Money or a simple life?

Insights from the countryside.

No.009 — Read on Tinyfarmlab.com
Reading Time 3 minutes

If you're reading this, you're likely dreaming of a life in the countryside. We understand that this move could be daunting.

One major concern holding you back could be figuring out how to earn a living once you make the move.

Money or a simple life?

We used to ponder that question too.

However, we've come to realize that we don't have to choose.

It's not either-or; you can have both.

It's not about scarcity;

it's about abundance in every aspect of life.

We need money for essentials like food, travel, education, and healthcare, but we also crave a fulfilling and simple life.

We realized we aren't chasing money; we're after the 4F’s:

Freedom, Fun, Flexibility, and Fulfillment.

Choosing what to do?

According to Naval Ravikant,

“…hard work doesn’t matter that much…what you do, and how you do it, is so much more important than how hard you do it.”

You might think that you will cross the bridge when you get to it.

What we are suggesting is to begin building that bridge already.

It’s critical to have time to search for opportunities:

“ It’s better to treat a lot of your time as a search function, where you’re searching through the set of jobs, you’re searching through the set of dates and spouses. You’re searching through the set of hobbies until you find something things you love. When you find things and people that you love, you go all-in on them.”

We live in an era full of choices. We easily got distracted and often fell for the “shiny object syndrome.”

We've been on quite the journey, experimenting with everything from blogging to consulting.

It took a long time to discover what would truly work for us in the long run, and we made mistakes along the way. You don't have to wait to quit your job. You can already start the search and acquire the skills.

Use this time of your job security to go deep on multiple things.

Follow your curiosity.

We came across this simple, funny, and profound tweet in Colby’s Newsletter

Compounding effect

Raghav worked as an architect until he quit his job in 2019.

Ansh worked as a freelancer. We both traded our time for money.

We only realized it later and took some time to internalize that we need to work on things that compound or defy the laws of economics, such as creating art, writing, creating media, courses, etc.

❝

It’s important to move towards a career that has a compounding effect— most careers progress fairly linearly.

Sam Altman

Taking the first step

Even when we figured out what we wanted to do, our fear of failure or perfection stopped us from taking the first step.

You can get “good enough” at almost anything in 20 hours of focused effort.

The problem is, that most people spend years delaying the first hour.

Alex Hormozi

Our first ANYTHING would not be good enough whether it’s a blog, podcast, YouTube channel, or mud house.

Yet, we fool ourselves by creating the resistance of perfection.

Everything is uncomfortable in the beginning and we gradually move through the uncomfortable zone.

We wish we had started our YouTube channel and newsletter earlier.

Now having done 20-odd podcasts and a few YouTube videos, we realise the fear never disappears but we tame it. Now, we feel the fear and do it anyway.

Like your investments in stocks and mutual funds, investments in your skills also compound over time. Invest in yourself.

Make lots of tiny changes to make big changes. Thank you for being part of our journey.

This Sunday, spend time learning a skill that would compound.

Raghav and Ansh

What skills or knowledge do you feel you need to acquire for a successful transition?

Reply to this mail.

James Jani says “ Money is just a belief. A number on a screen. What we want is the feeling of freedom: The ability to do what we want, when we want it, without having to think if we afford it or not. “

This podcast changed our lives for the better and we often revisit this episode for the condensed knowledge and wisdom.

Naval Ravikant is an Indian-American entrepreneur and investor.

He is AngelList’s co-founder, chairman, and former CEO.

“ You can't understand the world without understanding the concept of superlinear returns. And if you're ambitious you definitely should, because this will be the wave you surf on. "

In his essay, superlinear returns refer to situations where the output increases at a faster rate than the input. He talks about how we can achieve it with exceptional work, focussing on exponential growth and more.

P.S. - Our third video is out on YouTube about how we returned to the wilderness and what are our plans for this season. Please consider watching, subscribing to the channel, and sharing the video on your network. Thank you <3

We returned to the forest to complete the hand-sculpted house

Your attention is precious. Thank you for reading.

If you found value in this newsletter, please consider sharing it with a friend.

Kindly forward them this link.

Tiny Farm Friends Newsletter.
Every Sunday we share tiny valuable lessons gained from living in the countryside and working with natural materials to help you live a more intentional, authentic, and meaningful life.