My short term goal: be financially independent so I can pull my own weight, and can spend part of free time doing silly stuff.
My long term goal: advance in a job that is neither too stressful nor too boring, which pays well until my retirement. I think programmers can do that, as long as they keep learning. This is so I can keep repeating my short term goal in future, including saved up money for emergencies.
letsgetphysITal pretty much nailed it. Why, yes, low income is even an understatement. I'm unemployed and actively looking for work. Contrary to what some of my associates believe, I'm not lazy, I'm unemployed mostly due to depression and some past traumas. It's surprisingly hard to find motivation in such situation, but I don't want to bother you with my mental health. I'm pretty sure I'm going to find work soon, considering I'm getting lots of job interviews and have a very cynical book about interview questions.
In best shape... for what ? To produce value to my company ? Certainly. But my employer is not the most important thing in the world. I only spend one evening (4 hours) per week playing board games. We also have extra meetings - one saturday per month. But I skipped this saturday because I felt obligated to spend the time preparing for 2 job interviews. It's my conscience kicking in, my worries about uncertain future. I want to earn enough so I have the peace of mind to meet people more often, read books, shoot bow, travel on (some)weekends and holidays.
Besides, who am I going to hang around with when I'm 50? Old curmudgeons ? People who don't work out ? Ladies well past their prime ? People afraid to try new things, afraid of change ? People like that often don't have much energy left. When their knees are creaking, eyes don't see as well, memory fails. I want to be in a very good shape and with lots of developed hobbies when I reach that point. I want to have cultivated friendships at that point. Invariably some of them will marry, have kids and decide friends are a waste of time. My point is not to buy friends now and save them for later, but to learn the skill of making friends.
I understand my brother is very well off financially. He has a nice car (he likes to emphasize), nice flat, earns a lot and recently got a raise. His kids have lots of toys, are sent to camping trips, chess tournaments for juniors, swimming contests. Yet when we have a family gathering, he spends most of his time at his laptop, monitoring stuff and watching for alerts. His kids don't care when they are given something, but are very eager to play with someone. Simple kid stuff, like playing tag, chasing, hide&seek. Parents, at least the father, want kids to read... but my nephews see they don't read. The boy has some emotional issues, he can play computer games for days if you don't stop him, will install games on other peoples' smartphones and overlook their passwords so he can have one more fix. He's positioned to become another out of shape, antisocial nerd like I used to be.
Naturally, because I'm unemployed, he won't even let me even open my mouth, much less consider what I say. I don't even try anymore.