Three Years Of Spare Time

[Igor82]

Hello, I am 16 years old and I live in Sweden. Self-actualization and spirituality have sparked my interest ever since I started exploring that part of youtube,  and here, I feel very comfortable.  Everything I've learned since the beginning of this journey has always taken me steps away from school.  During the summer break, I stumbled upon Leos channel, and he really took the cake, thus boosting my awareness and wisdom. High-school is voluntary in Sweden,  and with open eyes, I got a clear picture of how unnecessary it would be for me to be a part of this education system.  Now that there are no laws I have to face, the only thing to face is a choice for three years spare time,  or heavy interferences with the path of spirituality and my daily lifestyle of self-actualization. All I will miss, that books and internet lectures will not give me is the diploma.  Three years is a lot of time to for self-actualization and inquiry,  but after these years I will have minimized chances of being hired to work for somebody. I plan to develop some online business that would save me time and energy for the precious money I will need in the future.  I will grow tired of working 9-5 at some point anyway.

Should I pursue my goals, or should I go for that diploma?   

Thank you !

[Key Elements]

If you want to pursue business / entrepreneurship, it starts now. Try to turn something you love to do into entrepreneurship. Are you able to do this? They say that it's a good idea to pursue a diploma and even your bachelors degree at the university because that will give you a higher chance at a decent career. A career can relate to what you love to do more than just any job, and it could be higher pay, fewer hours, and more benefits while you are going for business / entrepreneurship. It depends on the person's situation. Does the person have to support himself / herself right away? What if the business doesn't work in the time frame of 3 yrs? Is there a plan B?

I think even if you are very lucky to have parents or close family members to support you, it's a good idea to become financially independent by yourself. In this way, you could find out more about yourself and discover your higher potential within. If you depend on others, this may be a lot harder.

[Igor82]

10 hours ago, Key Elements said:

If you want to pursue business / entrepreneurship, it starts now. Try to turn something you love to do into entrepreneurship. Are you able to do this? They say that it's a good idea to pursue a diploma and even your bachelors degree at the university because that will give you a higher chance at a decent career. A career can relate to what you love to do more than just any job, and it could be higher pay, fewer hours, and more benefits while you are going for business / entrepreneurship. It depends on the person's situation. Does the person have to support himself / herself right away? What if the business doesn't work in the time frame of 3 yrs? Is there a plan B?

I think even if you are very lucky to have parents or close family members to support you, it's a good idea to become financially independent by yourself. In this way, you could find out more about yourself and discover your higher potential within. If you depend on others, this may be a lot harder.

Thank you for the post !

I will be aiming to earn a practical sum of money that in any way, would give me the most amount of spare time in the future. I guess I would be able to survive with having 1000$ in my pockets every month, but how would I get to that point without working a day job? I would not sacrifice the time and effort to pursue a diploma or bachelors degree if that would only give me a better payment for a career that still requires a lot of my time. I want to draw a line between money and my time, but not ending up homeless by doing so. I'm aiming for a practical minimalistic lifestyle, as we all know that enlightenment comes not externally.

This is a short-term plan because if I use my time wisely, the financial situation might improve at my own phase. My passions will always be pursued, and I would indeed be happy to find a way to make the money out of it.

A problem persists in that almost everybody that stands close to me dislikes my choice, the reason being that I'm missing out on the many things that school has to offer, and rationally, that I could pursue my dreams while attending the senior high school. 

Is this a valid reason in the context of my plans?

Thank you !

[Key Elements]

4 hours ago, Igor82 said:

A problem persists in that almost everybody that stands close to me dislikes my choice, the reason being that I'm missing out on the many things that school has to offer, and rationally, that I could pursue my dreams while attending the senior high school. 

Is this a valid reason in the context of my plans?

Thank you !

Your choice of working a day job, living a minimalist lifestyle, and pursuing entrepreneurship is totally fine. If you have that discipline, go for it.

The reason why many families would want you to go the route of school, university, and a career is because a career could be more secure in the long run. It's a plan B. For example, a government job in the US has a pension plan.

Another thing to look into are children coming from rich / famous families. If you take a look at Bill Gates and Gordon Ramsay (the chef), I heard that they are not going to inherit the millions / billions they are earning through passive income to their children. They are planning to give the wealth to charity (philanthropy). The reason for that is because there's an old saying, "The first generation starts the wealth. The second generation maintains the wealth, and the third generation loses the wealth." I'm sure you heard of the term "spoiled rich kids." Sometimes it doesn't even take 3 generations. That's why if you take a look into those type of families, they are still putting their children through education, and making them earn on their own. At the same time, the parents teach them about passive income / entrepreneurship. School is a discipline. You are put in the spot to make decisions. Are you good at science or the arts? What are you going to major in? How will you take the skills that you learned in your major and turn it into career / entrepreneurship?  

[Igor82]

On 2017-09-14 at 4:21 PM, Key Elements said:

Your choice of working a day job, living a minimalist lifestyle, and pursuing entrepreneurship is totally fine. If you have that discipline, go for it.

