I found this essay printed out on the coworking table at my friend's house. I loved the discussion on tradeoffs and how focusing on them can lead you astray. I'm susceptible to the same thinking and likewise feel it's often a distraction from the much harder question of "what is my most positive vision of what I want my life to look/feel like?" There can be a lot of pain and self-criticism in admitting how far off you are from that vision. You can deeply accept and meet yourself where you're at right now, and still take actions to move towards a better version of your life.
Best of luck with the no-plan funemployed life. I've been there and have a lot of compassion for those navigating that sticky transition.
> tries to forcefeed a scarcity mindset into kids obviously living in a post-scarcity society
it sounds like there are two separate effects here, which don't necessarily have to be tied together: 1) incorrect beliefs about your resources / the world, and 2) not getting the chance to practice making decisions under uncertainty / figuring out what you want (which requires actively deciding to pursue things that you're not sure if you'll like or be good at). I'm glad to hear that you seem to have the bandwidth now to think about this postgrad :)
(also this might be because I'm in the early stages of a phd but I think it's totally reasonable to feel uncertain when so much of "meaningful" work is uncharted territory)
“i’ve concluded that life is too short to spend waiting around for prophets to lead you to the promised land” what a fucking banger. And that tweet about Asian parenting — I remember my parents really instilling that “opportunities only come to those who are prepared” and so I became prepared for everything, said yes to everything, did it all. Ig therefore we end up struggling to value our time and say no to things.
new found time must be so sjcjsnsmsmammgm ahhhh but also you’re going to discover doing so much new things now that work isn’t 24/7. So so excited to see what u do :) also yes spiderverse is one of the best movies out there
You might find this Paul Graham essay interesting, specifically this section about what to do when you're not sure what to do! https://paulgraham.com/when.html
"What do you do in the face of uncertainty? Get more certainty. And probably the best way to do that is to try working on things you're interested in. That will get you more information about how interested you are in them, how good you are at them, and how much scope they offer for ambition."
I realize it's been a few months since you wrote this. I hope the past few months have given you some time to experiment and reflect on what you're interested in next!
in the throes of this now… and I also fall into the trap of the trade off game. something that has helped me is to zoom out and remember that I have free will and agency - there will be things that we cannot control, but there are surprisingly a lot that we actually can. when I imagine the world to be one of abundance (as opposed to scarcity like you mentioned) it feels like with enough agency, things will work out exactly the way they should
I found this essay printed out on the coworking table at my friend's house. I loved the discussion on tradeoffs and how focusing on them can lead you astray. I'm susceptible to the same thinking and likewise feel it's often a distraction from the much harder question of "what is my most positive vision of what I want my life to look/feel like?" There can be a lot of pain and self-criticism in admitting how far off you are from that vision. You can deeply accept and meet yourself where you're at right now, and still take actions to move towards a better version of your life.
Best of luck with the no-plan funemployed life. I've been there and have a lot of compassion for those navigating that sticky transition.
> tries to forcefeed a scarcity mindset into kids obviously living in a post-scarcity society
it sounds like there are two separate effects here, which don't necessarily have to be tied together: 1) incorrect beliefs about your resources / the world, and 2) not getting the chance to practice making decisions under uncertainty / figuring out what you want (which requires actively deciding to pursue things that you're not sure if you'll like or be good at). I'm glad to hear that you seem to have the bandwidth now to think about this postgrad :)
(also this might be because I'm in the early stages of a phd but I think it's totally reasonable to feel uncertain when so much of "meaningful" work is uncharted territory)
yeah i agree with everything you said :) but especially that 1) and 2) are separate things!
“i’ve concluded that life is too short to spend waiting around for prophets to lead you to the promised land” what a fucking banger. And that tweet about Asian parenting — I remember my parents really instilling that “opportunities only come to those who are prepared” and so I became prepared for everything, said yes to everything, did it all. Ig therefore we end up struggling to value our time and say no to things.
new found time must be so sjcjsnsmsmammgm ahhhh but also you’re going to discover doing so much new things now that work isn’t 24/7. So so excited to see what u do :) also yes spiderverse is one of the best movies out there
“tradeoffs are lame and none of this makes any sense” SO TRUE
Bless you Vincent! I really enjoyed reading this, and it resonated with so many parts of my soul. It's time I too stopped living through fear.
You might find this Paul Graham essay interesting, specifically this section about what to do when you're not sure what to do! https://paulgraham.com/when.html
"What do you do in the face of uncertainty? Get more certainty. And probably the best way to do that is to try working on things you're interested in. That will get you more information about how interested you are in them, how good you are at them, and how much scope they offer for ambition."
I realize it's been a few months since you wrote this. I hope the past few months have given you some time to experiment and reflect on what you're interested in next!
thanks :)
in the throes of this now… and I also fall into the trap of the trade off game. something that has helped me is to zoom out and remember that I have free will and agency - there will be things that we cannot control, but there are surprisingly a lot that we actually can. when I imagine the world to be one of abundance (as opposed to scarcity like you mentioned) it feels like with enough agency, things will work out exactly the way they should
Just popping in here to say I love your writing!! I also have the same spiderverse image as my desktop background haha
i feel so validated LOL
wait elaborate :0
what is the math contest --> quant trading pipeline