A digital altruist mindset

Since a while, I’ve wanted to write you a few lines…

A twelve-hour train ride, which was noisy and crowded brought me to Chiang Mai at 4 am. Too excited to sleep,  I thought. It’s decided I will finally do what I promise to myself weeks ago. 

As a broke backpacker, I usually try to avoid as much as I can the touristic and famous places, but I did an exception for Chiang Mai also called « the digital nomad paradise ». In other words, this city is a place where a lot of location-independent entrepreneurs or online business creators work and meet.

Personally, I wanted to become one of them: a self-made online business creator earning enough to be comfortable and travel the world. Equipped with a small luggage and a laptop, and we can nowadays conquer the business world. (6 months later that I wrote this article, I had my online business and I was ready to travel and work).

In Brussels except for some few projects, I never really dived into entrepreneurship. I waited for the «Great Idea». This big idea was supposed to change the world, made me easily rich and famous. After 3 months around Europe and Asia seeking everywhere for this great idea, I realized that the only thing that I was looking for was myself. Once you are in your routine, it’s really hard to take some distance and think really deeply about what we want to achieve.

What am I supposed to do to make this world a little better ?

A lot of money won’t especially make me happy. Indeed, with less than 15 euros a day, I had the occasion to meet extraordinary generous and interesting people. Those valuable persons provided me with so much happiness than any Ferrari could offer me. Is it really worth to begin a project, to dedicate my time and energy to it only for my own fame and wealth?

It begins some mindfulness 

A retreat in a Buddhist temple where the time stops helped me to realize that I’ll be totally fulfilled once I’ll give value to others. Four days of early morning meditations and prayers fixed my thoughts.

The monks showed me another way of living. In India, Father Arul showed me the same.  Both monks and priests dedicate their life to others. They accept to live with a certain extent of poverty, with strict rules and sometimes with an empty stomach.

Do they do it for their belief or because they are deeply good people?

My happiness is created through the others. All my energy should be spent on people of my generation. Hyper-connected with a lot of pressure and doubts, they fight hard to reach the top and break the rules of a society that doesn’t correspond to their values.

I left my country, my family and friends, behind, to become a better person. This journey far from my routine convinced me that someone valuable today it’s someone useful to others.

Now I’ll try to connect with those online entrepreneurs even if I don’t have 10K monthly revenues or cool websites to show off.

My objectives? To find a project where my talents and skills can be useful to people. I definitely have a digital altruist mindset now…