The reason why many families would want you to go the route of school, university, and a career is because a career could be more secure in the long run. It's a plan B. For example, a government job in the US has a pension plan.

Another thing to look into are children coming from rich / famous families. If you take a look at Bill Gates and Gordon Ramsay (the chef), I heard that they are not going to inherit the millions / billions they are earning through passive income to their children. They are planning to give the wealth to charity (philanthropy). The reason for that is because there's an old saying, "The first generation starts the wealth. The second generation maintains the wealth, and the third generation loses the wealth." I'm sure you heard of the term "spoiled rich kids." Sometimes it doesn't even take 3 generations. That's why if you take a look into those type of families, they are still putting their children through education, and making them earn on their own. At the same time, the parents teach them about passive income / entrepreneurship. School is a discipline. You are put in the spot to make decisions. Are you good at science or the arts? What are you going to major in? How will you take the skills that you learned in your major and turn it into career / entrepreneurship?  

10

Thanks again for the post !

I have been growing up alongside the internet for a very long time. Besides school, this would be my only source of knowledge. Of course, as a young child, I did tend to recognize video games as the prime activity that would conquer the majority of my spare time, but the internet would be a reliable gateway. With time I got to explore the platforms of the internet, mainly Youtube, and with further time, explore the content within it as well. To be honest, Tai Lopez' videos were the ones that started to open my eyes to question the education system, before that, I was too blind to even think about criticizing such an obvious, obligatory thing as school, even though I learned a lot from Educational videos on Youtube daily. For me to see the education system in such a way as I mentioned earlier, and therefore not attend school, requires some mindful thinking with a lot of contexts, such as making up for all that is lost when I don't go to school. In other words, Im sacrificing school for something, pursuing my dreams.

But I need to build a strong foundation for my plans, which Is composed of the knowledge I get from the internet. I find the internet way more efficient than school when it comes to acquiring knowledge, and besides from that, school has not much more to give. The internet could transform any kid from scratch to a billionaire, but the kid gotta be able to value entrepreneurship more than some damn video games.  

[cosmicrays]

The best option is to visit a university that would actually give you applicable knowledge and help grow your mindset and in the meantime develop your entrepreneur side. But it has to be really good university, not a mediocre one. A good university gives you a strong basis of your future. Plus, in a university you'll  socialize with a lot of people who share the same interests as you and you can learn from them a lot. That is also invaluable experience that you will miss if you go the other route. 

Myself, I've always developed outside university with my own projects. I'm 22 now, just finished Bachelor International Business Relations and have a decent chance not to go to a 9-5 job. But do you see that I already secured myself a safe job even if I fail at IM? 

Hope this helps.

 

Edited September 15, 2017 by cosmicrays

[Igor82]

@cosmicrays @Captain Flint Thanks for posting !

 In either case, I will have to suffer through a lot of the unnecessary stuff before I could even dream of pouring time into these indeed juicy opportunities. But since Im taking the path of spirituality, thus minimalism; do I really need to attend a good university to satisfy the need of 1000$ every month (with spare time included to a large extent)?

[RichardY]

@Igor82 "Three Years Of Spare Time" Wouldn't it be better to say three years of !!!!PREMIUM!!!! time, since you say you're 16? Instead of minimalism, essentialism. I wouldn't say not going to a high school is a sacrifice, unless you want to be schooled(like a fish) So what's your plan to develop the plan, of the plan to develop your online business? Couldn't you go into some coding IT company and be like, BAM! I'm the Shit! Look for ways of being trained up, unless you want to do the 9-5 thing with perhaps little flexibility to say no, might come with a good paycheck, might not.

 

[Elisabeth]

@Igor82 Eh... I'm not sure if you answered clearly anywhere... did you decide on NOT going to university? Or is it possible in Sweden to go to uni without highschool? 

And, in those three years, will you be earning your money, or are your parents ready to support you? 

Have you already figured out what kind of business you'll be starting? 

I'd not be much concerned in skipping high school in favour of self-education (although I did have some good role models in my teachers there).  But I'd be questioning the choice to reject university education. Depending on what you want to do of course - but in some fields of study the university programs are very densely packed with information and skills, much more so, than in high school, so if you want to get into one of these fields, consider uni. 

Did you ever prove your ability to keep your own daily routine without the guidance of school? There's something you'll have to watch out when educating yourself - it has high demands on self-governance, and it can be lonely. Every student knows that if they stay at home for days on end, studying for an exam, they are likely to get depressed. There's something about having to go to school which provides you with a) an outside motivation to get going with your day, and b) social contact, which, even if superficial, is extremely beneficial to most people's mental health. But it can be done and maybe you've got it all down already.

Besides, your decision is not irreversible. You can try, and if you're happy with your progress, keep going. If not, you can always go back to high-school next year, or get a job. Also, there's most likely the option to choose some kind of less demanding high school just to earn your diploma, maybe one for working people that you can do remotely/evenings and weekends, and still pour most of your time into business. 

