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What should I study to not get stuck in the slowlane rat-race? Or is studying redundant?

Topics related to Slowlane, Scripted mainstream dogma

mr4ffe

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Okay, so here's the deal: I'm 19 years old and live in Sweden, where higher education generally is tax-funded.
I graduated the equivalent of high school with good grades (over half my grades were A's), and my favorite subject is probably somewhere between chemistry, mathematics, linguistics/rhetoric, and philosophy.
As a hobby, I write/record/produce music, but last year, I dropped out of an audio engineering university program because I didn't want to take that career route. Some other hobbies of mine are weightlifting, basketball, reading, and computer games.

All my life I've been hovering over the poverty line (uneducated, unemployed mom with personality disorders and uneducated pop), and I don't want to live like that anymore.
Being dirt-broke my whole childhood has scarred me, though, so now I'm so anxious over making the wrong choice and being stuck on the bottom forever. Attaining financial freedom is my motivation for going into the fastlane.

My problem is I have no idea what career path I want to take. I reckon it makes sense to study something, since it's practically free here. I just don't know what.
Some of the jobs I'm considering are: some kind of teacher (preferably teaching young adults), mathematician, actuary, statistician, cryptologist, something related to biomedicine, some kind of chemist, civil engineer specialized in either biotech or technical chemistry, and pharmacist. I also think cybersecurity seems interesting. So basically, my interests are all over the place.
I understand that a civ. engineer, statistician, mathematician, actuary, or cybsec consultant would be useful in almost any and every industry.
I just want to know what would objectively be the best, so I can weigh that against what is the best for me (subjectively).

Another alternative is to not get a higher education at all, but to work some slave wage job, so I can save up to start a fastlane business. I don't know if that's a smart move, though, since it seems very risky.

Sorry if I posted this to the wrong subforum. It's my first post here since I started lurking. I appreciate any advice!
 
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The-J

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Another alternative is to not get a higher education at all, but to work some slave wage job, so I can save up to start a fastlane business. I don't know if that's a smart move, though, since it seems very risky.

It's generally not a smart move when you can increase your job earning potential by going to school, thus reducing the risk you take. School is free in Sweden, but not in America/Canada/Aus/England where most of the forum is from, so the cost of higher education is part of the risk calculation. Not for you. As a result, studying something makes sense especially if you don't have a business idea that you can execute on right now.

I just want to know what would objectively be the best, so I can weigh that against what is the best for me (subjectively).

A general "what's the best" solution doesn't exist. I don't know you or what you're good at or what you enjoy.

In general, though, pick something that's in demand and is projected to be in demand for at least the next decade. It should make you enough money that you're able to save. Most importantly, it should continue to be an option even if you start a business and fail, so you can build yourself back up again without being destitute. Ideally, you should be able to work this job without wanting to off yourself.

Weigh your options yourself using a weighted decision matrix. We can't do this work for you.

As far as not getting stuck in the Slowlane, please don't worry about getting stuck in the Slowlane!

The Slowlane rat race is not about getting a job versus not getting a job. It's a general wealth strategy employed by the middle class and explains why they don't get rich. It's taking job money and investing it in the stock market and a single real estate asset (primary residence) in order to grow their wealth. It's not effective because the math doesn't work. It's attractive because it requires little actual thinking: just work your job, don't get fired, max out your (tax sheltered personal investment fund), own your home, and let the stock market and housing market grow your wealth for you.

The Fastlane, more than anything, is about creating revenue and value-generating assets. If you focus on doing that, it doesn't matter whether you spend 40 hours of your week working for someone else to pay your bills (until that work is better spent working on building your own asset). The only way you get trapped in the Slowlane is if you say "I don't wanna run a business, I'd rather just work this job and ride the coattails of the market".

One last thing: don't be scared to commit. Lack of confidence is the cause of "shiny object syndrome". Once you've made a choice, stick with it until it becomes clear that it's not appropriate, and don't cry over the sunk cost if it fails.

Good luck
 

Ing

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I think the situation is similar to Germany.
The-J has said the points.
Good jobs are recurring reviews, required by law. F. E. Cars, machines ...
You can make that a business, too.
Or make a job and than do the business beside your study or job.
 

