.

5 Questions you can ask yourself:

  • What does home mean to you?

  • What community shares your values?

  • What weather do you enjoy?

  • What does your ideal day look like from waking up to sleep?

  • How far do you want to live from friends and family?

  • What are the activities you enjoy?

2) Who you are with or Who you Marry

We came across interesting data from the American Time Use Survey and Our World in Data.

It breaks down who we spend our time with throughout our lives. It shows apart from spending time with yourself, you spend most of your time with your partner.

This emphasizes the fact why this is the most important decision of your life.

A supportive partner can help you thrive. They have a significant effect on your happiness and well-being.

“I truly believe that the single most important career decision that a woman makes is whether she will have a life partner and who that partner is.”

Sheryl Sandberg

5 Questions you need to ask yourself.

  1. What are the non-negotiables and boundaries that you want to set?

  2. What lifestyle and routines do you imagine to follow?

  3. Do you completely accept the other person and vice-versa?

  4. Have you both worked on healing your past traumas?

  5. Are you supportive of each other's goals?

3) What you do

We are not meant to do work that makes us live for Friday and dread Monday mornings.

Our career paths and goals should arise from the lifestyle we want to live, not the other way around. Cal Newport also talks about lifestyle-centered career planning.

Sometimes the most difficult thing is not doing what you want, but it's figuring out what you want.

This is one of the most complex decisions of all three. The only way of knowing what to work on is by working -

  • Follow your curiosities.

  • Read books.

  • Listen to podcasts.

  • Meet people.

  • Attend workshops.

Something will catch your interest. This is how you discover what you want to do. You only know if you like doing something by doing the work.

5 Questions you need to ask yourself.

  1. Does work feel like play?

  2. Do you have a natural aptitude for the work?

  3. Does it help you learn new skills?

  4. Who are you going to work with? Do they energize you?

  5. Can you see yourself doing it long-term? Even if you were not paid for it?

This Sunday, take time to confront these questions. Be more intentional.

Think in decades.

Remember, you are always just one decision away from a completely different life.

Love,

Raghav and Ansh

Question to ponder -

What would your 85-year-old future say to you about where you live, who you are with, and what you do currently?

PS: We’d also love to know what you thought of this newsletter, feel free to write feedback.

In this video, Ali goes through 7 career tips from his podcast with Professor Grace Lordan, author of the book, Think Big

This is a conversation between two of our favorite deep thinkers.

There is so much to take away from this conversation from inculcating reading habits to becoming more intentional about your life.

“ To do something well you have to like it. That idea is not exactly novel. We've got it down to four words: "Do what you love." But it's not enough just to tell people that. Doing what you love is complicated. “

Paul Graham is the co-founder of Y-combinator and is famous for his essays and simplifying complicated topics.

P.P.S. - Our next video drops today at 6 P.M.



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