Lots of goals and challenges are set in terms of improving, ROI and win rates.
I'm looking for a community of online grinders, to reflect about making poker work as a lifestyle. I spent quite some time trying to improve, but tilt was my biggest issue and poker was never accepted in my family + social circle. I wasn't happy while grinding either (prefer spending less time online). I ended up playing in periods of 3 months, like 8 ours or more per day in college and then took a break, usually after a cashout/ meltdown/exams coming up. It was profitable but there were issues in those days.
After graduation I left the country, traveling around the world for 4 years now. I don't fit in a society working 9 to 5. The only issue that comes with traveling around the world for years, is making money in beautiful places that have no economy. The average wage in most of South America is less than 600 USD per month (working). I need 1000 USD per month to live the life I want in South America and I think that is doable playing the $30 husngs for example. But I wonder if I can make it work as a lifestyle. There is no point in trying to improve if grinding makes you depressed/antisocial.
Colombia inspires me, but most people make 300 USD working full time. I don't have great memories about grinding, but long term I see it as one of the very few options to make traveling sustainable and live in the place I want.
Mersenneary mentioned in a video that the lifespan of most online grinders is only a few years. What is your take on this?
What have you been doing for consistent money while traveling?
Why are you concerned with average wage? Most economies are fairly segregated in terms of income. There's almost always a rich area, a middle to upper class, a middle class, a lower middle class and then lower classes/poverty. It's like that even in many of the most expensive cities in the world.
I don't want to read too far into your situation, but one thing really concerns me: You mention 9 to 5 not being for you, but you also indicate that poker makes you depressed/anti social. That's pretty concerning, and might be a sign that you need to improve from within before making any major decisions.
What types of things interest you? Why can't you work a 9 to 5 in those fields? Or even different hours (depending on what it is).
With poker, why couldn't you play 5 hours a day 5 days a week? If you can make $12hr from it, that's $1200 a month, 20% higher than what your goal is. 25 hours is pretty casual too, even if you include 5-10 hours a week of reviewing. Most people that work 35-40 hours a week have another 5-10 hours a week of travel to work, plus other stressors.
Perspective is important in regards to happiness. It's good that you don't feel like you need a ton of money to enjoy yourself, but you don't sound like you can appreciate some of the advantages or options that you might have to earn your income goal.
I graduated when I was 25 as a physiotherapist (Master), but wanted to see the world and not settle down. Anyone under 30 can apply for a working holiday visa in Australia (I live in Europe) so I did that and lived there for 16 months doing all kinds of casual jobs and meeting loads of backpackers. The longest job was 4 months and others were part time. I even saved 10k on that trip, and spent it in New Zealand and the Fiji islands. Magical friendships/ romances arose and I got hooked on that lifestyle.
2 years down the road I came home to see friends, and I had to do casual jobs for a few months to stay okay with taxes in my own country. Then I did South East Asia, and found a fancy inexpensive resort in Thailand where I grinded $20 husngs for a few months. It was financially manageable I guess, but I got isolated there and lost balance between playing poker and enjoying life. In my experience it's harder to connect to people in Asia. Playing $20 husngs I guess I should also focus on improving rather than paying bills. Tell me if you disagree
In 2015 I spent 8 months all over South America and loved it. But a good salary in their richer countries is considered a terrible salary in my country Belgium. So I came back, took a temporary position via a job agency (12 weeks) and then head off to South America again.
I don't mind 9 to 5 jobs for a short time, but not as a lifetime commitment. Physio jobs would require you to work for a year and not take holidays. The casual factory jobs I take, allow me to save a load of money while living with my parents for 3 months, stay okay with taxes and then live life to the fullest in Latin America. It even got me dancing salsa and meeting stunning women. Life has been very exciting for the last years, but I can't keep doing this for another 5 years. Ideally I'd stop flying back and forth, and make a living while I'm there. Poker has big downsides (variance, social acceptance), but being location independent is extremely valuable to me.
There are personal issues to work at though. It's essential to improve my tilting behavior before I kick off play, and some ground rules like "no more than 5 hours/day" would help. My hourly rate was never near $12 though, mainly because of tilt. I wonder what my capacity in poker is if I work at myself.
Last but not least.. I had 2 relationships in the last 4 years. If I want to make it work with someone who lives in a worse economy than I do, poker could be the solution. You are very right about people working 40 hours a week + 10 hours of travel and having stressors which make them unhappy. Working as a physio in a hospital setting comes with great responsibility. It's interesting, but I feel much happier living life to the fullest without any responsibilities. I spend 7 months of the year on beaches, meeting Latinas and having fun. Not sure if that makes me irresponsible, but it feels great.
You could consider working stuff like oil rigs/industry jobs for 4-6 months out of the year. Or some winter jobs. You go to remote places like Alaska, you can make a very good salary, many people do it for a third or half the year, and then relax the rest of the year. That sounds more like what you might want right now in life. Work hard for 4-6 months and then relax and enjoy the culture of latin america for 6-8 months.
But eventually you might want to settle down. I'm not sure poker is the best strategy if you have had tilt issues. I think it would require a real change of mindset to succeed.