WJK

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Okay, so here's the deal: I'm 19 years old and live in Sweden, where higher education generally is tax-funded.
I graduated the equivalent of high school with good grades (over half my grades were A's), and my favorite subject is probably somewhere between chemistry, mathematics, linguistics/rhetoric, and philosophy.
As a hobby, I write/record/produce music, but last year, I dropped out of an audio engineering university program because I didn't want to take that career route. Some other hobbies of mine are weightlifting, basketball, reading, and computer games.

All my life I've been hovering over the poverty line (uneducated, unemployed mom with personality disorders and uneducated pop), and I don't want to live like that anymore.
Being dirt-broke my whole childhood has scarred me, though, so now I'm so anxious over making the wrong choice and being stuck on the bottom forever. Attaining financial freedom is my motivation for going into the fastlane.

My problem is I have no idea what career path I want to take. I reckon it makes sense to study something, since it's practically free here. I just don't know what.
Some of the jobs I'm considering are: some kind of teacher (preferably teaching young adults), mathematician, actuary, statistician, cryptologist, something related to biomedicine, some kind of chemist, civil engineer specialized in either biotech or technical chemistry, and pharmacist. I also think cybersecurity seems interesting. So basically, my interests are all over the place.
I understand that a civ. engineer, statistician, mathematician, actuary, or cybsec consultant would be useful in almost any and every industry.
I just want to know what would objectively be the best, so I can weigh that against what is the best for me (subjectively).

Another alternative is to not get a higher education at all, but to work some slave wage job, so I can save up to start a fastlane business. I don't know if that's a smart move, though, since it seems very risky.

Sorry if I posted this to the wrong subforum. It's my first post here since I started lurking. I appreciate any advice!
Get the best and most diversified education you can since it is monetarily free. While you are doing that, use your social time to find out about different career paths and business tracks. Talk to people. Interview them. And go way beyond your fellow students. Talk to your profs and other staff members. This is NOT party time. This is setting up your circle of advisors and resources. Use your personal time to educate yourself on many different subjects that either interest you and may become useful in the future. You can listen to audiobooks and lectures while you exercise. You can put on a podcast while you cook your dinner. If you are serious about your goal of becoming financially independent, then become myopic about using this "free" time in your life to prepare for that pursuit.
It sounds like we have something in common. I too grew up with very little. People have always asked why I work so hard. I'd tell them that never want to go hungry again. They laugh, but I am serious. It's my secret advantage. I have a great appreciation for what many of the people around me take for granted. That extra touch of grit has taken me further than I ever thought possible.
 
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Computer science or another programming degree would be great.

Anything in STEM will expand a lot of your thinking, increase your quantitative abilities, which helps a lot with making money.

I studied engineering... it can open up a ton of different career possibilities and is easy to pivot.

Accounting will teach you the technical details of managing the office side of a business. Every company in the world hires accountants, and those skills will help you invest and manage a business, as well as provide a solid fallback career.

Finance is the same way as accounting: useful in your own business, makes for a good Slowlane career too if anything else fails.

Since you’re already paying for this education through your taxes, it would be a mistake not to take advantage of it.

Think like CENTS. Study something that will give you skills that
1. Have a high barrier to ENTRY (pick something hard, if you can, because that immediately makes you more valuable, assuming you meet my next point)
2. Fills a NEED (don’t study something hard but useless, like outer space basket weaving)
3. Not sure what letter to pick for this, but pick something that can open lots of generalized paths - not too specialized. You don’t want to be obsolete. Learn things that can be used holistically.
 

Alxf

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Go start sellin stuff my man
This is it.

Everything else is just delaying contact with reality.

Your education is *not* free. It costs considerable time and energy, at a time in your life when you have the most of it.

It's fine that you don't know *what* you want to be doing. You won't learn that via formal education. All you will learn is how to do things that others ask you to do, follow rules, meet expectations, and be a good boy.

You also don't need to work any kind of job to "save up" to start a Fastlane business. There are tons of things you can learn and offer people quickly and with minimal investment. They are probably not "fastlane", but you will learn actual business skills - and much, much more about the world you live in than studying abstract topics in college.

