Outliving Yourself

Hey all,

Recently, I've been thinking a lot about what motivates me. Obviously, I want to make money, be happy, and live comfortably, but to me, all of these things feel like surface-level measures of something deeper.

Some questions that come to mind are:

• Why do I want to continue doing engineering, why do I enjoy it?
• What does having money give me that makes me happy? Is it some lack of responsibility or the ability to do whatever I want?
• If I could do anything, what would I want to do?

So, with a week of thinking in hand, here are a few of my tentative rules for life. I've made these based on both what I've found effective up until now and what I believe I'll find effective in the future (so don't worry, these rules are a result of more than a week of thinking).

Also, as always, feel free to skim this newsletter (especially because this one's a bit long). I always try to put my biggest ideas in bold because I know your time is valuable, and maybe all you need is a quote to help you further your thinking.

1. Whoever Has the Most Fun Wins

As much as it is weird to say, having fun is probably the meaning of life, or at least, it should be for all humans out there.

Because, the truth is, that our lives are so short - just a blip of time in the universe. That means no matter how much impact we have here on Earth, our lives may mean nothing in the grand scheme of time. In fact, we may be living in a simulation where nothing in our universe even ever mattered.

To me, that's okay.

Because what meaninglessness means to us is that we get to decide how we give meaning to our lives. In turn, why wouldn't we dedicate our lives to the most pleasurable thing out there - having fun.

Now, the important thing here is deciding how to go about having fun. Because you and I, even with our desires to lead good lives, could go out and do an amazing amount of drugs - and maybe we'd call that fun. We'd live short lives, but maybe the intensity of happiness is worth it to some.

But, I think the key here is that we need to reframe our minds towards chasing long-term happiness. Because long-term happiness leaves room for levels of happiness that cannot be achieved with impulsive actions. To me, there is another level of happiness that can be achieved by:

• Meeting new people.
• Having a strong group of friends and family.
• Creating something new for fellow humans to benefit from.
• Accomplishing something that took a lot of work to complete.

In some sense, to me, happiness comes from running towards the grind. Towards the grind of making and keeping connections, towards the grind of creating something great, and towards treasuring each positive moment I have.

In that way, chasing my curiosities, meeting interesting people, and doing great things become rewards themselves because these things are simply fun to do.

2. Keep Goals Narrow, but Your Life Vision Vague

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news for all the type A personalities out there (me included), but measuring how your life is going should be a bit more of an art than a science.

Like, of course you can and should keep track of how your goals are progressing, how well those goals fit your life vision, etc. In fact, it's also probably okay to research what makes people happy and consider how your current perspective may miss some things that could make you even happier.

But, at the end of the tunnel there, your vision for life should be based on your feelings. As Charles Goodhart put it:

"When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure"

So be careful if you're planning to measure your happiness or success by your salary, job title, number of awards, or any other concrete number because you may fall into the trap of optimizing for a measure that ends up killing your passion, joy, or happiness.

3. Create Something that Will Outlive You

Now, this may be the most controversial rule on this list, but I truly believe everyone should try to create something that will outlive them. Because every person is unique, and it would be a shame if the unique ripples in the universe you've created die quickly after you do.

So, maybe a second purpose of life is finding a way to positively impact people even after you're gone. This quote by Ernest Hemingway is a good example:

“Every man has two deaths, when he is buried in the ground and the last time someone says his name. In some ways men can be immortal.”

Now, I have no desire to be immortal. Without friends or family to talk to, immortality would be an infinite prison.

But if you have two deaths, maybe you also have two lives - one physical and one in how you impact the world.

Like, I'd like to live for my happiness, but it would also be special to me to be able to continue spreading knowledge or positivity after I die. It would be special to allow another person or robot to feel a fraction of the joy I do on a daily basis.

Because, if even if there is a 0.000000000001% chance that human lives matter in the grand scheme of things, I'd like to be able to push us toward having the power to change things for the better. And even if our lives don't matter, I'd like to help other people continue to experience joy and find meaning in their lives.

In short, with my second life, I want to advance human technology and have an impact on others so that we humans have the power to continue choosing our own destiny - whether that destiny be improving Earth and it's societies or venturing out onto other planets too.

Really though, I want all of you out there to consider whether you'd like to have an impact on other people, technology, or some other cause you believe in. Because we all (probably) only have one life to experience happiness and have impact on the world. So, it'd be a shame if you regretted never taking bigger risks, stepping into bigger uncertainties, or making bigger decisions in pursuit of having a positive impact other people.

Well, that's all for this week!

My questions for you are:

• Are there any ways you can better prioritize fun and long-term happiness in your life?
• Are you overoptimizing any measures of success?
• What do you want to create in your life? Big or small, impactful to many or few, the world is your oyster.

See you next week!

-Ethan