“‘Really, sir,’ the arcanist said, appalled. ‘It is every man’s job to improve himself. A man without the benefits of education is hardly more than an animal.’”

— Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man's Fear

shilin typing...

goals matter, or dreaming big

When I first landed in Canada in 2016 and started my first job as a Software Engineer, my salary was $50,000/year sharp. It was roughly 2.5 times more than what I used to earn back in Russia. Since then, I had this plan in my head that I have to make it to six figures, and somehow I knew it’s not going to take me long. I didn’t ask myself if I was able to pull it off, but when this will happen.

Fast-forward into the future, it took me 5 years. By then, I had a full-time job and a side business, both grossing about $120k/year. By that time, I already knew that it’s not the goal I should have dreamt of in the first place. If I stayed in the same field and in the same career, I could have expected my income to reach 180-200k, or maybe 250k by the time I retire (maybe twice as much, but we are realistic and want to play it safe), and I knew it’s not the goal I wanted to set for my future self.

It took me 5 years to realize it, and another 2 years to take action. Today is November 18, 2022, I am unemployed and do not have stable income anymore. Yesterday I set a new goal and I know I will hit it too, if not with my current hustle than with a different one. I don’t know how I am going to make it happen. Not by doing what I was doing before, that’s for certain. My previous plan did not work anymore for my new goals, and I drafted a new one. Yesterday I took a note in my notebook that I will make $1mln in revenue in 2025.

Wish me luck, I guess!

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