If, after a few years on your own you decide you need a college education, there's nothing stopping you from coming back in your early 20s. At that point you'll know why you are there, and won't have an issue making the most out of the investment of your time.
 
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WJK

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This is it.

Everything else is just delaying contact with reality.

Your education is *not* free. It costs considerable time and energy, at a time in your life when you have the most of it.

It's fine that you don't know *what* you want to be doing. You won't learn that via formal education. All you will learn is how to do things that others ask you to do, follow rules, meet expectations, and be a good boy.

You also don't need to work any kind of job to "save up" to start a Fastlane business. There are tons of things you can learn and offer people quickly and with minimal investment. They are probably not "fastlane", but you will learn actual business skills - and much, much more about the world you live in than studying abstract topics in college.

If, after a few years on your own you decide you need a college education, there's nothing stopping you from coming back in your early 20s. At that point you'll know why you are there, and won't have an issue making the most out of the investment of your time.
I understand that you don't believe in "formal education". Tell us about your journey.
 

Alxf

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I understand that you don't believe in "formal education". Tell us about your journey.

I should be clear that it's not that I don't believe in "education", or even a formal education. It's that I don't believe in "going to school" as a default, scripted path for people who don't know what to do with themselves. I say this as someone who:

a) Got into one of the most competitive high schools in the U.S.
b) Dropped out of said H.S., left home when I was 18, and got a job in tech
c) Eventually went to well-known college, graduated with nearly a 4.0 GPA in CS, Math, and Physics
d) Worked as a researcher at a top-tier university.
e) Left, travelled, did all sorts of weird stuff for a few years
f) Eventually started a profitable education business.

Education is great. Knowledge is great. Erudition is great.

"Schooling" is different from education, and is less great. Most of what *most* people learn in school is absolutely useless, or even less than useless. I did learn some valuable skills in school, but to be honest, I rarely use them. The most valuable skills are not taught in school. Most people go because they don't know what else to do, and follow the herd.

Formal Education is a big business masquerading as a social good. Buy their product if you genuinely need it for something. Want to be a doctor? Lawyer? Engineer? Therapist? Something else that requires a specific skillset + license? Sure, makes sense. Want to be on wall street or work at a hedge fund? Sure, go to Yale, Wharton, make connections. The price of entry is probably worth it.

Don't know what you want to do? Then why in the world would you invest x years of your life + huge sums of cash (or even no cash!) with no clear, well-defined plan, path, or benefit? If you look at it objectively, it's just completely nuts.

Think you will get an "education" just by showing up to a place? How many of you know someone "college educated"? How many of those people actually seem to have any kind of education at all?

If the world makes something easy, and it's the obvious, direct, and lowest-effort choice, and everyone is doing it, then, as @MJ DeMarco says, it's a cattle call, and you are the cattle.
 

WJK

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I should be clear that it's not that I don't believe in "education", or even a formal education. It's that I don't believe in "going to school" as a default, scripted path for people who don't know what to do with themselves. I say this as someone who:

a) Got into one of the most competitive high schools in the U.S.
b) Dropped out of said H.S., left home when I was 18, and got a job in tech
c) Eventually went to well-known college, graduated with nearly a 4.0 GPA in CS, Math, and Physics
d) Worked as a researcher at a top-tier university.
e) Left, travelled, did all sorts of weird stuff for a few years
f) Eventually started a profitable education business.

Education is great. Knowledge is great. Erudition is great.

"Schooling" is different from education, and is less great. Most of what *most* people learn in school is absolutely useless, or even less than useless. I did learn some valuable skills in school, but to be honest, I rarely use them. The most valuable skills are not taught in school. Most people go because they don't know what else to do, and follow the herd.

Formal Education is a big business masquerading as a social good. Buy their product if you genuinely need it for something. Want to be a doctor? Lawyer? Engineer? Therapist? Something else that requires a specific skillset + license? Sure, makes sense. Want to be on wall street or work at a hedge fund? Sure, go to Yale, Wharton, make connections. The price of entry is probably worth it.

Don't know what you want to do? Then why in the world would you invest x years of your life + huge sums of cash (or even no cash!) with no clear, well-defined plan, path, or benefit? If you look at it objectively, it's just completely nuts.

