Yup. The author is conflating "hobby" and "work." He states he wants to eventually go solo and all his side projects end up needing a monetization plan to move him in that direction.

It really sounds like he needs to sit down and think about his 5-year plan. What does he actually need to do to work for himself? What real steps can he take now? Tomorrow? Next year?

This could be his hobby as well, but it doesn't sound like that's what he wants. I would suggest picking up a hobby that isn't in any way related to work. Sports, camping, photography, something that is nearly impossible to monetize without a lifetime of training/effort and good luck on top.

As you say, money for money's sake is mostly worthless. I've found I'm quite happy where I am, with an income to support the things I want to do (plus save for retirement). Every time I think about a side project, I quickly realize I'd rather spend that time riding my bicycle, walking my dog, or just sitting on the deck with my wife looking out at the trees.

> Every time I think about a side project, I quickly realize I'd rather spend that time riding my bicycle, walking my dog, or just sitting on the deck with my wife looking out at the trees.

As do I.

I know some people enjoy working on FOSS, but for me, development is work. If I'm coding, it's for work. I work when I work, I relax when I relax.

Of course I've done a few personal projects, but mostly tooling and automation to let me do other things I enjoy.

This does seem to be a somewhat developer specific problem though. My lawyer friends don't do legal stuff in their free time (a few do pro-bono on occasion). Nor do my nurse friends do medicine when they're not on the clock.

> money is merely the means to acquire things you want

I agree with this, and enjoy the though experiment of taking it a step further.

"Spending time to earn money means you can't spend time doing what you want to do. What would you rather be doing?"

I would rather be:

- sitting outside watching birds, trees, clouds

- tending the garden

- reading

- going on hikes

- spending time with animals

- cooking

- meeting friends

- beautifing my house

- during bad weather, maybe doing some light mathematics or coding

Unfortunately, of all the stuff listed, only the last one pays :)

BTW there's a position that fits my preferences perfectly - it's called being a pensioner, but it unfortunately requires decades of past experience :)

Unless you enjoy what you're doing to earn said money.

Or rephrased: do what you love

I wrote what I considered a great paper (my professor thought it was average) a few years back modeling people's abilities for generating social, financial and familial utility. People who have a preference for something they don't have an equal ability for creating often are often unhappy and dissonant.

Eg a "wannabe celebrity". They crave social utility, but often aren't good at producing it, and so have to sacrifice social and financial gains for social ones. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

> I wrote what I considered a great paper (my professor thought it was average) a few years back modeling people's abilities for generating social, financial and familial utility. People who have a preference for something they don't have an equal ability for creating often are often unhappy and dissonant.

I thought about it as well - there are certainly people whose interest and temperament don't match their abilities and limitations - for example, someone who sees himself as an adventurer, but gets sick easily and thus is miserable through most of his "adventures". It seems like the wise thing to do is to just accept one's limitations, but the heart wants what the heart wants.