Rat Races

Hey all,

I've been talking to my university classmates a lot this week about working hard and making money. Overall, it's been super interesting to learn about all the different goals people have and how their desired salaries fit into those goals. Additionally, we've had pretty good conversations about the purpose of money in life and whether or not it's worth it to suffer in a job to make more money.

After all of this, the conclusion I've come to is that if you want to work hard, you need to be purposeful.

The reason I say this is because I feel like a lot of us fall into this trap where we see other people working hard, and we feel the need to work towards something as well. Often, this is a good thing. People in hard-working environments can often be pushed to achieve their goals by that grind culture. That's not inherently bad.

However, I have noticed that a lot of people just work hard because they feel like they have to work hard; that they have to participate in the rat race of life and compete with their peers for money, status, and power. And look, some of them enjoy doing so, but a lot of them don't.

I think what they don't realize is that.

This is why I say that if you're going to work hard, you need to have a purpose, and you need to work hard for yourself, not just to fit into the culture. And in addition, you need to make sure that your goal lines up with what will make you happy.

For example, maybe your goal is to make a positive change in the world. Maybe your goal is to be able to retire early. Maybe your goal is to have a lot of money and status. Either way, you need to recognize that each of these goals contains a different life path:

• If your goal is to make a positive change in the world, maybe you're willing to work for less pay to gain the skills you need to start a business or work towards a good (but low-paying) cause.
• If your goal is to retire early, maybe you're willing to take any high-paying, stressful job and live below your means for two decades, saving up the money to do whatever you want.
• And if your goal is to have a lot of money and status, maybe you're willing to work hard your whole life to have that Lamborghini and that big house.

In the end, there is no right way to live your life. Just don't act like you want to achieve one goal while you're working towards another.

• For example, if you believe control over your time will make you happy, you better not fall into lifestyle inflation; buying watches, cars, and other status items will just delay your retirement.
• Alternatively, if you know you want to try and stop climate change, don't take a job at Exxon Mobil to get a bigger house. It might be the decision you think is best, but if you do care about the environment, you'll probably regret selling your values out.

Anyway, the moral is this: if you want to work hard, know what you want out of what you're working towards. Because if you don't, you might be working towards a life that will make you miserable, and you might be better off having fun, working a more laid-back job, and spending more time with the people you love.

Or at least, that's what I think.

Thanks for reading, and have a great week!

-Ethan

Things I'm Enjoying:

📚 Books - I just started reading Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, and even this early on, I'm struck by just how good this book is. There are super valuable lessons here about the common pitfalls humans have been falling into for millennia, and it's incredibly intriguing to see how patterns of human existence repeat themselves over and over again. So, even if you're not a history nerd, I recommend you pick this up.

👨‍💻 Tech - This is kind of an expensive pick, but my university has a 3D printer, and it's amazing how many random products you can create that would cost $5-20 on Amazon. So, if you have the means, I'd pick one up ($300-500) for like a decent printer.

💻 Website - printables.com - Kind of along with the tech pick, printables is one of the best places to get professional to semi-professional 3D models to print. I also like it because it can give insight into how to design products for consumers, albeit on a smaller scale.