Think you will get an "education" just by showing up to a place? How many of you know someone "college educated"? How many of those people actually seem to have any kind of education at all?

If the world makes something easy, and it's the obvious, direct, and lowest-effort choice, and everyone is doing it, then, as @MJ DeMarco says, it's a cattle call, and you are the cattle.
You've had an interesting journey. And I agree with your assessment of the university system. When I was young, there was no alternative path to get from A to B, other than going to college. And now it has become a cash cow for a lot of people who use it to milk money out of confused young people. So many of the degrees mean nothing anymore.
I've used my formal education every day, but never the way that the schools intended. It sounds like you had a similar experience. Maybe this young man has enough fire in his belly that he too could make formal education pay off for him.
 
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Kevin88660

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Okay, so here's the deal: I'm 19 years old and live in Sweden, where higher education generally is tax-funded.
I graduated the equivalent of high school with good grades (over half my grades were A's), and my favorite subject is probably somewhere between chemistry, mathematics, linguistics/rhetoric, and philosophy.
As a hobby, I write/record/produce music, but last year, I dropped out of an audio engineering university program because I didn't want to take that career route. Some other hobbies of mine are weightlifting, basketball, reading, and computer games.

All my life I've been hovering over the poverty line (uneducated, unemployed mom with personality disorders and uneducated pop), and I don't want to live like that anymore.
Being dirt-broke my whole childhood has scarred me, though, so now I'm so anxious over making the wrong choice and being stuck on the bottom forever. Attaining financial freedom is my motivation for going into the fastlane.

My problem is I have no idea what career path I want to take. I reckon it makes sense to study something, since it's practically free here. I just don't know what.
Some of the jobs I'm considering are: some kind of teacher (preferably teaching young adults), mathematician, actuary, statistician, cryptologist, something related to biomedicine, some kind of chemist, civil engineer specialized in either biotech or technical chemistry, and pharmacist. I also think cybersecurity seems interesting. So basically, my interests are all over the place.
I understand that a civ. engineer, statistician, mathematician, actuary, or cybsec consultant would be useful in almost any and every industry.
I just want to know what would objectively be the best, so I can weigh that against what is the best for me (subjectively).

Another alternative is to not get a higher education at all, but to work some slave wage job, so I can save up to start a fastlane business. I don't know if that's a smart move, though, since it seems very risky.

Sorry if I posted this to the wrong subforum. It's my first post here since I started lurking. I appreciate any advice!
College degree is an insurance for the future. That if business went bad and you need to work you can find a job that pays somewhat more.

Most people actually opted to work full time with a side hustle. So the quality of the full time job does have some merits.

If it is free in your country then my attitude would be “why not”. You are going to pay a high tax in the future for it anyway.

A lot people would say studying something useful and trendy-computer science or data analytics. It depends on the direction. Have you decided to be a business owner/self-employed or working for someone as your main goal?

Coding a website or app is totally different from studying high level foundation math for computer science. People who go in with the wrong expectation are in for a rude awakening.

If you go in with a “practical mindset” to learn things useful for your own business there us no discipline designed specially for that. You will find yourself spending 95 percent of time learning useless things. College degree are designed as foundation for future research. Thats why there is masters and phd program. This is even true for engineering.

Personally looking back I would pick a general degree like business and learn things/doing side hustle on the side. Business degree is designed to be light and not content heavy. If you are not aiming for straight As there is a lot of time for side hustling. You can use electives to learn interesting and useful things.

If you are looking for job security and pay then go for hard courses like engineering and computing science. Make sure you get good grades and join a big brand name Multi national company when you leave school.

But I just don’t think you can have the cake and eat it at the same time. Doing well in a rigorous degree suck away time and energy.

I don’t think you need a lot of money to run a side hustle these days. But you do need time.
 

mr4ffe

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I appreciate the answers. I'll make a decision matrix right now.

My thought-process is basically: education → decent job → decent salary = business funding → financial freedom. Formal education does cost tax money + time + energy, though (but I'll be paying taxes regardless).

Should I aim to minimize my input in relation to my output? Like, would it be worth getting a 2-3 years long education that pays the same as a 5-7 years long one? Or would I be violating the commandment of entry? Are those commandments even applicable to education?
 

