The NEET Compass [Part One]

The Only Model You'll Ever Need To Plan Your Life

One of the most common questions I get asked is “how do I become a NEET?”

The answer is not as simple as quitting your job. Living a NEET lifestyle is not binary; there are several key factors to consider.

Hence, the NEET Compass has been devised:

The purpose of this model is to illustrate that not all wagies and NEETs are created equal. Rather, they sit on a spectrum.

The two axes of the NEET Compass are: income (low-high) and comfort (stressed-comfy).

Both income and comfort have a significant impact on the quality of one’s life.

Let’s examine the extremes of each quadrant individually.

Low-Income, High Stress

This is where your average wagie and the majority of the developed world spends their entire life. Working minimum wage, back-breaking jobs which ruins both their body and mind.

Members of this quadrant are by far the most bitter. They subconsciously hate their inadequate selves but outwardly despise members in every other quadrant.

They hate ‘lowlife, lazy scum’ who don’t contribute to society and live off welfare while they work hard. And they want to ‘tax the rich’ and confiscate wealth from those who have made it.

Most wagies have a severe victim complex and a strong sense of entitlement. They refuse to take any accountability for the minimal value they provide with their labour. They are, undoubtedly, the modern slave class.

This state should be avoided entirely. Since stress can be mitigated, there is virtually no reason to earn so little and plague yourself with harmful stress.

It should be noted, however, that this distressed, low-income state can often be the catalyst for a dramatic upturn in one’s life. The intensity of emotions felt when hitting rock bottom may trigger someone to never descend so low in their life ever again.

Being a broke wagie could either make you or break you.

Low-Income, /comfy/

This is where your average NEET resides.

While they are free from the shackles of working strenuously, their low-income severely reduces the quality of their life.

The stereotype of basement-dwellers eating microwave meals and moderating forums is true for the most part.

Playing video games and shitposting online for 16 hours a day without a care in the world may be appealing to some, but is only slightly better than working a minimum wage job.

Very few in this category excel in all aspects of their life. They will often be overweight or obese as their diet consists solely of fast food and frozen meals.

Worst of all, they rarely venture out of their homes and end up become socially awkward shut-ins. Even wagies are in better shape and have more social skills than they do.

Not all low-income NEETs are obese basement-dwellers. You can live a better life in a country with a lower cost of living.

However, for the most part it’s difficult to maintain a source of low-income and live a high-quality life.

High-Income, Stressed

This is where wagies who have risen to the ranks of a six-figure income reside.

The source of their stress primarily comes from:

• pressure to perform from higher-ups within an organisation

• managing inconsistent and unreliable employees

• being on-call outside of work hours

• higher cost of living and being indebted with a mortgage.

In most cases, a higher income correlates with more pressure, responsibility and stress. It becomes increasingly difficult to coast along in a six-figure job.

Fortunately, the high-income earner can afford access to higher quality ingredients to cook better meals and dine at better restaurants than lower-income earners.

High-income earners are usually more physically active. They usually begin their mornings with going for a walk, run, swim, or gym session with a personal trainer.

Finally, high-income earners can enjoy holidays in more exotic locations and have overall better experiences than their low-income equivalents.

All of these benefits of a higher quality of living come at the cost of having to wake up to an alarm from Monday to Friday, navigating office politics and working a stiff corporate job roasting under fluorescent lights.

High-Income, /comfy/

Man’s ideal state.

The high-income, /comfy/ NEET is a true aristocrat, enjoying all the benefits of living a high-quality life without being plagued with the burden of a job.

This individual has the freedom to wake up and pursue any course of action they want. To go anywhere and to do anything. Or to go back to sleep.

This is what everyone in every other quadrant should be striving for: complete freedom and autonomy. Any ‘work’ or effort extended at this point becomes completely optional since it can be outsourced.

Interests, passions and hobbies can be pursued wholly without the need for any kind of financial compensation.

Attaining this class requires a multi-millionaire status in developed countries and is usually only reserved for the heirs of generational wealth and entrepreneurs who have made successful exits.

There are still pitfalls the high-income, /comfy/ NEET can succumb to. Namely, self-destructive behaviour from chasing new highs — specifically with drugs, alcohol, gambling and prostitutes.

However, these pale in comparison to the advantages of having ample amounts of free time and a high-income to support any kind of life you prefer.

In the second part of this post, we’ll begin to explore how you can make the shift from stressed to /comfy/.