Interesting post. I guess the emerging subtext here is: are you happier once you win the lottery?

Maybe you are interested in some contrast from academia?

I managed to become the academic equivalent of "never have to work again rich", namely, I got a tenured-for-life can't-fire-me professorship at a major university. This is the equivalent of winning the lottery for academics: we get to work on what we want and we get paid for it!

I literally do not have to go to work if I do not want to. I only have to teach a couple of hours a week, and I can get a graduate student to do that for me if it annoyed me (which it doesn't; I derive a great sense of satisfaction and fulfilment from teaching).

> How did you do it?

Working hard, naturally, but not sooo hard. Say 40 hours a week. But probably I am thinking about science all the time, so it's kind of hard to evaluate. But I also did it through politics: knowing the right people, talking to the right people, learning the system, identifying trends, jumping on the right scientific bandwagons, publishing incremental results in trendy journals, and winning large public grants (so far over US$2 million).

> What did it feel like when you first realised it was going > to be true that you would never have to work again if you > didn't want to?

I reinterpret this as "What did it feel like when you first realised that the need to ever look for a job again was gone?"

The answer is it took me a long time to realise: being a professor is much like being a postdoc, with some extra admin thrown in. So it took me a long time to really accept the amazing luck I have. I'm still coming to terms with it (5 years later). It gets better every day.

> How old were you?

Tenured at 28, full professor at 31.

> Do you feel happy in your life?

Now yes. But not because of the job. Another commenter (diego) noted that "We all age, get sick, have family / relationship problems, need to stay motivated." I completely agree.

Happiness has come to me not because of the job, but because I finally understood the value of family and relationships -- personally I derive much more happiness from my children, my wife, and the people around me than I do from science (although I do dearly love science).

For various reasons I know lots of very wealthy people who need never work again. They are, without exception, all miserable fucked up debased individuals who are so idle and unfulfilled they end up spreading their emotional contagion to all who are unfortunate to be in their way.