Alxf

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I appreciate the answers. I'll make a decision matrix right now.

My thought-process is basically: education → decent job → decent salary = business funding → financial freedom. Formal education does cost tax money + time + energy, though (but I'll be paying taxes regardless).

Should I aim to minimize my input in relation to my output? Like, would it be worth getting a 2-3 years long education that pays the same as a 5-7 years long one? Or would I be violating the commandment of entry? Are those commandments even applicable to education?
You are speaking about all these things like they are a simple mechanical process: I do X and Y, and result will be Z.

Nothing, and I mean nothing of significance in life works like that. Not education, not relationships, not business - and not even full-time work.

If you don't have the hunger and drive to have your own business and live life on your own terms, then don't bother. I can almost guarantee that you will give up the moment you encounter any difficulty or uncertainty.

Perhaps you are currently intrigued by the *idea* of business ownership and an entrepreneurial life. If you feel like either option is equally valid, then you are really not ready. It's not something anyone chooses casually, though perhaps I'm wrong.
 
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Does education get you to a specific goal you want to reach? Or does business experience? Or work experience? You have all these options, but what you need to focus on is "where do I think point B is?" Then move directly toward point B, if you can.
 

Mike Stoian

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Study coding in your time off. It's free and will get you a pretty darn good job. Not to mention how useful it is for fastlane ventures
 

mr4ffe

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You are speaking about all these things like they are a simple mechanical process: I do X and Y, and result will be Z.

Nothing, and I mean nothing of significance in life works like that. Not education, not relationships, not education, not business - and not even work.
I question this statement. I mean sure, you can walk around like Forest Gump and suddenly find yourself having become the CEO of Bubba's Shrimp (that's how the founder of CD Baby described his journey). How many Forest Gumps do end up like million-/billionaires, though?

Surely, if you make certain moves, your chances of getting to a certain position change? Or are you simply saying it isn't as easy as "A is always guaranteed to lead to B"? Because that kind of varies.

In education, things really are that simple: you must do X to attain the highest grade. The "real world" does seem more confusing, but there's still stuff like "you can only start a business in industry Y if you have certification/license Z" (for example pharmacies).

Perhaps you are currently intrigued by the *idea* of business ownership and an entrepreneurial life. If you feel like either option is equally valid, then you are really not ready.
I don't know... I have certainly always had in mind that I'd invent something and build my own brand. My principle told me and my best friend at age 16 that he saw future CEO's in us. I haven't scoured the web for entrepreneurial information, studied rhetorics, and read business books like TMF for nothing. I've always been highly independent and learned things on my own.

I'm just unsure whether I want to do something in the music business (low entry barrier and highly competitive), medical industry (high entry barrier but still pretty competitive and highly regulated), tech (very diverse and still rapidly growing), or something completely else, like online teaching.

I'm not the perfect entrepreneur, though. I don't know if anyone really is. I'm not very extraverted/social/service-minded, first off (diagnosed with "ADD with autistic traits", so I have most of the classic ADD traits and some ASD traits). Secondly, I'm very indecisive (as is evident by this very thread). Thirdly, I'm young and inexperienced/naïve and poor. Lastly, I'm not very knowledgeable nor interested about economics, law, or sales (however, that is easy to solve through some learning or hiring).

These are my weaknesses, and they're pretty severe for an entrepreneur, so I do suffer from impostor syndrome – especially since I'm still in the "saving up money/wantrepreneur" phase. I am willing to give it my all and "get rich or die trying", but I want to make sure I do it in a smart/strategic manner.

Apologies if this got wordy or slightly off-topic!
 
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mr4ffe

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Study coding in your time off. It's free and will get you a pretty darn good job. Not to mention how useful it is for fastlane ventures
I will learn some coding (already know simple HTML). I could do that purely on my own, but to get hired I'll be competing with civil engineers, so I could get a degree like that, which takes 5 years and makes you very attractive on the job market, or I could get a 2-year education in IT-security (which interests me a lot). What do you think? The latter is what I'm leaning towards the most right now, as my current job is only part-time and doesn't pay me a whole lot.
 

Kevin88660

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I appreciate the answers. I'll make a decision matrix right now.

