Man, Money, Merit
Interest, Intention, Wishing, Value, Money, Merit
I.
Interest
3 quotes that piqued my interest:
I hold that the aim of life is to find happiness, which means to find interest.
A.S. Neill, Summerhill (1960)
This again, tallies with what Goethe says in Wilhelm Meister: The man who is born with a talent which he is meant to use, finds his greatest happiness in using it.
Arthur Schopenhauer, The Wisdom of Life (1851)
The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.
Steve Jobs, Stanford commencement speech (2005)
I hold the belief that we are all uniquely designed to do something specific.
Albert Einstein was uniquely designed to unravel the mysteries of the physical universe. Jane Goodall was uniquely designed to study primates and their relationship to humans. Milton Friedman was uniquely designed to research economics and advocate for free markets. Oprah Winfrey was uniquely designed to host her own talk show and inspire millions. Jennifer Doudna was uniquely designed to develop CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology. Joe Rogan was uniquely designed to turn his curious conversations into a popular podcast.
Had these individuals pursued paths that were not uniquely designed for them, they likely would’ve failed. What would become of Oprah the accountant or Einstein the artist, the world would never know. Had Jane Goodall’s parents pressured her to become a ballerina or Joe Rogan’s mentors expected him to become a lawyer, they would’ve had to suppress their intrinsic interests to pursue work for work’s sake. As Steve Jobs puts it, they would’ve settled.
You and I are uniquely designed to do something specific, too. While pursuing our intrinsic interests may not make us incredibly rich or famous, they will make us happy and useful and fulfilled. They will be our best bet for great work. Our interests are not things we choose, nor can they be given to us by others—they are part of our essential nature, and we must discover them. And when we do, we should heed Einstein’s advice to “never lose a holy curiosity.”
II.
Intention
Never confuse Motion with Action.
Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1791)
Life is motion. Motion is the constant of life. Everything in the universe, including us, is constantly moving through space-time. Even when standing still, we continue to move through the dimension of time.
Man’s life is action. Action is motion born of intention. Intentions can be either conscious or unconscious. Conscious intentions are purposeful, emerging from desire and interest, while unconscious intentions lack purpose, emerging from conditioning or coercion.
The only “possessions” we carry from the day we’re born until the day we die are our actions. Our entire lives are shaped by our actions, and we cannot escape the consequences of our actions. If we allow our lives to become a series of aimless actions, we’ll likely find ourselves at midlife wondering, “How did I get here? Who is this person that I married? Why didn’t I hone my craft when I was younger? What am I supposed to do with my life? Is it too late?”
And while we won’t be able to do anything to rewrite the past, it is never too late to begin aiming towards a meaningful pursuit. Our interests spawn the possibility of action, and our actions spawn worthwhile achievements. When we allow our interests to guide our actions, we gain clarity and understanding about how we got to where we are—because we’ve created it through purposeful action.
III.
Wishing
Energy cannot be created or destroyed; it must be transformed. By transforming our intentions into actions, we produce things in the physical world. Alternatively, merely wishing for an outcome without taking action will not produce anything besides depression.
Depression is essentially “deep rest.” We know that deep rest is helpful for recovery and redirection, but as creative beings in a creative universe, we can’t remain in a state of deep rest for long, lest we drive ourselves crazy with all that pent-up creative energy. We are here to exert energy, not to spend our lives deep resting. So we’re left with a choice: Create or stay depressed.
When you’re genuinely interested in the work you’re doing, you’ll sometimes feel as if you can work at it for hours or even days on end. You lose track of time, you forget about deep rest, and the crippling fear and anxiety you once had when you were just sitting, waiting, wishing for something to happen falls away.
Remember: Wishing won’t work until you do.
IV.
Value
Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.
Albert Einstein, LIFE Magazine (1955)
I once worked as a talking head within an industry that owed its existence to government intervention. I worked with lobbyists and legislators to draft bills requiring companies to purchase specialized equipment and participate in corporate responsibility schemes. I made capitalists cringe.
And I made myself cringe.
In a perfect free market, trade is an honest transaction. Buyers and sellers voluntarily agree to exchange money for products or services, and both parties are satisfied with the deal. Free markets encourage innovation, promote competition, improve efficiencies, lower costs, and reward hard work. Alternatively, in a heavily regulated market, trade isn’t always voluntary or fair. Instead of focusing on creating the best product or service possible, some folks would rather leverage their political pull to mandate the purchase of their product or service. This creates an environment where innovation is stifled, competition is discouraged, inefficiencies rise, costs increase, and cronyism thrives.
Since we don’t live in a perfect world, we can’t have a perfectly free market. But we should at least strive for greater freedom in our transactions. We should aim for honest and voluntary exchanges where both parties agree on the terms. We should foster creativity, productivity, and entrepreneurship. And we should trust customers’ judgment and allow the market to determine where true value lies.
V.
Money
3 ideas on money, with quotes from Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged:
Money is a tool to trade value for value.
So you think that money is the root of all evil?... Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value.
Those who acquire money in immoral ways will despise money because, for them, it is symbolic of their corruption.
Money is your means of survival. The verdict you pronounce upon the source of your livelihood is the verdict you pronounce upon your life. If the source is corrupt, you have damned your own existence. Did you get your money by fraud? By pandering to men’s vices or men’s stupidity? By catering to fools, in the hope of getting more than your ability deserves? By lowering your standards? By doing work you despise for purchasers you scorn? If so, then your money will not give you a moment’s or a penny’s worth of joy. Then all the things you buy will become, not a tribute to you, but a reproach; not an achievement, but a reminder of shame. Then you’ll scream that money is evil.
Those who acquire money in honest ways will love money because, for them, it is symbolic of hard work and virtue.
To love a thing is to know and love its nature. To love money is to know and love the fact that money is the creation of the best power within you, and your passkey to trade your effort for the effort of the best among men. It’s the person who would sell his soul for a nickel, who is loudest in proclaiming his hatred of money—and he has good reason to hate it. The lovers of money are willing to work for it.
… Some final fiscal food for thought:
Let me give you a tip on a clue to men’s characters: the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it. Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil.
Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (1957)
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+I.
Merit
I was one of those kids with a grim future. I almost failed out of high school. I nearly gave in to the deep anger and resentment harbored by everyone around me. Today people look at me, at my job and Ivy League credentials, and assume that I’m some sort of genius, that only a truly extraordinary person could have made it to where I am today. With all due respect to those people, I think that theory is a load of bullshit.
J.D. Vance, Hillbilly Elegy (2016)