The Imitation Game
Hey all,
Honestly, I don't feel like working on this blog post today, but that's actually a good thing. You see, the research project I've been working on for the summer is wrapping up and there's one last problem I'm feeling excited to figure out.
Still, I hope you'll understand I feel a little antsy while writing this thing. But, maybe that makes this a good time to revisit one of my older blog posts on "Rat Races" where I discussed the value of working on something that makes you happy.
This time though, I think it's important to call out "mimetic traps" that this blog post from Brian Timar discusses at length.
If you don't want to read the full thing, the core of Timar's post is the story of how he got stuck in graduate physics. Throughout the post, he describes how he got caught up in the trap of this competitive, academic environment which pushed him to seek the social status of getting a PhD rather than confronting the reality that he was unhappy with his work.
In the end, Timar recommends that you:
- Do not force yourself to do something you hate - lest you become unable to figure out when to quit.
- Enjoy the process of doing your work and let that enjoyment become your motivation.
- Make sure your job has clear price signals - it's easier to judge whether your work is worth it when there's a price tag vs when it mostly carries a social status reward.
- Maintain a diversity of pursuits and hold yourself to high standards in those pursuits.
In particular, Timar's point about how chasing money is often a lesser evil than chasing social status is informative. Because (especially for college students like me), it can be quite easy to fall into the trap of inheriting aspirations from those around us and working hard to say you work hard. This is especially true when it's isolating to stop pursuing prestigious consulting, engineering, investment, or technology companies.
Many big companies use their social status to get away with a terrible work culture, lower pay, and terrible hours. So, often, you can find better paying, more rewarding jobs if you're not chasing the most prestigious company (or maybe if you take the prestigious job and use that status to get a better one). But, as a general rule, it's probably easier to judge whether a job is worth it based on pay versus the social status it brings - especially if that social status becomes a trap itself.
Finally, try to be wary of inheriting goals or convictions from others - especially if you're easily influenced. Of course, if someone brings up an interesting goal, it can always be valuable to reconsider your own goals and "win conditions", but just because someone works hard or is intelligent doesn't mean their goals are better for you than yours. And in the end, they don't know whether changing the world, being rich, or living a cozy life will fulfill them. Only you can discover that. So why distort your world and goals to fit what they're pursuing?
In short, be wary of chasing money, but be more careful of chasing social status because its benefits are elusive and easy to end up chasing endlessly.
That's all I've got for this week.
See you all next week!
-Ethan