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Happy, Smart, and Useful, 10 Scientific Steps To A Fulfilling Career, & More
Alex Brogan
June 21, 2022 • Read Time: 5 minutes
Welcome to the 200(!) new friends of the Mental Models, Concepts, and Frameworks newsletter who have joined us since last week!
This Week: 16 of the smartest things that have ever been said on figuring out what to do with your life
Happy, Smart, and Useful by Derek Sivers.
”There are three things to consider when making life-size decisions:
• What makes you happy
• What’s smart — meaning long-term good for you
• What’s useful to others”
How You Can Have A Fulfilling Career – 10 Scientific Steps by Eric Barker.
”In the end, I see it like this: You’re going to spend 80,000 hours working over the course of your life.
Yeah. 80,000.
Might be nice if you enjoyed it.”
Guide to Career Planning by Marc Andreesen.
”The first rule of career planning: Do not plan your career.
The world is an incredibly complex place.
You can’t plan your career because you have no idea what’s going to happen in the future.”
How to Pick a Career (That Actually Fits You) by Tim Urban
”If a career is like connecting the dots, we should probably rank “getting wise about dot-jumping” pretty high on our to-do list.
The best place to start is by looking at your own past.”
Career Decisions by Elad Gil.
”Factors to overweight:
1. Network.
2. Market & Growth Rate.
3. Optionality.
4. Brand.
Factors that don't matter as much as you think:
1. Role.
2. Compensation.”
Figuring out what to do with your life by Julian Shapiro.
”Write down the values you passionately care about.
Order those values from most to least important.
Place a checkmark next to the value that it has a high likelihood of fulfilling.”
Don't Follow Your Passion by Ben Horowitz
"Ever watched American Idol? Just because you love singing doesn't mean you should be a singer.”
"Find that thing you're great at. Put that into the world. Contribute to others. Help the world be better.”
Advice for ambitious 19-year-olds by Sam Altman.
”No matter what you choose, build stuff and be around smart people.
The best people always seem to be building stuff and hanging around smart people."
How to Do What You Love by Paul Graham.
”What you should not do, I think, is worry about the opinion of anyone beyond your friends.
You shouldn't worry about prestige.”
How to find and do work you love by Scott Dinsmore.
"If you don't know what you're looking for you're never going to find it.
The fastest way to do things you don't think can be done is to surround yourself with passionate people.”
How to Get Rich by Naval Ravikant
”The more authentic you are to who you are, the less competition you’re gonna have.
So, you can escape competition through authenticity when you realize that no one can compete with you on being you.”
2013 MIT Commencement by Drew Houston.
“Instead of trying to make your life perfect, give yourself the freedom to make it an adventure, and go ever upward.”
2005 Stanford Commencement Address by Steve Jobs.
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life”
What Should You Do with Your Life? Directions and Advice by Alexey Guzey.
”I ask a lot of people about their life plans.
At least half of them tell me that they have no idea where to move.
Therefore, I wrote this post.”
Don't End The Week With Nothing by Patrick McKenzie.
”Prefer Working On Things You Can Show.
Prefer To Work Where People Can See You.
Prefer To Work On Things You Can Keep."
Dive in by Nate Soares.
”The way you end up doing good in the world has very little to do with how good your initial plan was.
Most of your outcome will depend on luck, timing, and your ability to actually get out of your own way and start.”
