Peter WalshJenny's recent article about purchasing a green vehicle prompted this comment and my reply:
Some people can barely live within their means despite working two grueling jobs
a day, and saving for an EV is not a priority over putting food on the table or paying
off medical or educational debt.
Do you have any advice about bootstraps?
Yes.
How many books have you read about success? How many about whichever field your jobs are in? Do you have a goal of switching to a single job? Have you written down exactly what your ideal job would be?
How often do you go looking for a new job? Do you scan the papers every day, check out Craigslist, and ask around? Do you study up and learn how to interview, how to make a resume, how to do well in your job? Are you willing to move to get a better job? Have you compared the expenses of moving with the extra money?
The US is having a shortage of workers right now. I’ve read this in the news, and I pass a *ton* of “help wanted” signs in my area. I have no reason to believe it’s not true today.
Lots of people have been in your situation, and you can find out what those people have done and what works and what doesn’t. Much of this information is available for free on the internet and in libraries.
Your first step will be to do everything you can to get more spare time. That probably means cutting down to a single job, and one that will pay more than both of your existing jobs.
Once you have spare time you can use it to bootstrap a better life.
There are 3 psychological aspects that determine success in life: intelligence, conscientiousness(1), and luck. Each is responsible for about 30% of the variation in life success.
Conscientiousness is the ability to work hard, to do a good job, and to make sure all the bases are covered. You can pump up your conscientiousness by building good work ethic habits. In other words, don’t approach work as something to be avoided, approach it as something that you must excel at.
Static intelligence is how much you know, and fluid intelligence is how easily you learn something. Fluid intelligence can’t be changed, but there’s an out: if you keep learning as an adult, you can amass more knowledge than a smarter person who stops learning, and most people simply stop learning as adults.
Most people don’t read even a single book a year – if you can read 10 books a year you will be far ahead of the average person. Choose books that will help your life success. Audio books count, are easier than reading, and you can listen to them while doing other things (such as driving, or doing manual labor).
Finally: you can’t do much about luck, but you can give luck a better chance to happen. Move to a city, or a different area of the city, or hang out in a different area of the city. Go to meetups and group meetings for your areas of interest. Generally put yourself in whichever environment you think will give you the best chances of achieving your goals.
There are many examples of people who sat down, wrote out their situation, and attacked the problem logically. Those people are now successful.
Go thou and do likewise.
(1) Conscientiousness is personality trait that can be measured numerically, similar to IQ. It's one of the "Big 5 personality" traits, and you can find tests to measure it online.
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Luck is a psychological aspect? I'm not sure about that.
"attacked the problem logically" - I think that is the best advice for anything. But what is your definition of logic? The art of identification without contradiction? A proper or reasonable way of thinking about or understanding something?
Are you sure? yes | no
Luck is not psychological in the sense of mathematics, but it's definitely psychological in the sense of success.
It's well known that ones viewpoint acts as a filter on the outcome of events. People who have a positive outlook are generally more successful than those with a pessimistic outlook. It's extremely rare that a life event is completely negative, people who always find something positive and focus on those aspects are generally more successful than pessimists. Those small mitigating considerations added to your world view add up over time.
The typical example is having a failed business: most people fail at their first business (80% failure) but succeed in their 2nd business (60% success). Despite the emotional pit that losing a business brings, the knowledge of what doesn't work helps you succeed in future endeavors.
(And I know of at least one person who became paraplegic in an accident, learned to fly airplanes, crashed, and was horribly disfigured in the resulting fire. He went on to marry and lead a fulfilling life.)
Also, note that luck is very much an aspect of the game you are playing, and if you are having little luck you can switch to a different game. In terms of life success, you need to make changes: some of those changes will be better and some will be worse, but if you keep the "better" changes and continue to explore, your total success will build over time.
The overall point is that you control your life, and you can change aspects that you don't like. Even, to a certain extent, aspects of luck. The literature is replete with examples of people doing just that, many of their choices and decisions are available for review, and their experiences can guide your own life into a better place.
Are you sure? yes | no