[Pelin]

@Igor82 16 years on Earth isn't sufficient to make such a big decision. Sweden is one of the best countries in the world. I wished I was born in Sweden when I visited there. Most of the people already have a higher consciousness level (if you look at the spiral dynamics, I believe most Swedish are at green whereas Middle East is like red all over). Having a high school education in Sweden is not a waste of time even if you end up being an entrepreneur. If you have a good quality uni. education, it will open the way for so many things to you, but maybe you don't see it now.

I work as a university instructor and although I don't believe the way universities work are optimal, I believe it broadens your horizon as it gives you a chance to meet different people from diverse backgrounds, and there are lots of conscious professors which will be very beneficial on your path.

Finish high school for sure, and my humble suggestion for university would be to study departments such as psychology/physics/physiology/philosophy/environmental sciences/astronomy. These will all help you in the spiritualism/enlightenment journey.

Edited September 16, 2017 by Pelin

[Igor82]

@Elisabeth It is not possible in Sweden to enter university without a high school degree. And to enter a good university requires the highest grades as well. I am against the fact that I will have to invest a lot of my time in high school to enter a good university, and only then, access the juicy stuff. But still, I gotta spend some time in the university to get some results. 

If I would not be supported financially over the three years, I would probably not be thinking about doing any of this.

Habits are some big problems for me, I managed to delete all my video games without much problem, and that was the first step of this journey. I do believe that I could achieve the best version of myself gradually, as I gradually remove the bad habits. People on the internet such as Leo is very good at making you distinguish between the good and the bad. Taking action is not very hard for me to do at this point, but I need to take action on very certain things for this to work. Maybe I will get some better idea in the future, but every fiber of my body says that going to high school is not a good idea, at least not now. But the problem is indeed that my desition may be irreversible, but in terms of gathering knowledge, I may easily make up for it.

Things like The Great Courses Plus really opened my mind to the possibility.

The whole point with this topic was to get some feedback from the right people, which is what I lack nowadays, it may stab me in the back later on. 

Edit: Thanks for posting !

Edited September 16, 2017 by Igor82

[RichardY]

@Igor82 "This above all: to thine own self be true."

I have heard that people in France often study to be a medical doctor in Romania. Maybe do a gap year, but talk to lots of people in the flesh.

[Elisabeth]

1 hour ago, Igor82 said:

@ElisabethAnd to enter a good university requires the highest grades as well. I am against the fact that I will have to invest a lot of my time in high school to enter a good university, and only then, access the juicy stuff. ... Maybe I will get some better idea in the future, but every fiber of my body says that going to high school is not a good idea, at least not now. But the problem is indeed that my desition may be irreversible, but in terms of gathering knowledge, I may easily make up for it.

1

And I totally respect your preferences, I just wanted to try to cover all of (well, more of) the options, just in the unlikely case you haven't thought about them. In fact (provided you have the emotional endurance, which you seem to have), I totally support you - I've been homeschooled as a child on a few subjects because we were living abroad, and I do find it time-effective. 

Speaking about that, I googled homeschooling, and while it's not legal in Sweden, it's legal in neighbouring countries - probably even at high-school level, I'm not sure about that. Maybe you could enrol to some open-minded school abroad, which will let you follow your own study plan and only have you come for exams once in six months or something like that. You'd have to study the subjects, but since you are not doing this to avoid studying but to be more effective - is it an option? With a high-school education from any country, the universities all over the world are open to your applications should you ever in life decide to attend one. 

But maybe you're pissed off and done with education, you don't wanna be part of the system in any way and you don't wanna go study any field which requires university (like science/philosophy/law/medicine... maybe IT... management is imo not there, neither is psychology... ). In that case, there's no point in researching other options, I just humbly suggest to be mindful of your negative motivations too. 

Edited September 16, 2017 by Elisabeth

[The Monk]

@Igor82 It completely depends on you. Do you authentically think that doing X diploma will fuel your true authentic passion? Or will X online business? Judging by that answer alone, you should have an answer to your own question.

 

[Maxi]

You will learn a lot more by self-education. I studied at chalmers, one of the best universities in sweden, and we were still doing a lot of things that wasn't very helpful. Last year I took a year of for self-study and honestly I think I've learned more that year then I have in my entire life.

 

Go for it! It's going to be a harder path and most people around you will not support you but the reward is going to be great. If I was in your shoes I would be ecstatic to have found this path at such an early age. It's also going to be harder to find friends when not going to a university, but there are other ways to do that too.

Don't feel pushed to do this just because of me or any other forum member. It's fine if you only do this in your free time while going to high school, you will learn a lot more than most people in your age. Do what feels right to you.

[Igor82]

There is not much more context for me to necessarily add to this topic, so thank you all for posting here, I am highly delighted to have such supportive and proper feedback !

I am utmost grateful ! 

 

 

 

[Moreira]

I'm 34 and have changed of career right now, and Im not even worried about being hired to work. As far I have valuavle skills and knowledge I know i'll be hired.

And dont think about the gap time in your curriculum. You always can say in a job interview that you were taking care of a ill parent.