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Ask HN: What would you do with a 2 month runway?

2 points by rvzx ↗ HN
I'm looking at 2 months of free time. Going back to a specific full-time job after that is possible without needing to put time into it (luckily).

I've also recently had time off where I decompressed and successfully dealt with some burnout issues (also pretty lucky).

Id like to put two months of work into a project of my own. I have a long list of ideas and I'm narrowing them down. It looks like I'm deciding between a local-first cms project, writing tech books (in interesting ways that blend storytelling and instruction), or doing whatever feels right on a given day.

I have two goals: create something that can be at least the first version of a product, and enjoy the process.

Two months is a deceptive amount of time. It can go by fast, but some of my best work has happened in a matter of weeks rather than months or years.

What would you do if you had two months of funemployment?

6 comments

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rexreed
Go on some trips, do some life enhancing things. Don't throw yourself into work. Life is short. Find the little things that make life enjoyable. 8-10 weeks is not a lot of time, it's basically summer break.
PaulHoule
From time to time I had a real definite idea of how to spend 2 months and been highly productive at producing something that I don’t think anybody else could have but then the marketing angle fell through and I found out nobody cared.
rexreed
Most people don't care about the things you do, so do the things you care about and enjoy without requiring others to care.
PaulHoule
There's something tragic that in normal work I spend a lot of time spinning my gears, eliciting what people really want, dealing with all sorts of entropy in my tools, etc. I've had these rare times where I had a unique vision and was able to be really 100% productive and in those cases I've gotten 0% out of it financially, or so it seems.

To be fair I do have something that's a bit like that in the queue (figured out a conversion from the XSLT universe to the OWL universe that is completely correct) and it looks like I can get some funding for it but thanks to my own screwed-upendess I missed one window for funding and will have to wait till it opens up again.

rexreed
It's a common misconception that people pay for value. They pay for perceived value, which isn't the same thing. What might be "useful" or "valuable" often has no value to others. What has value to others might in actuality be worthless on its own merit, but has perceived value to them. This explains the whole "influencer" ecosystem, and how some startups became quick Unicorns while others languished trying to raise even seed funding. There's very little correlation between what one thinks has value and what others value.
orbz
If it were me I’d do what would result in a more stress free time 2 months from now. Namely getting some healthy routines set up. It takes about 2 months of continuos effort to make a routine habit, so if you start now you’re golden.

- Work out (saves money on medical bills and keeps you feeling great)

- Cook healthy (saves money and keeps you feeling great)

- Start a (physical) hobby you like (saves you money on other entertainment and keeps you feeling great)

- Do something social (bonus if it’s active too)