My thought-process is basically: education → decent job → decent salary = business funding → financial freedom. Formal education does cost tax money + time + energy, though (but I'll be paying taxes regardless).

Should I aim to minimize my input in relation to my output? Like, would it be worth getting a 2-3 years long education that pays the same as a 5-7 years long one? Or would I be violating the commandment of entry? Are those commandments even applicable to education?
It is a misconception that you need a lot of money to start a business. You definitely need cash to feed yourself

A lot of business starts as a freelancer doing projects and assignment for cash. It is basically “time for money” model. But as skill gets developed, experience and clients base starts to grow and there are more cash at hand, they start to invest money in their business for more scalability.
 

Ing

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To start a business you need to sell something.
That can be done as a side project to everything.
If you can’t study and have a side business, than you have big problems to have a business alone, too.

Thats mindset, not the few hours you need to sell anything.
 
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Guest-5ty5s4

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To start a business you need to sell something.
That can be done as a side project to everything.
If you can’t study and have a side business, than you have big problems to have a business alone, too.

Thats mindset, not the few hours you need to sell anything.
Yes I would agree with this.

In college, I had far more free time than I have at my full time job. I was studying mechanical engineering with a math minor, and I still felt like I had tons and tons of free time to work on side projects, socialize, or do hobbies.
(I actually started and grew my first business during this time, Print On Demand, which violated CENTS)

It's all a matter of how you spend your free time. Don't waste study time either... Study for 30 minutes with intensity, not 3 hours while goofing off.
 

mdot

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I think if you choose to go to school, make it more worth it than just getting the degree and acquiring industry knowledge. Until my last year in university, I didn't focus enough on really learning to socialize, and I didn't join student clubs/teams. I did work on some side-projects and along with my degree they got me hired into my first job fairly easily, but I regret not really embracing all my university opportunity had to offer. Who knows what passed me by?

Yes I would agree with this.

In college, I had far more free time than I have at my full time job. I was studying mechanical engineering with a math minor, and I still felt like I had tons and tons of free time to work on side projects, socialize, or do hobbies.
(I actually started and grew my first business during this time, Print On Demand, which violated CENTS)

It's all a matter of how you spend your free time. Don't waste study time either... Study for 30 minutes with intensity, not 3 hours while goofing off.

Interesting, studying engineering I had the opposite experience: I have much more free time (and headspace) while working my 40 hour-a-week job than I did during school, especially in lower years. I probably didn't study with intensity, as you say. Assignments would drag out.
 
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Guest-5ty5s4

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I think if you choose to go to school, make it more worth it than just getting the degree and acquiring industry knowledge. Until my last year in university, I didn't focus enough on really learning to socialize, and I didn't join student clubs/teams. I did work on some side-projects and along with my degree they got me hired into my first job fairly easily, but I regret not really embracing all my university opportunity had to offer. Who knows what passed me by?



Interesting, studying engineering I had the opposite experience: I have much more free time (and headspace) while working my 40 hour-a-week job than I did during school, especially in lower years. I probably didn't study with intensity, as you say. Assignments would drag out.
Yeah, to be honest my free time went down to almost zero during my last couple of semesters due to projects leading up to graduation, but it was still more flexible than what I do now.
 
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Yes I would agree with this.

In college, I had far more free time than I have at my full time job. I was studying mechanical engineering with a math minor, and I still felt like I had tons and tons of free time to work on side projects, socialize, or do hobbies.
(I actually started and grew my first business during this time, Print On Demand, which violated CENTS)

It's all a matter of how you spend your free time. Don't waste study time either... Study for 30 minutes with intensity, not 3 hours while goofing off.
I was studying engeneer, too. And I had time to build up a flea market organizing business and a bike parts dealing business. Both successfully.
And I had tons of time to ride bike and dirtbike.

My big mistake was finish my businesses, when I started my job. Don’t make that mistake!
 

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You also don't need to work any kind of job to "save up" to start a Fastlane business. There are tons of things you can learn and offer people quickly and with minimal investment. They are probably not "fastlane", but you will learn actual business skills - and much, much more about the world you live in than studying abstract topics in college.
Hi:)
Do you have any examples in mind?
I’m also from Sweden, on my way into eCommerce. But I’m also considering university because it’s ”free”
 

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